Researching Chief to replace Sketchup and Revit

[Toddster]

I have used Sketchup and Revit and am trying to find something that makes up for what they both lack

I love how simple and intuitive Sketchup is, i can model anything. I hate how non intelligent it is, cutting a hole in a wall for a window or door is a pain in the #@$$.
What i disliked about Revit was how hard it was to do anything really detail oriented, multi piece roof gable trim with overhangs that are different thickness then the rafters required lots of work-arounds and was not at all intuitive to model. I am hoping Chief may be that tool that marries the benefits of both these programs.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated. The work we do is high end, and very detail oriented, I want my plans to reflect all the little details the building will be built with, not generic representations that will be figured out in the field.

Thanks so much for any input

Todd

 

 

[Renerabbitt]

Adding to Eric's question, are you looking to do residential plan-sets? 

[johnny]

Chief can be very frustrating for someone looking for simple modeling freedom that Sketchup provides.  3D generic shape tools are not intuitive, buggy, inconsistent, and difficult to control beyond ultra-simple objects.  Id personally give Chief a failing grade for modeling with shapes in comparison to where other modeling apps are. 

 

Chief is awesome at modeling the bones of a home - and ultra-strong on roofs, cabinets, and generally fairly fast at model development within the framework of a "standard" home.  If you are modeling fine details, and you only want to work with Chief - then I couldn't recommend the app.  The ONLY way i've been able to make it work is I use Sketchup or Vectorworks to model elements and then bring those into Chief as an un-editable symbol object.

 

 

[WesternDesign]

Yeah, what Jonny said.

 

It has taken a bit of time, but I would make the switch again.

[DavidJPotter]

I use Chief and Sketch Up, each has its strengths and they complement each other.

 

DJP

[johnny]

On 11/1/2017 at 1:32 AM, DavidJPotter said:

I use Chief and Sketch Up, each has its strengths and they complement each other.

 

 

I agree David - and 5+ years ago i'd say the concept of having to work within different apps to accomplish modeling one project was perfectly normal.  Today, that trend has been disappearing.  Now, Sketchup is promoting the concept of using their app to go from concept to finished permit-ready documents (where before they didn't) and other BIM apps are taking huge steps to ensure people can model nearly anything inside their apps, or have "live" flexible views at worst case.

 

There are many strong reasons to use Chief - and I generally view the app favorably.  However, its glaring weakness is generic shape modeling.  We can export/import all day long but that gets a bit tedious when you need to do edit work a lot.

 

[Kbird1]

I have watched a few webinars about FormZ Pro and it's use in the Architectural field , perhaps for some it maybe useful especially if you know Sketchup.... there is a free version  ( and Trial ) and a Pro Paid version and addon Render...

 

http://www.formz.com/webinars/webinarReplay.html

 

 

[Richard_Morrison]

I agree with Johnny. I think it depends on what you mean by "high end, and very detail oriented." Sketchup and Chief make a very good combination, but the number of faces in those "details" can have a big impact on the program speed. There are other BIM programs which can handle much larger models (i.e. more detail) without bogging down, but you may not need this.

[mrscott]

Great thread and fine responses from a well respected group of users. I do have one question(s) to any that feel are qualified to respond.

 

THE FOLLOWING IS DIRECTED ONLY AT RESIDENTIAL DESIGN AND CONDOCS

With respect to Sketch 2018 Pro and Revit 2018 (EXCLUSIVE OF COST)...for a complete and structurally accurate (framing, etc) design and Construction software package, would you still choose Chief

 

Considerations:

I have heard Revit is complicated to learn but hey Chief is no Sunday Stroll in the park either, especially when it lacks...well, take stairs and go from there, and Sketch is relatively easy but requires a lot of plug-ins to do things that Chief does out of the box.

 

P.S. I love and have made too big an investment in time, if not money, in Chief to abandoned using it but must be honest. Lately, I have started looking at other options.

Thank you,

[SabGroup]

On 10/31/2017 at 2:35 PM, Toddster said:

I have used Sketchup and Revit and am trying to find something that makes up for what they both lack

I love how simple and intuitive Sketchup is, i can model anything. I hate how non intelligent it is, cutting a hole in a wall for a window or door is a pain in the #@$$.
What i disliked about Revit was how hard it was to do anything really detail oriented, multi piece roof gable trim with overhangs that are different thickness then the rafters required lots of work-arounds and was not at all intuitive to model. I am hoping Chief may be that tool that marries the benefits of both these programs.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated. The work we do is high end, and very detail oriented, I want my plans to reflect all the little details the building will be built with, not generic representations that will be figured out in the field.

Thanks so much for any input

Todd

 

 

 I used Revit about 5 years ago at a design firm. Looking back there is not much a liked about it. I remember the late nights trying to create parametric components for arched windows or a component embedded in the window that would control the vertical and horizontal window lite divisions. Or that time we needed an arched opening in a curved wall. Not as easy as you would think. To get items like ceiling fans and lights to show we had to edit each component and create a hidden vertical line that would cross the cut plane so that they would be visible in electrical plans. 

 

     I remember when I first saw Chief's window tool with full control over options like arches and divided lites. I think I cried. 

[mrscott]

Do you know if these elements have been improved in later versions? Other than those two elements, how does it compare to Chief in completing a set of accurate CONDOCs including, materials, framing, etc?