johnny

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.

My team services a multi-state large home builder in the Northwest. We have drafters, architects, and engineers. We'd like to hire a part or full time drafter who has a strong background in knowing how US homes are built. We aren't primarily looking for pretty pictures...we are looking for ConDocs working with our engineers. We work completely in the cloud and have a refined communication system. We do have physical offices (though most people are able to work from home due to COVID), but in this case we don't need you to live close to any of our offices - we can teach you our process through MS Teams or Zoom and you can work from any location. To special individuals who are seeking an internship with architectural licensing options in the future, we do offer NCARB Intern Development Program (IDP). Initially we want to hire as a subcontractor, but over time if things work we can offer direct employment with benefits. If interested, please PM me through ChiefTalk and include your email and i'll respond that way. I'll give you far more details through that secondary communication.

I find it a bit odd they seem to skip 2018 in this list. Downloading older versions | SketchUp Help Download All | SketchUp

That is interesting...i've tried several models into Sketchup with collada and the textures come in just fine....so just FYI maybe there is some subtle issue - but if the whole system works for you then I guess it works.

I'm curious why you're trying to get to an FBX file in your process? You can export from Chief to Collada (as you do now) and then import that right into Sketchup and its a pretty clean file without the 3DS issues. I do wish Chief exported FBX directly for other reasons, but unless you plan to use the file in Unreal Engine or other gaming software I don't see the point of adding that step....but i'd love to hear your reason. Perhaps there is some other advantage I'm not aware of. Another thing i'm trying is using Vray with Blender which I find is WAY WAY better to organically shape terrains. Not only that but Blender is free and very robust.

Do a search on PBR inside Chief....if you're talking actual photo grade where you can't tell the difference of a real photo vs rendering you will need to supplement with 3rd party software. Lumion or Twinmotion Ultra real = VRay

Nice work Yusuf. I'll always admit that Chief is a good tool to make pretty pictures - and I'm sure with tons of 2D work on the plan side it can work for ConDocs. What I will say is having used other apps for commercial work where the BIM model is also of a quality where you can cut sections and details that are representative of the actual assembly method, the idea of drafting 2D details in Chief sounds arduous....let alone the lag issues with such a file. I've completed some conceptual work for Commercial projects in Chief and it wasn't fun (compared with apps designed for commercial).

You used Chief for a large government building?...and "they" have their own copy of Chief to mess with the file? That alone is interesting.

I think the OP is talking about getting points snapped back into other points to delete extra point/nodes. If he just hits the new "simplify polyline" on the secondary toolbar (sometimes docked on the bottom of the Chief UI) shown in my pic it might help you. The tool is designed so you can get close enough and it will delete those "close" extra point/nodes. ...but yes, Chief has hordes of snapping problems.

So is my firm.

My firm runs 100% on the cloud - 16 team members including 3rd party engineers - and its the best thing we've done. You can easily slave a local drive location so files you're currently using are accessed from your own HD but it uploads back to the cloud as you work - with no interruption. If i wasn't working with a team I'm not sure the advantages of working on the cloud other than an auto-versioning and backup (which is nice).

I feel for you - I don't have one for CA but I can tell you i've put more time in certain projects on the site/storm plan than the actual house plan. Where I am its nuts too.