GoldenFeather Posted December 23, 2018 Share Posted December 23, 2018 Is it possible to edit Chief Architect 3D symbols in Sketchup? I would like to: Export the symbol to Sketchup, edit it and then import it back to Chief Architect. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsaw Posted December 23, 2018 Share Posted December 23, 2018 There are actually a lot of editing processes that can be done in Chief such that it may not be necessary to export and re-import. What is it you need to do ? If necessary you should be able to export as .3ds and then bring it back as .skp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenFeather Posted December 23, 2018 Author Share Posted December 23, 2018 Thank you. I am slightly trying to modify this chair to look like the chair in the picture. I also have a lot of little edits that I would like to do to many other chief symbols that are close to what I need but need a small edit here or there. I am trying to learn how to edit 3D symbols in chief but have been unsuccessful in finding the resources to learn. The chair in the chief picture is close to the same but needs the two pieces that hold the back rest to be a little longer. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsaw Posted December 23, 2018 Share Posted December 23, 2018 Yes that may be a little easier to do in sketchup but you could delete a few surfaces form the chief symbol and solid model what you need onto it and recreate the symbol. @Alaskan_Son has some great video resources that are fairly advanced but are a great view once you have mastered what Chief has to offer in their video's. Here is one that has some great techniques for material manipulation. Subscribe for many more..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenFeather Posted December 23, 2018 Author Share Posted December 23, 2018 This is exactly what Ive been looking for. If you know of any more resources let me know! Great appreciation to you! Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenFeather Posted December 23, 2018 Author Share Posted December 23, 2018 Any idea of how I would make the pieces of the chair that hold the back rest longer inside chief architect? Is there a video for that? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsaw Posted December 24, 2018 Share Posted December 24, 2018 Could not find a video specific enough for your situation so I had a go at making one for you. It is a little long but I think I covered all the necessary steps. Merry Christmas. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg_NY61 Posted December 24, 2018 Share Posted December 24, 2018 You don't need to export CA symbols to SketchUp, if you have SketchUp you can build that chair inside Sketchup in 5 min. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbuttery Posted December 24, 2018 Share Posted December 24, 2018 GoldenFeather: In the "old days" it was necessary to use SU as you propose back around ver X2 or so it became unnecessary for the most part to need SU I speak as one who reads the "traffic" on this forum and not one who can do symbols at all SU still makes a good companion for Chief - just not used as much these days Lew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenFeather Posted December 24, 2018 Author Share Posted December 24, 2018 Greg_NY could you post a video of making the chair in Sketchup? I'm curious to see that. Thank you chopsaw! Watching video now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenFeather Posted December 24, 2018 Author Share Posted December 24, 2018 You rock chopsaw!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg_NY61 Posted December 25, 2018 Share Posted December 25, 2018 GF, I'm not that good with videos but here is a quick chair I made for you in SketchUp. I didn't get into the details much (have a family function) but maybe you can use it. Merry Christmas! ChairCA.calibz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenFeather Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 How long did it take you to do the chair? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskan_Son Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 5 hours ago, GoldenFeather said: How long did it take you to do the chair? I can't answer for Greg, but I'd say a pretty dern close to accurate chair could be modeled in Chief in about an hour or so, and a more generic version like what Greg posted could be done in half that time in Chief. It just comes down to knowing the tools and formulating a good plan of attack. Just bear in mind that the more detailed and accurate a symbol becomes, the more surfaces it has, and the slower your model becomes. Good to use rectangular profiles instead of round whenever possible, and flat surfaces instead of curved where you can get away with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg_NY61 Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 It took about 5-8 min, all it was is the use of a few plugins. Pipe along the path, Extrusion plugins, and Radial bend... If you take the time you can make that chair to look better than in the picture. That said I wouldn't even consider modeling anything in chief other than basic stuff you can slap together in a few minutes. Chief is not for making 3D furniture models or anything else for that matter, it's a drafting program to make plans, etc Making 3D models especially with curves, etc it's to time-consuming because if it takes you 30 min to make something in Chief, it will take you 5 min in Sketchup because it's a model making software and all of the plugins are free (95% of them). As an example take a look at this plugin it costs a little bit but the number of things you can create just by putting a few minor details together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenFeather Posted December 28, 2018 Author Share Posted December 28, 2018 Holy cow! That's a good sketchup add on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaskan_Son Posted December 28, 2018 Share Posted December 28, 2018 15 hours ago, GoldenFeather said: Holy cow! That's a good sketchup add on! A lot of Sketchup's add-ons look pretty cool (and some of them actually are pretty cool) and a lot of them are free, but but BUT... Plan on spending a lot time and money anyway. Many add-ons aren't free, many features and uses require purchasing the Pro version, and you have to find, download, install, study, and learn the quirks of each and every add-on...in addition to learning the ins and outs of Sketchup as well. You're essentially buying your software one tool at a time from a super broad range of different companies. And it's super easy to spend half the day playing with an add-on that you may ultimately use once or decide to never use at all. Better to do that or spend the extra 15 minutes to just model in Chief? Anyway, here's how I look at it...spend time and money trying to learn and stay up to date with 2 programs and be kinda mediocre with both of them, or try to truly master the one and just piddle around with the others when you find time. P.S. I'm not necessarily recommending against using Sketchup or saying that it isn't a valuable tool. I use it myself from time to time and there are certainly things it excels at. I just feel that when you really get down to the nitty gritty of it, Sketchup is nowhere near as simple, free, or even as cheap as it seems on the surface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CARMELHILL Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 On 12/28/2018 at 2:09 PM, Alaskan_Son said: A lot of Sketchup's add-ons look pretty cool... I have been wanting to add something to my drawings that might be too specific for Chief to do. I want to add 3d plumbing risers and also 3d HVAC runs. Is Sketchup my answer? Chief has a "cute" HVAC work around with molding profiles...but it's limited and not as automatic as I would like. It'll probably never see further development.....see here... and a description here.... https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-02840/drawing-hvac-ductwork.html I know Vectorworks has an HVAC tool but it was developed years ago as a demonstration only tool. Again, probably won't ever be further developed. The new version of Bricscad has an nice HVAC and plumbing run tool and also additional pay/for plugins....... So I'm thinking Sketchup with it's huge exposure to and extensive base might be a good option with the additional plugsin by 3 skeng http://extensions.sketchup.com/en/user/2706/store especially since Chief is relatively compatible with imported Sketchup symbols. I use the warehouse ALOT! Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopsaw Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 46 minutes ago, CARMELHILL said: Any thoughts? I am not sure if Chief uses search results as any sort of an indication of relevance of any particular subject matter but I think 6250 hits on a thread about 3D plumbing layout should be an indication that people are looking for software to draw such a thing. I have sent in a detailed feature request for such a thing and have made some progress on building my own ABS library but it is a lot of work and I could definitely use a little help from Chief. Not really sure that any one individual has 100 or more hours to put into something like that but collectively I am sure each of us would be willing to pay for a few minutes for Chief to do the work for us all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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