wesdutka Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 As we all adapt to the rapid integration of AI in our industry, I can’t help but wonder—have others noticed how quickly and dramatically renderings created in Chief Architect can be enhanced using tools like ChatGPT? While the output doesn’t yet perfectly match the specific details of a Chief Architect build, I have to say, the ability to present a conceptual vision of a project with such speed and visual impact is incredibly impressive. For quick presentations and design communication, AI is already a game-changer. That said, it’s not yet at a point where it can be used reliably in permit-ready working drawing sets. It makes me wonder—how far off are we from AI-generated floor plans that match our design intent? And from there, working drawings that comply with municipal, state/provincial, and national codes? Are we, as designers, gradually becoming data input specialists for clients who haven’t yet adopted AI themselves? In some ways, maybe that’s already the case. But I can definitely see the overall time required to produce a full set of plans shrinking significantly as these tools develop. As this evolves, I’m curious—do you think your income will stay the same, increase, or decrease as the process becomes more efficient? Just thinking out loud—where do you see all this heading? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basketballman Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 Agree if you are looking for 100% accuracy in your renderings then Chief to D5 render or TM is IMHO the solution Even with the great quick rendering abilities of A.I. to see that window added that should not be, or cabinet layout all messed up, is beyond annoying. There are A.I. programs & apps available that will create a C.D. set of plans with scale floor plans, elevations, sections and 3D views which can then be available as a .DXF or .DWG file type which can then be edited and tweaked into a quick set of plans.. And you will still need to fix/edit door swings, window placement, etc. 1 hour ago, wesdutka said: As we all adapt to the rapid integration of AI in our industry, I can’t help but wonder—have others noticed how quickly and dramatically renderings created in Chief Architect can be enhanced using tools like ChatGPT? While the output doesn’t yet perfectly match the specific details of a Chief Architect build, I have to say, the ability to present a conceptual vision of a project with such speed and visual impact is incredibly impressive. For quick presentations and design communication, AI is already a game-changer. That said, it’s not yet at a point where it can be used reliably in permit-ready working drawing sets. It makes me wonder—how far off are we from AI-generated floor plans that match our design intent? And from there, working drawings that comply with municipal, state/provincial, and national codes? Are we, as designers, gradually becoming data input specialists for clients who haven’t yet adopted AI themselves? In some ways, maybe that’s already the case. But I can definitely see the overall time required to produce a full set of plans shrinking significantly as these tools develop. As this evolves, I’m curious—do you think your income will stay the same, increase, or decrease as the process becomes more efficient? Just thinking out loud—where do you see all this heading? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdyck Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 This topic has been discussed in sveral posts, but I thought I'd share this recent render by Microsoft CoPilot: From this: To this: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basketballman Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 Beautiful rendering but don't want to drive up my sidewalk to my horrible garage driveway design. Missed a doorway, added a window to right side. misinterpreted roof configuration on right side. But having great landscaping and lighting in 90 seconds ... priceless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHCanada2 Posted July 5 Share Posted July 5 1 hour ago, basketballman said: Beautiful rendering but don't want to drive up my sidewalk to my horrible garage driveway design This is where I think these things are not really AI, or the I is severely lacking. If almost every human on the planet can spot the driveway problem but it cannot, all it is really doing is pattern matching, and then replacing. Although one has to wonder how it "decides" to add a new window Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerMaster86 Posted July 6 Share Posted July 6 I just can't get over how many people think chat GPT is the greatest thing in world for generating these cool groovy renderings. I tried my hand at it just the other day but, I keep noticing little quirks. Fore example, in the picture below, a shingle ridge cap for a G-Rib steel panel roof. I didn't even notice it at first with my poor vision. Now I can't unsee it. Of course I have to be real and say how would chat GPT know that was a sheet metal roof. I didn't specify that in my prompt. With my limited knowledge of A.I., I wonder if I wrote a very lengthy prompt would it do a better job or would I confuse it more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerMaster86 Posted July 6 Share Posted July 6 I just noticed another quirk with the same image. Man, I didn't even catch this yesterday. Below is the original export from Chief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisb222 Posted Monday at 12:33 PM Share Posted Monday at 12:33 PM On 7/6/2025 at 5:04 AM, ComputerMaster86 said: I just can't get over how many people think chat GPT is the greatest thing in world for generating these cool groovy renderings. The cool groovy part is how nice they look aesthetically, and how fast and easy it is. No one wants the architecture and building features changed, or a sidewalk for a driveway. But the images are very nice; just compare your AI image to your Chief image. But yeah that's the problem- so far it can't maintain building accuracy. At least not the free versions I've tried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basketballman Posted Monday at 01:10 PM Share Posted Monday at 01:10 PM Paid version much better; but Chief to D5 render first to preserve the design integrity ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtcapa1 Posted Monday at 03:31 PM Share Posted Monday at 03:31 PM Which image is which? Can you elaborate a bit more on your experience using D5 to finish your renderings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdyck Posted Monday at 03:58 PM Share Posted Monday at 03:58 PM @jtcapa1I'll jump in even though I wasn't asked! D5 is simply a better tool for interior renderings. That doesn't mean that it is always siginficantly better or even necessary, but there are times where the improvements are worth using. Here's one example. In these images, I wanted to explore the close-up render of one aspect of a scene. The most notable improvements were in the mapping of the materials. Notice the curved marble molding, the vase, and the brass faucet. In D5, these just work! In Chief, the molding and vase will not map correctly. Chief X16: D5: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basketballman Posted Monday at 04:53 PM Share Posted Monday at 04:53 PM Way more controls for all things 3D rendered .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basketballman Posted Monday at 05:24 PM Share Posted Monday at 05:24 PM 1 hour ago, jtcapa1 said: Which image is which? Can you elaborate a bit more on your experience using D5 to finish your renderings? The empty room was first created in Chief then transferred to D5 where it was furnished and decorated then rendered in 16K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtcapa1 Posted Monday at 08:36 PM Share Posted Monday at 08:36 PM Peals before swine. These are very subtle nuanced and another black hole of time. Most of my clients are not as interested in that level of detail. Looks like fun though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kbird1 Posted Tuesday at 07:54 AM Share Posted Tuesday at 07:54 AM 15 hours ago, robdyck said: The most notable improvements were in the mapping of the materials. Notice the curved marble molding, the vase, and the brass faucet. In D5, these just work! In Chief, the molding and vase will not map correctly. I was disappointed when Chief decided not to work directly with D5 to allow a seamless Plugin for us as well as the other Programs D5 supports. M. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonathanK Posted Tuesday at 01:18 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 01:18 PM On 7/7/2025 at 8:10 AM, basketballman said: Paid version much better; but Chief to D5 render first to preserve the design integrity ... Not going to lie...I like your CA rendering better. I'd be curious how it would turn out with higher quality objects, rather than typical low quality library objects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdyck Posted Tuesday at 01:52 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 01:52 PM In this album, the vanity rendering is the only image not rendered with Chief. Everything else is rendered with Chief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonathanK Posted Tuesday at 02:15 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 02:15 PM @robdyck those look great! I like the ones a little further down in your gallery. Looks like you're starting to get CA Render dialed in. Yeah...they're missing that "ultra realistic" touch that you get with an outside rendering software...but it's really impressive for Chief. Especially considering what Chief used to be 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basketballman Posted Tuesday at 02:30 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 02:30 PM 30 minutes ago, robdyck said: In this album, the vanity rendering is the only image not rendered with Chief. Everything else is rendered with Chief. " Took your living room scene and test ran it through A.I. As you can see it is nowhere near perfect in terms of the little details, but it's grasp of how to light a scene is def. one of the main features.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHCanada2 Posted Tuesday at 03:31 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 03:31 PM 57 minutes ago, basketballman said: As you can see it is nowhere near perfect in terms of the little details, but it's grasp of how to light a scene is def. one of the main features.. it made it better in some respects, but also not what was intended, as the light comes in thru the blinds and creates a shadow in Rob's, but not the AI. I find CA's light is too "green" (my guess is because of the terrain and sun intensity) , and it does require some fiddling to get rid of the green. I can see the AI advantage that one does not have to presumably do the fiddling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonathanK Posted Tuesday at 03:48 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 03:48 PM Overall, I prefer the lighting a mood of the AI generated image. It feels more realistic. The only obvious differences I can spot are things like the coffee table legs, and there is no "lighting" coming from the flames of the fireplace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renerabbitt Posted Wednesday at 07:09 AM Share Posted Wednesday at 07:09 AM 23 hours ago, Kbird1 said: I was disappointed when Chief decided not to work directly with D5 to allow a seamless Plugin for us as well as the other Programs D5 supports. M. Why wouldn't you be mad at D5 instead. 3ds and Dae are pretty common import options in most 3rd party modeling and rendering softwares 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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