3D Architectural Design & Drafting Software

Model Created Using Chief’s Model Maker™

Chief Architect is a fun, powerful, and cost effective professional 3D design solution for students, educators, and schools. Whether it’s residential or light commercial, Chief Architect’s ease of use lets instructors focus more on teaching concepts and less on teaching software. If you’re short on time, Chief Architect also includes a complete curriculum with textbooks and interactive training videos built into the software making it easy to learn and teach your design classes.

– An ideal solution for secondary and post secondary education!

Design in 2D & 3D Simultaneously

Residential & Light Commercial Design

Kitchens & Baths – Interiors & Exteriors

Architectural Design

Turn concepts into realistic 3D models in minutes – get immediate visual feedback
3D models are automatic – to see a view, simply point-and-click the camera
Over 50 completed sample plans are included to integrate within the curriculum
Over 300 Interactive How-To Training Videos are built into the Help Menu for independent and/or classroom study
Easily create Virtual Tours from your designs
Produce detailed, professional Plan Sets with framing, electrical, plumbing, elevations, cross-sections, 3D overviews and more
Advanced 3D tools: Raytrace, Glass House,™ Doll House,™ 3D Cross-Section Elevation Slider™
Design with smart objects that can bump, easily be resized, apply colors and textures to create realistic plans

Automatic & Manual Building Tools

Quickly drag and arrange walls, windows, doors, and cabinets in 3D and 2D
Use the powerful built-in Automatic and Manual Building tools including: dimensions, walls, windows, foundations, framing, stairs, decks, CAD, electrical and more
Automatic and manual roofs: hip, gable, curved and more
Design custom ceilings – vaults, trays, coffered and barrels
Materials Lists and cost estimating – Chief Architect maintains a complete model as you design and automatically generates a Materials List in spreadsheet format
Material Schedules: windows, doors, cabinets, electrical, fixtures and furniture

Interior and Exterior Design Tools

The House Wizard™ provides a quick way to layout rooms – great for initial design ideas
Material Painter^® – choose colors, materials and textures for all your design elements – siding, flooring, countertops and more
Color Chooser™ – easily create custom colors from photos
Floor and space planning is easy with the Space Planner and House Wizard™
Design and decorate by room – assign wall coverings, custom moldings, flooring materials, ceiling accents and more
Develop lighting plans using fixtures and independent editable light sources
Choose from over 10,000 Library objects – Download Free manufacturer Library objects or import your own!

Powerful Design, Drafting & CAD Tools

Terrain Tools, Site Plans, Landscaping & Decks

Plan Sets & Construction Documents

A complete CAD tool set, with Visual CAD Snaps™
Use the Layer Sets to turn on and off layers to create the exact view for Plan Sets and construction documents
Choose from a Library of over 1,000 CAD Details – use as-is, customize or import new details
Easily design custom cabinets with the Cabinet Designer™ tools – Over 1,000 styles of cabinets including a built-in Library
Design realistic kitchens and baths in 3D, dropping in parametric cabinets, changing styles, adding custom countertops, flooring and more
Group select and block like items and save to the Library for future reuse – a great time saving feature
Create Symbol Wizard™ imports DWG/DXF/3DS/OBJ files

Decks & Landscaping

Plant Encyclopedia and Plant Chooser™ – choose from over 2,000 landscaping plants with access to all the plant data
Choose from pre-arranged flower and garden beds. Design your own custom landscapes
Generate landscapes, terrain and Site Plans for all the outdoor related design projects
Import terrain data or input from a GPS to build specific terrain
Use Hill and Valley tools or the Pathway tools for outdoor design
Integrated road and sidewalk tools for site planning
Design custom decks and patios. Use the automated deck framing tool to quickly complete the design

"I teach Chief Architect to high school students and have never seen them more excited about any other program." –Jon Jones, Teacher