Chief Architect Opinions?

[Aaron2004]

Hello!

 

I have come across the software package, Chief Architect, and was wondering if anybody out there had anybody hands on experience with it. It seems very very easy to use...which is almost a downfall in my opinion because I don't know how much you can customize it. It would be used for hundreds of houses a year, so it needs to generate accurate printsets and material estimation.

 

This would replace what we have currently, which is 'Soft Plan'. The other software package we are looking at is VertexBD, which is much more expensive than Chief Architect...but Vertex can do so much more in my opinion...it's just a lot more clunky.

 

Any comments?

 

Thanks!

 

Aaron

[Ph0n33z]

Hey man.........

 

I personally have used Chief Architect for several months. At first, it seemed WAAY too easy to be taken as a serious CAD/Arch application. However, after several weeks of playing with it, I found that it actually has depth to it. Each function has loads of options, allowing you to precisely control everything in the house. Also, there are added cad functions which allow you to design anything you want! One of best features is the quick-pace of the application. You are able to create entire floorplans (floor,roof,framing,furnishing,etc) in less than a day. It is truly a very streamlined application in terms of direct feedback. I have fallen in love with it, as it now works wonderfully with Cinema 4D 9.1.

 

I am no expert in CA, or architectural visualizations by any means, but I have seen the results CA can produce.

 

Downside:

 

Some of the problems I have found with CA are exporting. The only reasonably clean mesh I could export out of CA was through VRML. Even with that format, I had to do some cleaning in Cinema 4D. (Up until recently, when the update for 9.0 was announced. They improved VRML import, and now I get a ver, very clean mesh). Also, it can not import or export the infamous 3DS, which, depending on your uses, may or may not be a downside.

 

Also, while the pov-ray renderer isnt terrible, it is by no means photo-real. Its fine for maybe some clients who will not need the photo-real look, but for everything else it is not.

 

Anyways, this is just my opinion of the software. Take a look at these links to see some of the houses that were made and rendered completely in Chief Architect:

 

http://chiefarchitect.com/gallery/stevenson.html

http://chiefarchitect.com/gallery/kunasek.html

http://chiefarchitect.com/gallery/thompson.html

[Aaron2004]

Well, when I first saw it, it looked like one of those home design software packages that you get bundled in the magazines that you buy in the checkout lines of Mendards. I hope that the ease of use doesn't constrain my freedoms. For instance, can you do design EVERYTHING that you would want for a house in there? Has anybody been limited by any way to what they can design because of this software's limitations?

 

Also, the fact that it doesn't export/import to 3DS scares me. I am going to need to do walkthroughs in 3D Studio...and I might want to import models from 3D Studio ie. Sinks, Cabinets, ect.

 

 

 

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

Any more comments?

 

Aaron

[William Alexander]

Aaron,

 

I know of a couple builders that have use CA for over ten years, it works well for residential.

 

If it exports to C4D through obj format, you can get a plugin for viz max that will handle those operations, for free. There are a number of sites that have them. Google-obj to max

 

BTW thats the first time I think I've 'Menards' on this site .

 

WDA

[Mark Bolin]

Aaron,

 

Did you say you are currently using "Softplan"? Are you not happy with it?

 

I've used both and prefer Softplan for production work on the custom homes I do. This is coming from a long time ACAD user who thought he'd never switch to another cad package. I also use the models from Softplan in Sketchup, Piranesi and VIZ.

 

My personal opinion is that CA is more interior designer oriented. Again, that is only my opinion so I hope I don't offend anyone.

 

VertexBD is interesting but it is a little pricey for me and is geared toward production builders which may suit more what your doing.

 

I'm not married to Softplan and if I felt something better was out there, I would make the switch. But for my work, Softplan is currently a better fit.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Mark

[Aaron2004]

Mark,

 

Personally, I have NEVER used softplan before. I am going to work for a firm that does use it, but wants to change. They informed me of their need to switch and I am helping them look for new options, but I'm not the sole descision maker by any means.

 

 

Aaron

[Josh1587140445]

Chief Architect was just mentioned in the February issue of Cadalyst. The article was about Low-cost software for residential design.

 

You may want to check it out.

[Hazdaz]

You can get a demo of CA and try it out. On my system is runs unbelievably slow for what I want to use it for. And my system isn't exactly a slouch either (Dual Xeon 2.4s with 1GB of RAM and a Quadro FX1k card).

 

For the guys that are using CA, how smoothly does it run on your systems? Using the demo files that came with it were obsenely slow when doing 3D views.

[Ph0n33z]

It only runs slow in 3d mode when you are doing a render full overview. This is because each time you change the camera position it has to re-render. The best way to achieve faster results is to turn off 3d details..(the icon is 3 stacked boxes. Two on the bottom, one on top.) Then you can rotate to the view you are looking for and toggle the details back on.

 

Also, glass-house view mode is a very nice way to see details while maintaining a good render speed.

 

Hope that helps!