para-CAD

Post your best prompts. Here's mine. Make this 3D CAD model look photo-realistic. Use sun and shadows in the morning. Place a cedar privacy fence behind this shed. Behind the privacy fence show some new homes in this newer subdivision. Add some light landscaping and maybe a mulch bed with shrubs or flowers. Place a lone large mature Douglas Fir behind but near the privacy fence. Do not modify the structure. Keep the original colors of the model. Make this 3D CAD model look photo-realistic. Use sun and shadows in the morning. Place a cedar privacy fence behind this shed. Behind the privacy fence show some new homes in this newer subdivision. Add some light landscaping and maybe a mulch bed with shrubs or flowers. Place a lone large mature Douglas Fir behind but near the privacy fence. Do not modify the structure. Change the colors to red with white trim.

well..........my wife's laptop died...............sooooooooo........she has it. (I know...how does that happen?) I have set my sights on the M5 Max MBP........either in 3 weeks, or the M5 Max Studio later this summer....... For the limited time that I drove the M4 Max, it was much more "snappy" than my M1 Max. The 1TB drive feels small since I have a 4TB in my M1 Max. I don't render in chief so the M1 still is solid. The trade in value is $1220 so I need to jump on it.

AI is the way forward for rendering.

Are you affiliated with trussnote? I’ve never heard of it but I am going to search it up now.

Render using Nano Banana (Google Gemini) free. Or other AI tools. Attached is AI giving me 2 different color styles for a 999SF DADU. If not for marketing, chief is a solid champ for 2D plans for permit.

I'm thinking the M5 Max in the studio config might be a win. Coming in a few months.

That's a tech support issue. Those guys are really good at solving such problems.

Sometimes the chief architect file contains a template that the person paid money for and it would not be morally correct to share that with someone unless they paid the original template designer to have access to that. It would feel like theft to me. My contract only states that the client gets a PDF to submit for permit and I will share as many of those with that client, in case they lose it, as they need.

For hourly work, I export project time and open it in a spreadsheet. I find the total time and bill for that exact time. Hourly clients know upfront that they pay for my time….nothing rounded up in my favor or down in theirs. When I’m dealing with last nigh’ts spicy dinner, they will see some 10 minute work spurts in the spreadsheet on the following day. I often find that working hourly increases my personal stress level if I cannot maintain focus on what I’m doing. Dogs might want to come visit me or my family is doing something unintentional that is distracting. I normally only do hourly if I know there’s going to be lots of changes as the project progresses because it’s impossible to flat rate bid that. I also use a separate timer, there are all kinds of free versions out there that are pretty good. My wife uses Clockify, and I use something that is mac specific. Most time tracking apps create a nice report and consolidate everything. It’s nice being able to track my time while I’m doing research on the county GIS page separately from only tracking work in chief architect from the chief architect time tracker.

Maybe the stair tools got some love!!

I used to use AC as a 2D crutch. Gone. I make sure truss guys get span and pitch....and vault if part of the design...on my plans. Framer's get the the truss plans...or if stick framed I send cut sheets to builders I trust who trust me. Now I use SU as a 3D tool because I can 100% correctly model complex framing, something CA doesn't always do. AC LT isn't too bad of a subscription....cross platform too.

This might get more visibility in General Q&A

The render does NOT get one a permit....so there's that.

Edit wall layer intersections?