Chief Vs Autocad

[BuilderBen]

[*]A general overall impression I have is that Archicad makes few assumptions to honor an ability to create any building type. This requires the user to create and define the things that are not assumed. Chief, being designed for the custom residential/light commercial market I operate in, makes many assumptions (framing approach, floor constructions, etc..) that relate directly to my end goal. I can rely on much of the automated features and easily create the custom conditions when needed.

That is an interesting aspect that I will keep in mind going forward. In a way fulfilling the old desire that BIM should be an aid in construction decisions, and not only be a 3D environment for CAD.

Have to agree that the forum seems second to none, the interaction and generosity is very impressive and encouraging.

I just found and played with the House wizard, absolutely brilliant. After scribbling on paper for years I started doing bubble diagram in Illustrator in order to keep it more to scale, but this is really handy for area calculations and fast concepts. Then being able to convert it a floor plan was just too much fun!

Still yet not entirely happy or understanding details though. So when I do a "CAD detail from view" it actually copies that whole section? Fine, that doesn't seem logical to me but so be it. However, after doing an Auto detail (which is convenient) the fills (and every line) is then 'super exploded' when I get to the detail view? Can't I keep editing for example insulation? This one I just have to misunderstand, or I don't see the point of sending a view to a CAD detail.

Ben