Not Really New, But
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But back after lots of changes: moving, semi-retirement, different sorts of projects, wife dying, daughter in big trouble for beating up a cop, a C5 Corvette added to the stable, and....
Before the changes, I mostly did industrial projects (good pay, no trouble getting paid, and good people to work with.) For that work, AutoCAD was entirely satisfactory. Now, in semi-retirement, I'm doing single-family residences, and AutoCAD is not satisfactory. I am looking for alternatives. I am somewhat familiar with Revit, but the folks at Autodesk have not taken stick framing seriously, and framing is of the essence for the current work. Chief Architect looks good, as does SoftPlan, although SoftPlan doesn't seem at all intuitive. SketchUp Pro looks like it might be a solution, but it seems like SketchUp is not well integrated - it takes a hodgepodge of ruby scripts to get serious work done.
I'm doing these houses more for entertainment than for money, so cost is an object.
I'd appreciate your thoughts on the matter.
Cheers,
Walt
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House-Builder plugin ?
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Ditto and TIG's make roof plugin
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Yes there is the housebuilder plugin, though as a person who does house plans, I haven't used it much. When I really needed to look at framing I just modeled it with solid components. I would most likely find that a ready-made plugin wouldn't account for the unique requirements--and it's no big deal repeating sticks at 16" o.c. for the infill.
Then there's this:
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=38462#p339959But you're right, working with SU requires putting together different tools and creating your own process. Many people are looking at SU-BIM solutions. You would find their approaches hereabouts. If you want an integrated package and process, focused on plans for houses, I know many people are happy with Chief Architect. Haven't worked with it myself. There is the cost there.
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Thanks for the input, gentle-people. I appreciate the ruby recommendations. Peter got more to the thrust of my question, though, which is: is SketchUp Pro a viable alternative (based on the thread Peter pointed me to and the video therein, I think the answer is "yes.") and how does it compare to Chief Architect and Revit?
As for cost, price is a big drawback of Chief Architect ($2500 +/-) and Revit even more so vs. maybe $600 for Pro if I add a couple of commercial plugins.
What about rendering? I think that's going to be important. CA and Revit have integral rendering engines. What do y'all recommend for SketchUp, keeping in mind ease of use for us amateurs, speed, output quality, and (as always) cost?
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If you want a free rendering application, take a look at Kerkythea. It is very powerful and fairly straightforward to use. Although it isn't an integral renderer, the SU2KT plugin makes for an easy transfer from SketchUp to Kerkythea.
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Thanks, Dave. I'll have a look at it. I don't necessarily require free, though. Do any of you have an opinion about SU Podium?
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