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Sketchup is quite powerful and it only costs $595 depending on your needs Chief will probably be better Sketchup has far better BIM capability than Chief does in relation to inter-communication with other BIM software while Chief has good BIM info in walls door windows etc - Chief lacks in communicating with other BIM software a few years ago Sketchup was a very nice companion with Chief for creating symbols but for some time now Chief can do quite well in making symbols if your needs are residential projects and creating permit sets or construction docs then Chief is far better yet, Sketchup is nice to have around also Lew

Kolby: I doubt if most of the HD products have that feature maybe HD PRO ? you should ask your question on the Hometalk forum Lew

Francois: you will probably need to post the plan and layout to get more help than guesses Lew

its been awhile but when building a deck on floor 1 doesn't some of the structure end up on floor 0 ? if so they Steve's first attempt was causing Chief conflicts Lew

Scott: some samples Lew

dssharp: none of the HD products have manual roof tools except for HD PRO has to be done using the auto-roof gen tool Lew

here is the article I was remembering: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-01197/creating-a-prow-roof.html and this one: https://hometalk.chiefarchitect.com/topic/224-how-do-i-design-this-roof/?_fromLogin=1 Lew

HDA is limited to auto roofs only I believe their is a help database article on how to do an auto-gen for a prow roof otherwise you will need a Chief Premier user to do it for you Lew

what is power supply on older PC probably not an issue - just asking Lew

hoping you don't have to buy a new PC I highly recommend i7 for anyone using Chief for work more ram can also help I have a Surface Por 4 but don't use it for Chief as I'm retired I don't use it much either as I hate Win 10 one of my goals while I am snowbirding in NC is to get familiar with Win10 and to configure the Surface to work like Win7 as much as possible not sure if more ram can be added to a Surface ? need to research that Lew

On second thought, if you have trouble with the terrain, don't use Lew's method. Post back here and I , or someone else will help sort you out Glenn: while this also is a good idea it comes with a caveat once it is "sorted out" what happens if there is a change needed now the user has to come back and seek help again IF there are complications they can't handle after my partner Joe fixed a complicated terrain or roof I didn't want to "mess it up" so having independence by using separate plans was very helpful I could play with the roof of the separate garage or gazebo etc and not interfere with the main roof with all its complications each time Joe had to "sort things out" I had to pay him Lew

My suggestion would be to first try it all in one file, and if really turns out to be too difficult and beyond you, try Lew's method. Glenn: this is a good suggestion I would say that 99% of our plans had house and terrain in one plan sorry if I gave an impression otherwise my recommendation comes IF there are complications in terrain or roofs etc or playing with location of the building(s) then having the independence can be very helpful complications for one user can be quite different for another user where a "master" may not see complications a "lesser" user might my partner was skilled enough that he didn't need me I certainly needed him he needed me to run the business as he still had a full time job and lived in the deep piney woods I lived in the Wash DC market and could scare up the clients that is what partnerships are about - mutual benefits Lew

to me recreating the house symbol is FAR easier than touching complex terrain I usually had to have my partner do the terrain and I wouldn't want to "mess with it" at all ,,, ever maybe for those who are masters at terrain maybe its not a big deal ??? we all have reasons for the methods we choose and we do what works best for us Lew

FTDCX7: the bottom line is that Chief is not setup for doing BIM inter-dependence sharing as stated check the file imports that the destination software can use then check the export files Chief can create don't expect miracles even if there is a match Lew

Ben: I agree If CA needed to clean-up the internal routines they should be able to make an external converter Lew

yes, I prefer to make the house into a symbol especially when there are other buildings then I place each building into its own plan this also helps when building/re-building roofs and framing etc keeps conflicts from happening Lew

Rich: doing "pro bono" work is a great way to get noticed however, never work for free for builders and other clients offer to do the first project or two for "payment on approval" insist on payment IF it goes to permit Lew

Diane: usually the front door always faces towards the bottom of the screen adjust the terrain accordingly Lew

prof. orgs are a "must" website social media if you are NOT an architect then don't claim to be one but using phrases like "I am a designer not an architect" and "using software by Chief Architect" are big helps for SEO on your website and FB page etc word of mouth works also - I started designing with partner part-time in 2005 went full-time late 2006 2007 was first full year - we had 13 clients - 18 projects - and won Merit award for historic remodel Lew

David: we have been making those recommendations for years and years if CA had an issue with it the moderators would have done something long ago Lew

Last resort should be this forum. It's great, but it should not be your go to source in my opinion Michael: I agree that asking questions here should be "last resort" however, I do recommend reading "every" post in "every" thread this forum is a great educational tool while you may not understand or need what is being discussed it is good to make a mental note about it for future needs If time allows I would even recommend going back to the postings starting March 2016 when X8 was released and skimming most of them I did this prior to buying Chief in 2004 I have been readin "everything" ever since until I retired in 2012 now I pick and choose which posts to read Lew

sorry, but I think you are screwed if anyone can send you the libraries they need to verify with CA that you have a valid license you could try to find someone selling a legal X4 license and then you can download the libraries again I think - check with CA's customer service avoid X3 the library system was changed and was horrible they changed it again in X4 to the current system plus X4 will give you the annoset feature (among others) Lew

he also tortured his wife's dogs - cutting them wide open to prove they didn't have souls Lew

for me the easiest solution is to use hardware locks wherever the key is that PC can run Chief doesn't matter who is at the keyboard Lew

CA's tech support is still open 6 AM - 5 PM Pacific Lew