By Danielle Schroeder

Throughout the years, homes have become spaces with intelligent technology. Complete with thermostats that can be adjusted on a phone to virtual assistants making the grocery list, these innovations can be helpful with gadgets for nearly every room of a house.

by Kendra Dorosh

Each month we receive a great selection of renderings created by our users for the Chief Architect Design Contests. We’d like to share some ideas and suggestions for how you can craft a great design contest entry that Facebook voters respond positively to. These techniques can be applied when entering a Chief Architect Design Contest, or any other home design contest you might be considering. Let’s get started!

One of the best, and most obvious, aspects of a great design contest entry is a nice rendering. However, it’s also important to supplement the rendering with a well-written description along with your contact information; this is a perfect chance to show off your skills and share your story! We then recommend sharing the post on your own social media channels for the best exposure, we’ll get to this part in a bit.

By Phillip Gibney

Chief Architect Software offers two home design software options for professional designers: Chief Architect Premier and Chief Architect Interiors. This article will explore the primary differences between the two products and help guide your decision for which product would be the best fit based on your specific needs.

By Phillip Gibney

The color and material selections of a space is about more than how it looks. It reflects the charisma of the occupant and how we feel in the room. Whether the occupant is serious and formal or loose and relaxed, crafting a design to the client’s desires while maintaining functionality is an art. In a world with an endless and ever-changing selection of colors, materials, fixtures, furnishings, and more, perfecting a design requires high attention to detail. Design trends are constantly evolving. The fundamental concepts of color theory and how material and color selections affect our emotions have stood the test of time. This serves as a guide for crafting the perfect space. 

by Kerry Hansen

Feng shui is a tradition that originated in ancient China. It is the practice of being mindful of the spaces in the home to create a more peaceful and nourishing life.

Feng shui is a tradition that originated in ancient China. It is the practice of being mindful of the spaces in the home to create a more peaceful and nourishing life. The goal is to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment through spatial arrangement and orientation to optimize the flow of energy. Energy flow, also known as Chi is the life force that runs through each individual and their space. Chi means energy or air. In feng shui, ensure that the five elements, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood interact in harmony with each other and maintain the flow of energy. Chi, like all energy, is constantly evolving, shifting, and flowing. It cannot be created or destroyed and should be able to flow freely around and through the home.

By Phillip Gibney

Chief Architect Software is a leading software developer that focuses solely on home design software. Chief Architect Software offers two product lines: Chief Architect for design professionals and Home Designer Software for DIY home enthusiasts. If you are an industry professional looking for a design program or using Home Designer Software, you may have questions about the differences between our two software lines and the advantages of the Chief Architect line.

By Phillip Gibney

Chief Architect produces 3D Home Design Software for professional designers and DIY homeowners. From automated features for quickly creating floor plans, section details, and layouts to photo-realistic 3D renders for visualizing the design, the software is a powerful tool for those with residential design needs. Because the software is so powerful and robust, a question we often hear at Chief Architect is “what type of computer do I need to run the software”? Many computers are capable of running Chief Architect; however, depending on the specs, some will run Chief much more efficiently.  Investing in the right computer will also help ensure that the computer will run future versions of Chief effectively for a longer period of time, making your investment more cost effective over time.

By Adrean Stephenson

At some point, your ideas and designs will become a reality. When things get real, you’ll be collecting part numbers and prices, then putting in orders, and finally seeing all of your visions come to fruition.

Life can be a lot easier when the goods you plan to purchase are plucked directly from your favorite brands’ digital catalogs and then placed into your Chief Architect and Home Designer projects.

One goal of our Content Development team is to make this process easy and accessible. We work with many brand partners to curate digital catalogs that are specifically compatible with the Chief Architect family of software. Our hosting tool for these brand catalogs, and an array of other downloadable content for enhancing your work, is the 3D Library.

By Phillip Gibney

Your clients want to see more than a floor plan and elevation, right?  Renderings help; but, what about a 3D model they can experience and virtually interact with?  Export and share your designs using the Chief Architect 3D Viewer.  With the 3D Viewer, they can view the design and model on their phone, tablet or computer – it’s a free app we developed exactly for sharing your designs with your clients.

By Phillip Gibney

Chief Architect offers online and in-person training classes. These classes are an excellent way to increase your knowledge in the software, get your questions answered, connect with our staff, and network with industry peers. As a class participant, there are several things you can do to help prepare and ensure your success in a training class.