Peter_Grant

Sounds Like a big Project. Do you have a couple example sketches of the homes that you could show that could give us an idea of what we might be getting into? I do still images, but I mainly focus on mobile-friendly interactive tours made with Chief models. You can check out an inside/outside tour here: http://avatarstudios.ca/bowersconstruction/governorsbrook_exterior/index.html Work would be rendered using Physically Based Rendering techniques. It's not too big of a leap for us to go to an interactive user experience for your models either.

Our studio is looking to outsource our modeling to other CA pros. We would provide the construction plans, and would be looking for an articulated CA model in return. We would provide a plan template with customized defaults for you to work off of. The main priority is accuracy, the aesthetic appeal of the model, and close detail of naming materials. We export the models into another program for post-processing, and the post-program recognizes CA materials as independant layers instead of the original CA layers. Included in the finished model would be: main structure windows/doors stairs millwork cabinetry fixtures major appliances electrical - outlets, switches, and potlights basic terrain with driveway/walkway exterior millwork accents (CA catalogue materials only - nothing custom). Plans are in a variety of formats - both pdf and .dwg. Speed, attention to detail, and volume are key. We are gearing up for 50+ plans to be completed, and are looking to offset the workload to some chief speed demons. If you're interested, you can reach us via email at info@avatarstudios.ca. We're still working on selecting which plans we'll be using, and we'll be releasing them for quotes in the near future. Right now we're interested in building a relationship with someone we can rely on to supply the models. If you have a modeled home already and you know how much you'd charge to model it from construction documents, feel free to send it to us as a .dae file with a little write-up. We think this will be a fun project - we look forward to hearing from you!

The house, landscape, and most of the interior furnishings were modeled in CA. Some of the 3D assets (ie trees) were found in the sketchup warehouse. A secret sauce of software was used to bring the model into the publishing platform. Took a little bit of time to get the presentation behaving the way I wanted, but overall I'm satisfied with the end result. http://3d.cl3ver.com/xHCB2 Need to market a spec home or design? Welcome to the future.

I think it's important to note that SSA is not required if you're 100% satisfied with the Chief version you're using. The SSA is really for people who want the best from Chief at all times, including the concierge technical support if you run into bugs that can cost your business money. I think it's understandable that Chief has a base line renewal fee to help pay for their own product development, and that they pro-rate the fee according to how long ago your SSA expired. If you paid your SSA to get X6, and then only paid again now in anticipation of being able to get X8 when it came out without the fee being higher, then you would be skipping over paying for any development of X7, which was an essential task that needed to be done (and funded) in order for X8 to ever come out. It makes sense that you would be paying the extra vs if you kept up your subscription. I think you should just budget for your SSA if you take Chief seriously.