TCHIDACON

Thank you, that's good to know regarding the CA software products are all based on the same platform. With further investigation of my PC hardware I found the video card is likely the mitigating factor on why the 3d images render slowly (not user error). All other PC resources appear to be within acceptable performance limits. A test that helped me arrive at that conclusion was to open the problematic floor plan file and bring up a 3d perspective view. Then make the image rotate continuously at a slow pace. At this point the image truncates as it rotates and renders. Next start to scroll the image up so part of it slowly leaves the screen. As it leaves the screen the image rotation starts to smoothen out. When just the bottom of the image can be seen on the screen the truncation is gone and the image moves smoothly as it rotates. That is a sign that the video card, at the point of smooth operation, has reached a level of capacity where it can finally render the image smoothly. Time to update my hardware and hopefully that's the solution.

Yes there are many variables that affect performance of computer devices and software applications alike. But with all things optimized which CA software has the better performance characteristics HD Pro or 8X and is there an appreciable difference between the two software platforms?

Hi David, I agree that the complexity of the plan is likely the reason for the slow 3d rendering response. To verify that I loaded a very simple non complex plan and it runs smoothly while renders in 3d views. So I've likely pushed the limits of what the software can handle in terms of file size and plan complexity. Do you know if there is a software application performance difference between the HD Pro and X8 product lines? That is, would X8 handle large complex files better than the HD Pro product line? Allan

I've been a user of Chief Architect HD Pro versions 2014/2015/2016 and run the application on a high end gaming PC notebook with 16G of memory. Off and on over the last 3 years I've been working on a site development plan. I've noticed as the plan has reached its point of completion in the last 2 months the file has been running progressively slower. The problem became most apparent once the terrain data was adjusted, with the insertion of elevation and section views into the floor plan. The plan is somewhat complex with 3 structures in including a 2 storey house with basement, a detached garage built slab on grade and 1.5 storey detached workshop with secondary suite in a mezzanine above the workshop floor. The site has sloped terrain which allows for the development of a three level walkout From the house main floor at the top of the slope, form secondary suite midway down the slope, and from the workshop floor at the bottom of the slope (see the attached 3d perspective view). I've read posts from 2015 that identified a similar problems but there was no real determination how to rectify the problem. Has anyone drilled down on the problem further to determine any potential solutions? Also I'm wondering if I've tapped out the Home Designer Pro software application reaching its resource limit, in particular for 3d rendering. And if so would upgrading to the Architect X8 product solve the problem. Thanks, PH 3D Perspective West View - Plan Date Mar 15, 2016.pdf