Sims Free App does things Chief can not do

[PLANSAHEAD]

  Hi all, Tony here a long time user and big fan of Chief,I've made a living using the software for over 20 years. But a lot of things have changed, one of them being that I see now, even my ten year old daughter can design houses on her cell phone. I am alarmed. I see features in a free application that surpass Chief Architect by leaps. Now I know that this silly app will not do the real grunt work that design professionals need to do to produce a full set of construction drawings, but it may be only a matter of time and in the meantime there are things that Sims Free does that Chief cant even come close to. People walking, dogs running, disco balls reflection all interactively as she moves around her 'model'. Easily. She creates parks with people arm in arm ballroom dancing, water flowing in the stream, a pet pushing its way out of a door, never mind a person coming outside to have a look around their back yard or up at the roofscape. We still have the same twenty Images  of people that we had twenty years ago. Yes I know its possible to make your own images, I do, but we are talking about a TEN year old that with a free application that creates videos that rival and go beyond mine. The features are a bit cartoonish, the styles a little dated, but it seems to me that in the right hands, those can be updated and Voila, a product that at least on the surface is in some ways better than the software that I use. The bar has been raised; I for one have alwys used the 3d rendering features of Chief and would love to show some one walking out a door, or looking at the sunset from their shoreline home. Would really use it. What are the general thoughts on this people? Are we behind? Or are they just catching up?If you follow the link ,I have put up a sample of one of her houses. Notice how fluid the transitions are, how effortlessly she moves around the pace, how the walls and roofs are invisible with a on the fly w/ the push of an on screen button. Its great.Hey at the very least, I think I could put her to work ! Check out a few of my videos as well, all projects begun in Chief Architect.

 

https://youtu.be/IiZnUXa2Vjg

 

Tony Thompson

Plans Ahead LLC

Branford

[Alaskan_Son]

I don't think SIMS is catching up or that Chief is falling behind.  That sort of thing has been possible for quite sometime using free or very cheap programs.  They are all extremely limited and lacking with regard to any true "intelligence", detail specific customization, and plan production.  Its all visual fluffery if you ask me. 

 

The most "advanced", expensive, and fully "BIM" modelling apps aren't anywhere near working like that either and there's a reason.  It simply doesn't work for anything that requires accurate modelling...period.  If you want accuracy you're going to have to put in the time...no way around it. 

[PLANSAHEAD]

Here is the link to the park with water moving and people walking. The video quality is not that great but consider this is me sitting in my car pointing my cell phone camera at her phones screen to record it, its pretty good. https://youtu.be/wXOpyJDamhI

[PLANSAHEAD]

  Thanks for the reply Michael, I am just still pretty amazed, its a ten year old doing this. Many people use chief to sell their jobs; I do. The modeling looks fairly accurate to me, certainly enough to impress a couple looking to build a house. I see that  the Barcelona furniture is as complete if not more so than CA. The selection of items is endless. She can put  active programming on the TV in her living room. Believe me I do not want it to be so easy, but it is. The average customer could certainly use this to get themselves out of the gate so to speak and quite frankly I wouldn't blame them. Is the average person going to create a set of compliant drawings with this? No, but it still impacts our profession when they say, " Oh how long to draw a set of house plans, my kid does it in a half hour". You needn't convince me that is ridiculous, but I am thankful that I have an established client base and plenty of work because it will not be long before these apps do the structural work, the code checks, the wall bracing etc. I don't think the sky is falling, really around here, the design time IS the easy part, as regulatory approvals, winding thru Land Use departments and meeting time is about 75 % of my workload. But I do like the features that these simple apps have while it takes Chief (me anyway) hours to create a quality walk thru as good as this in a model that has already been created. It may be simple but its catchy, "fluff' maybe even, but its a tool to possibly sell a job, win the approval of a neighborhood group or just simply enjoy the 'experience' of one of your creations. Check these out. https://youtu.be/CsifgEM3G1Y   https://youtu.be/e0t2zrQTR9Y