comparing CAX4 with 20/20

[pamdesigns]

I use both 20-20 Design and Chief X4 full version. Chief is always more stable. I did a drawing in 20-20 (twice) just this morning and I'm still fuming over having to re do it. When Chief crashes, I'm able to recover it sometimes. With 20-20, if you haven't saved it... it's gone. period.

On the other hand, the catalog pricing is unique to 20-20 which is the only reason I still use it.

As for which version (as an interior designer) of Chief X4 to use? I highly recommend the full 64 bit version. I use Chief for laying out all my plan sets --both 20-20 drawings and Chief --or any other image-- in .jpg form. The 32 bit version of Chief has an issue with importing large .jpg files into layout, but it works just fine in the 62 bit version. When you have the 64 bit version, you also have access to it in 32 bit. This is handy for creating drawings that use Sketchup symbols that are only available in 32 bit.

[dchaley217]

Interesting all the different prespectives. I myself am a 2020 / Chief user and former Envisioneer as well. Now to me Chief blows everything out of the water except for ordering. So what I do is design in Chief, I am able to get much better and more realistic rendering, I tend to do only high end stuff, and then when I am finished I do a quick no thrills order drawing in 2020 to take advantage of the order list my suppliers have built into 2020.

The fact is even though my cabinet suppliers have not invested into putting their lines in Chief I am able to imitate them with the Chief drawings. I also use V9 in 2020 and extremely dissapointed in 2020's abity to keep in the know so to speak, it seems to me that Chief and Pro-Kitchen have blown past them in all aspects and when other designers discover it, well 2020 is going to have a battle catching up.

Anyway that is my story and I am sticking to it!

I wish you well!

[Philco]

Thanks for your comments, Max and Rick. Would you say there are significant cabinet design advantages with CAX4, over X3?

[rickhead]

Not a lot of major, mind blowing advantages but they've definitely fixed some nagging features. On the major side, more frameless/door overlay options for 3D visualization and the ability to create stacked crown moldings. On the nagging side, you can pick which corner cabinet door receives hardware vs both doors and control blind corner cabinet behavior much easier than in previous versions.

[Noehring Design]

Hi Everyone
This was a great post. I was an envisioneer user from 2.0 and its time for a Change.

Also An Autocad and Revit user but looking for something More efficient to spend my hard earned money on

So not a Cheif user Yet
Thanks for the Info

[Alaskan Son]

There's no question in my mind that you should use Chief (and I would recommend X5 for sure). 20/20 is really designed and set up for cabinet sales and not design or manufacture. I think for your particular situation 20/20 will have exactly zero benefits over Chief. Especially if you're using another program for the shop drawings anyway.