jcaffee

Or, if you have the budget and want the best, you want a Boxx...

http://www.boxx.com/products/mobile-workstations/goboxx-mxl-vr?utm_source=marketo&utm_medium=email&utm_content=02072017_ChangeYourReality_campaign=e-blasts

Or, do the opposite, turn everything On and Unlock everything then see if there is a line.

Guess I got lucky, just brought a Chief 97 pl file into X8 then to X9.  Slow as a dog, but I'll see what happens when it gets cleaned up.

Mark, I'm just a designer (Or, a Design Generalist for legal purposes), but I do have fairly significant influence on the whatfors and howcomes of all built-in systems on any given project.

Understanding the nitty-gritty of the process is invaluable to ensuring smooth transition of the stuff coming out of my head and into the hands of the kids who are going to implement my design.  Thank you for furthering my understanding of what takes place after my "pretty pictures" go off into the ether.

Here's my latest.  Now I better understand the pain my designs cause the installers.  

14 hours ago, jonboy112352 said:

Jon 2500.00 +/- ... I thought I would jump in ..sorry

Here you go.  Budget friendly and will run CA inside out (well, as much as four cores can)...

https://www.amazon.com/GL502VS-DB71-Full-HD-Gaming-i7-6700HQ-Windows/dp/B01K1INYD0/ref=pd_sbs_147_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01K1INYD0&pd_rd_r=YH14DPWHGVQFR0E3T62R&pd_rd_w=0sp5e&pd_rd_wg=nbvEv&psc=1&refRID=YH14DPWHGVQFR0E3T62R

What's your budget?

12 minutes ago, mrscott said:

as I see a lot of gamers using 2 and sometimes 3 GPU's configured in SLI mode so essentially they act as a single Bad Ass GPU system.

Not with Chief and not with many RT engines out in the wild that aren't CUDA-aware.  You would see either the same or degraded performance while RTing running in SLI or CrossFire.  If you are determined to spend money, get a single TitanX, SketchUp Pro, and Lumion.  Your workflow would then look like: Model (CA)>Export DAE to SketchUp>Clean and tweak materials/symbols/objects in SketchUp>Direct export to Lumion using the SU plug-in for Lumion>Render and add effects in Lumion.

What Dennis said.  Upper-end Quadro cards, but then you lose performance in other areas.

That was a software capability/material check shot of the oil and vinegar bottles.  The "Santas" are Elf-on-a-shelf; an inside joke for somebody who was reviewing the image.

Thanks for a super session Mark!  I learned a bunch.  Hopefully (someday/version) we will see CA with a robust backend that allows manufacturers to feed pricing and options data directly into Chief (without CA intervention).  If we take a collection and come up with the license & development fees for MS Dynamics (or some other CRM), then CA can engineer live data pulls from vendor maintained data sets>CA CRM Server>CA Users>Accurate & Timely Pricing, Options, Finishes, etc., etc., etc.  Wouldn't that be something?

And just imagine how long the rt would take if I left the entire house intact.  Looks good!

I don't need it back.  Just something for you to play with.

3 hours ago, mrscott said:

Jon,

 

Send me the plan and I will run it on my Workstation at a one of you high Resolution (Print Quality) sizes and return the file in whatever format you like. My compliments to you for all you do for us. PM me is you prefer.

 

Here you go Scott, (or anybody else who wants to play with this.  It's in X9.  The camera is on floor 2, all set and ready to go with the lighting I used in the original shot.

20170219_JCC_RT133_Kitchen_RT_Setup.zip

By the time you're done buying the professional grade extensions needed to make SU fully functional as architectural modeling software, you'll be well beyond the cost on CA Premier.

That said, SketchUp is a valuable companion toolset to Chief for interoperability with other modeling/rendering software and rapid modeling of certain symbol types  Just like Adobe Photoshop and MooTools 3D Browser/Polygon Cruncher--it's just part of the toolbox.

100% CAX9 Beta.  This cooked for 30 passes but could have used a couple hundred more to degrainify the shot.

Here you go.  Yes, Photoshop was involved.

Thanks for the info Dermont.  Good to know for us users who regularly break the 200MB file size pain threshold.

Hmm...  My laptop is running a GTX560m and hasn't crashed in X9.  Slow as a dog, but it hasn't crashed.  

Nope, but the reboot worked.  I purged "other" materials that were unrelated to landscaping and now I'm back at a comfortable 37MB starting point.  Landscape Ho!

Starting file size 67MB.  Add a whole bunch of xFrog 3D plants and end file size 575MB.  So, I clean out all the plants to start a second landscaping option and save a new copy-- -- -- file size only reduces to 489MB.  And yes, I "Purged" all those pesky hi-res TIF images from plan materials.

So, what gives?  Why isn't the file returning to something close to where I started?  Perhaps I'll reboot, and try again--right after I'm done listening to this Camel Driver album.

Try http://pcon-planner.com/en/

Unlike SketchUp Make, their terms allow commercial use of the free version of their software.  I have dwg and dxf files associated with p.con Planner and it exports to 3ds, dae, skp, and obj.

Did you reboot CA and the computer?

Here you go Chop...

CA, is there a POC for us to send to Wolf/Sub-Z?  A real person's contact info is best.  PM.

For OPs very specific needs:

Create polyline outlines of all structures in the plan; move these to a unique layer, call it Footprint.  Turn off all layers.  Move to floor 1 and create the Terrain Perimeter.  Input the perimeter data--get the shape right.  Add the North Arrow and Sun Line.  Turn on the Footprint layer.  Adjust the Terrain Perimeter by ONLY moving the Terrain Perimeter via drag/rotation as it relates to the polyline Footprint.  Turn off Footprint.  Add the Elevation Data to the terrain.  Check your work in 3D Overview camera.  Lock terrain layers.  Edit plan as normal.

If a simpleton like me can do it, then anybody can.