SusanC

Thanks Kerry! Your tips are very helpful. I do "Follow" the brands I'm interested in and then comment on one of their posts, hashtag my firm, Chief, and another designer I met at Chief Academy who is helping me on this and then "Send" the post to Chief using the envelope icon. I'll work on incorporating your other tips. I would love to get other Chief users involved by doing 2 things: Share your Instagram name on this thread. Share the brands you are interested in getting into Chief. If we work as a collective group we are going to be much more effective.

I wonder if Chief's Content and Social Media Team would share some tips with us? I have K&B designer friends who are incredibly successful using Instagram, FB and TikTok, but I'm still a beginner in this area. I always think it sounds easy enough, but there are definitely some nuances to learn.

Hi Brad, Great! I just commented on a GAF Instagram post and hashtagged my company and ChiefArchitect. Anyone else, please feel free to do this as well. Also, definitely write an email to your rep and explain why you'd like to see GAF in Chief. I've found that a manufacturer is very interested in knowing a client will see a realistic rendering of their product and that it will help in correctly ordering their product if it populates a schedule or building material list. If you need reinforcement, post your rep's contact info and other Chief users can help you out by contacting them as well. Susan

Many users would like to see more manufacturer's catalogs in Chief. Over the years I've been able to get many of the brands our design firm uses to place their 3d catalogs into Chief and I am happy to share my strategy. Please feel free to reply to this thread and share which manufacturer's catalogs you would like to see in Chief. My strategy: If I'm interested in a brand I go to their website and check out the resources section to see if they have existing 3d models of their product. I contact my rep and any other industry connections I have to the brand and I tell them we love their product and spec it often for clients. I tell them we produce photo real renderings in our Chief Architect design software and like to use the actual products with brand logos visible in the renders. I let them know I've connected our other vendors with Chief and that I would be happy to help them as well. I also mention that I do not work for Chief and I am not compensated, I just do this to make better renders and to help our firm with ordering as we also produce Schedules that populate with the actual product name and part numbers. I give them a link to Chief's website on the downloadable catalogs page. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/3d-library/index.php?r=site/library&reset=true. In addition, I go to the manufacturer's website and use their generic contact form to introduce myself and essentially give a condensed version of the email I've sent the rep. I wait until I receive a response and then connect them with my contacts at Chief and send them the partner program sales page. I prefer to wait to see interest before sending this page. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/blog/partner-program/. Recently, I've started going to a manufacturer's Instagram page or FB page and commenting on a particularly nice post, for ex. "I love the new Farrow & Ball colors and would love to be able to use them in my photo real renders in Chief Architect!" Then I hashtag my design firm and Chief Architect, and send that post to Chief. If you have a brand you'd like to see in Chief or need help figuring out your own strategy, post it on this thread and let's work together as a group to make it happen! Susan

Have you tried using the Substance Player to make your own tile? Type "Substance Player" into the search bar to lead you to the article on what to down load and how to use it. Surprisingly easy tool to use and you'll have control over the grout lines, among other things, when creating your own tile.

This new edition of the K&B guidelines is a great improvement over past editions. Adrean did a fantastic job with the illustrations!

I agree with you Gene, this would not be a fun install for a carpenter and you are correct, I should have included a bevel block behind the crown running along the eaves.

Sounds like you simply want crown to go around the ceiling of the room and connect with the closet crown? If so: 1. Remove crown from your cabinets. Easier to get everything to line up if you remove the crown you attached through your cabinet dialog box. 2. In plan view draw a CAD line (find it on top tool bar under CAD / lines / draw line) around the section of ceiling and cabinet where you want to add crown. 3. Click on the CAD line you just drew and use a tool found on the lower tool bar called "convert polyline". This tool looks like a little wand on top of a yellow square. 4. Dialog box opens. Select 3d polyline molding polyline. Click Ok. 5. Click on "moldings" (found on left side of dialog box). 6. Select a crown you'd like to use by clicking on "replace" (found on the right side of this dialog box). I've shown the crown in "blue" on attached rendering. 7. Crown will come into the dialog box and now you can decide how high it should be placed by clicking on "vertical offset". If your ceiling is 96", then put 96" into "vertical offset". 8. In plan view you can make adjustments if necessary. If you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask. There are several ways to create the crown, I just find this to be the easiest for me.

Just turn on the layer for "Cabinets, Module Lines" and you will see the lines between the cabinets again.

Thanks Mark! All set.

Is it possible to select 2 rooms on one floor for one cabinet schedule? I know I can select an entire floor, a particular room, or the entire plan to show up on one cabinet schedule, but what about selecting 2 rooms on a floor for one cabinet schedule?

This is a great collection of vent hoods to download. Thanks Chief_Content!

Congrats on making the switch! I was an AutoCad user also and switched to Chief in 2010. It's a great program with an amazing amount of support.

I realize the Substance Player and Dustin's downloads have been available for awhile, but I just learned about it from Dustin during Chief Academy 2022. Yesterday I was desperate for a special tile combination and finally took the time to look into this. Wow, what an incredible tool and so much easier to navigate than I had expected! In a few minutes I had watched the Chief video on how it works, downloaded the software, and created a custom marble checkerboard floor for a client's rendering. My only regret is not taking the time to figure this out sooner!

Thank you for the replies. All seems fine now. I always download files from Google Drive to my desktop to work on them, but this one time I was in a hurry and did not do that. Probably the cause. Was able to finally close the file with a hard quit. Opened the file again this morning and everything was fine. File was not set to read only. File was not a backup file or a special folder of any kind. Did reboot my computer after the hard quit. Thank you!

This is a new one. I keep getting this error message and can't close my plan. Has anyone seen this before? How to get rid of it short of a hard quit? Saving with a new name does not work. Thanks, Susan

Here are a few options. All found on ChiefArchitect.com. Quick Start training video series on the Chief Architect website: Click on User Center / Training Videos and scroll down to Quick Start Training Videos. On Demand Training you can sign up for. Try the "Residential Introductory". Chief Architect website: Click on User Center / Events & Training and scroll down to On Demand Training. Chief Boot Camp webinar on September 23rd. Sign up. Chief Architect website: Click on User Center / Events & Training and scroll down to Chief Boot Camp. You can also search this forum if you have questions and post questions if you don't find what you need. Good luck!

Oh great! I'm glad you found the Ray Tracing videos. Hope those help and if you have more questions, just ask!

These are the 7 videos that were just released and the voice in the video is Kayla. If you still don't get your question answered, a one on one training session would be worth the expense and time because the learning curve for PBR is steep - or at least it has been for me. I've had 2 sessions with her over the last several months and she can help you with everything - including teaching you about adjusting materials, cameras, lights, light sets, other settings. I book an hour with her, have a list of questions, and a working plan ready to go and that has been pretty efficient.

Chief just released a series of training videos on Ray Tracing done by Kayla Lockhart. She is a trainer at Chief and I've taken several one on one sessions with her for PBR and she is a wealth of knowledge! The new videos are located on the Chief website with the other training videos. I think these will help you to adjust the lighting and the sunlight. Good luck!

I also use Google Drive (which works similarly to DropBox) and here is how our office works: In my X14 templates folder I have a template New Client Folder set up as well. Duplicate this folder each time you gain a new client and label it with Client name and the year 2022. Within this client folder is a folder named Client name_Layouts and Plans_Copy to Desktop. Download only this specific folder each time you need to work on the job as this folder houses only the plans and layout for that client. When done working, save the layout you were working on with a new date (do not save the plans with a new date or they will no longer be linked to the layout) and then upload the Client Name_Layouts and Plans_Copy to Desktop folder again to Google Drive. You can and should manually do a little housekeeping each time this folder is back up on Google Drive. Drag out the old layout and save it in the Supercede Layouts folder and drag out any old plans into the Supercede Plans folder (just don't drag out the plans that you have linked to the layout). Doing this housekeeping keeps the folder up to date with the last copy of layout worked on and no one has to look at all of the previous copies because they are now in the Supercede Layouts folder. Best to communicate often with your new employee until you get the hang of this. In our office each designer has ownership of their client files. We try not to have 2 designers working on the same client folder in Chief, but sometimes we do have to open each other's files so we contact the other one if we are going to be working on their file. Hope this helps. Susan

Suggestion: I'm a big fan of One on One Training through Chief. Call up their training desk and ask to book an hour with one of their trainers to help you find a solution. They know this program inside and out and the time spent with them will be well worth it.

It's not too bad. I move my license from my MacBook Pro to my PC gaming computer several times a week.

Hi Lynn, Please see attached screen captures. Shows the cabinet with toe kick on one side and on the "front" of the cabinet, which is actually the side of the cabinet. I think this is what you were wanting to do? Susan

Great - glad to hear you got it resolved!