Chief Architect Home Designer Pro 9.0 Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased "Chief Architect Home Designer Pro 9.0" DVD-ROM after purchasing the Chief Architect BH&G Landscape Designer for our design and general contracting business.
A little background on me: I am proficient at 2020 Residential Design CAD, have a good working knowledge of AutoCAD, and as I mentioned, own and have used C.A.'s Landscape Design. In addition, I've used Plan3D and GoogleSketchUp in a pinch to create initial conceptual renderings for clients. What drew me to "Chief Architect Home Designer Pro 9.0" was the ease and beauty of the landscape renderings from the Landscape program. For conceptual design, Landscape was very adequate to the task. What I really needed though, was a program that not only rendered images beautifully, but could create accurate prints and elevations. Bonus points if it was easy to learn.
If you're looking for an easy entry level design program, this isn't the product for you. Despite the 250+ page User .PDF manual, my own knowledge of CAD language, and my experience with crafting hundreds of plans, prints, and renderings over the years, "Chief Architect Home Designer Pro 9.0" confounded me time and time again. I crafted a simple addition to an existing structure. Had I drafted the blue print by hand, it might have taken me 3 hours or so. It took over 12 hours using 9.0.
Why did it take so long?
I'll grant you, there's a learning curve to any new product of this type. And to C.A.'s credit, the step by step User .PDF manual was easy enough to read and understand. Problem was that every time I moved from one step to the next, it would change some thing I had already created. Specific example: My basic structure was drawn, and according to the manual it was time to move on to the exterior terrain. I input my elevation data and a helpful pop up window informed me that such a move would change the roof line and would I like to rebuild? No! But you can't click 'no'. Even clicking the little X at the top of the pop up to close it changed the roof line. What does the ground level have to do with the roof when the baseline is the 1st floor? You got me. I must have redrawn that roof a dozen times. In addition, implementing the Elevation Points, Lines, and Features is a real pain. Good luck with creating terrain for a split level with a walk out basement. Draw your terrain elevation lines a bit too long and the 'grass' appears to swallow the house, draw them too short and your house is floating in mid air. And then there's the roof thing, but I digress.
So I finally get the layout where I want it. By this time I'm really wanting to strangle some one, but I must press on. I've made a decent monetary investment, you see. As my frugal father might say, "I PAID GOOD MONEY FOR THAT!!!!!" It's now time to send the plan to layout. Basically what you have to do is set your printer settings to a .PDF creator, at which time the program creates a printable copy of your plan. Kinda handy if you need to run blue prints for a job site. So I download Adobe, I set my printer to it and.... it doesn't look like an industry standard blue print at all. I dig back into the Manual. 'The user must create all borders and title blocks.' Crap. Okay. I create a 'template' so that when I export my plan to layout and elevation it looks like a blue print should look. For the record, every other CAD program I have used has a ready-to-go templates for this sort of thing including a standard copyright notice, the name of the company, the print view name, the date, etc... None of this on C.A.'s product, however. You gotta make the thing yourself. I spent an embarassing amount of time creating title blocks that matched in size, configuration, and font size from one print to the next. A hint in the User manual tells me to check out page 500 and something for more details. Might have been helpful, but the manual is only 250 or so pages long. (Actually, this was a problem through out the manual, referring to pages that weren't there.)
Anyhoo...now it's time to create a layout! By this point I'm as excited as a kid at Christmas, I'm almost done! Unfortunately when I exported the plan to layout, the plan was so large that it covered up all of my lovely title blocks. Crap, again. Although the User manual didn't specify exactly how to solve this issue, I was able to draw on my prior CAD experience to make it work. Someone who doesn't have any CAD knowledge would have never had a chance to resolve this issue without calling the Chief Architect hotline.
So at the end of the day I had a technical blue print ready for the field. W00t! It took me far more time and faaaaaaaaaar more patience than it should have. Some of this had to do with the default settings of the program, some of it had to do with constant SEC errors, some of it due to the User manual referring to pages that weren't there, and some of it to learning curve. I have little choice but to master this program now. The investment has been made. And again, I can't stress enough how beautiful and quick the 3D renderings really are. It's just getting to that point that'll drive you to drink.

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Home Designer Pro 9.0 is the latest release from Chief Architect, the professional software design company and the software of choice by more builders, architects and designers. Home Designer Pro leverages the same professional quality from Chief Architect making it the most powerful and easy to use home design, remodeling and landscaping software. Design Like a Professional!

Professional Software Chief Architect Home Designer Pro 9.0 is professional home design software for the serious home enthusiast. Enjoy the same tools that the professionals use for home design, remodeling, interior design, decks, landscaping and cost estimation.
Home Designer Pro has all the same great features as Architectural Home Designer, Interior Designer, Landscaping and Deck Designer plus advanced CAD tools, advanced building tools, the ability to create blueprints, manual framing and roofing and much more.
Designing like a Professional has never been so Easy!
Home Design and Landscaping Software Create accurately scaled floor plans that automatically generate 3D models in minutes. Create any detailed view of your design using advanced 3D camera tools like Glass House, Doll House, Framing, Elevation and Cross-Sections. Create the Virtual Look and Feel Before You Build!
Home Design Software by Chief Architect
Choose from over 5,000 Sample Plans
Choose from built-in style templates or create your own custom home design, or use the House Wizard
Powerful building tools like automatic roof generation, dormers, stairs, framing and foundations
Artistic rendering techniques for Watercolor, Glass House and Technical Illustration

Integrated Design ToolsHome Designer Pro makes it easy to design and visualize your ideas on your next home or remodeling project with over 8,000 powerful integrated tools. Use the automated building tools to assist you in your design process. The tools have commonly accepted defaults for most building practices to help you in your home design projects.
Get Started Quickly and Easily
The Quick Startup Options Guide will help you begin with "How-To" tutorials based on your type of project
Use the House Wizard for quick and easy layout of your rooms
Select from the pre-designed Home Design and Landscaping Style Templates complete with colors, cabinets, decks and more
The online help system provides detail information on all types of building projects
Includes over 80 easy "step-by-step" tutorial training videos that will quickly get you started on your next home design project

3D Design Tools
Design in 2D and 3D. 3D Views are automatic with a point-and-click of the camera tool.
Glass House View provides a full translucent view of your design. Choose other Artistic rendering techniques for Watercolor and Technical Illustration views.
Doll House View, a 3D overview without the roof, is an effective tool for space planning of furniture placement and traffic flow
Create a Virtual Tour--draw your record line to Automatically Generate; or record your camera movements
Visualize your home with day and night views
Assemble a scale model of your design with Model Maker
Generate shadows from the sun for realistic 3D views
Point-and-click to remove wall surfaces, or use 3D Cross-Section Elevation Slider to quickly create a 3D slice of your desired view

Automated and Manual Building Tools
Design roofs and walls in 3D
Generate various styles of Automatic roofs or manually design any custom roof including curved roofs
Use the Automatic Dormer tool to quickly place dormers--shed, gable, eyebrow and barrel
Automatic Structural Dormers
Unblock and manually edit Automatic Dormers
Create any custom roof or ceiling plan with the Roof Design Tools. Edit and create roof planes to create a roof of any pitch and shape. Start with an automatic roof and then add custom details, or create the entire roof manually.
Automatic framing tools
Manual framing tools for fully editable framing, including joists, rafters, trusses, beams, posts and more
Choose from several built-in wall styles with individual wall layers or define your own wall style
Ability to read and edit files by Chief Architect Full Professional Software
ICC Residential Design Checklist will allow you to check your plan against national building codes

Kitchen and Bath Design
Design the kitchen of your dreams--move walls, create new cabinets, add appliances--Design your perfect workspace!
Design your new kitchen or bath using the Cabinet Designer tools
Plan the new layout of your bathroom with custom cabinets, sinks, showers and garden tubs. It's easy to visualize your ideas in 3D.
Create custom cabinets in minutes by choosing your own colors, countertops, door styles and more
Use the Cabinet Designer tools to create unlimited cabinet styles. Choose your own colors, countertops and door styles.
Design and edit custom countertop shapes and styles

Interior Design
Smart Design Objects, Drag-and-drop from thousands of design objects in the built-in Library organized by category
Material Painter lets you apply colors and materials quickly and easily
Choose from thousands of colors and textures or create your own materials using a digital photograph
Design for your lifestyle and personality--change colors, add lighting and choose furniture to accent your new room
Choose from a variety of interior items--including chairs, tables, sofas, fabrics, accessories and more. Resize, change colors and materials to meet your exact needs.
Import your own symbols from 3D file types including .SKP, .OBJ and .3DS

Decks and Landscaping
Powerful deck and patio tools allow you to design and visualize your new deck with 3D models and can help you estimate the costs
Design single or multi-level decks complete with automatic deck framing and an advanced deck framing option for more complicated deck designs
Quickly lay out your deck with stairs and arrange furniture
Deck foundations automatically generate to match sloped lots
Plant Encyclopedia to learn more about the plants in your designs
Choose from over 3,600 plants with the Plant Chooser
Plant Hardiness Zone reference maps
See what your plants will look like in 0--20 years
Pathways--Use the Pathway tool to design curb-appealing landscaping using stone, pavers, or sidewalks--line with trees, shrubs, flowers and more

Site Planning & Estimating
Use Automatic Build Terrain and Terrain Perimeter tools to create flat, irregular shaped, or sloped lots--use a GPS to import or enter elevation data
Create plot and perimeter plans; automatically generate a 3D model of your actual terrain
Export Material List to spreadsheet programs including Microsoft Excel
Save snapshot Material Lists for different stages of the project
Add detail to each individual component in the material list for a comprehensive cost estimate breakdown
Master Materials List allows you to store and manage commonly used material prices
Sprinkler Designer tools to easily layout sprinkler zones
Fences and Driveways--With the Fencing tools you can choose a variety of fencing styles and custom gates. You will also find driveway, sidewalk and curbing tools
Hill and Valley tools make it easy to add gardens, beds and slopes that automatically appear in 3D views. Choose from landscaping style templates or create your own.
Define Terrain Elevation lines, Elevation Regions and Terrain Breaks

CAD Tools
Powerful CAD tools to detail cross-section views with insulation, cross-boxes and more
Advanced CAD editing tools such as replicate, line weights, point-to-point move, custom patterns and more (Compatible with AutoCAD patterns)
CAD-to-Walls allows you to convert CAD lines from DXF file format to walls
Layers can be used to separate key building components such as electrical or framing. Display or hide features of your design, set colors, lock layers and use reference layers for precise editing.
Create Back-Clipped Cross Section/Elevation Views to limit your view to relevant details for precise plan editing

Building Tools
Customize construction methods for walls, floors, ceilings and foundations. Identify the exact placement of framing components, specify wall layers, floor structure platform height, mudsills and more.
Advanced stair tools allow control of shape, starter treads, flaring, tread width and more
Create pony walls and edit wall shape or create a stepped foundation in cross-section view
Multiple-select editing. For example, select all your cabinets and change them all with one command.
Use callouts to reference between details, plans and cross-sections in a blueprint layout
Create blueprint layouts (up to Architectural C drawings 18" x 24") with 3D, CAD, Cross-Section/Elevation and Plan Views
Rotate and Flip Plan
Advanced dimensioning tools include angular, end-to-end and interior dimensions
Fully editable dimension lines and configurable dimension editing allow you to change where dimensions locate walls, windows, doors and other objects

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