johnny

Respectfully, unless the engineer fully understands you plan to use their work "prescriptively" thereafter i'd be careful doing this...its not typically how that works. Its like going to a doctor and telling him you only need one prescription written since you'll copy it for future refills.

This is exactly the case. The concept of the IRC is if your structure conforms then you can use it as an exception to the IBC and avoid an engineer. Anything not explicitly stated in the IRC then needs an architect or engineer to approve since you revert to the IBC.

Overall that is pretty good for Chief....especially in 2013. Although, since you brought it up the issue with Chief compared to other BIM apps is those steel columns and beams show as place-holders only unless you wanted to do a massive amount of custom modeling after your engineer was done sizing them - and then the beams/columns would be a shape or symbol rather than an actual structural member (from the apps point of view). In Chief we can change a post or beam to show as a Steel I-beam but we have no options for its actual sizing/capacity.

This is very true. I find myself often wishing one package had a feature the other has and vice-versa. It would be fun to pick and choose what features you liked from each to make your own....lol

Fully agree. Chief actually doesn't do modern homes well IMO.

Thanks! I do use Chief as well right now, but I am transitioning away from it. My team will be on Chief for the next year or so until we're finally moved over - but we'll still keep a couple copies for accessing older files etc. Chief is great for many people, but their speed of development was becoming a serious concern for us.

Are you sure they print "corrupted"? I've seen elevation and section glitches before but when I made the PDF it didn't translate to that document so I didn't really care.

In fact, here is a project I am working on right now where i used Vectorworks and Concepts with the Wacom to create some conceptual elevations. lot_54_concepts.pdf

I use a 27" Wacom Cintiq for both drawing, sketching, modeling, and a second monitor. I've come to like a top/bottom config for 2 monitor setup better than side-to-side....especially since i can start drawing on the lower monitor anytime I want. I don't use Chief a lot with the Wacom, but I have. However, I LOVE using it with Vectorworks and other drawing apps like Concepts. I use it a LOT and found it helps to have an architectural drafting height table.

Large Northwest Home Builder looking for an interior designer working in Chief. Looking for someone beyond just a "color and material picker" someone that can work with our existing suppliers and developed tier options with design collections....and then take our existing models to show selection options. Please PM me with resume/portfolio.

lol...well, just remember in X13 Chief gave us a way to make quick copies of texture files so we can have 4+ version of the same texture type in different directions....because that is a smart way to handle this sort of thing. When I design a custom timber truss (visual) its wonderful having this problem only to learn you have to adjust its size again and start over. (yes, i am salty)

Respectfully, that is a very incomplete question.

What version of Chief are you using? I do this all day long and I have to say the DWG export in Chief is pretty good. If you can post the file here and I'll try and import into Autocad.

Out of curiosity how is that any different than Chief Architect?

Edit - I guess reading your post again you're actually looking for something like Dropbox or Onedrive. There isn't collaboration tools in Chief like other apps.