Archnot-Boltz

Softplan is the name. Sorry for the abbreviation.

Obviously, there's No arguement from me regarding the perpetual licensing thing. SP still gives both options and their perpetual license wasn't much more expensive than Chief's. Their monthly subcription at $95 per month is half of Chief's. Their work-flow and drawing methodology is a bit more indirect in that you can't as easily draw first and ask questions later like you can in Chief. Chief kicks arse in preliminary design work and SP kicks arse in materials take-offs an reality of construction drawings. Also allows multiple options within the same base plane without having to do Save As multiple plans (Existing Conditions, Demo Plan and multiple plan options such as Bath 1 w/shower, Bath 2 w/ tub shower etc). On what basis are you so emphatic about Chief's superiority over SP? I used SP briefly back in the late 90's and my coworker, who's a long time veteran Chief user (since Chief 6) and turned me on to Chief in '97 is currently running SP thru it's paces and anxiously awaiting SP2024. I have high hopes for X15 but don't see how an architect would choose Chief over SP. The fact that interior designers and kitchen designers prefer Chief is sort of telling about Chief's not giving the builder, architects a little better in the nuts and bolts department. To continue beating my dead horse: Decks, Stairs, Railings, Beams and Framing, still need work to get up to an architect's level of required detail and model accuracy. Love Chief and hope they continue to improve. But will also be demoing SP to see the grass on the other side. bb

Humble Chief is correct in his assessment that this thread is moot. The die has been cast and those of us who are continuing with SSA are currently hitched to the wagon and continuing on the path. If I were coming in fresh out of the cold, I'd take SP at $95.00 per month hands down (but that's just me).

I don't mind getting a downvote as everyone is entitled to an opinion. Only problem is you don't know if they are downvoting my entire post or a specific portion. A rebuttal is a better response and accomplishes more.

Ok, I can't recall exactly what things cost during all the transitions and thanks for the correction. Actually before SSA, you paid for each upgrade which occurred approximately every two years or so. I recall paying 199.00 to upgrade from Chief 97 to V8? The problem with SSA was that, for awhile, it was cheaper to not pay SSA and skip a version upgrade that didn't seem to do much and then upgrade at the end of season when the next upgrade went on sale. I'm ok with the current cost of SSA vs the subscription cost and hope they keep making it available to us if it allows the program to be sustainable without getting new customers. Of course, the best way for Chief to get new customers would be to fix (not make more complex) the missing or flawed pieces in the program and get more architects. We need real beams, beam pockets, auto joist hangers, definable wall plate heights(in lieu of defining wall hgts with room ceiling hgts which is limiting and makes the drawings unstable etc). Shoot, our CAD doesn't yet have a good rotate around a point tool.-bb

Were you talking ICF (insulated concrete forms) here or IFC as Eric "corrected". If IFC, I don't understand how you can make an IFC model and wall types. Were you both talking apples to oranges? bb

Apparently SP is getting ready to release 2024 and have released a couple of things showing their new features both construction related thus far. I'm imagining there will be an improvement in their rendering. I'm looking forward to seeing what Chief's offering in regards to design and construction nuts and bolts vs kitchen cabinets and rendering. My customer's are suitably impressed with the current 3d offerings that give them a true idea of how their project will look.

Thanks, the only reason that mine is fixed is because you posted the link on this thread and I finally reloaded the 526.98 driver that removed the latest driver automatically in the process. I did not proactively remove the latest driver prior to re-loading the 526.98 driver.

So, now we have two identical corroborations. Will assume that Chief is hashing this out while testing x15. Do we have a site on Chief that lists and links things that would help in these instances?

Rendering is good enough on both platforms (better in Chief for sure). You can send models from both platforms to Lumion etc., which many using Chief seem to do. I'm an architectural designer from a 5 year architectural program (didn't finish thesis) and have worked in commercial architecture offices and builder's offices as well as freelance design and having a small design-build company. For me accuracy of the drawing and model is more important than a picture perfect rendering. But a picture perfect rendering is impossible without a lot of futzing, if the model isn't correct. I can't think of another two programs that are closer to each other than Chief and SP. Autocad and their ilk are entirely different animals. That's all I'm saying. My coworker has been using SP for about a year now and has benefitted from Softlist for full materials takeoffs. The only time I use Chief materials is for a quick roof sheathing or sq foot count for our roofing division. My co-worker is a Chief veteran from 1997 and is convinced that we should switch to SP. I'm holding out because my investment in Chief is the same duration and I prefer the way Chief allows me to draw. There are things in both programs that are superior to the other's and I will be demoing SP in the near future. I used SP in a builder's office for about 5 mos when it was a DOS , black screen program (V8-V-9) in the late '90's and it was better than anything else until I started using and purchased Chief. While learning Chief, I found myself wishing that Chief had some of SP's features and accuracy. I'm not bashing Joe, just not understanding how SP is not our main competitor.

i rolled back my Nvidia graphics card driver from 528.02 to 526.98 this morning and haven't had a crash since. Thanks-BB

I'm crashing several times a day on an x14 drawing and it occurs in 3d views while I'm zooming and panning with my mouse. My co-worker just tried it with one of his plans and it crashed as soon as he moved his mouse in the 3d view. He closed the drawing and reopened and he couldn't make it crash. We are both using the latest Nvidia driver update. Everytime I crash, I'm getting the option to open up a saved version that is more recent message. I'm going to try to roll back to 526.98 and see what happens.

Not even close? When was the last time you demoed or used SP? SP & Chief are the only two residential CAD programs that are in the same category of usability and residential design and they are superior with their Soft List vs Chief's Material in list and at handling the layering of existing conditions in regards to drawing additions. Cadsoft Envisioneer is basically Autocad Lt w/ some 3d. So, Joe, if SP is not Chief's main competitor, who is? -Respectfully-BB

Softplan is Chief's closest competitor as far as I'm concerned and they are at $95 per month for a subscription or you can buy it outright for $3395.00.

Thanks, the only time I crash is when moving around in a 3d view. Mostly in a 3d perspective framing view it seems. My co-worker has the same laptop & operating system but hasn't crashed yet.