GLOBE-Res

Depending on your needs, Home Designer Pro is more than capable to do what you need to do for residential and lite commercial projects. You can very easily rent to own on a tight budget. As you earn commissions the software pays for itself. There are a lot of tutorial videos built into the software and more on YouTube. AND when ever you have issues, you can always ask a question in the Forums.

If I buy the X9 outright for $2695 today, what happens 12 months from now? Do I have to buy it again or can I use it as is as long as I want? I bought version 8, then upgraded to version 9.0, then version 9.5. I haven't needed to upgrade since. But, my computer suffered a boot up problem because of a bad storm and I was forced to buy a new computer. The new computer won't run the v9.5 Chief. And to make it worse, the new Chief won't load my 9.5 projects. I'm really ticked off. I have a lot of projects that are now of no use. That's so F'k up. I can't even complete 4 projects started in Chief just in the last few months. So, I'm forced to either buy new Chief software or go to another program. That old 9.5 was just fine for me. I didn't need to upgrade. So, If I buy the X9 this year, am I forced to upgrade or will I be able to get as many years as I want out of it?

If I buy the X9 outright for $2695 today, what happens 12 months from now? Do I have to buy it again or can I use it as is as long as I want? I bought version 8, then upgraded to version 9.0, then version 9.5. I haven't needed to upgrade since. But, my computer suffered a boot up problem because of a bad storm and I was forced to buy a new computer. The new computer won't run the v9.5 Chief. And to make it worse, the new Chief won't load my 9.5 projects. I'm really ticked off. I have a lot of projects that are now of no use. That's so F'k up. I can't even complete 4 projects started in Chief just in the last few months. So, I'm forced to either buy new Chief software or go to another program. That old 9.5 was just fine for me. I didn't need to upgrade. So, If I buy the X9 this year, am I forced to upgrade or will I be able to get as many years as I want out of it?

Ok so what if my other computer is a 64 bit computer that was running windows 7, if I'm not mistaken, that computer won't load the program because the program is built on a 32 bit os platform. Is there a way to change the software to run on a 64 bit os?

Hell I have a few hundred plus the projects I was working on just this past week. Ok so what if my other computer is a 64 bit computer that was running windows 7, if I'm not mistaken, that computer won't load the program because the program is built on a 32 bit os platform. Is there a way to change the software to run on a 64 bit os?

Ok, so, I had Chief 9.5. I downloaded the new x9. I can't open my older 9.5 with the new X9, wth?

I have no idea how do do that. Ho do i "dual boot"? Where do I go for drivers? Gosh I'd love to get this all running. I miss my old puter

My computer suffered a rapid power cycling of 4 times and screwed it up, so, I had to go buy a new computer. So, I have version 9.5, that I guess was for a 32 bit computer. I also have a USB hardware lock. I was fine with that version. It worked, it was paid for, it did what I needed, no muss, no fuss. But, it won't acknowledge the usb hardware lock on the new computer, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mickey and all the folks who have weighed in on this topic, Thanks so much! The chart that Mickey provided was exactly what I was hoping I would find. My eventual goal is to get my license. Here in PA as well as other States, the process for eligibility to sit for the A.R.E. exists based on experience, the non-traditional path to licensure. I have been working with an architect who is slowly growing the project types e.g. residential and commercial. The architect has been using Archicad for roughly 10 years and swears by it for residential as well as commercial. when she was working in other firms, those firms adopted Archicad as the sole cad platform. The learning curve is fairly shallow compared to Revit and yet more powerful and flexible than Chief. As I am slowly getting involved with more commercial projects I'm seeing that Archicad is probably the way to go. Thanks again folks.

I need to be able to do this: > Existing Condition Survey > CD's e.g. Plans, Elevations, Sections, Details > Schedules would be great Seriously, aren't houses just smaller versions of Bigger buildings? Is it not possible to create Blocks or Components in Chief? Steel trusses for roof and floors, concrete floors with decking, Walls that are curtain wall and shaped? Has no one taken the leap to push Chief past residential?

I know I need to upgrade. I'm using AutoCAD v2008, Sketch-Up v7 and Chief 9.5. I want/need to be able to do lite commercial up to maybe medium weight commercial. These samples are good examples especially if they can be exported to DWG format.

I guess it depends on the definition of what Lite Commercial is. That 10 story Condo is not lite commercial.

Sketch Up

The Light Commercial projects that are in the gallery are quite nice. I'd like to see what a set of cd's look like that were created with Chief for LT Commercial. I saw the Condo project that was done with 9.5 and that was pretty impressive. I'd like to see that in a CD format.

That's the kicker. I do residential as well as commercial. One friend has Archicad, another has Revit. They all say that theirs is best. No good side by side comparison with people to talk with.

Does anyone have any thoughts about Archicad compared to Chief?

Guess not. I used Photoshop to rotate and imported it that way. Paint only gives you 90 degree rotation.

I guess but I thought that Chief would rotate a jpeg.

Holding in the Control doesn't work either.

I just tried to Replicate, 0 copy, rotate angle 45 and it still rotated at 90

I do have rotate & replicate.

I just dropped in another jpeg and it will only rotate 90 degrees?

Mike are you using v9.5?

I'm using version 9.5. I'm trying to use a scanned jpeg for a floor plan by scaling the jpeg ( there are known dimensions ) and then rotating the jpeg. For some reason the jpeg won't rotate other than 90 degrees. Is there any thing I can do to get this to rotate something other than 90?

Why not simply put it off to the side on the model then on a layout sheet create a view with that wall section? Keep in mind that you will have your Active file open AND your Layout file open, you will then be Sending Views to the Layout sheet of your choice. Your Active file creates all your views for your Layout sheets. That way everything is linked directly. That's the "beauty" of Chief. However, if you want to create an Active file that holds a "Library" of details, you can then organize ALL details into one "Library" and then you have consistency from project to project if you do a lot of projects. I do it that way, personally. It's important that you maintain "standards" so that you have consistency in my humble opinion. If you have any staff or outside contractors helping you then consistency will be automatic. That way you are less likely to have any errors or omissions.