Whats The Best Way to Learn Chief Architect


Jonas111
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I am new to Chief Architect and have managed to play around enough to get a house drawn up.  I am not going to say they are working set of drawings but they don't look to bad.  I presently own a building company and I mainly want to use Chief Architect to do concepts for new clients.  Also use the 3D rendering to help them make there decisions.  I am not sure I will be good enough to do these plans from beginning to end but over time I truly hope too.  

 

I have a bunch of questions and I can't seem to find my answers through the help area or here on Chief Talk.  What is the best way to learn Chief Architect better?  Is there a training course that is really good for just starting out with this software? 

 

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. 

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I just sent Chief Experts and a message. 

 

Did you guys pay and join them?  Is there anything else I would need from them or just sign up and pay the $597?  Just curious if there is more I would need to pay for after I join. 

 

Thanks for your time

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 There is  no magic pill you can take to learn the program.  It is a never ending process.  You can pay someone to teach you or you can learn by doing.  There are many free videos on the net plus the free videos CA provides.  I would suggest starting with the free videos CA provides,  they are free.  You will learn something with each video you watch.  Once you have watched the CA videos,  (did I say they are free?)  you can move on to watching other free videos,  or by signing up with ChiefExperts or hiring any number of people on this website who offer on line instruction.  

 

Another great place to learn is by monitoring the website.  There is no magic pill,  just a lot of study.  

 

Just remember,  there is  no magic pill,  it takes time.

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Too funny.  I just watched the movie Limitless the other day and all I could think about is that MAGIC PILL.  LOL!!  I do realize that is not reality. 

 

I have watched a numerous amount of videos online.  I have recently watched a bunch of yours (DSHALL) and I appreciate what you have posted.  Super good library. 

I have been learning pretty quick at the beginning and finding all the information I needed.  Lately I have been taking a couple days to a week to get past an issue.  I am hoping to speed up that process a bit. 

 

Thanks for the posts.  They are very helpful.

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My advice is to learn where all the settings are and what they do, either singly or in concert with each other. There are too many to learn in a seminar or class. Learn them a few at a time. Watch a video and then open your software and practice what you saw until you can do the action portrayed or get the product being shown. Then read another section or view another video and then practice what you saw or read about until you can demonstrate that you understand what you studied.

Be watchful for words, terms and symbols that you do not understand while watching or reading, spot them and get them well defined and understood (if you do not understand the words and symbols used, you will not fully understand the theory and will not thereafter be able to get the products of those misunderstood tools and actions.

How fast you go is the speed of your own ability to understand.

 

DJP

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Another vote for Chiefexperts.com, best money I ever spent.  When I joined, it was a one time payment to everything Dan had done in the past, and going forward.  Just a bit more than the foolish SSA that CA offers and you'll be good to go (that is, if you want to put in the time).  Chieftutor.com also good for reference (as well as this forum)!

 

Good luck!

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I would also recommend signing up for Chief Architects SSA program, CA has tons and tons of training videos that will help you as well, plus you get all the benefits that CA has to offer like upgrades and tech support for short money. LEAN BY DOING is a great option too. Just make up projects and get into them.

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If you're coming from an AutoCad background, or any other 2D CAD program for that matter, the first thing you need to do is "unlearn" some of that other stuff. Chief is a 3D program, and thus you need to think in 3D. One thing that I find when training or working with newbies, is that they forget about all of the side effects to moving a wall. In a 2D CAD program, you can move a couple lines that are called walls, and everything else is OK. In Chief, you can move a simple bedroom wall in 16" and think, "OK, that looks good" but when you go to the 3D view.....WHooo. There are auto generated attic walls sticking out everywhere, the foundation wall now has a roof plane snapped onto it, the framing is flying out the side of the building, so on and so forth. 

 

Many of the folks I work with would be well suited to stop looking at the 3D views and trying to figure out how to "fix" things, when all along, moving that wall 16" should have been started at the foundation and worked up to the roof and everything would be OK. Newer versions of Chief make this easier with the more advanced Auto tools, but then again, Chief won't do everything for you. Leave some of the 2D stuff you know behind, and start thinking in 3D.

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