johnny

You have to remember the app you bought is $150 (on sale right now) vs Premier is $2,650. Equitably, you'd expect some fairly serious limitations in comparison. Upgrade to Premier and join the cool kids group.

Which is a confirmed bug....I hope Chief fixes this in upcoming releases.

Very nice... i personally like this style in some ways more than RT.

If you are specializing in remodels, and inexpensive remodels, that is a hard gig. I've done a few of those a lot time ago only to know that is no way to work. Fip side i've done remodels where the client was spending $200k just on the kitchen cabinet package (Snaidero), and over $1m+ on the overall remodel and that did pay nicely and was very fun. Id think that sort of high end remodel work would be around your location? Personally, I found a niche in development/community design/planning and love it. I design all over in multiple states and work/live where i want (island in San Juans).

It may have worked for you Larry - but the fact you were a general contractor means you had some idea of how a building goes together. If you guys read my comment again it wasn't a "Architect vs Designer" post at all - it was a comment about wannabe designers out there. I see there posts in this thread all the time trying to ask for help in Chief but the REAL problem is they don't know how something actually goes together. The scary part is they are selling their service as a "designer" to whatever poor soul decided to hire them. But since you brought it up.... architects are humans like anyone else and prone to mistakes. Lawyers make mistakes, doctor's make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes. However, if someone wanted to have the best chance of getting a building designed well, and a nice set of Condocs - i obviously believe picking an architect would, in of itself, give someone a much better chance for success than trying their luck with random designers. I'd hope that statement isn't even up for debate.

What I am about to say may be very unpopular, but I feel there has been too many entering this business due to CAD/BIM applications that make someone think they can design/draft plans for people - kinda like in the 90's when everyone became a "graphic designer" because they knew how to use MS Publisher. It used to be the technical know-how of preparing Condocs kept the standard relatively out of reach of wannabees. We need greater restriction with mandatory schooling/internships/continuing education and licensing even for "designers". I'm not saying people need to become architects - but there should be some level of competency required before designing buildings.

Its actually just a porch in Chief. Id use a custom railing without the rail, make it a room. When you make the roof plane just extend it over like your picture shows.

I agree....im not a fan of Chief RT. However, with 3rd party tools getting as sophisticated as they are I am not sure Chief needs much else...in 5 years I believe most people who still use in-app render tools will migrate over to using those 3rd party offerings.

Thanks. Actually that is version 6....

Between Softplan and CA there is no real comparison in my opinion. I've used Softplan, buying a copy to fulfill research, and I didn't like it at all. Chief may be a bit more of a learning curve since some of the things Chief does is very unique.

You can draw this in 2D with Chief - but a fair warning Chief isn't a very good 2D drafting app...in fact, i'd say a weak spot for Chief is 2D drafting. 3D is sort of its thing in which you get 2D semi-automatically created. For a structural engineer I don't think Chief would be ideal if you are taking other people's projects and having to draw 2D details for them. If you are designing structures/homes from scratch and doing your own 2D details from your model that is a different matter and Chief is ok from that standpoint.

Let me ask this of Eric and Joe - do you guys keep your roof planes on the actual level you're working and just using layerset/annosets to control the plan type or do you move them to the attic level? For me, i personally like to move them to the attic level - or the next level up if there is a lower floor area covered by roof only. I do this since i like seeing the attic walls in conjunction with the roof planes.

You mean on the off chance someone in the Lumion forum might use Chief??... Perhaps, but seems like an unlikely possibility. Chief has developed more than just a forum...a community of people willing to help each-other from issues related to Chief, code issues, design issues, or in this case 3rd party rendering. You've been a very helpful contributor as well. Chief's decision to allow their forums to be used this way is a real strength IMO and they should be complimented for developing this type of atmosphere. In the end its them that decides how their forums should be used and i've not seen them object thus far to talking about post-production Chief work using 3rd party apps in conjunction. Chief is a major component to getting this work done so I personally see tons of relevance.

As a requirement or just what you guys do? Thats interesting, that isn't common at all in the states I work in.

Yeah, they typically have a slab or deck framing to tie together. So if you have a slab or deck you guys use pads/pier footings to post - right? I am doing a project in Laguna Beach (CA) right now and that is what we are dong.

I think you guys found a bug...it doesn't seem to work the way you'd think. What is interesting is I remember Michael helping me with a similar issue - it was a "railing" wall used for a courtyard screen - and it worked exactly the way you'd think. The reason I believe this hasn't be an issue yet is its so rare to build full foundations under porches. Typically its just a perimeter footing or pad supports for the posts/columns.

I guess since this is a additional tool (not a replacement) I can't see how this is an issue. I'm sure Chief would say something if they thought it was a problem, but in the end this is about taking files from Chief Architect (starting point) and making them better.

In the case you highlight that isn't a bug issue but rather a setting issue. Chief may lack some features/abilities I want but I dont know it to be "buggy". I wasn't here 8 year ago but I can tell you Chief is pretty stable overall. I use it with a fair sized team and everything works fine. Its going to take some time for you to learn...

Jintu is Lumion 8 worth it?

if I am designing a complicated roof/house design I find turning off auto-attic walls very helpful. Until you have all your rooflines in position, Chief auto creates walls sometimes that are just in the way, and can often lead to some strange connections and fragment wall areas that can cause problems. On more simple homes auto attic wall is wonderful.

Sounds good...

I tried that even and it didn't keep the settings....perhaps we are supposed to have one in our default plan to start with..?

Is there a way to edit terrain defaults??? I'm refining my template file and I dont see anywhere to edit the parameters of a terrain.

"free" is a bit relative. Yes, Unreal is currently free to use for Architect/Designer. I suppose that will change once there is a market created - and i've noticed the folks at Unreal really pushing for architects and planners to use their app. They wouldn't care that much if they simply planned never to have that be an income generator for them. I expect in the near future they will start to charge for Unreal when used for architecture/planning. Also, unlike Lumion there aren't really any packaged resources for architectural. There is a whole sub-industry (like Apple and Windows Store) of selling resources - and the cost adds up quick. You can create your own, but that is just exchanging time for money - and you all know the saying. Lastly, to answer Scott a bit - Unreal doesn't currently accept Collada or 3DS files directly. FBx is emerging as the primary "resource" file type for those engines. Autodesk makes a converter that is simple enough and free, but one thing that really makes Lumion nice is the ability to update your model file when changes are made. Unreal you can do similar things but just more steps and adjustments. Most CAD/BIM apps support Fbx but for some reason Chief hasn't provided this yet. There are some good reasons to use Unreal over Lumion though. Right now (pending tomorrows release) Unreal is MUCH better graphically. Even after tomorrow Unreal will be better but if Lumion is like their demo id say "MUCH" goes to "somewhat". I guess we will see. Also, Unreal allows for some very cool additional things like letting future owners tour their home via game machines such as Xbox and Playstation using their game controller to move through the house like a video game. You can also have interactive elements like turning on/off lights, plumbing fixtures, garage doors, and other cool animations. Beyond that you can also do things with selection generators which on the fly change materials and colors at the users command though slick pre-built UI.

I think they will deliver too... Its just im not going to upgrade until I know for sure. I've been learning Unreal but Lumion would be more practical for the reasons I noted above.