Chief Vs Autocad

[RMorrison]

<snip>[*]Ease of cabinet and custom molding creation. This is important in the custom residential market I work in. For that matter, custom objects in general I found easier to create or import form Sketchup.
<snip>[*]When I change the floor elevation in Chief all the fixtures, cabinets, furniture, windows, etc.. move along with it. Not so with AC.
<snip>.

@Kevin: I don't disagree with most of what you've said, but a couple of corrections/clarifications. The Morph Tool was introduced in AC16, which has most of the power of Sketchup for creating custom objects. It would be hard to master this in an evaluation period, though. AC17 now ties wall heights to story heights, and moves everything if you change a level height. However, most objects were previously able to be adjusted relative to their level/story height, so this concern may have already been addressed.

@Ben: You've gotten some excellent viewpoints, but one thing to consider is the prior time investment and general familiarity. I suspect that a longtime pilot of a Piper Cub would be overwhelmed with the instrument panel of a 747, whereas someone who'd been flying a 747 for many years would think it was no big deal. One advantage that Chief has that hasn't really been mentioned in this thread is this forum itself. Questions here often get answered within hours-- sometimes within minutes. Of course, you also have to put up with incessant posts about golf, and sometimes snarkiness (and I'm not claiming to be blameless here), which the ArchiCAD-Talk forum doesn't have. In general, though, I think this forum is an invaluable asset that should be heavily counted in Chief's favor.

[dshall]

.................Of course, you also have to put up with incessant posts about golf, and sometimes snarkiness (and I'm not claiming to be blameless here), which the ArchiCAD-Talk forum doesn't have. In general, though, I think this forum is an invaluable asset that should be heavily counted in Chief's favor.

Richard is absolutely correct here. In fact, I am sure this comment was aimed in my direction, guilty as charged. But I will say that with any active forum, there will always be some comments or posts that are not interesting to some. And the more one posts, the odds are the greater number of useless or what can be perceived as snarky comments there are, there are already a few snarky comments in this thread.

I have been on a few other forums, but this one is by far the best I have been on when it comes to getting answers to your question. There are many people here who take their time to help others, not only for the sake of helping others, but also because it helps them to better understand the program.

I consider the folks on this forum part of my extended family, and with all families, there are a few conflicts. Many times I have thought of bailing on this forum because somebody hurt my little feelings, but that is on me. Bottom line, this forum and what I learn from this forum is invaluable to me. I appreciate the help I get from all of the participants on this forum, from the power users to the newbies, they all have something to contribute, which benefits.............. who?.............. mi, mi, mi.

Hey Joe, see you at 2:00 for the round of golf.