CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

I've been offered an older version by a former co-worker. He loved it. Anyone here use it? What's the learning curve like? Should i pass???

Thanks

ecrabb · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:23 pm Post subject:

John, are you going into business doing building or remodeling? Chief Architect is a pretty complex piece of software. Even an older used copy is probably still not pocket change. Unless you were going to make your living doing residential design, construction, or remodeling, I don't know why you'd need something as complex as Chief Architect... And if you were going to do commercial work, then Chief Architect may not even be adequate - especially an older version.

If you just need some good 3D design software (with basic visualization) for your own projects around the house, it's pretty hard to beat SketchUp. There's a huge user community, so lots of support. There's zillions of user-created objects in the Google 3D Warehouse, and it's easily powerful enough for most people for home/DIY projects. I used it for the HT, a wood/steel handrail I designed and fabricated, and a deck I built. Oh, and my hush box and a few other small projects. So, it's easily powerful enough for most DIY home stuff. Best of all, it's FREE.

SC

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

I think Broderbund used a much delimited version of it for their 3D Home Architect a few years back. Chief is for professionals, and geared (supposedly) for that, and not for cowsumer use. If you are getting it for free then have at it. If you friend is trying to sell it to you then no way, and what he's doing is probably not legal in the eyes of the publisher.

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

Thanks SC, i'll ck out Sketchup.

Although i'm getting CA REALLLLY cheap!

I may just futz around w/ it to see what it what.

ecrabb · Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:05 pm Post subject:

Definitely check out SketchUp, John. It's an amazing tool for working quickly and fluidly - designing things. It's not a "drafting" tool per se. It's like the CAD equivalent of sketching on a napkin... What if I make this bigger? Move this over here, put that window there. Then, once the design is fleshed out, you can still add detail and even pull off some basic dimensioned drawings to build from. I'm kind of a SketchUp evangelist, I like it so much. A friend of mine is an engineer and was an AutoCAD nut... Once he started using SketchUp, he never even bothers with AutoCAD anymore. Here's a few threads with some SketchUp info in them...

http://curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12374
http://curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10451
http://curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6892

As for CA, can your buddy even sell you the version he's selling you? The reason I ask is if he used it to upgrade to a newer version, then not only is it not worth anything, but as Wan mentioned, it probably breaks the EULA. If it's eligible for upgrades, and he's sell with the license, than it might make sense to try it out - you could probably sell it somebody else to upgrade, assuming the license is transferrable.

SC

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

I find that my mind was unwilling to learn SketchUp. I think that is how Brodenbund was able to dumb down the delimited 3D Home Architect based on Chief Architect during the mid to late 1990's. While limited, it was dang near stupid proof. I think SketchUp deserves some Continuing Educational classes at area community colleges. Has anyone written a Dummy's guide for the lazy (ahem, me)?

ecrabb · Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 6:45 pm Post subject:

How about 4 or 5 dozen free training videos?

http://sketchup.google.com/training/videos.html

Sit back, relax, watch and learn...

SC