Greetings friends! I need some help with the Chief Architect program.
It’s been awhile since my last post but please know that I’ve thought about this place often. Like any addiction, you can’t escape it easily. Some in here will know who I am and that I formerly posted as Blue (blueeyeddevil, or some form of that name) but in any event, please understand that this is not my first post, but probably my 3000th!
To answer the obvious question: 1) no, nothing was ever wrong 2)I didn’t get booted 3)I just got too busy with things and decided that Breaktime was diverting too much attention.
A quick update: I never funded the school deal in Northern Michigan (Michigans economy sucks and every investor I talked to is too scared to do AYTHING in MI!) I finally mangaged to sell some stuff in MI (big discounts move anything!) and have moved to the Austin, TX area.
Oh yeah: I love Austin! The market here is fantastic!
Anyways, I decided to take the lead in developing plans for several projects that we are involved in and I purchased Chief Architect to work with. I chose Chief because the tutorials seemed to indicate to me that it worked similar to the Home Architect program that I used in an old windows 95 computer.
So, predictably, I’ve found out that the CA is much harder and I’m seeking some help. Hopefully, some old buddies from here will chirp in without spankiing me for not ordering the ten discs, Lol!
For those that have endured the learning curve, please advise me. Should I order those training discs? Are there books on the market that might be helpful.
I’m halfway through my first drawing and will plod on, but I’m finding that my trial and error method is failing me. I’d like to speed up the learning curve. I’ve actually resorted to opening the 1064 page manual and didn’t find it particularly helpful. For instance, I tried to add a carport (carports are big in Austin) and it took me several hours to figure out a way. I think I’ve done it, but I really wish I had come in here sooner and just asked.
Of course, the reason I was avoiding coming in here is because I don’t have time to read all the threads….which I’ve already wasted an hour on!
jim
aka blue
Replies
Blue,
Kermit can help you out and I'm not half bad with the program either. Oh have you tried http://www.chieftalk.com/
http://joes-stuff1960.blogspot.com/
Hi Joe,
I checked into Chieftalk and registered but it doesn't look like a roaring conversation in there. I did a search for carport and it turned up one decent relevant conversation. It was actually a very dissapointing thread: the poster asked for help designing a freestanding carport on posts and he was answered by someone telling him that the idea of building a carport on posts, without cross bracing was dangerous! That was the extent of the "help" and that thread just died.
From that discussion, I concluded that chieftalk might not be the vibrant helpful community that BT is lol! Of course, we all have seen a thread like that deteriorate in here too but someone eventually offers some form of help if the question is reaonable.
Plodding on....
jim
Jim,
Welcome to Austin,
One of Chief Architects beta testers lives here in Austin. His name is David Potter and he does the drafting and also does live online training. He is really good and has saved me lots and lots of hours.
He can be reached at [email protected] or 512-251-3982
Regards
Bruce
Thanks for that tip Bruce, I'll definitely check it out, and thanks for the welcome!
I've been running all over Austin in the last few weeks/months and have thought about you often. I still owe you a lunch and would love to meet up with you again. I'd also love to do a drive by that house you were forming when we first met but I don't know where it is: I can't remember at all what the neighborhood or address is.
Are you going to have some time in the near future to grab a bite?
jim
fka (formerly known as) blue
Hey, Blue-
welcome back!
I don't anything to add about your question.
NP Shep. I'll probably get better response by asking specific questions about the program.
Actually Hiker's tip was just what I needed. I've already spoke with David and he is offering one on one training over the internet at very reasonable prices. I will most likely be using that offer quite a bit till I get up to reasonable speed with the program.
Thanks for the hello.
I still want to know if the training dics are worthwhile to order.
jimfka (formerly known as) blue
Spend your money on David and on the two day seminars offered by Chief.
I would love to get together for lunch someday. Next week is insane for me but I can probably do the following week. Shoot me an email with your contact info.
Edited 10/5/2007 8:44 pm by Hiker
Funny you should mention the 2 day classes. I was just looking online and noticed there is one not too far from me. Which class did you take? Was the information too basic?
I took the intermediate. I learned how to do complex roofs in ten minutes that use to take 4 hours. If you are past the beginner stage but cannot get things to go smooth at times, the intermediate is appropriate for you. Money well spent-I wish I would have done the classes the day I bought Chief
Hey Jim welcome to Texas. I moved to Va a year ago.
I have been messing with CA for about 3-4 years, and the solo learing curve is very steep and common sense does not work. I was ready to throw it away several times. The Chief Talk has some good posters, and some who are more like Larry. Get some serious help early on and it will go much better."Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Thanks Ed.
I owe you that lunch too but now I have to travel to VA to settle up! Do you ever travel back to San Antonio anymore?
I've only had the program a couple days and I quickly realized what you said: "common sense does not work" lol. I know I have to invest in some training cause if I don't, I may as well return the program and get my money back.
Bruce: I'll shoot you that email and I'm sure we'll find time next week. If you don't mind, post that address of that house you were working on. I'm just curious about it and I'm sure I've driven that neighborhood a dozen times. I'll just post the address in my GPS and if I get near it, I'll do a drive by. Correct me if I'm wrong but that was done in the pre McMansion law era, right?
jimfka (formerly known as) blue
Bruce, what do you define as being past the beginner phase?
I can get the entire shell done including the roofs. I can dabble and change much of the components. I managed to add on the adjacent roofs outide the building lines.
Should I skip the beginner and go to the intermediate? Should I maybe study the cds, then go to the intermediate? I do want to make this work and am willing to invest the time and effort.
Frankly, I could already have finished a pencil and paper drawing....but am just now to the tweaking phase of one I'm doing.
jimfka (formerly known as) blue
hi , Jim.... missed you around the watering hole
Chief is pretty rigorous... i've always used the tutorials with every version ( 5 thru 10 so far... haven't upgraded to X1 yet )
i don't go to Chief Talk but about once a year or so.. but i do get about 20 emails a day from a Yahoo Group
Chief Users
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David Potter posted on this group for years & years
another on-line source ( probably the best one ) is Dan Bauman (DB Tech ).. he wrote the orginal training CD's before ART decided to do them in-house..
if i were struggling , i'd check out Dan Bauman's site
specific questions get rapid answers on the Chief User's group.. you also get to listn in to a lot of people from beginners to power-users
do well in Austin...Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Good to hear from you too again Mike.
Thanks for the tip: I suscribed immediately. I Googled Dan Bauman and DB Tech and didn't turn up anything. Is Dan got a separate site or is he just part of the Yahoo group?
I'll give the Chief talk forum another try and post a few specific questions. Right now I'm concentrating on creating roof planes from baseline polylines.
Thanks for the Austin cheer. Actually I love Austin. The entire city is twenty times more upbeat than anything I was used to seeing and hearing in Michigan. It's like a breath of fresh air....plus the heat feels real good on my old bones, especially the lower back.
How are things going for you out in the New England states? They run you out off the Island yet?
jimfka (formerly known as) blue
It sounds like you are at the intermediate stage. I am certain you will get something out of the class. If you can work through the tutorials, and do the intermediate class, you will be in great shape.
Bruce, which tutorials are you speaking of: do they have some online, or in the program, or are the only ones available in that traingin package that CA offers? I didn't buy them with the program because, well, I didn't think I would need them nor look at them, but I'm rethinking that decision.
jimfka (formerly known as) blue
It is the one you can purchase with the program
Edited 10/6/2007 5:41 pm by Hiker
jim.... here's a link to Dan Bauman's site
http://www.chiefexperts.com/
if and when i upgrade to X1 i'll probably sign up with Dan..
i used to do all of my training with my software Dealer ( Berryvale Software )
but they retired and i get the impression that Chief is not working thru dealers anymore
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Mike, do you have a plumbing tool on your version of CA?
They have tools for adding everything but plumbing fixtures. I've searched for an hour in the manuals to add plumbing fixtures and they don't have one freaking reference to them!
I did manage to find the plumbing fixtures in the library, but it appears that I will have to go through the search library menus every time I want to add a fixture.
Any suggestions other than to put a few items out there on the lawn and copy and paste?
fka (formerly known as) blue
Jim,
Go to Fixtures, Interior, Plumbing. All the toilets and tubs you can stand
Thank you!!!!
I knew it had to be somewhat easy.
jimfka (formerly known as) blue
Thanks Bruce.
I guess I will have to open the Library up for the fixtures, but it aint the end of the world. I guess I was surprised that I had to do that and there wasn't a quick button on the toobar because in my windows 95 version I had a plumbing tool button. It basically was just as annoying as opening the library because I used to have to continuously scroll through a series of decisions to find the right fixture. At least in this version, the library remains open so it's fairly easy to go back and get different fixtures.
I've powered through my second floor plan layout and the second time around it was a lot quicker and easier to navigate. I'll be designing a second story tomorrow and later tonight, so I'll be curious about how fast the program and I mesh. So far, I'm okay with the frustrations that I've probably created for myself for not getting those first ten basic tutorials.
Thanks for the help.
By the way, what area of town are you currently working in?
jimfka (formerly known as) blue
Were doing a gut and remodel in Rosedale and a new porch in Northwest Hills
jim.. a lot of guys are going to dual monitors
you can keep the library displayed on the secondary while you work on the primary
some of the classifications in the library are not very intuitive.. but after awhile it does get easier to remember where Chief keeps the stuffMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I've already thought about dual monitors. Right now I'm working off a laptop and my eyes can't see the dimensioning very well. I did a walk through an Apple store last month and saw the monitor of my dream! That beast was so big I could feel the heat off it...
I'm sure I would spend about fifty hours trying to get dual monitors to work and the hard drives would fry....
I'm going to be okay with going into that library as Bruce suggested. Realistically, I'll only be visiting it maybe ten times per house. I'll probably group a bathroom and save it as a "standard bathroom package" and just copy and paste the entire group every time, then customize and delete as needed.
Thanks for the idea though. I could see where dual monitors would be very helpful in many applications: watching the ball game ....surfing BT.....LOL.
jimfka (formerly known as) blue
50 hours?Can't be. Only took me five minutes. You should be done in three.Plug it in, right click on desktop, choose settings.SamT
Sam, if it's that easy, I'm going to try it with my wifes computer monitor. If it works, I'll be shopping for a very, very large monitor with the dollars I'm going to save from the eye doctor!
Thanks for the encouragement.
jimfka (formerly known as) blue
Okay....I hate to be a pest (not really...I don't mind at all) but I'm having trouble with a set of stairs. I've messed around for hours now and now I'm getting peeved.
I'm building a set with a landing and 180 degree turn on the landing. When I create the set, the run is wider than I want. I open the dialogue box and reset the tread and it pulls the landing off the wall instead of moving the head of the stairs.
So, I tried to intentionally set the head of the stairs short by a few risers and do it all again. I resize the treads and tell the computer to put in the corrent amount. I figure this will force the head of the stair to be pushed up to the seconstory and it will leave the landing locked. Instead, the landing gets pushed out of the house!!!!!
Any tips on how I need to approach this. Is there a way to lock the three components into one component, then click on it and move the entire structure? I know that can be done because it happened once, but I can't make it happen again and I dont know how I triggered that reaction.
Helppppppp.
I'll work on some other areas while I'm waiting for this response.
jimfka (formerly known as) blue
That's the stuff you learn in the intermediate class and when you see it done in five seconds you start mumbling and cussing to yourself about how you spent four hours trying to do that.
Start with the lowest set of straight stairs and extend them to the approximate landing area. Adjust to your stair width to desired width. Build the next set of stairs starting at the landing area up to the second floor. Set their width. Bring the two corners together and you have a set of stairs.
Thanks Bruce. That makes sense and it's one thing I didn't try. Instead, I was following the books advice on creating two sets of stairs, then clicking between them to automatically create a landing.
I hope your idea works.
jimfka (formerly known as) blue
That didn't work Bruce.
I've tried every imginable method of placing these stairs and I've achieved every result except the one I'm looking for. Go figure.
I think I'll have to consult David on this one at some point. I think it's a bug.
I might try starting with a 90 turn first, even though theres no room to do that.
jimfka (formerly known as) blue
I don't have anything to add about CA, I'm still muddling around on AutoCAD.But the dual monitors are great. I would have to think long and hard about going back to a single monitor for business use.SamT is right, if you have the right video card you should be able to hook up the second monitor in less time that it will take to unpack the monitor from the shipping box and hook all the connectors up.
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Bruce, I just got a response from Louis (Chief Guru) regarding the plumbing tool. It turns out there is one!
I had to right click on the toolbar and select MEP Configuration. It offers some fairly standard fixtures and then offers all the tools to add supply and waste lines and a few other things.
I think I solved the stair problem. I'm not 100% positive. I've got some secondary issues...
jimfka (formerly known as) blue
Blue... just an update..
i'm still working in Version 10.08... and i'll probably upgrade to version X1 toward the end of the year
in the meantime i was looking over the various upgrade packages and i was thinking of buying the upgrade with the training DVD;s .. instead , for less money that the cost of the training DVD's i signed up for a Premier membership with Dan Bauman's ChiefExperts.com
i think the last time we posted on this you were looking at some training with Ellis or some other Texas power-user
how did that work out ?
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I've been playing around with this program getting the basic floor plans and layouts figured out as much as I could. I've also been waiting for some topo surveys. I've finally gotten everything and I have my first appointment tomorrow afternoon for some one-on-one tutoring. I'm going to have David, the trainer help me polish the elevations, add some details and set up the documents for printing. I want to be there with him doing it and I'll do my best to emulate him on the next one. If I still can't do it, I'll go back to him for more one on ones until I get it figured out. The program has some bugs....nothing too drastic and overall I'm satisfied with it. I'll update you on how the tutoring goes. FKA Blue (eyeddevil)