Chief Vs Autocad

[lbuttery]

you should provide some examples of non-conventional designs

Lew

[moak]

You can model anything with Chief. Sloping walls can be a bit of a challenge, but some users have devised a way to do it. Chief blows Archicad away.

[RMorrison]

Chief blows Archicad away.

Hmm, I've been using both programs for roughly 15 years, and I would strongly disagree with that statement.

[dshall]

You can model anything with Chief. Sloping walls can be a bit of a challenge, but some users have devised a way to do it. Chief blows Archicad away.

I am assuming The Moakster is fairly well versed in both programs, and he would choose CA for 99% of his projects.

Now Mr. Curbudgeon says this,

Hmm, I've been using both programs for roughly 15 years, and I would strongly disagree with that statement.

So the questions to Richard are:
-when would he choose to use Archicad over CA?
-Does he use both to complete a project and if so, why?
-Would he use CA for a particular 3000 sf home and would he choose Archicad for different 3000 sf home?
-What governs his decision to use a particular program over the other?

[jcaffee]

So the questions to Richard are:
-when would he choose to use Archicad over CA?

Say, for this...

http://youtu.be/GGhp_GzB3FU

Lots of complex subassemblies w/killer organ music!

jon

[dshall]

Say, for this...

http://youtu.be/GGhp_GzB3FU

Lots of complex subassemblies w/killer organ music!

jon

Well, that is impressive, but I did not see them put in a handicap curb cut ramp, can Archicad do that?

[moak]

Well, that is impressive, but I did not see them put in a handicap curb cut ramp, can Archicad do that?

Not from my experience, nor can it handle moldings or cabinetry as fluidly as Chief.

[RMorrison]

Say, for this...

http://youtu.be/GGhp_GzB3FU

Lots of complex subassemblies w/killer organ music!

jon

Well, that was a couple of versions back. It's more powerful now.

[RMorrison]

So the questions to Richard are:
-when would he choose to use Archicad over CA?
-Does he use both to complete a project and if so, why?
-Would he use CA for a particular 3000 sf home and would he choose Archicad for different 3000 sf home?
-What governs his decision to use a particular program over the other?

In general, I use Chief for design (it's faster for modeling) and ArchiCAD for CDs (it's faster for CDs, and no issues with schedules. hehe). For simpler projects (one story or alterations), I do everything in Chief. I would prefer to do everything in Chief, but until schedules and CAD are improved, I'm still going to use the best tool for the job.

[dshall]

In general, I use Chief for design (it's faster for modeling) and ArchiCAD for CDs (it's faster for CDs, and no issues with schedules. hehe). For simpler projects (one story or alterations), I do everything in Chief. I would prefer to do everything in Chief, but until schedules and CAD are improved, I'm still going to use the best tool for the job.

Thanks for that Richard. Maybe one day if people are interested, we could do a workshop, and users can demonstrate how they go about putting a project together. I would be very interested in seeing how architects go about this process. As a designer (not an architect), I am sure my projects do not have the same amount of information as yours do.

Many users have some idea of my process via the vids I do, but I have seen very little from other users. Is anybody interested in doing a workshop to demonstrate the process you go through? I have found these workshops are always beneficial to all the attendees, all you need is one golden nugget that makes the time well spent.

I would love to see how Mr. Curmudgeon, Perry, JPC, JC, Glenn, Andy, The Alan's (there are 3 or 4 of them), Bryce, Jim and a few others go about their business. If you guys are interested, please let me know, and I will put one together, this could be good for all of us.

[Ron Ravenscroft]

You can model anything with Chief. Sloping walls can be a bit of a challenge, but some users have devised a way to do it. Chief blows Archicad away.

I don't think so, have you ever looked at the way Archicad handles Construction Docs.

[johnnyprc]

For a "standard" house I would say Chief is much faster to create a quick model/plans. For most large commercial projects and/or non-standard homes ArchiCad probably is the best bet. I realize the term "standard" is relative, but I didn't want to get into all the types etc.

That said, the person who asked the question said they specialize in kitchens and bathrooms. In that case I would highly recommend Chief, as it seems geared to interior design. Just don't expect to draft 2D like you did in AutoCAD. That is a whole different subject.

Learning curve for Chief is probably simple in the Kitchen/bath department - full plans that contain any amount of complexity and I would say Chief's learning curve is a mountain.

[jcaffee]

Well there you go then; for molding and cabinets use CA. For 12th century cathedrals use Archicad. Scott, any chance of ominous organ music in your vids (or at least some Jon Lord)

jon

[dshall]

................ Scott, any chance of ominous organ music in your vids (or at least some Jon Lord)

jon

Jon, I had already thought of that, but I was afraid it would detract from my own lyrical vocal performance.

[BuilderBen]

Well there you go then; for molding and cabinets use CA. For 12th century cathedrals use Archicad. Scott, any chance of ominous organ music in your vids (or at least some Jon Lord)

jon

It seems you could also use Archicad for airports...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0tUoYUue1U

Anyhow, I'm new here so hi all. I've used Archicad for a couple of years after ironically feeling Revit's 2D tools leaves some things to be desired, and am now looking to see if Chief could be a good fit. I'm 100% residential and still lack a couple of hundred of IDP hours before I can call myself an Architect. I will get there eventually, just got tired working for someone else for the moment.

Archicad is a great tool, but for pure residential work I feel it has a lot of options and open ended approaches that makes it a bit cumbersome to do the bread and butter stuff for typical homes. Mouldings and other practical aspects certainly seems very accessible in Chief. It also seems to have very solid support from all possible manufacturers. I'm getting a little nervous over some people's concern over some of the 2D tools though and I have still to get the hang of layout. Still got a couple of weeks on my trial but have studied a lot of videos.

Not wanting to kick a hornet's nest in my first post, but from reading some of the posts and threads here I get the feeling that perhaps the majority here are more design/builders as opposed to academically trained architects? Would that be a fair assumption? It seems that every time someone wishes for better 2D tools and features such as line profiles, fog, etc they often get shut down and told that it's not needed. I wonder if this view is shared by the developers of Chief, as I'm personally not looking for a pure builder's tool as such. What drew me to trying out Chief was fast conceptual possibilities.

Richard, not having spent too much time with Chief yet I would be very interested to hear more specifically what you think are cumbersome on the construction document side compared to AC?

Ben