sketchup

[gam4ever]

I am new to the "Chief Architect" software, can someone tell me the difference between the "sketchup" and the "Chief Architect"?

[James Eggert]

Sketchup is similar to drawing on a napkin. I do not mean this as simplicity or a con, as I use Sketchup also. It is not a CAD program, as is Chief, however SU can achieve many things but it is not a program for doing floor plans.

SU can do say elevations and even 3d buildings, however it is not made to say do a floor plan, in general. SU is easy to use for say cabinet modeling, probably easier than Chiefs 2d cad.

One does not replace the other, they do provide different details which can be used with each other via import/export functions.

[gam4ever]

Thank you Jim, since I need to invest time to learn the softwares which one do you recomend I will start learning? My point of view is the "walkthroughs" feature, I would like to be able to walk through my desigen. What do we have in the Chiet that we don't have with the SU?
Thanks,
RG

[lbuttery]

but it is not a program for doing floor plans.

Using Sketchup to do complete house plans can be done, even framing etc.

Using Chief for this is much better.

Sketchup is a nice companion to chief for making quick elevations and
concept models and it can create 3D symbols from a 2D photo within a few minutes.

Chief ver X1 is suppose to have features that may negate the need to use Sketchup to create symbols.

Lew

[prosise]

Context: I have a week to decide whether to purchase CA or stay with Sketchup + Vectorworks (or Sketchup + AutoCAD ADT). X1 Trial won't let me import dwg's. This week: I've got to take 3D skp files and import them into something that lets me make permit-application-ready plans. Next time around: I'll either cont to use SKP + [something], or use CA from concept to finish.
Question: Has anyone used SKP, exported/saved as *.dwg, imported dwg into CA, and found whether SKP's layers, pages, and detail are preserved??
I can't afford to reconstruct the present SKP file from scratch, in CA. Thanks!

[sutcac]

I think Sketchup is a great complimentary program to CA, but I usually work the other way around. I think it is much easier and faster to generate your basic design in CA and then use Sketchup for rendering and also for custom symbol generation which you can then import into CA.

The layers are mainted as far as I have experienced, either from CA to Sketchup or the other way around. But you won't be able to import your actual design in Sketchup into CA effectively. All of the design generation is proprietary to CA. You will have to enter the design manually. But once that is done, the working drawings, in my opinion, are far easier to generate via CA.

Good luck!