Home Design Concept to Reality Workflow

[lbuttery]

William/Shaun:

while PRO is decently capable especially for a one-time use it can't export to third-party software to create ray-traces.

it does have decent 3D render features (based on Chief X4) its not capable of doing raytraces

while Chief 10 was also decent it doesn't run well (maybe not at all) on Win7
so Shaun needs to consider which PC platform he has and/or wants to use

I would recommend finding a valid license on EBAY for X2 as it is much more current

I would suggest avoiding X3 due to the complicated mess they made of the library system (fixed in X4)

the seller should be willing to assist in verifying with CA that the license can be transferred and upgraded
be aware that the transfer fee can be substantial if the license is for a second seat etc

being current is a consideration for asking questions on this forum
if the version is too old then there will be fewer users able to assist

another consideration is to get Chief X4 lite for $1900
which I think has ray-tracing capabilty
there is a comparison chart on CA's website

I have recommended a one-time user to consider buying Chief Premier
even tho it costs $2600 as it could save the home-owner that much or many times more over designer/architect fees

if the user is willing to climb the learning curve
which is there for HD PRO as well

at the end of the project it can be sold for approx 75-80% of the cost
on EBAY or this forum etc

there is a decent re-sell market for used versions of Chief
if they aren't too old


Lew