Scottisimo

Mick, You have been incredibly helpful. This is a whole new world for me, and absolutely fascinating. I am overwhelmed with the generosity of people on this forum, like yourself. Scott

Thank you, Mick, This sounds very intriguing. I'm hoping that Pro would have a faster learning curve than Chief, and yet have most of the features I need as a dilittante contractor-turned-occasional-designer. Would you mind answering a few questions? 1. How is the learning curve compared to Chief? Would I be able to get up and running faster than with Chief? I am specifically trying to design a 2-story house that we plan to build in November. It is a fairly simple plan. My draftsman has already drawn the bulk of the architectural plans, but of course they are in 2D and he does not have 3D capability. I would love to be able to visualize this house in 3D, show the 3D drawings to my client to aid in the remainder of the planning process, and have the obvious advantages of material take offs that Chief seems to do. 2. After viewing the overview video, it seems that Pro uses many of the same tools and procedures as Chief. What does Chief have that Pro doesn't? I know that question probably requires a complicated answer, but perhaps you could give me a quick one? 3. If I go ahead and learn Pro, is most of that learning transferable to Chief if I upgrade? Or are they completely different technologies? 4. Is it my imagination, or are the colors/presentations/etc. in Pro less realistic than those in Chief? 5. If I design this house in Pro, will that design transfer to Chief if I decide to upgrade? Whew! Thanks in advance. You people on this forum are Saints. Scott

I am happy to be an Honorary Troll

No problem at all.

Sorry, Drawzilla, I have lots of magical powers, but am neither the Troll nor the invisible partner. Can't do everything at once, you know.

Thank you Rashid. Learning, learning.....

Thanks Dennis, Actually I've never used CAD. I've been a contractor for a long time, but this is my first attempt at designing. When I saw what Chief could do, I just had to take a whack at it. I'm slowly starting to get the hang of it. Scott

Thank you, Cheryl. What is "con-doc"?

Pacific Palisades, CA, near L.A. But don't worry! I'm not as crazy as all those other Californians!

I think that I can buy Chief with a 30 day return policy if I am not satisfied. That seems like it's the same as the trial program, except I'll be able to save and post. What do you think?

Thank you, Lew. The "angle snap" suggestion worked like a charm. How do you post your drawing? Lockport??? I grew up in Clarence!! Small world.

Thank you, Humble Chief

Thank you, Humble Chief

This is the "Troll" speaking, A.K.A. the "honest frustrated newbie": I don't know what a troll is, but it doesn't sound good. Whatever it is, I am not one. My name is Scott Simril and I live in Pacific Palisades, CA. This is my website: www.simril.net. I have been a successful contractor for 35 years, so I can't be too stupid. "Honest frustrated newbie" sounds like a good description. I will figure out the wall thing. The first time, I drew them, it worked pretty well, except that I had to make numerous corrections to the length of the walls in my project. Despite going clockwise and correcting each wall length in turn, Chief seemed to keep giving me the wrong lengths for some of the walls. I'm sure it was something simple that I was doing wrong. The second time I did it, I followed the instructions in the Users Guide to a "T", or at least I thought I did. I had several problems: Some of the walls I drew were "zig zagged", and I couldn't get them to be straight. I also couldn't get Chief to draw a short wall. Maybe there is a Troll in the program I am using. Oh well. I will figure it out. Thank you all for your help. And can someone explain what a Troll is? Just so I know.

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I have downloaded the trial version of Chief and am trying to learn to draw exterior walls. Extremely frustrating. I am following the scenario given in the Users Guide, and it seems that I do what they tell me to do, but it doesn't work the way they say it should. I have always been a good student and good at following directions, so I suspect that this is a case of badly written directions. If this is true, it would be very disappointing for such an expensive, highly touted, program. Any comments?

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I have downloaded the trial version of Chief and am trying to learn to draw exterior walls. Extremely frustrating. I am following the scenario given in the Users Guide, and it seems that I do what they tell me to do, but it doesn't work the way they say it should. I have always been a good student and good at following directions, so I suspect that this is a case of badly written directions. If this is true, it would be very disappointing for such an expensive, highly touted, program. Any comments?

Michael, Thanks for all your posts. You have been quite helpful. Scott

Thanks for the reply, Michael. I am a General Contractor, doing mostly high-end remodeling in Los Angeles. I have 2 reasons why I need some sort of 3D software: 1. My clients are always asking what something will look like, and the architect's 2D drawings don't help much in that regard. 2. If you can believe this, I am not very good at visualizing things 3-dimensionally. Not a good deficit for a contractor to have. I would like the software so that I can visualize the project, in 3D, from any viewpoint. My employees and subs are often asking me questions that I have a hard time answering because I can't visualize in 3 D very well. Often, they are better at this than I am, which is sort of embarassing. 3. It occurs to me that Chief Architect would be very helpful at generating lumber and other material lists, counting up the SY of stucco and drywall needed, etc. As far as I know, Sketchup won't do that. It seems that Chief would make material lists for everything: doors, windows, insulation, electrical fixtures, etc. That would be very time saving as far as estimating.

Thanks for the reply, Eric. I have never used either of them. Could you expound a little bit more about the differences? I do plan to get the trial version.

Has anyone used Sketchup? I would be interested in knowing what the advantages of Chief over Sketchup are, for architectural drawings? Thanks in advance