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Yeah, I think that’s what bugged me the most about the switch to subscription for the Home Designer line. No ability to grandfather in to the perpetual license (at least for the 2026 version) and no substantial discount, other than the limited Black Friday upgrade (which I did decide, for now, to use).

first: curved roofs not exactly done in HD - only CA. for roofs make sure you have your defaults set to what you want. Then go over each exterior walls to set how you want the roof to be over that wall - Gable or Hip etc. Set slopes. - Want two slopes - set those variables. Make sure each room has proper settings for roof over or not. Alot of that can be preset when you set defaults before making floor plan Then I build roof... and if I find something not to my liking I will manually edit those roof planes.

From at least January 2025 Legacy SAA auto renews for perpetual license holders who are paying the fee each year. Please see this post in ChiefTalk. https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/topic/44788-legacy-software-licenses-ssa-renewal/ CAX15 was the last perpetual version you could buy and after that it is subscription only. But some Chief Architect users still have renewable perpetual licenses as long as they keep paying the yearly fee. When they stop paying the yearly fee they are left with version that they stop paying at. Whatever that maybe at the time. I am not aware that this arrangement has changed as yet. I think that is a very fair arrangement at present for longtime users.

Hello, I spend HOURS trying all the different ways to get my roofs to draw "correctly" or at least how I think they should be drawn . I find floor plans extremely fun, but roofs are a huge struggle, with hours of frustration. I've watched several videos and walked through training guides. Does anyone have any wisdom they could share on manually creating decorative gable roofs, dormers, and maybe even a low-pitched roof with a curve on it over the doorway? The automatic roofs rarely look good so I have turned off the auto roofs in the defaults and must do everything manually. Screenshot for some examples of what I am trying to do - not exactly like this, but many of the elements such as the gable on the left side, the gabled dormers, the porch roof. I very much appreciate this forum! Thank you!!

Got it - thank you!

It's a roof plane cutting through the rooms ceiling. Either change the roof plane or change the rooms ceiling height

It looks like it may have been leftover from a camera in 3D view... nothing weird appears in the 3D view though I am going to close the topic, thanks for your help!

This is actually a common way of framing floor trusses on this type of request. Is there a way to do this? I would like to show accurate building sections for homes that use top chord bearing trusses.

I have never asked chief this as I have never planned on stopping my subscription. They should update their terms because that info is counter to the terms on the website

Did something change for Premier SSA subscribers? I thought CA was allowing SSA upgrades and perpetual licenses as long as the SSA was kept current.

This is too bad! I purchased this software for personal use 3 years ago upgrading every year and last year going from Home Architect to Home Designer Pro 2025. The only reason I went with this software was that they had purchasable versions for a reasonable price and loyalty upgrade pricing every year. I was just looking now to see about upgrading to Home Designer Pro 2026 and discovered they went to subscription. Sad that they want to keep their hand in your pocket forcefully instead of making good software and updates you want to purchase. So I will not be making any further purchases of Chief Architect software. They had their subscription base professional version for people who use it for business.

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Getting Started With Raytracing in HD2026 (Beginner-Friendly Walkthrough) If you’ve never used a raytrace engine before, here are the key things you need to know to get good results quickly. These steps take advantage of HD2026’s new access to the full Chief catalog library and the rendering tools that come with your subscription. 1. Download the HDRI Backdrops (Backdrops No. 2) For the first time, HD Pro users have access to all catalogs. Go to the 3D Library → Download Backdrops No. 2 – HDRI. Using an HDRI backdrop dramatically improves realism because it provides: environmental lighting accurate reflections soft ambient illumination 2. Set Up Your Raytrace Lighting Once your camera view is open: Apply an HDRI backdrop. In Rendering Technique Options, set Backdrop Intensity somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000. Switch your Sun to Manual Sunlight and start the Sun Intensity around 15,000. Let the HDRI’s natural radiance contribute most of the lighting — this gives a softer, more realistic look than relying on default sun settings. 3. Add These Tools to Your Toolbar To control your lighting direction easily: Rotate Spherical Backdrop Rotate Sun These tools let you freely adjust the direction of the HDRI light and the sun without digging through dialog boxes. 4. Sample Rate Basics (Why Your Image “Cleans Up” Over Time) Raytracing works by sampling the pixels on your screen. When the camera is still, the engine continues refining the image until the sample rate target is met. Beginner settings: Start your sample rate around 30 when you’re working live. This keeps the preview responsive. Great for design iterations. Higher sample rates = cleaner final images Lower sample rates = faster previews with more noise at first 5. What Are Fireflies? When a frame is still “undersampled,” you will see bright pixel specks called fireflies. They are normal. As the sample rate climbs: The engine gathers more light data Fireflies reduce The CPU runs its neural network denoiser to clean up remaining noise 6. GPU Denoising (If You Have an NVIDIA Card) If your machine is compatible, certain NVIDIA GPUs offer real-time AI denoising directly on the graphics card. This: cleans up the render much faster gives near-instant previews dramatically reduces CPU load For more information on setting this up, see the DLSS video Optimizing Raytrace Performance on Older or Mid-Range GPUs (2000-Series RTX, A-Series, Quadro, M1/M2) If your computer feels sluggish while trying out Chief’s raytrace engine, you’re not alone. Certain GPUs — including 2000-series RTX cards, A-Series RTX, older Quadros, and Apple M1/M2 graphics — need a few adjustments to run Ray Trace efficiently. Making these changes to your DEFAULT camera settings ensures smooth design work without overloading your system. 1. Update Your Raytrace Defaults (Global Illumination + Samples) Start by opening 3D View Defaults → Rendering Techniques. Inside the Physically Based (Ray-Trace) panel, adjust the following under Global Illumination: Opaque Bounces: 2 Transmissive/Specular Bounces: 2 Maximum Samples: 20 These numbers significantly lighten the workload on older GPUs while still giving you clean previews. Click OK to save these as your new defaults. 2. Update Your Floor Camera Performance Settings Go back into Default Settings, then open the Camera Tools submenu and select Floor Camera. In the main panel for camera defaults, look for AMD FidelityFX. This is Chief’s upscaling AI, which renders fewer pixels and then intelligently reconstructs the image. Set: AMD FidelityFX: Performance (2.0) This drastically reduces render load and keeps the design process responsive — especially on older hardware. 3. For Final Renders (Higher Quality) After you finish designing and want a clean, polished final raytrace: Increase Maximum Samples to somewhere between 100–500 Change FidelityFX back to Native Resolution Higher samples = cleaner image Native resolution = sharper details Finals will take longer, so this is a good time for a coffee break. For even more clarity, you can also run the image through an AI upscaler like Krea.ai. 4. Need a Visual Walkthrough? If these steps feel confusing or you’d rather see them demonstrated, you can watch the full YouTube tutorial by double-clicking the link below.

I wouldn’t be able to do what I love without Chief Architect, and I genuinely appreciate the company and the community behind it. So this is my way of giving something back and helping HD users get even more satisfaction out of the software. With HD2026, HD Pro users finally get access to raytrace-style renderings. However, you don’t yet get to directly edit the custom accessory maps (height, sheen, emissive, AO, etc.) that make raytraces look truly realistic. As a technician working in the Premier line, I do have access to those tools — and I build materials for them every day. I sell add-on products for the Premier line that I develop for a third of every year, and part of that work includes high-end, raytrace-ready material libraries. And I want to give those materials to HD2026 users completely FREE. No catch. No marketing. No follow-ups. Just something useful to help you get better results with the new renderer. The pack includes over 1,000 textures I created specifically for raytracing, all organized with tags, boolean search terms, and consistent material definitions. Because these are the same materials I sell to Premier users, I do need to put a few guardrails in place so my paid work product stays protected — but none of this benefits me in any way other than keeping the files secure: Requirements (all for security, not marketing): Proof of purchase for HD2026 (any format is fine) AxCrypt (free-no affiliation) to decrypt the download one time This prevents redistribution and protects the library You can uninstall AxCrypt immediately afterward An email address to use for the AxCrypt key This address is only for the encryption process — never used for anything else A short non-distribution agreement so I can legally share my paid assets with you. Also a signed statement saying I won't be using your email for anything at all. Optional: Share your renderings! I’d love to see what you make, but it’s totally elective You can either contact me directly at renerabbitt@gmail.com or send a direct message through hometalk.

I wasn’t aware of this change. I appreciate you sharing this with us as I now better understand the licensing policy of Chief Architect in going forward.

Thank you for the explanation and the videos. I will watch the videos in a bit. I think I might just turn off the project management feature for now. I don't share the Plan or layout files with anyone. I always export the layout pages as a PDF file to share with clients. I may have more questions after I watch the videos and try a few things. Thank you for the help!

it makes sharing groups of files, including any attached pdfs or material files back and forth to other users or machines. It is also a stepping stone to a cloud service chief is developing. One of the benefits is that you can build out pre established views in your layout via a project and then duplicate that project to use as a template where your views are always pre-populated as soon as you start drafting. If you want to duplicate your install to another machine you would use the back feature. If instead you want to share a project (via onedrive) you would export your project. Recommendation is to delete+export as the export will be the current copy and the copy in project management would be outdated. This process is similar to saving externally. There is a video you can check out here: and this one I made here: This is raytracing. You can change the preferred rendering technique options in the top of the preview window I believe. Raytracing takes a little bit to denoise the texture but will look a lot more realistic than previous versions when complete. You might want to check this video out:

Hello, I just upgraded to Home Designer Pro 2026 from HD Pro 2024. I'm confused about the Project Management/Project Browser tab. I don't know what the pros and cons are of that and it is currently turned on. I currently store my projects on One Drive to conserve space on my computer, but I don't seem to have the option to save a project there now. I often save a plan as a different name and then make some changes so I have 1-2 options for my clients when they aren't sure what they want. It seems like now I have to import a plan into the project browser and then can only save it on the project browser. Should I just turn it off? I've only opened 1 plan for myself, so far, but I have other plans I need to start or continue working on and this seems really unhandy. Or maybe I just don't understand it. Also, I tried changing a material and in the preview box with the teapot, everything is very grainy. I can't really see it all. What is the problem with that? I tried updating my computer. I have a Mac mini (Apple M2, 16 GB) macOS Tahoe Version 26.1 Please help! As of right now, I'm regretting the upgrade! In the past, I've been happy with the upgrades I've bought even with a few things being slightly different.

I get to keep X15.. The last non subscription version

Are you able to expand on what you mean by paying legacy subscription ? I was under the impression that the legacy SSA system remains valid for existing customers who keep paying for each year. Meaning that when they stop paying the yearly fee, they get to keep the very last version of the software perpetually. At least that is how I understood it.

This of course is accurate and typical of most JR suites. Last conversation I had about rough numbers was that the HD line was in the 2.5M total seat range and the Premiere line was in the 50K total seat range (though these numbers were given to me, I can't account for the accuracy). I already thought that there is a robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul scenario for the development of the two products. The JR suite allows the Premiere line to be funded and secure more robust development, such as building the raytrace engine, and then they release some year-old features for the upper line. This is pretty standard. All educated guesses. An aside, the 3d view temp dimensions in HD2026 singlehandedly would make up for the cost of the software in efficiency for the seasoned technician... It's really that impactful of a feature and it's not listed in new features Honestly, I would guess they may lose 5–10%…just wild guessing, but the trade-off is that they have secured their core development funding at the start of the development cycle. For everyone here, I am not trying to sell something… BUT I develop products, and I can't tell you how difficult it is to GUESS at what amount of investment I can put into the development. The core code of Chief Architect is so old now and so complex to integrate into that they are currently developing for X19 while we still await X18 Beta. This subscription model has NOTHING to do with greed. The volatility of the upgrade cycle is what caused this. Many of the users here already mentioned they were skipping versions… THAT is why this change had to happen. I do think that the hobbyist is the one suffering here. There are no other perpetual-license software options on the market that I have found that come close to the efficiency of Chief, and certainly not with the same level of support. At the end of the day, I would say what is everyone's time worth? Again, I agree that the hobbyist loses out here. I mentioned it earlier, but I would like to mention it again to the group: to my recollection and knowledge, Chief Architect's current license price has not increased in line with inflation and the average salary rate of increase. This begs the question: What do people feel about the employees of Chief Architect? They are all in North America, their wages have clearly not improved over time relative to the rate of increase in the software price, so that means volume of sales has supplemented their wage increases. Is it so bad that we secure the futures of employees who have kept this software relevant for 30 years? I know people here are mad, but I would say step back from it, remove the emotion, and take a look at it. I would also encourage you to go meet this team in person—they are very accessible.

There is no legacy non-subscription model, we have all been paying subscription, legacy or not, for several years now. I don't personally think we are anywhere near this at the moment. I am deep into the AI ecosystem, and there are far too many big data sources that are a stockpile of designs grabbed from all edges of the world with no distinguished organizational system. AI is trained on data, and it's far too difficult to create a rule set of data to train a model to make educated choices—which brings us to the fact that currently AI does not make educated choices; it's just a very complex probability engine. It's still very difficult to produce a pixel-to-pixel accurate depiction of an original design in high fidelity with AI. Currently, any 8K spherical renderings are pretty bad, and it's nearly impossible to get a long-cut 4K rendering. I wouldn't count on this driving the market down. That's just my two cents. The analogy I often give when it comes to AI is that AI is trained on large data pools that are published with intent to limit liability. So if you ask AI how to change an outlet, it will often tell you that you may need a permit, and that you should consult an electrician, and that you may need to contact the power company or turn off a breaker, and that it requires specialized equipment… whereas a seasoned technician may just go in there with some wire strippers and a screwdriver and wire it up hot. I also give an analogy about a deck over living space—there is an entire section on that in a blog over here if it's interesting at all. https://www.rabbittdesign.net/rabbitt-blog/ai-resource-handbook-1