Jaime

The good news is that Chief Architect is releasing a MAC version of their software in September. The bad news is that the 3D model will not import into Vectorworks in any meaningful way. Yes a .dwg can be imported but it retains nothing useful for 3D interaction. You can import any views from the model to a Chief Architect .Layout file. The layout file with 2D information can be exported as a .dwg file that is great for creating construction drawings. Chief is a fantastic program for creating 3D models of residential and small commercial projects. You can keep the model alive through the entire Construction Documents phase. I used to import .dwgs and do my construction documents in VW. Now I do everything in Chief. Clients love the quality of renderings and the speed changes can be done in Chief.

Not much of a tease. After VW2012 it is going to take something a heck of alot more impressive to get me to part with any cash.

Take a look at Project Spark at Autodesk Labs, you can download a thirty-day trial. Project Spark is a possible REVIT LT product similar to their Inventor LT, that is in a testing phase to see if there is a market for it.

Vectorworks has gone from having the best documentation and help system to the worst. Lose the Adobe System it isn't working. All the help index should be reviewed and repaired.

I use both Chief Architect and Vectorworks Architect. Most of my work is residential, residential and small commercial. I use Chief Architect for design and rendering. It is much faster to draw with and has a far better library of residential items as well as specialty libraries such as restaurant fixtures, medical, even crime scene. The quality of the renderings is better and faster. However, the drafting tools in Chief are primitive and are not near the quality of Vectorworks. They have improved some, but are still lacking. I use Vectorworks for most 2D tasks in my office. The question you have to ask yourself is can you live with slightly less attractive construction drawings to produce a set of documents 100% extracted from the Virtual Model you create. On small Projects with small fees, I have found that I make a lot more money doing the Project in Chief Architect. I also have a set of drawings that may not have the exact look I desire, but they are totally coordinated. I have not been happy with Vectorworks 2011. It has been a buggy release and the new rendering engine has not worked at all for me (literally it takes hours and then crashes). That has made me use Chief even more.

I make back-ups of all Projects in .DWG format as well as .PDF. With the free Draftsight program from Dassault for Macs and PCs you or another Architect could always open the file and work on it.

Since the initial release and SP2 have in my opinion should have been "Beta" releases of software (i.e. slow, buggy, memory problems and crashes). I hope that SP3 is an improvement.

Is this a problem in Renderworks only? This is the only place I am encountering it. So far I am not impressed with the new rendering engine and I think you should reconsider Liteworks or try Artlantis.

A friend of mine in Boston has a legal license they would like to sell (and legally transfer). Contact me off the list at jaime_blanco@live.com.

Layout elevations in Chief Architect remain connected to the model and you do not lose notations made to the elevations.

I use both Chief Architect and Vectorworks depending on the Project (although I am considering selling Chief Architect-make me an offer). Making a choice between them is really a question of what you consider important. Both have strengths and weaknesses. If your bread and butter is traditional residential design 'Chief Architect' has a lot of pluses. You can create 3D models quick and it has great rendering tools. It is weak in commercial architecture and doing good looking working drawings. I can model houses in Vectorworks that look the same as Chief. It just takes me longer to do. I can create much better looking construction docs in Vectorworks. Looking at your Website I would say you could swing either way.

I use Chief Architect for all of my residential projects. I have just completed my first project that all drawings and schedules are generated from the building model. The rendering tools are also easier to use and produce a better finished product. They also have excellent residential symbol libraries. I love Vectorworks for 2D drafting and the graphic capabilities are great. But, I wish that the modeling and rendering capabilities would improve.

The strength of Vectorworks is that it does not pigeon-hole you into residential or light commercial. I don't think there is a limit to the size of a project that you could do with Vectorworks (or project type). I would contrast this with a product like Chief Architect that is fantastic for residential, but is difficult to use for commercial or institutional work.

Are you building a custom system or buying one from H-P, Dell, Alien or the like? Are you trying for the fastest machine on the block or trying for one generation back with a good price point? Overall I would suggest a minimum of a Quad processor (either AMD or Intel). The Intel i7 extreme is primo but I run a AMD Phenom quadcore and VW runs just fine. Since VW runs best under Vista or Windows 7 32-bit more than 4 Gig of memory is superfluous, but is good to have for the future. The most important element is the graphics card. Make sure you have a minimum of 1-gig of graphics memory. Both Nvidia and ATI make great cards compatible with Vectorworks. You can get a great system in the $1,200 range.

Aesthetically, I think that would work. It is only with the last release that Autocad imports and X-Refs .PDF files. I don't know how enthusiastic an engineer would be working over .pdf backgrounds. I still have some concern over the accuracy and snapping over .PDF's. I have noticed some differences (minor) in .pdf's.