Quirky - that is what I am talking about

[William H Lynch]

The interface needs to be updated in a very bad way. The icons look so old and cheap.

I agree here, not professional looking at all (my personal opinion), never mind the 'jumping tool bars', reminds me of windows 3.1. The 'Welcome to Chief Architect' screen is the only thing I like concerning the interface...

Look at Corel PhotoShop, AutoCrap , these are great interfaces... Again, just my personal preference...

Bill

[johnnyprc]

dshall - are you looking for any work? I might be looking for a chief guy to "fix" problems we have as were go through our plans. Please email me at jp@obrockcox.com if you are interested. ive enjoyed your videos before...

[dshall]

.......

Oddly, when I print 2D from CA its not as sharp as from other CAD apps. I know I am not the first person to say rthis.

Y
I am not sure I can disagree with this. I do know that when I send my plans out as a PDF to be printed, they do not look as good as a set of plans PLOTTED in house off of a plotter.

[dshall]

dshall - are you looking for any work? I might be looking for a chief guy to "fix" problems we have as were go through our plans. Please email me at jp@obrockcox.com if you are interested. ive enjoyed your videos before...

I'll email you in the AM, I am busy, but certainly am open to new opportunities, Thank you.

[johnnyprc]

Yeah, look at Autocad 2012 - this is a nice looking interface that works well. I love the "ribbon" toolbars. I was gonig to make the same comment about Windows 3.1 - CA icons need a very bad update.

[William H Lynch]

Not only the ribbons (AutoCAD), but you can revert to the 'classic' menu. The customization of the toolbars is mind boggling. I love their 'quick properties' pop-up.

[William H Lynch]

Take a clue from 'Apple', a smooth, cool looking interface can seduce the millions and can overcome any deficiencies in the program...

Bill

[yusuf]

Yeah, look at Autocad 2012 - this is a nice looking interface that works well. I love the "ribbon" toolbars. I was gonig to make the same comment about Windows 3.1 - CA icons need a very bad update.

scotts videos can not help here, just for junior users! Scott has deleted the critique videos after he saw what i could do with chief. A woderfull work you posted i like it maan. "your accomplishment is more important than how u did it" quote djp
I thaught it was just a habbit exporting my drawings to autocad and plot it there. Half convinced in your arguement but c.a can handle a lot. It depends on the opperator.i Said a lot about cadding before in the forum(I get every thing in ca to make a detailed architectural and structural drawings. Finally i just like to export it to autocad just because i like to c it there. May be just a habit i developed before, but add nothing on it. "simply plotting from autocad is what i prefer" http://www.chieftalk.com/showthread....151#post445151). Thanks man u shut off the pudavidas and godzilla fans dirty fun. Creativity is what matters, not playing with tools and videos! Here we c it

[William H Lynch]

Hey, I'm a big Godzilla fan...., Thanks, Perry for all you contribute to the CA community...

Bill

[rcole]

I am a +1 on wanting to know a little more about what is meant by CA not printing as wells as other apps. I am not questioning anyones opinion, I am just curious is all.

I have my own plotter and have for a long time, so I mostly see my own output. I also choose to print from CA because I personally like the options available from Layer Sets in Layout.

I also like a sharp looking interface, but it is not as important to me as being able to customize keyboard commands. The hot keys are a nice feature, but they are no where near the level that I would like to see it. At least two keys would be very helpfull.

It is the things like introducing Ruby, and then just leaving it go, or not putting the finishing touches on the Material List that I find the most frustrating about CA. That being said, I do find CA to be a very capable app in a great many ways.

I do think that there is progress in areas that would appeal to the professional market. Features like PDF import are a welcome addition for my work, and I am also hopfull that symbols and solids will see a little more developement.

Thanks for sharing your Elevation views, and good luck on your projects. I do have a question. Are the elevations live, or have they been edited? Apples and apples?

[Bruce MacNeill]

Interesting thread..

As a long time C/A user (originally 3D Home Architect) I'm not surprised to learn that it is not the best at its 2D printing. The core target market for the product originally was home builders, home plan providers (formerly known as draftsmen) and home 'do it yourselfers' allowing them to design and create home plans in a new way. More recently it has attracted Architects, rendering service providers, kitchen designers and others.

The software is conceived with the wood frame house in mind, walls, floor platforms, ceiling planes and roof planes. This is a limitation if you are modelling something else but otherwise it is a great plus.
With the developments from V10 to X4 I've found the software user experience (there is a new word for this) to be more intensive and technically demanding, (in other words exhausting). Can the software be all things to all users... I hope not because I'm worried if it tries to be it will be no longer be enjoyable and productive to use for its original purpose.

[Dave Pitman]

Printing the sharpest drawing possible is important. However, I have pdfs from others that were output with AutoCAD, and do not look sharper that those output with CA.

That doesn't mean that johnnyprc is incorrect, but without an example, it is difficult to take his claim as anything more than a rant. It would be simple enough to provide examples of 2D work that demonstrated Chief's shortcomings if they exist.

[perryh]

Chief can do elevations like shown, very easily. If you cant do it ,then get some training. Most of the problems are user error. Every program has some kind of problems, learn the workaround.

[dshall]

Chief can do elevations like shown, very easily. If you cant do it ,then get some training. Most of the problems are user error. Every program has some kind of problems, learn the workaround.

Sage advice from "The Slab Man".

[sutcac]

This is a current project I am working on - entire contract is $122k for these homes in the development. But I had to draw these concepts in Vectorworks as I was coming up with concepts - and look at the plat drawing, NO WAY Chief does anything like this. I guess I am just saying better line drawings. These are all from the same project - I will upload rest on next post.

The elevation images you posted are quite nice. Are those, and the plat done entirely native to Vectorworks? And, are they 3D views of the model, or entirely converted to 2D line drawings? With the exception of the shadows in the vector view (which I import as an image from a model exported to Sketchup), this can be done entirely within CA. You can nit-pick the attached example, and a bit more time with details would have improved it, but it was produced in a matter of minutes and I think disproves the "NO WAY Chief does anything like this".

I don't disagree with the interface. It could use a lot of improvement, but I find what gets in the way of my creativity more than anything is most often my lack of experience and knowledge of the tools, not the tools themselves. I think it is premature to make a blanket statement about CA, or any other software of this level of complexity and sophistication, when you haven't completed even one project fully in it.

I can't really speak to the printing issue either, although sharpness of my drawings has just never proved to be an issue.