Chief Architect Premier X18: Draw House Plans, Design in 3D, Prepare Realistic Visuals and Construction Drawings!

Much more than drawing a house

Friends, today we are discovering a professional program that should be examined by those interested in architectural design, interior design and home projects.

The name of the program is Chief Architect Premier X18.

Let's say you have a customer and you will design a two-storey, modern house for him. Normally, you may need to deal with floor plans on one side, a three-dimensional model on another side, and visualization processes in a separate place.

The thing about Chief Architect is that it brings together a significant part of these works in the same project.

You draw the walls, place the doors and windows, and the program associates them with the three-dimensional model. Then you can prepare the roof, stairs, kitchen, bathroom, furniture and landscaping.

Moreover, it can be used not only to show a beautiful house to the customer, but also to prepare technical drawings and material lists.

1. Draw a two-dimensional plan, create a three-dimensional house

One of the most powerful features of the program is that the two-dimensional plan and the three-dimensional model work together.

For example, you opened a new project. First you draw the exterior walls of the house. Then you add the interior walls to create the living room, kitchen, bedrooms and bathroom.

When you place doors and windows on their respective walls, they are not just symbols visible on the plan; They are also included as structural elements in the three-dimensional model.

You can then examine your design from different angles. When you change the size of a room, updating the linked model speeds up the design process.

This is especially useful in projects where there are constant changes with the customer. For example, when you want to enlarge the living room, change the location of the kitchen or add a new window, you can check different views of the design on the same project.

2. Prepare realistic house and interior visuals

Now let's come to the most interesting part: visualization.

Even if the plan of a house is technically perfect, the customer may sometimes have difficulty understanding how the house will look by looking at those drawings.

You can view the house you designed in Chief Architect in three dimensions; You can assign materials to walls, floors, roofs, and furniture.

For example:

• You can use wooden parquet in the living room.

• You can design kitchen cabinets with different colors and materials.

• You can apply paint, stone or different coating options to the walls.

• You can change the model of windows and doors.

• You can examine the effect of lighting and sunlight on the space.

The program offers ray tracing-based visualization options aimed at photo realism, as well as artistic renderings such as drawing or watercolor.

So you can show the same design in different formats, both technical and presentation-oriented.

Just remember: The quality of the result is not just about the program. Material selection, light settings, camera angle and computer hardware also affect the resulting visual.

3. It can also be used to design kitchens and bathrooms

Chief Architect also offers powerful tools, especially for those interested in kitchen, bathroom and interior design.

For example, in a kitchen project, you can place the cabinets and adjust their dimensions, determine the countertop, add appliances and compare different layouts.

The program's smart architectural objects help organize cabinets and similar elements more easily during the design process. By using manufacturer catalogues, you can also use models that represent the design of certain products.

Let's say your customer wants three different kitchen looks. You can prepare white cabinets in one, dark cabinets in another, and a wood-based design in the third.

With tools such as Style Palettes, it is possible to quickly change design options such as door, window, cabinet and room colors.

This feature can especially speed up the customer's decision-making process. However, do not forget that you should also check the actual dimensions and manufacturer's specifications of the product you use in the drawing.

4. It can prepare not only visual but also technical construction drawings

I think the real difference of the program emerges here.

While some design software focuses more on visualization, Chief Architect also focuses on the technical documentation of housing projects.

You can prepare the following types of outputs by using your project:

• Floor plans

• Facade drawings

• Section details

• Foundation and site plans

• Drawings of the roof and carrier frame

• Measurement and explanation notes

• Technical views such as electrical plans

• Material lists and charts

There is an important advantage here: The changes you make in the project can also be reflected in the linked drawings. This makes it easier to keep different technical views of the same structure up to date.

However, just because the program produces drawings does not automatically mean that every project complies with the legislation or is ready for construction. Structural calculations, local regulations, license conditions and engineering controls should be considered separately.

5. Following the bill of materials and quantity

In a building design, it is not only important where the rooms will be, but also how much material will be used.

Chief Architect can create material lists and various schedules by using objects and building elements in the design.

For example, in a renovation project, you can track room spaces, cabinets or other design components through charts.

This can assist in proposal preparation and cost estimating processes.

Nevertheless, the quantities calculated by the program should not be directly considered as the final purchase list. The level of detail in the project, margin of waste, actual product dimensions and application conditions may affect the results.

6. For those who want to renovate an old house

Chief Architect isn't just used to design homes from scratch; It also offers tools for the renovation and rearrangement of existing homes.

For example, you can create the existing plan of an old house and design new walls, kitchen cabinets, windows or floor coverings.

X18 compatible Chief Architect As-Built application also aims to facilitate the beginning of this process. You can transfer the data you obtain to Chief Architect by scanning or drawing the three-dimensional plan of existing rooms via iPhone or iPad.

This way you can speed up the process of documenting the existing condition and starting renovation design. Of course, you still need to check the accuracy of the measurements, the actual location of the walls and the conditions on the site.

7. What's new in Chief Architect Premier X18?

The X18 version has many improvements to speed up daily design and drawing tasks.

For example, greater control is provided over the arrangement of wall connections, some dimensioning operations and roof-frame drawings.

Some of the prominent innovations are:

• Walls can be automatically connected to each other under certain conditions and this behavior can be controlled when necessary.

• Additional arrangement options on wooden frame elements and roof trusses.

• Determining the number of posts on terraces and railings more precisely.

• More useful charts for cabinet accessories and other building objects.

• Applying formwork profiles to three-dimensional wall and roof surfaces.

• Creating light groups and defining light color in Kelvin.

• WEBP format support for image import and export.

Although these innovations alone do not completely change the design of a home, they can save time for those who regularly prepare professional projects.

8. So, can your computer handle it?

It is very important to check the specifications of your computer before purchasing this program.

Current official system requirements for Windows specify 64-bit Windows 10 or Windows 11, at least 16 GB of RAM and a compatible graphics card with 4 GB of memory.

On the Mac side, supported models with Apple M1 or newer processors are required. Macs with Intel processors are not supported in the current requirements.

The more powerful configuration recommended by the manufacturer includes 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, and a high-end processor and graphics card.

The graphics card becomes important, especially if you want to create realistic visuals with ray tracing. On Windows, compatible ray tracing hardware may be required for relevant visualization features.

In short, a computer that can open a program is not the same as a computer that can work fluently on large projects. If you are going to use a large number of rooms, furniture, materials and high-quality visualizations, it makes sense to choose more powerful hardware.

9. Free or paid?

Just a little warning here: Chief Architect Premier X18 is not a free house drawing program.

On the manufacturer's official site, the Premier subscription is listed as $1,995 per year or $229 per month. The actual amount you will pay in Türkiye may vary depending on exchange rate, taxes and purchasing conditions.

Subscription; It includes benefits such as software updates, premium catalog downloads and priority technical support.

Before purchasing the program, I recommend you check the trial version option and current license terms on the official site.

If you just want to organize the rooms of your own home or occasionally draw a floor plan, this price may seem quite high. But it may make more sense for professionals who regularly prepare residential projects, renovation drawings, customer presentations and technical documents.

10. Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages

• The two-dimensional plan and the three-dimensional model work in conjunction with each other.

• There are realistic visualization and artistic presentation options.

• Supports residential design, interior, kitchen and bathroom projects.

• Can create technical drawings, schedules and bill of materials.

• Offers tools for renovation and documentation of existing structures.

• X18 includes new drawing and presentation features to speed up professional workflow.

Disadvantages

• Subscription price is high.

• For beginners, the learning curve can take time.

• Good hardware may be required to take advantage of powerful visualization features.

• The drawings created by the software do not replace expert control and local legislation supervision.

• This alone may not be sufficient for all types of architectural and engineering workflows.

11. Who should use it?

Chief Architect Premier X18; It is worth considering for residential architects, interior designers, home renovation experts, kitchen-bathroom designers, contractors and professionals who want to present both visual and technical projects to their customers.

It may be especially advantageous for those who want to prepare plans, three-dimensional models, material lists and construction drawings from the same design.

However, if you just want to draw a simple floor plan or experiment with decoration for a few rooms, it may make more sense to look at more economical alternatives.

In summary, friends, Chief Architect Premier X18 is not just a program with which you design the exterior of a house. It tries to combine a wide workflow, from the house's plan to its interior, from its three-dimensional presentation to its technical drawings, in the same project.

This is its real strength: In addition to preparing a beautiful visual, documenting the design from a technical perspective and reflecting the changes in the project to different views.

How much time do you think such a program can save in the architectural design process? Share your thoughts in the comments.