Hello,

I'm new to the forum. Thanks to whoever put this together.

I've experimented with various entry level design software and I'm now looking for something that I can actually get working plans that the city can stamp. Anyone have recommendations. I know the choices are between object oriented (aka drag and drop) and full blown CAD. I'm wondering if there is a good marriage of the two.

thanks,
Justin

Chief Architect and AutoCAD are heavy duty programs for drawing and 3D.  A newbie could probably learn Chief Architect quicker and it does cost less than AutoCAD.

I'm a (basic) Chief user as well, after Auto Cad I still have a hard time with Chief's cad functions though.

Hi Justin,

I am not aware of a consumer grade application that will do a good job of creating construction prints.

Chief Architect is pretty easy to work with but has lots of features and can get complicated. You would have a learning curve with this product. I highly recommend some of the training videos.

You can buy an older version for a reasonable price off of ebay, but make sure that the license is transferable.

For anyone considering using the latest and best 3D and CAD software packages, be sure to check the computer requirements.  Within the last month, I just discovered that I could manipulate small Chief Architect drawings but could not do much with large files.  I bit the bullet and purchased a new top of the line HP Pavilion Desktop with a 25.5" wide, high resolution screen with Intel Core 2 Quad 3GHz processors, 8GB of RAM, 1TerraByte 7200 SATA 3GB/s Hard Drive and 1GB ATI Radeon Graphics Card.  This machine is very fast which can be appreciated when rendering large drawings.

With spending that kind of money, I feel that I have done my duty in helping the economy.

I like Punch NextGen Home Design. There is a bit of a learning curve, but it isn't too bad and they have a lot of video tutorials. The 3D rendered images are some of the most realistic I have ever seen from a cad program, and they have huge libraries of objects and materials. You can just work in 2D if you want though, and the blueprints look nice.

I met an architect that used Google Sketchup Pro, that suprised me. Any comment on Sketchup Pro?

SketchUp and SketchUp. PRO works wonders

Thanks for all the replies. Having put a lot of effort into learning the consumer based products (BH&G Design, Punch Architectural 4000, and Punch Home Design Pro) I think I've got the learning curve part somewhat down. Architectural 4000 was the closest I could come to being able to manipulate framing and real construction details, but I would like to be able to do the real thing. It seems that Chief Architect would be the way to go, but I thought there would be a less expensive option out there.

For those that have used C.A., do any of the libraries include green products? What about alternative practices like SIPs, stagger stud framing, ICFs, etc.?

thanks for all the great posts.
Justin

Justin, SketchUp is FREE

Do you know if you can get bonifided prints from it? I'll look into it more. I've experimented with the free version and it doesn't seem to have that ability at first glance.

A good set of drawings from a pro will save you money in the long run. Plans and elevations are one thing. Having a good and complete set of details properly applied in the drawings is another. But using the off the shelf CAD programs for schematic design is a great idea. This will save you time and fees when the pro takes over.

Jeff that has been a thought in the back of my mind. I'm thinking about going the design build route and would like to do my own stuff all the way through but in the beginning you might be right.

Here is a SketchUp thingy I'm working on the framing took 10 min. with a free plug-in.

Did you mean to post an attachment?

I use Softplan to create working drawings, I was trained in AutoCad, but the second office I worked in used Softplan and I've been using it ever since. I used to draw plans and nothing else, I now do quite a bit of custom building as well. If you are just wanting to software to draw one plan for yourself, I would highly reccomend using one of the cheaper programs that you mentioned and hire a professional to help take your ideas and concepts and transform them into a useable working drawing. It will save you money in the long run, not only by not purchasing expensive software, but an experienced designer can really save headaches during construction by providing quality drawings. My advice is that if you have the knowledge to create the drawings, but lack the means to get onto paper would be to buy a scale, a triangle, some vellum and a few pencils and just draw it. You really don't need any software to create useable working drawings.

Yet another program that doesn't work with Mac! Well thanks for the tip though.

Funny how it took 15 posts before someone remembered that plans can drawn using pencil and paper. Without computers there would be a lot less people calling themselves designers. Where are you when we need you, Herman York.

I dislike it when I get hand drawn plans, they are tough to read and have more errors and less detail.

Ergo, do you use Sketchup Pro or the free version?

And then you can do your calculations using a slide rule!!