The learning curve isn't as steep as Chief's is but that is simply because Chief gives you, the user, so many more ways of doing whatever you want to do. It is a very good program that does a lot of things quite well. I have been using Softplan off and on for about 9 years now. OK Joe, I'm going to chime in here on this one. If they have demo give it a try but if you do decide to stick with Chief I guarantee it has all the CAD tools you'll ever need as well as other tools to get any residential job done. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but I have a feeling Soft Plan would be equally as difficult to master but it might fit the way your brain works better than Chief does. What I have learned over the many years is that Chief does indeed have all the features I need but accessing them efficiently took a long long time to figure out. I think Chief has an extremely steep learning curve with no short cuts that I can remember and your frustration is totally understandable to me as it took a VERY long time for me to grasp the paradigm that is Chief architect. Softplan looks like a better interface and has the features I'm looking for overall. I've tried chief for several weeks and and frustrated with the lack of cad tools, lack of remodel features (existing, demo, new walls), and the hard to use "user interface". You can only determine that by working with both. IOW, the best program is the one that aligns with the services you want to concentrate on. I also add that Chief’s support, if you subscribe to SSA, is much better. Take a close look at the videos on YouTube for both. I strongly urge you to get a demo copy of both programs and do one of your typical designs in both. But that’s not important if you are not selling that service An advantage in Chief is its Cabinet and Kitchen design features which are superior to Softplan. Softplan is more stuck in the 1980’s Cad philosophy of one tool for this and one for that. Chief is famous for its “workarounds” which require a combination of tools in ways not obvious. OTOH, Chief’s 3D graphic design tools are much easier & intuitive to use, so many designers here migrate to this area. However, Chief’s framing tools are much better-but limited in scope. Same is also true with parametric data access. For example, Softplan is much stronger in material control than Chief, so you’ll find that few Chief advocates here use its material features very much. People tend to migrate to the program that aligns with the services their trying to sell and ignore everything else. Chief’s approach eliminates the need for a wide range of CAD tools as there simply not needed.
I also don’t agree that Softplan’s CAD tools are better, just a different approach. So it basically comes down to what you might be comfortable with. The approach of the two programs is very different. I own a copy of Softplan 2014 and have experimented with it quite a bit. you just need to learn the program better as with any you might choose
0 kommentar(er)
