A.I. / LLM Good RENDERING Prompts

[Joe_Carrick]

What prompts did you use?

I do notice some differences in the shingles and you specifice board an batt siding which wasn't my choice.

 

BTW, the little pine trees planted that close to the structure is a really bad idea.  They will grow and create all kinds of problems.

Edited Monday at 09:40 PM by Joe_Carrick

[JonathanK]

It's a prompt that I've fine tuned over the last few months.  Nothing that anyone wouldn't be able to replicate on their own.

 

It just has a lot of personal preferences and fine tuning/tweaking.

 

But I use Gemini's AI.  For the creative space, it's one of the better ones.  Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, etc.. are all not great in the creative sense.  They are excellent "companions" or "code writers".

 

But I'm looking for a "rendering engine" more or less...and Gemini excels in that.

[JonathanK]

Basically...if you upload a Chief render, and say "Make this more realistic", the AI will take all the stuff and enhance it slightly.  But it will mostly just use all your textures, etc...

 

But...if you upload a technical illustration and tell it what you want for materials, backgrounds, etc.. then it finds them and applies that to your illustration.

 

The biggest challenge I ran into was that no matter what I did, it was always too clean and cartoony.

 

The technical illustration shows the differences in the sidings, roofing, stone, etc.. so AI has context.  You just need to tell it what you want...and it will fill in the gaps.

 

Think rendering engine, not photo enhancer.  It will do the photo enhancement, but if you feel like you're hitting a ceiling, that's the next step.

[JonathanK]

10 years ago, I would dream of creating architectural visualizations that were extremely realistic.  I always used Thea and Kerkythea with multiple softwares and importing models and creating textures, etc.. It would take a full night to let it run and in the morning, I'd get in and find that this wasn't quite right, or that wasn't quite right.  It was a multi-day task to get one decent image.

 

AI has brought that so much closer...and the more advanced it gets, the better the output.  AND the quicker the turnaround.

 

It's quite amazing.

Edited Monday at 10:01 PM by JonathanK

[Rich_Winsor]

 

I'm not a macro guy but since ChatGPT keeps asking

me if I want to write code I thought I would ask it if it

could write Chief macros. FWIW, here's the upshot.

 

Prompt: Can ChatGPT create macros in chief architect 17 software?

 

Reply:

Short answer: Yes — ChatGPT can help create macros for Chief Architect (including version 17), but there are some important limitations.

---

 What ChatGPT can do

• Write Ruby macros (the language Chief Architect uses)
• Help you:
  • Build custom labels, schedules, and reports
  • Format object data (dimensions, materials, counts, etc.)
  • Debug or improve existing macros
• Explain how to use the Text Macro Management (TMM) system and object variables (NVPs)

Chief Architect macros are essentially Ruby scripts that read data from objects (like cabinets, rooms, windows) and output text or calculated values.

 

  What ChatGPT cannot fully do on its own

• It doesn’t know your specific model’s variables (NVPs) unless you provide them
• It may guess variable names that don’t exist, which leads to broken macros It can struggle with complex relationships in Chief Architect’s data structure (e.g., linking windows to rooms) It can’t modify geometry or core program behavior—only report or calculate data

---

  Reality check (important)

Think of ChatGPT as a macro assistant, not a plug-and-play generator:

•   Great for:
  • “Write a macro to display cabinet width/height/depth”
  • “Fix this macro error”
  • “Combine these values into a label”
•   Less reliable for:
• • Highly complex automation across multiple objects
  • Anything requiring deep internal Chief Architect relationships

• Even experienced users note that ChatGPT can get “really close” but still need manual adjustment

  ---

    Best way to use ChatGPT with Chief Architect

  To get working macros, you should provide:

• The exact object type (cabinet, room, window, etc.)
• The NVP variables (from TMM)
• The goal output

• Example prompt that works well:

  “Write a Chief Architect macro using Ruby that outputs cabinet width, height, and depth. Variables are: width, height, depth.”

  ---

    Bottom line

•  Yes, ChatGPT can absolutely help you create macros for Chief Architect 17
•  But you’ll still need to test, tweak, and supply correct variables
•  It’s best used as a coding partner, not a fully automatic solution

• ---

  If you want, tell me what macro you're trying to build and I can write one tailored to your exact setup

 

[Michael_Gia]

17 hours ago, JonathanK said:

I have found if you want AI to enhance a picture, it takes your textures and basically just makes them looks somewhat "real".  But the problem with that is that a lot of the textures in Chief are poorly tile-able.

I would be curious if @Joe_Carrick took a Technical Illustration of the same angle on his cabin, and told AI what materials to use for roofing, siding, trims, background, etc... if it would generate a much more realistic looking render.

 

The scene he posted has a lot of context, which AI needs.  But it has too much for textures, etc.. so it basically just makes it look "meh" level realistic.

You can just feed it an elevation with only the pattern lines, along with the sample swatches of whatever material you want to use, and it will generate the seamless textures itself.  
 

like this….

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 10:12 AM by Michael_Gia

[GeneDavis]

I find it useful for producing images so we can see rooms in different color schemes, and when doing the prompts, give it the sources for the colors.  Examples are "Cabinets to be painted Walzcraft 'Spring Rain' and all walls and ceilings Benjamin Moore 'Chantilly Lace.'  And show the lot views outside through the windows as a mature forest of mixed red maple and white pine, tree limbs and crows way up 15 feet and more, the lighting being 30 minutes before sunset."  

 

ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Grok have all done well when I've tried this same dialog.

 

I have compared the images to photos on Houzz in which the colors are given, and AI gives great matches.

 

But all three struck out when I tried to get a pendant fixture I wanted over a dining table, even when I gave the LLMs screencaps of the specific fixture I wanted.  They blew the image, not getting details right, and blew the scale.  I had to make my own in Sketchup and import it, and it was just a simple inverted dome.  Same with some wall sconces.

[JonathanK]

2 hours ago, Michael_Gia said:

You can just feed it an elevation with only the pattern lines, along with the sample swatches of whatever material you want to use, and it will generate the seamless textures itself.  
 

like this….

 

 

 

Yes...you're right, and your picture you posted looks great!

 

Definitely more than one way to skin a cat.

[JonathanK]

Other options I've dabbled in...but haven't spent a ton of time perfecting these.

[Rich_Winsor]

Create a photorealistic image of mt rushmore on a beautiful day with puffy clouds in the sky. replace lincoln with the 1st picture - replace roosevelt with the 2nd picture - replace jefferson with the 3rd picture - replace washington with the 4th picture. have all the replacements look like stone like the presidents look.

 

 

 

 

[Michael_Gia]

petition to move @Rich_Winsor permanently to the chatroom since he can't behave.

[Joe_Carrick]

3 hours ago, Michael_Gia said:

petition to move @Rich_Winsor permanently to the chatroom since he can't behave.

But he just immortalized me & 3 of my fellow Chiefers; Rene, Dan & Michael 

Edited 19 hours ago by Joe_Carrick

[Gawdzira]

No notes.

[basketballman]

Balloon House ..

 

 

[basketballman]

Unboxing ..

 

 

 

[ProPlan_2011]

Crazy !!!

[GeneDavis]

Here is a very interesting video that showcases Sketchup's rendering and compares it head to head with Nano Banana.  Note the focus on the development of the prompts, and how photographs were used taken at the site.