Summary Features Powerful Building & Design Tools Automatic Roofs: hip, gable, shed, saltbox, gambrel, gullwing, half-hip, mansard - plus Dormers. With the manual roof tools, create any style including curved roofs. Materials Lists for Cut, Buy and Lineal materials for cost estimating and bidding Schedules: Windows, Doors, Cabinets, Rooms, Fixtures, Furniture and Plants Dimensions for One-Click Auto Dimensioning ™, End-to-End, Interior, Point-to-Point, Baseline, Angular and Centerline Advanced Stair & Ramp tools for curved, flared, split and straight Automatic Framing. Define hand Framed or Truss framed roofs and floors. Electrical and HVAC tools Design with Smart Objects (BIM) windows, cabinets, doors, framing that have properties and behave intelligently in the design Elevation and Cross-Section tools Power CAD tools for details and custom shapes, include a catalog of over 500 architectural correct details Kitchen & Bath Design Tools Create any style of custom cabinet including shaped, framed-and frame-less with the Cabinet Designer ™ tools Use specific manufacturer catalogs for your cabinets Select from a library of thousands of custom door and drawer styles, cabinet feet, pilasters, hardware, wood species and colors Extensive Catalog of appliances, fixtures, millwork and furnishings - import tools extended the Catalog to additional manufacturers Block cabinets, fixtures, appliances & accessories to create architectural blocks such as a kitchen island or an entire kitchen. Save to the Library for future use - a great time saving feature! Access custom or name brand colors, materials and textures from the Catalog. Material Painter and Color Chooser tools allow you to import specific materials and customize for limitless design combinations CAD tools to design custom shapes such as tub platforms and add Section and Wall Elevation details 3D Design and Modeling Tools Seamless and simultaneous editing in 3D perspective, 2D plan and elevation views Artistic Rendering - watercolor, painting, line drawing, technical illustration, duotone and Glass House ™ Photo-Realistic 3D Ray Trace Rendering Ray Trace Wizard with predefined settings for indoor and outdoor scenes 3D views for elevations, overviews, cross-sections, framing and Doll House ™ Material Painter ™ - apply colors, materials and textures from any image or website Color Chooser ™ - Choose manufacturer colors, materials or textures for your design - or from a digital photo Record 3D views for virtual tours Powerful CAD Tools CAD Solids - produce slabs, moldings, and shapes. Draw molding profiles, custom countertops, driveways, and other architectural objects or CAD details. CAD Drawing tools for lines, polylines, splines, arcs, sun angles and shapes Align, Distribute, Copy, Replicate, Reflect, Extend, Fillet, make Parallel and several other CAD tools for precision and productivity Convert CAD objects to architectural objects - draw a molding profile and save as a stacked crown molding for a room or cabinet Draw custom CAD details, access over 500 built-in CAD details, import DXF or DWG CAD files CAD-to-Walls tool imports an AutoCAD ® file and provides a mapping for layers CAD tools to detail Cross Sections & Elevations Plan Sets and Construction Drawings Create construction documents with the Layout tool - send any view to the Layout - define scale and link to the drawing to update as your design changes Multiple Layers and Layer Sets - mask layers to create the view you need Annotation Sets (like Layer Sets) to group control Dimensions, Text, Arrows, Markers, Callouts, and Layers to streamline the annotation process Create Detailed Plan Sets: Site Plans, Floor Plans, Framing Plans, Electrical / HVAC Plans, Section Details, Structural and Foundation Plans, Room Finish Schedules, Elevations and 3D Perspectives Use a PDF print driver to print to any size paper ICC - International Residential Code Checklist Time Tracker ™ to monitor time spent on specific projects Site Planning, Terrain, Deck & Landscaping Tools Terrain Modeling, Landscaping Tools and Site Planning Tools for single or multiple lots Terrain Elevation Lines and individual Terrain Elevation Points Terrain Feature tools for Hills, Valleys, Flat Areas and more to modify the terrain attributes Import Terrain or GPS data and quickly produce the 2D and 3D terrain detail Road, Sidewalk and Curbing tools Set the north pointer and define seasonal settings for detailed shadow overlay Automatic and Manual deck framing; customize deck planking and materials Over 4000 Landscaping Plants Plant Encyclopedia ™, with detailed information about each plant including integrated Hardiness Zone Maps New Features: 3D Rendering & Visualization; Reflective material type Create material definitions to represent reflective surfaces for ray trace views. Improved lighting through windows in Ray Trace views Generate scenes with both natural and man made lighting. Enhanced feedback accuracy for time estimates when generating Ray Trace views Rendered Views now more closely represent Ray Trace Views Cross Section Render Technique controls Access the render techniques for Cross Section views through the camera specification dialog. Plans & Layouts; Enhanced "Send to Layout" and "CAD Detail From View" Experience faster response times and improved line generation Chief Architect Interiors files compatible with Chief Architect Viewer Share your Chief Architect Premier and Interior design files with clients using the free Chief Architect Viewer software Rooms; Automatic Room Connections Island rooms (rooms within rooms) automatically connect to outer rooms via an invisible wall to ensure proper room definitions Walls; Improved railings clip to ceiling surface Railings that intersect roofs and ceilings are automatically clipped to fit the slope. Pony Wall height controls Adjust the height of individual Pony Walls by typing the lower wall's height into the dialog Thru-Wall controls Specify wall intersections / framing on a per wall end basis using the new Thru-Wall attribute Improved Wall Connections for more accurate plan view representations of wall intersections Turn ON or OFF Thru-Wall connection display in plan view. Align wall layers with foundation Use the wall setting "Foundation to this Line" to specify the alignment of walls with foundations walls. Enhanced Wall Editing Adjust wall lengths by selecting dimensions or temporary dimensions that run parallel to the wall. Cabinets; Easily create Stacked Molding Add multiple moldings to objects and specify vertical and horizontal offset distances with different Molding Profiles to create stacked moldings. Frameless Cabinet settings Change the cabinet style in one click with the new Frameless and Full Overlay options for cabinets. Blind Corner Cabinet Controls Turn On or Off Automatic Blind Corner Cabinet behavior. Improved Corner Cabinet Hardware Single knob hardware for pie-cut corner cabinets. Doors & Windows; Door Defaults by Door Type Set unique door defaults for different types of doors: hinged, pocket, bifold, sliding, and garage. 3D Door Display options New edit tools "Show Door Open in 3D" and "Show Door Closed in 3D" make it fast and easy to control the state of doors in 3D views. Adjustable Louver Sizes New louver attribute allows you to control their size in windows and doors. Improved representation of doors recessed into masonry walls Foundations; Foundation Defaults More detailed control over the foundation automatically generated for Garage rooms. Auto Rebuild Foundations Automatically update the foundation plan to align with the 1st floor as the design progresses. Monolithic Slab technology Designing slab foundations is now faster, easier, and more accurate. Monolithic Slab Inset Ledges Create monolithic slab foundations with inset ledges for masonry wall construction. Monolithic Slab Curbing Specify curbing for monolithic slab foundations. Enhanced Garage Slabs with monolithic foundations Select components of the slab and adjust garage specific settings to suit your design Display cutout indicators for Garage Doors in foundation stem walls and curbing Bearing Wall attribute Generate a footing, or foundation wall + footing below, when automatic foundations are created by setting a wall as a Bearing Wall. Slab footing specification Control footings for slabs on a per edge basis; resize, dimension, or exclude the footing. Improved foundations with Slab at top of Stem Wall Slab Volume listed in the slab specification dialog for easy reference Framing; Control Roof Lookout framing Turn on or off the automatic generation of lookout framing in the Framing dialog. Layers; Layer Hider tool Click on an object in plan view to turn off its layer display Object Layer Properties edit tool Quickly and easily modify the layer properties for any object Assign Cameras to Layers Layer Set Defaults for Camera Types Specify unique layer sets for each camera type; Full Camera, Floor Camera, Full Overview, Floor Overview, Cross Section, Back-Clipped Cross Section, and Wall Elevation. Control the layers displayed for any of these cameras when they are initially created by assigning layer sets in the Layer Set Defaults dialog. Stair and Ramp Up / Down Arrow layer control New layer for stair and ramp arrow allows you to control the display separately. New "Footings, Step Markers" layer Control the step markers display, line style, color, line weight, and text style. Dimensions; Dimension Label Fill option Specify solid or transparent fill for dimensions' text. Append text to dimensions Insert additional text before or after the dimension value for any dimension string. Choose the dimension number to which text is added Enhanced Wall Editing with Dimensions Adjust wall lengths by selecting dimensions or temporary dimensions that run parallel to the wall. Box and Bumpout Extension Snaps Snap to projected 90 ° intersections Auto Exterior Dimensions for Slab Foundations Automatically dimension monolithic slab foundations with a single click. Dimensions Snap to Foundation Footings Accurately dimension foundation footings with manually drawn dimensions. Lighting / Electrical / HVAC; Improved Lighting Units Choose from common wattage / lumens values ​​for lights or specify custom values. Easily control lighting New edit controls for lighting allow you to turn lights on or off with a single click. Enhanced Adjust Lighting Dialog Added information in dialog makes it easy to locate lights by label name or room location Automatic GFCI outlets in Kitchens Use the Auto Place Outlet tool to add GFCI outlets to your kitchen rooms. Continuous draw mode for Electrical Connections Quickly generate electrical connections for each circuit in your design. Library / Catalog; Faster and more reliable catalog downloads Downloaded content automatically installs (no pre-subscription required). Enhanced feedback for Library Catalog downloads status Options to Continue or Cancel downloads when Chief Architect closes. Catalog Downloads automatically restart if Chief Architect is closed then re-launched. Library Browser filtered views Choose to show or hide entire library catalogs in the Library Browser tree. Improved library load times as hidden items are not loaded into the Library Browser. Library Tree Reorganization Manufacturer, User, Chief Architect Core, and Chief Architect Bonus catalogs are now grouped into separate categories for easier navigation. Library Object Shortcuts Create shortcut items to any object in the Library Browser to customize your organization. Improved speed of deleting objects from the Library Browser Text / Annotation / Scripting; Text Style tools Create unlimited Text Styles and assign them per layer, per default, or per object to control the appearance of labels, dimensions and other text in your design. Specify Line Style and Fill Style for Schedules Change schedule grid color and overall background color on a per schedule basis. Improved control over multiple schedules Manage multiple schedules of the same type and independently control their display of labels. Improved schedule updating when items in the plan are added to or removed from the schedule display. Create Leader Lines using Rich Text or Plain Text types More control over arrowhead style Specify the arrowhead type used for Joist Directions, Sun Angles, Roof Labels, and Stairs and Ramps. Layer for Camera Labels Label display for cameras is now independent from the camera display. Automatic Roof Labels Display labels for roofs, skylights and holes. Label includes pitch direction arrow and the roof angle in pitch or degrees. Modify the arrow style and text style of the roof labels Labels for Layout Boxes Automatic labels for layout views will display the camera name for elevation and section views or the floor plan name for plan views. Create custom labels that will move with the views and you set up you layout. Specify labels for Light Source or "added light" objects Uniquely name light sources in your scenes for easy recognition. Soffit, Shelf, and Partition Labels Assign custom labels through the new Label Tab for soffits, shelves, and partitions Labels for Bay, Box, and Bow Windows Customize labels through the Label Tab of the Bay, Box, and Bow Window dialogs. Primary and Secondary Terrain contour labels The primary and secondary labels are now independent of each other. Control the highlight for negative value contour labels. Room Label background fill Specify background fill color or solid or transparent fill for room labels Control the location of Labels New X and Y offsets for labels allow you to control the orientation of labels in relationship to the object. Window Macros Use macros to include Window Type, Top Elevation, Bottom Elevation, and Floor to Header height in window labels. Label macros for Electrical Lights, Stairs & Ramps, Roof Pitch / Slope, and Layout Boxes Create Dynamic Label Macros Use Text Macros in combination with the Ruby Scripting tools to dynamically update object labels or other annotation in your design. Text Macro Management dialog Create New, Edit, Copy, Delete, and Test custom macros from within the Text Macro Management dialog. Import / Export; AutoCAD 2012 Compatibility. Import or Export DXF and DWG files SketchUp 8 object import (32-bit version only) In the portable version and works on x64 too. User Resources; 64-bit version