Fredo649 Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 Anyone upgrade to HD2021 and if so what do you think ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidJPotter Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 I helped beta Test Chief Premier 2021 (aka X12) and find it improved over 2020 or X11, I am sure the Home Designer titles that will be based upon it will be improved as well. You can always download a "Trial Version" and see for yourself. DJP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredo649 Posted March 4, 2020 Author Share Posted March 4, 2020 1 hour ago, DavidJPotter said: I helped beta Test Chief Premier 2021 (aka X12) and find it improved over 2020 or X11, I am sure the Home Designer titles that will be based upon it will be improved as well. You can always download a "Trial Version" and see for yourself. DJP I am just downloading the trial version , Thanks David for all you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDbyJustin Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 I upgraded and the freedom of sheet sizes is worth the cost of admission in my opinion. I am still looking for all of the improvements but so far so good. They have added some controls for stairs and railings which I am happy to see. I am on the edge of going to Chief Premier. If the market continues to boom in my area and business stays good I will make the leap.But I am doing well with Pro 2021 too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominic900 Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 I also upgraded to HDP 2021 this past week. And I like how fast and smooth the renderings are in the standard view and PBR view. At least on my computer the framerate is very fast and smooth and I have a Nvidia TI 730 2GB memory video card. Any way some of the features I have tried are the waterfall counter, you have to make a custom counter in order to see the waterfall option. Please look in the help section for how to do this. Doors, I tried the glass panel option when editing a door (must be a glass panel door for this option) anyway you can edit the width, sides, top, and bottom individually if you want too. A nice feature to make entry doors have a cool effect or for modern homes. That is all that I got to play with for now but I give it five stars. This information is for Home Designer Pro 2021. Not sure if the features mentioned applies to lower versions of home designer. Thank you for reading my review. I hope that it helps you. Dominic 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donco15 Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 Thanks @Dominic900and @HDbyJustin thanks to your feedback... I am taking the plunge... I was wondering about the new version HDPro 2021. I will be upgrading and will share my feedback. It is nice to see what other fellow more experienced users feel about the new version. Really appreciate your candid feedback. Look forward to upgrading and using the new features... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominic900 Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 On 3/7/2020 at 12:59 PM, Donco15 said: Thanks @Dominic900and @HDbyJustin thanks to your feedback... I am taking the plunge... I was wondering about the new version HDPro 2021. I will be upgrading and will share my feedback. It is nice to see what other fellow more experienced users feel about the new version. Really appreciate your candid feedback. Look forward to upgrading and using the new features... Hello Donco15, Thank you for the nice words. I am happy to hear that the review I did helped you out. I hope that your upgrade works out well for you like it does for me. I am very happy that I also upgraded, the features work very well. A special thanks goes toward Chief Architect for working hard on X12 and bringing up to date home designer pro features that I will use. Thanks again Chief Architect. Dominic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donco15 Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 I am happy to say that I took the leap of faith and updated to HDPRO 2021. I am glad that I did.. My first blush into looking at the new release is that it looks identical to 2020 version. I was surprised and pleased at how much better the PBR renders look in 2021. I would have hoped that they would give us a little more features on the materials side, BUT.... I am REALLY Happy at how vastly different the PBR looks. My basic materials do look vastly improved.. Thanks Chief Architect for this feature, I am so happy about this. I am excited about this and look forward to using the HD PRO 2021. I did see the feature with no outside wall as being very helpful tool. Thanks Chief Architect team for taking the first step in making the Renders look so much better. I appreciate this immensely. The high gloss shine on the flooring has been minimized and the wood flooring looks authentic and not overly glossy as it had been in 2020 version. This was driving me crazy.. It was the first thing I noticed when I did my first render. By no means am I an expert user, I tinker and have been working on learning the program more... As someone mentioned to me early on, the resource guide and the manual is so helpful. I learn something new, each time I read through it.. I digress, but it is safe to say that I am happy that I renewed... I do think that the larger print format feature and the waterfall edge feature are two other nice attributes in addition to the improved PBR experience. Initially I was on the edge about the renewal, since the list of changes was not as extensive as the enhancements for X12. I am happy that I took the plunge and upgraded from the 2020 version. The quality of the PBR is vastly improved.. Just wanted to share my feedback on HDPRO 2021. I look forward to sharing some renders in the near future. Best Regards, D- 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricatic Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 I bought a new computer (see signature). The 6 year old laptop slows to a crawl when you start any detailing or the terrain perimeter. I decided to upgrade to HD2021 at the same time. Observations so far are quite satisfactory. The new print parameters are one of the main reasons I upgraded. The new stair tools are nice but took a few minutes to understand how to use the new tools. I have not used the new cabinet tools or the waterfall countertop but they look promising...the same goes for the new roof pivot tool. I looked at it and some of the dialog box choices have changed. I am working with a new client and the roof tools will certainly come into play.I will update this commentary at that time One tool that is no longer in the open item toolbar is the "copy/paste in place" option. I used that tool quite often in HD2020 and will miss it...edit: after more use and some advice given below, this is a very small issue at best. It just requires a bit of adjustment to the mindset... Regards Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rookie65 Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 Go to your "edit" tab on the top toolbar and I think there you will find what you're looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricatic Posted March 12, 2020 Share Posted March 12, 2020 18 minutes ago, Rookie65 said: Go to your "edit" tab on the top toolbar and I think there you will find what you're looking for. Thanks...only place I didn't look...There is a 2 page thread on Chief Talk about this subject...after reading through the thread I see where it is not as big an issue as I thought it might be...the solutions are not as direct as the original copy/paste in place tool but are adequate... still learning a ton everyday...great program for what I am doing at this time...like HDbyJustin, I am only a couple or three good jobs from taking the big step to CA Premiere Regards Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donco15 Posted March 13, 2020 Share Posted March 13, 2020 New Feature found in HD Pro 2021 - Not in my HD Pro 2020 The new 2021 version - Standard View and PBR View is substantially better than my 2020 version when displaying paint colors and has more manufacturer selections In the past, I have deleted the old program before installing the new one. This time, I have them both still, for now.. and could not believe how much better colors show up for the Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams Catalogs In the 2021 version they have a color palette for Benjamin Moore which has all the current 2020 colors for the year. In the past, the colors never looked good, for me, with my level of skills in the program. I am certain that a more skilled user could make anything look great.. This has just been my experience. The Sherwin Williams catalog also has more colors for 2020 that did not show up in my HDPro 2020 version. This really is a huge find for my presentations.. The great thing about the 2021 version is that it has all the Benjamin color looks for the year all classified appropriately and they look Great in standard view and in PBR view. This is an AMAZING... Improvement over what I experienced in 2019 and 2020 version of the software.. Just thought I would share the great news for any folks that use color in their presentations from Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams paints/ Also: The Bonus Metals display sooooo much better in HDPro 2021 than HDPro 2020 and 2019. This has always been depressing for me... But the new version solves this problem tremendously.. I am enjoying discovering new surprise treats in this program every day.. Hopefully the Chief Architect folks will make a video to showcase all these new features so that others can see them too... They did a great job with this revision... If you are into better quality renders, the newer version really is so much more robust than prior years.. even in the standard views... Enjoy!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricatic Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 The new computer is surely a big part of how happy I am with the upgrade. With that being said, I have been working with HD2021 for a couple of weeks now...I am pleased with the changes discovered to date...others have already covered some of the upgrades but here is my take... The new roof plane/ceiling plane tool is worth the upgrade cost. Much simpler to understand and implement The new rail menu is really nice once you unlearn old habits. Options make more sense. The print options are better but still no automatic way to print 11 x 17...I built a custom template Material changes appear to be easier...but maybe I am just developing better skills The new stair tool is easier to use and understand The see through walls option is cool IMO...the upgrade was well worth the price... Regards Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricatic Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 Eric Many thanks again for all you do to help on this site (and on Chief talk)... Keeping in mind that I am a construction guy and not too computer savvy, I have to confess that I have no idea how to accomplish what you suggested... Regards Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solver Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 20 minutes ago, ricatic said: I have to confess that I have no idea how to accomplish what you suggested... Lots of info on many topics available via a search ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeftRightDesign Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 I downloaded the trial version of HD2021 to see if the PBR was really better, and I think it's safe to say yes, it is. The first image below is PBR in HD2020, the second one is in the trial version of HD2021. No comparison, imho. Kept all the basic adjustments the same, except for the sunlight, which was mid-day in HD2020 and 600 lux in HD2021. (600 lux in HD2020 didn't produce the sunlight on the bench, so I thought it only fair to adjust to keep that.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeftRightDesign Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 OK, my bad, Global Illumination was turned off for some reason in HD2020, so what I posted above is not a correct comparison. Here they are with what is actually PBR in both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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