DavidJPotter

The main bottle neck you are having is the dedicated VRAM of your video support (256 Mb dedicated) if you look over the suggested "Minimum Hardware Requirements" listed on the Chief Architect Inc website it states: Minimum: Multi-Core Processor CPU Video Card: At least 512MB of dedicated video memory OpenGL 3.3 or higher for a Windows-based PC OpenGL 4.1 or higher for a Mac 5GB of available hard disk space Internet Access 4 GB memory (RAM) Recommended: 16 GB memory (RAM) 50 GB of available hard disk space 4 GB or 8 GB gaming video card 64-bit Windows 7 / 8 / 10 Mac OS 10.12 / 10.11 (Sierra / El Capitan) Your video card does not meet minimum specifications as above and is most likely the source of your slowness. My video card has 2 Gb of dedicated VRAM and it is rather old but still performing. It makes a HUGE difference in general performance. DJP

Please read this article for more technical data about your intended purchase: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-620.172256.0.html Generally speaking ANY and I say with authority ANY video support by ANY manufacturer is a complete waste of money. Proper video support on any PC needs to be based within a dedicated video card not some cheap piece of crap built into the motherboard of any PC or laptop. My advice is to spend more $$$ and get a proper rig. Such laptops are for browsing the web and doing light weight graphics jobs. Perhaps I am being unfair to Intel but I doubt it. DJP

An Engineer will be happy to do the Engineering (Foundation design and structural callouts) I usually share my plans with them in AutoCAD file format as most Engineers have and use AutoCAD. I do not know lots of Architects but the ones I do know would not touch your project at all whatsoever on an out source basis. Not being an Architect or Engineer has never stopped me getting my plans done. I commonly share the basic design with an State Licensed Engineer licensed where the project will be built. Once I get the engineering back (Foundation design and structural callouts) I then finalize the plans based upon his or her advice and add their name to the plan set for them to review before submittal to a permit authority. I think that you will find the above more usual and workable but as I said, you may yet be able to get an Architect licensed in your state to help. In any case I wish you well. DJP

I agree with DS Hall in that since we, none of us are having this problem it can be assumed that it is your hardware or your way of 3D modeling that is the source of your difficulties. Having a copy of your plan will make clear one way or another what is what. I have learned over the years to avoid methods that cause problems. That took me years of trial and error to develop. When I have unsolvable problems I do not ask here. I ask Tech Support for help and have always received it when I seldom do ask. None of us here are psychic nor do we have special powers to understand. Like any physical scientist we use evidence to figure things out and verbal data is not evidence of anything other than one's opinions and ability to confront and understand something. DJP

Also I would recommend this as a "Feature Request" to Chief Architect Inc. This sort of functionality should be added to the software. There is nothing wrong with taking the steps to have it now but it is a end user work round currently, Making it a suggestion is also indicated as I am sure others would like the choices if they existed with out several steps of work round. DJP

I use such things a learning event, I simply avoid doing things that get negative results when I identify such things. Just because something is not programmed the way you expect does not mean it is "wrong" but rather you have merely uncovered a wrong way to use the software. There may be a bug to fix there but in the mean time I would refrain from making the same mistake over and over in an attempt to make myself right and make the software wrong as an exercise. That is all I see there. DJP

http://djpdesigns.com/ray-traced-images.html these were mainly done in X1 and X2 back a few years. If I needed complete photo realism I would also pop for Lumion and also use that, I do not need it so I keep that money for other purposes. DJP

I have never done an overnighter since the old days before we had our own ray-trace engine (back in the olden days we used POV Ray). For the last several versions I commonly use about ten or so passes AFTER I have spent time adjusting light sources and material definitions which takes its own time to get right. Patience and a standard of quality is the more important factor than mere time. DJP

I suppose you can add them to your profile plan in the "CAD Detail Management" area. I have done this with other boiler plate kinds of things I use repetitively. I can then zoom in on the specific data I want exposed when I send it to a layout from "CAD Detail Management". The only downside to this is that every plan you then create will have these in the .plan file whether or not you are using these details or not. Where there is a will there is a way. DJP

It is an unnecessary step by "Making a CAD Block" of a PDF because background images are programmed to be "IMAGES" and not CAD blocks. Convert the PDF to a .jpg, .png or some other actual image file type, then add to Library as a backdrop image. If the PDF contains text or CAD detail type graphic data then it should be converted again to an image file format then added to the Library Browser as an image or texture at which time it will become available to future plans as such. Since I am not sure exactly what your purpose is and why you want to save this PDF to your LIbrary Browser I can only then guess as to your purposes as above. PDF files are usually just "Imported" to either plan or layout files for a single use purpose. What exactly is the nature of this PDF you are trying to save and reuse? DJP

Create the truss and then copy-paste that truss into a blank plan. Once successfully into a blank plan export that to a 3D .DWG file, then import that 3D .dwg back into Chief as a "Symbol" and then add the resulting symbol to your library browser for future use. Default trusses merely fill a void that you create between the ceiling and the roof plane bottoms or the void between floors and are programmed to revert to their default condition as a truss object. So if you want a symbol you will have to make one as above. DJP

Home designer titles are not capable of doing Chief Architect Premier type "Ray Traces" no matter what kind of PC or HD software you have. Home Designer Pro offers a wider ability to create any kind of 3D model and roof design but you will have to also upgrade to Premier in order to obtain realistic rendering results, sorry. DJP

My solution is I maintain versions 7-18 on my PC so I can accommodate any users who still use antique software, It is just hard drive space and hard drives are cheap. I also have all Home Designer titles since version 7 of that line for the same reason. Works for me. DJP

You should be able to do this provided you go to safenet.com and get updated drivers for your dongle. Version 10 was designed for Windows XP and runs best within that operating system. I dual boot for older software programs but you can get 9.5 and 10 to run in Windows 10 with the right dongle drivers. DJP

The only problem I have with Sketchfab is the difficulty of navigation within the interior of the model for my clients. Before "Panorama and 3D viewer" was available from Chief.With these new tools I consider Sketchfab as unnecessary and is easier on clients who's PC skills are usually minimal. DJP

The entire point of a Ray Trace is QUALITY, not speed. Things like lighting make the largest savings of time to ray trace, settings like photon mapping etc increase reality but take a bit longer. If you want speed use the Standard Render camera only, if you require quality then Ray Trace. The only other thing that can reduce the time in Ray Tracing is a fast CPU with lots of cores to it. DJP

No the only feasible way would be to export to a .dwg and use that to completely redraw in X7. It is what it is, sorry. DJP

I am spoiled in that for years now I have a geek friend who helps me build my own custom systems. I haven't bought a "Name Brand" prebuilt PC since 1999. Based upon my experiences the main hard drive should be an SSD, the larger the better. I have had the best performance with Chief from "PNY" brand NVIDIA video cards. My current CPU is an AMD 6 core which though now a little aged is still quite snappy, I usually spend about 10 minutes per Ray Trace and get acceptable results. Systems 2 and 3 above look to be solid choices, I hope it all works out to your satisfaction in any case. DJP

I tried both of your plans, got no error messages and found both plans to be rather ordinary in performance in X9. I can only assume that the problem lies in your own PC hardware and or software other than Chief. Probably not what you wanted to hear but all I can report is what happened or failed to happen. DJP

Even Microsoft does not have "24-7" Tech Support, get real. DJP

No comprendo Senior! DJP

Please post a copy of the problem .plan file so others can evaluate its performance on their machines. There are too many possible variables to guess at just from your post above. DJP

Never tired that but you can open the P-solid get its volume and then multiply that by the object's length to get a total for that object. DJP

No, it runs cool. The comparisons I made as to its performance are to my existing desktop and not other laptops. DJP

As soon as you get the dormer located and sized I would "explode" the dormer as in that condition its parts are more stable than as a unified object in its native state. DJP