CUChris81

@scottharris Thanks for this. I did actually discover this chart yesterday after my post, it's very helpful. Is there a test of the M5 anywhere on the horizon, just out of curiosity? From what I can tell via online reviews it is about 25% faster than the M4, which puts it in the ballpark of feasibility for my use case. Also, just to confirm the M5's are supported, correct? It is not listed under the compatible machinery on your site, but I notice that list has not been updated since 2025. I appreciate your involvement here, I am just obsessing over this decision as it's the biggest expense I'll incur this year.

I imagine they will tell you the same thing they told me. The architecture of Chief Architect needs a dedicated GPU (RTX 5090) in order to quickly process ray tracing. Yes I saw your system specs and that is similar to what I was going to purchase (only an M5 Pro or Max chip instead). This is super unfortunate, like I said, PBR renderings are something my clients are requesting with increased frequency. =(

I just had a 30 minute call with CA tech support. They said that in the absence of a dedicated graphics card (which is only on a PC) that it is simply not possible to get instantaneous or even quick PBR renderings with any MBP configuration. If they are slow for you on your current machine, that supports their conclusions which is unfortunate. I do not want to switch to a PC, but absent anyone who is using a high end MBP to achieve good results, it looks like that is the only option. Are yours just slow?

Hi. Looking to chat with anyone who is using a MPB with either the M5 Pro or Max chip. Specifically how it is handling PBR renderings (speed, quality). Tech support recommends that I upgrade to a PC, but I'm loathe to leave the Mac ecosystem. My current MBA (M4, 24gb) takes forever to render PBR renderings on any settings, and I need to speed this up as they are in high demand by my clients. CA also stutters in plan view or elevation view (standard or vector) when screen sharing via zoom, which I'm hoping to eliminate or at least minimize. This is a crazy expense so I need to make the best decision possible here. Thinking either the M5 Pro (18CPU, 20GPU w 64GB) versus an M5 Max with 18/32/36. Would very much appreciate feedback.

@dshall - Hi. Wondering about your experience with this MacBook using CA17. How does it handle PBR renderings? Reasonably quick? I'm looking to upgrade to a system with a similar configuration. Tech support recommends that only a PC can adequately handle PBR rendering, but I'm loath to switch out of the Mac ecosystem. Would very much appreciate your experience on this machine. Thank you.

Hey CA_Russell. Are you currently using CA17 on this machine? How does it handle photo base rendering? I'm planning to upgrade my hardware. Tech support says that rendering is still going to be a dog in all scenarios on any mac and recommends I go to a PC, which i really don't want to do.

Has anyone ever successfully used an L shaped finger pull for cabinet door and drawer hardware? Obviously I want the vertical part mounted inside the door/drawer and not outside. There doesn't seem to be any functionality to inside mount a piece of hardware or horizontally offset it to the inside. The hardware exists as a catalogue item though, so there's got to be a way....right? ...right?

thanks everyone. again, this approach is the one that I used. Is there any way to blend the lines of the 3D solid/soffit above the glass door into the walls beside it? that's what I'm bothered by.

yes. as mentioned, that is how it is currently drawn.

Hello all. Seeking feedback on the best way to create a 3 panel shower door (two fixed with door in center) in an alcove with a ceiling above. See picture for reference. Ideally this could be done with the doors function, but I can't create a 3 panel glass door like this. So I created it using a half wall with a glass railing and a door inserted into it. But then this kills the wall above it, requiring a silly soffit, which is fine, but I'm annoyed that I can't render it without the line between the wall and the soffit (can I fix this somehow??) Also, joining this wall to the two walls on either side merges it and I lose the ability to dimension everything correctly. If any Chief programmers are reading... It would be great if I could either: - Insert this half wall/glass rail structure into a doorway (allowing me control over the jamb which is 2cm quartz and had to be inserted using a 3d block) and preserving the wall above the shower door. - Give more functionality to doors, allowing side panels (like the casement window function). - Allow the half walls dialogue to create more vertical layers so that I can have an opening above the railing and then another wall above. Or is there another method that I'm just entirely missing?? Building this was a trial and error time suck! Thanks, Christopher Christopher.Topp@gmail.com X17 on an M4 MBA

I can't find a smilier topic to this, but if I didn't dig hard enough and this is repetitive I apologize. Anyway, using X13, I was trying to export an elevation of a vanity to either a pdf or an image. In either instance, a few reference measurements using point to point completely disappear from the exported document. I played around with this for about a half hour and I cannot tell if this is an obscure setting of which I'm unaware or if it's possibly a bug in X13. Anyone experience anything similar?

Yeah I couldn't agree with you more. The webinar about x13 features // ray tracing was SUPER misleading about this, it seemed to indicate that using Metal would have the same impact on GPU rendering as the Windows based GPU rendering engine. The only issue disclosed by the webinar related to Mac's was incompatibility with the M1, which is something that CA is working on and makes sense... I downloaded x13 beta, just to try this faster RT on my 16" MBP only to have pass 1 take 9 minutes, which is seemingly even slower than x12 (just finished pass 3 at 28min)... The Real Time Ray Trace omission is not really a big deal in my opinion, but the now VAST difference in CPU v GPU overall RT times--sorry but this is infuriating.. I get the other replies here that this is apparently an Apple issue... Regardless of whose shoulders this falls on, as a consumer using a Mac and CA, it's hard to come to any conclusion that Mac users are stuck with a vastly inferior product compared to the Windows version of CA, but for the same application and SA renewal price??? How is that just a "shoulder-shrug ok//hopefully this all works out in the future" justification on the part of CA??? This is all just not okay. Christopher Topp Kitchen and Interior Designer CA Premier x13 (beta) 16" MBP with AMD 5500 Stuck on CPU Ray Tracing in perpetuity apparently.

Hello... Does anyone know how to create a window like this, that basically uses an integrated window post in the corner rather than wall/framing components... On this same project, I also have a bay window that does the exact same thing... Ive tried everything I can think of relative to the frame and framing under the window specs, and nothing seems to work.... I also can't figure out how to create an exterior brick sill for this window either... Thanks in advance for the help!!!

Marc -- Is this webinar archived somewhere? I'm highly interested in moving from 2020 to CA exclusively... I've been on these forums for an hour just reading much of what you said and I'm intrigued. Are there any other tutorials or videos in addiiton to this that you can possibly recommend? I snagged the sample files off this site but would love to see what else is available. Thanks!!