For all aspects of residential and light commercial design. As you draw walls and place smart architectural objects like doors and windows, the program creates a 3D model, generates a Materials List, and with the use of powerful building tools, helps produce Construction Documents with Site Plans, Framing Plans, Section Details, and Elevations.
For kitchen, bath and interior renderings and virtual tours for interior design professionals. Help clients visualize with 3D, specify materials and produce Plan and Construction Drawings. Realistically design every detail in 2D, Elevation, or 3D perspective views. Select catalogs from a 3D Library with thousands of cabinets, appliances, furnishings and textures.
Chief Architect is 3D software for new construction, remodeling, kitchen, bath and interior design. Discover why millions of people use Chief Architect as the home design software product of choice for 3D visualization and construction drawings.
Powerful building and drafting tools make the design process efficient and productive. Quickly create detailed plans according to standard building practices. Automatic and manual building tools allow you to create a variety of roof styles, stairs, framing — both stick and truss, schedules and materials lists for cut, buy and estimating, dimensioning, cross‑sections, and elevations. See more building design features.
Chief Architect uses smart design objects, such as cabinets, to quickly and easily create various styles, shapes and sizes. Chief Architect partners with specific manufacturers (cabinets, appliances, doors, windows, countertops and flooring) so that styles, finishes and other product-specific design details can be accurately drawn and rendered. Learn more about Kitchen, Bath & Interior Design features.
Use Chief Architect for Space Planning by placing and sizing architectural objects in your design. You can choose from specific manufacturers (cabinets, appliances, doors, windows, countertops and flooring) so that styles, finishes and other product‑specific design details can be accurately scaled and represented. Choose or create custom objects (non-manufacturer) or import objects into your plans to accurately represent your designs.
Chief Architect provides the best Interior Design Software for both 2D and 3D design and visualization. Design in 2D wall elevations, house plan views or in 3D. Choose from thousands of styles, colors, and materials to create realistic interiors from our 3D Library. Experiment with your interior design ideas using 3D models, virtual tours and advanced design tools.
As you draw walls, the program automatically creates a 3D model and supports full 3D editing. With Chief Architect, you can design in any view for seamless and simultaneous editing between 2D & 3D. Advanced rendering provides both Photo Realistic and Artistic styles such as Line Drawing and Watercolor. An extensive 3D Library of architectural objects and tools make it easy to detail and accessorize your designs so that styles, finishes and other product-specific design details can be accurately rendered. See our Samples Gallery.
Smart tool technology creates all the building systems automatically.
Sell more jobs by helping your clients visualize with realistic renderings, 360° renderings, live 3D Viewer models and virtual tours.
Create professional residential construction drawings for permits, subcontractors and clients.
Instant materials lists and schedules give you the information you need to quickly cost out your jobs.
Choose from a variety of rendering options: photo realistic (ray trace), artistic (watercolor / line drawing) and 360° renderings to communicate your ideas.
Create full custom cabinetry or design using manufacturer brand specific cabinet catalogs.
Select from thousands of objects such as fixtures, appliances, millwork, furnishings and more from the 3D Library.
Easily create floor plan and elevation dimensions to National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) standards.
Style Palettes — Create client design options for doors, windows, cabinets and room colors. Dramatically change the look of a room by applying the Palette. Save style palettes to your library for future use or to share with other designers.
Rearrange walls, add rooms, and update cabinets, countertops and flooring. Design with as‑built and remodeling layers to detail, estimate, and visualize. If you change the size of the room, you can immediately see the updated materials list to estimate costs. Help your clients visualize your designs, and sell more jobs with realistic 3D renderings and virtual tours.
Chief Architect has a powerful CAD software engine that includes tools for lines, polylines, splines, arcs and solids to produce objects that range from custom entry columns to a deck ledger detail. Quickly manipulate objects with multiple copy, align, reflect and replicate at specific intervals. A CAD-to-Walls tool imports AutoCAD® files and provides mapping for layers so you can quickly see the model in 3D. Draw custom CAD details, import as DWG/DXF/PDF, or choose from over 500 CAD details in the premium SSA catalog to overlay on your design.
3D renderings and virtual tours help you sell the project and construction drawings help you specify, permit and build. All views in your project - Floor Plans, Framing, Electrical, Section Details and Elevations have a user defined scale and link to a specific drawing that updates as your design changes. Layers control what displays for each of the drawing pages to help create professional detailed construction drawings. See our sample construction drawings.
Create site plans for single or multiple lots. Import terrain survey data or use the Terrain Modeling tools — terrain data can then be used for a 2D site plan or viewed in 3D to show the specific topography. Road, Sidewalk, Hill and Valley tools provide added detail. For Landscaping, there's over 4,000 plants with detailed information about each plant including integrated Hardiness Zone Maps. Define a North pointer and seasonal settings to create sun studies, shadow effects and overlays. Decking tools include automatic and manual deck framing; customize deck planking and materials.
