ChiefArchitect

Hello, Welcome to the forum and thank you for the question. I will try to give you some summary difference between the Home Designer Pro and Home Designer Architectural. I will also provide a link to our comparison matrix that shows the differences feature by feature. 1. Pro has manual controls over things like framing and roofs. The manual roof control gives you the ability to control the roof instead of relying on what the automatic roof tools provide. This gives you more accuracy and the ability to handle more complex roof designs. The manual framing tools allows you to specify framing while the Architectural version provides automatic framing with no control over things like headers, and other framing members. 2. The Pro version is the only Home Designer product with tools to help you to create constructions drawings. Pro can create a layout page that is up to 18" x 24". Architectural and the other products below it do not have the layout features. 3. As you move up the product line, you get more design flexibility. Pro will have the most flexibility out of the Home Designer products to incorporate custom design elements into your project. There are many other feature differences. Here is the comparison matrix with more detail. https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/product-chooser.html I hope this helps. Feel free to contact our sales department if you have questions. We would be happy to assist with the product differences and help you to determine the best fit for you. We can be reached at 208.292.3400 or email sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Pedersen Chief Architect Software

Hello, Thank you for the question. As mentioned above, the product you are asking about (X6) and service (SSA) apply to our Chief Architect products Premier and Interiors. There is a separate forum called Chief Talk for these products. Here is the link to this forum. https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/ When you click the download button, you will get a menu of product versions. The catalog you choose to download will need to be listed as X6 as mentioned in the above post. Note that some catalogs that require SSA in order to download and some are free. Feel free to contact us with any questions at 208-292-3400 or email sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Pedersen Chief Architect Software

Thank you for the question. You can start and stop the rental as much as you like on a monthly basis. Keep in mind that If you would like to own the software by renting, you need to have 12 consecutive payments. Feel free to contact our sales department with any questions at 208-292-3400 or email sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Pedersen Chief Architect Sales

Hello Robert, Thank you for the question and for your interest in Home Designer for your friend. In general, if the primary goal of the software is to help him(your friend) and his clients visualize design ideas from a conceptual point of view then a lower product such as Home Designer Architectural may be a fit. For example, perhaps a client wants to remodel a kitchen and they want to take out a wall to open the space and reconfigure the layout of cabinets to take advantage of the more open floor plan. A product like Home Designer Architectural will do a good job of conveying this concept to the client with 3D views of the reconfigured room and new cabinet layout. If you are looking for something that will give you the ability to be more detailed and accurate with the 3D concepts or if you need to get into the structural aspects of framing and creating layout pages for acquiring a building permit then you would want to consider Home Designer Pro. This product has manual controls over things like framing and roofs and has a special feature for creating construction drawings on large format paper (up to 18" x 24"). One thing to consider is that if you would like to start at a lower price point, you can get a lower product like Home Designer Architectural and your friend can upgrade to Home Designer Pro in the future. When upgrading, you get a discount for the value of the product you have off the price of the product you are upgrading to. For example, Home Designer Architectural MSRP is $199. If you upgrade to Pro in the future, you get a $200 discount off the price of Pro. The plans done in Architectural will open in the Pro version and the learning will apply as well because all of our Home Designer and Chief Architect products are based on the same program code. Feel free to reach out to our sales department directly if you have any questions or if you would like to further discuss feature differences between our products. We can be reached.by phone at 208.292.3400 or email sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Pedersen Chief Architect Software

Thank you for the question. You do not need to purchase the versions in between. When you purchase the newest version, it will include the features that were introduced in all the versions between what you had and what you upgraded to. Feel free to contact us directly in sales should if you have any questions. We can be reached at 208-292-3400 or email sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Pedersen Chief Architect Sales

Mike, Thank you for the question. You can contact our sales department for information on upgrade pricing. It will be helpful if you have the name and version number of your existing product. Also, it would be helpful if you have the product key or serial number so we can look up the license. You can contact sales by phone at 208-292-3400 or email: sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Pedersen Chief Architect Software

Hello, Thank you for the question. The catalogs that are marked as "SSA Only" are available for our Chief Architect professional products (Premier and Interiors). Information about these products can be found on at www.ChiefArchitect.com. SSA (Support & Software Assurance) is included for the first year when you purchase one of these professional products. It is also included while you are renting a Premier or Interiors version. SSA is a service that gives you access to upgrades at no charge, access to premium catalogs and priority support. The "SSA Only" catalogs are not compatible with our Home Designer products including Home Designer Pro. There is an upgrade available to move up to either of the professional products. There is a $500 discount off of the purchase price if you upgrade from HD Pro to Premier or Interiors. Feel free to contact us with any questions by phone: 208-292-3400 or email: sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Pedersen Chief Architect Software

Hello, Thank you for the question and for your interest in Home Designer Pro. Yes, Home Designer Pro had the ability to show sun angles and displays the shadow in a floor plan view. You can input your location in the form of longitude and latitude (yes, this includes the southern hemisphere) and enter the date and time to see how the sun will cast shadows. I have created a quick example and attached a screenshot below. The image shows the shadow on this structure on Oct. 1st at 9AM. in my location. Home Designer Pro is the only Home Designer product that has this ability. Here is a Tech Article that shows how the process works. https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00489/displaying-a-structure-s-shadow-in-floor-plan-view-in-home-designer-pro.html Kind regards, Derek Pedersen Chief Architect Software

Thank you for the question. You can purchase backup media by adding the Home Designer Pro download with backup media to the shopping cart. Then in the shopping cart remove the download product so that you only have the backup media in the cart. Note that we no longer sell the DVD for backup media. The backup installation comes on a USB thumb drive (16 GB). The drive contains the software install and gives you room for storing your plans and other files. Shipping is included in the price of the thumb drive if shipping to the USA. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions at 208-292-3400 or email sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Pedersen Chief Architect Software

Thank you for the question. Yes, your 2019 software will open plans and layouts from prior versions. It does not work the other way around (you can't open newer plans in older software). When you upgrade, the old upgrades software will still function. You can still use the upgraded software for archival purposes. When you are working with a plan from X9 you would need to open and work on it in the 2018 version only if you need to send the plan back to the X9 user so they can continue to open and work on the plan. Feel free to contact us is sales if you would like to discuss at 208-292-3400 or sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Pedersen Chief Architect Software

Gordon, Thank you for the question. Amazon is currently running a promotion on our software. You can call us directly and we would be happy to price match the Amazon discount. We do not match free Amazon shipping if you are a Prime member. The difference between the download and DVD version is that the program installation and library content is contained on a DVD disk and with the download you get the program installation and library content via download. You can save the download, so that you have an archive copy for future use. Fee Free to call or email our sales department if you have any questions. Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales

Hello, Thank you for the question. We have a new features page that lists what's new in Home Designer 2019 for each product. Here is a link to the page. I you have any questions about the new features, feel free to contact our sales department at 208-292-3400 or sales@chiefarchitect.com Home Designer 2019 New Features: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/whats-new/#whats-new-summary Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Software

Thank you for the question. Home Designer Pro contains all of the features and catalog items of the products below it in the product line. So, Home Designer Pro will have all of the plant content that Home Designer Suite contains. Feel free to call or email our Sales Department if you have any questions at 208-292-3400 or sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Software

Thank you for the question. Yes, you can import an image into Home Designer Interiors. Here is a Knowledge Base article on how this is done. https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00137/placing-a-picture-painting-or-photo-on-a-wall.html Here is a training video on the same topic that you may find helpful as well. https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/videos/watch/2260/applying-a-picture-to-a-frame.html Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Software

Thank you for the question. We do have a current version guarantee. Here is a link to more information about this policy. https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/guarantee.html Feel free to contact our Sales Department if you have any questions at 208-292-3400 or email sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Software

Thank you for the question. There are a few features that the Interiors version has that the Suite version does not such as having a tool to apply window treatments in the controls for the window and applying moldings to cabinets. There is also more interiors related content in the library in the Interiors version versus the Suite version. If you would like all of the Interiors Features and Suite features in one product plus more you would want to look at the Home Designer Architectural. Architectural will add features such as custom backsplashes and custom counter top shapes. Feel free to contact our sales office if you have additional questions at 208-292-3400. Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales

Hello, Thank you for your interest in Home Designer and for your questions. The rendering will be similar across the products in our Home Designer line. You get more control over lighting effects in Home Designer Pro versus the other Home Designer products, but the quality of the rendering is the same. You can look at our samples gallery to get an idea of what the renderings look like. The sample images are exactly what the program is capable of producing (not enhanced). Here is a link to the samples gallery. https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/samples.html Our Chief Architect products can render a truly photo realistic image. You can find information about this product at www.ChiefArchitect.com Looking at the examples shared, I think you will be happy with the Home Designer renderings. You can download a trial version to test it out here. https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/trial.html Feel free to contact us in sales with any questions. Call 208-292-3400 or email sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Software

Thank you for the question. Home Designer products do not support the save to cloud feature. You would need Chief Architect to upload to the cloud and share the 360 images or 3D Viewer files. The primary requirement for a mobile device to view a 360 image is having a gyro. The gyro allows you to move the device around while looking at the screen (up, down, side-to-side) so you can see the different areas of the image. Feel free to contact us in sales for more information at 208-292-3400.

Hello, Thank you for the question. We have a 30 day Current Version Guarantee. If a new version releases within 30 days of purchase, you can upgrade to the new version for the price difference (if there is any). Here is a link to more information about the Current Version Guarantee. Note that there is a link to download the Current Version Guaranteed form on this page. https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/guarantee.html Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales

Hello William, I checked and our sales department has sent you an email with your Transfer Password. The code does not change, so you can keep a record of it and use it in the future. The version of software you are using does not have the online deactivation feature. I apologize for any delay in getting this resolved. Note that our office is closed on the weekend. Please contact us if you experience any trouble with getting up and running. Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales

Hello Richard, Thank you for the question and for your interest in upgrading your software. Our website has a page dedicated to outlining new features released in the 2017 version. You will find the link to this page below. Please feel free to contact our sales department should you have any questions. You can call us at 208-292-3400 or email sales@chiefarchitect.com Home Designer 2017 New Features: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/whats-new/#whats-new-summary Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales

Hello, Thank you for the question and interest in upgrading your software. This upgrade is not available online, but you can currently call into our Sales Department to get the upgrade discount. We can be reached by calling 208-292-3400. Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales

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Hello, Thank you for the question and for your interest in Home Designer. Home Designer Architectural will create general framing automatically based loosely on general building principles. As mentioned above, you can specify the on-center spacing for wall studs, so that you get a more accurate materials list for the framing. This is true for this product and all others below it in the product line. If you need to get into the specifics of how the project is framed, would need to consider either Home Designer Pro or Chief Architect Premier. These products will allow you to specify exact sizes for all framing including header sizes, joist and rafter width/depth, and they can also create roof and floor trusses. Please feel free to contact us in sales if you have questions. You can email sales@chiefarchitect.com or call us at 208-292-3400 Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales