10 replies to this topic

[Phil Williamson]

Hi everyone,

Hoping to get some guidance. First time posting, been using SP lightly for a few years now for my renovation business. Overall, I really like the program, but I will be focusing more on design work going forward and want to make sure that I have the right tools.

 

I work almost exclusively with renovation/remodel projects. I’ve found at times that I felt like it would be much easier to just ‘sketch out’ what I need, rather than spending hours trying to have all of the objects come together the way that I need in SP. Things like unusual Detail drawings, or unusual configurations of building materials seem to be very cumbersome to draft. Quite often all that I need is a simple 2D drawing, that I could draw out by hand in minutes but spend a lot of time trying to make it work in SP. I’m not sure if this is because of inherent limitations of the program, or my lack of expertise with it. It’s also a bit challenging working with other designers, since AutoCAD is the industry standard.

 

My question is – have you found that SP has all the functionality that you need, or is there times where you need to use another program?  I’m trying to decide whether I should learn a program like AutoCAD LT to complement SP, or if I just need to double down and take some more training in SP.

Thanks!

 

[Sam Morgan]

throw autocad in the garbage

[Mark Petri]

You can draw anything 2D with lines, shapes, etc. in SoftPlan. So, if a detail is needed you can do it. You can also model all sorts of profiles and shapes in SoftPlan, but that takes some thought and experience. I've found that using SketchUp for 3D components and details I want to draw quickly is a nice supplement to SP. While almost anything can be done in SP with tools they have or workarounds, sometimes it is faster to draw in SketchUp. That said, I also have spent a bit of time working with SketchUp. I personally never have liked AutoCAD, but sometimes feel the pain of the "industry standard" not playing nice with other programs.

[Fred Dickson]

Double down!  I have extensively tried a number of programs and the closest I got for speed, quality, etc.. is Vectorworks.  But for excellent results in the residential world, SP is the best.  I will add that I use Lumion a ton for nicer 3D exteriors.  But most important, the greatest people in the world are on this forum to help you out!!!! 

[Keith Almond]

Definitely go with the Softplan. You don't need other CAD software to help. It can easily do 2D drafting.

[Gary Wicklund]

Definitely Softplan.

you can draw any 2d projects in Softplan.

I had Acad lt and got rid of it, keep in mind Acad Lt is a stripped down version of AutoCAD and is “only” 2d, if you want to incorporate 3D later you will need to make the jump to Revit(this is the industry standard) and is alot harder to learn than Softplan.

Softplan has everything you’ll need.

[Phil Williamson]

Thanks for your suggestions everyone! 

I hadn't really given much thought to the 2D lines and shapes features in SP - looking at that now, it looks like everything that I should need is there,

[Matthew Dunson]

You can draw anything 2D with lines, shapes, etc. in SoftPlan. So, if a detail is needed you can do it. You can also model all sorts of profiles and shapes in SoftPlan, but that takes some thought and experience. I've found that using SketchUp for 3D components and details I want to draw quickly is a nice supplement to SP. While almost anything can be done in SP with tools they have or workarounds, sometimes it is faster to draw in SketchUp. That said, I also have spent a bit of time working with SketchUp. I personally never have liked AutoCAD, but sometimes feel the pain of the "industry standard" not playing nice with other programs.

I second the constant validation ethics of a software retaining "industry standard" status. I often do project visualizations for clients that I work with, and they are always blown away with how I can do live changes in front of them because of the ease-of-use SoftPlan offers. I also have meetings with other industry professionals whom I always get their first comment to be "what software is this?" that may be used to the industry standard of Autodesk products such as Revit & AutoCAD. The design language of 2D to 3D that SoftPlan uses is highly efficient and I have not seen many other products come close to this integration of drafting. What I do see as a challenge is the evident support of third-party plugins and extensions for mainstream software like Revit or AutoCAD because of their "industry standard" status. Despite this market share Autodesk has, I have always and will continue to recommend SoftPlan because it is a powerful software to use that checks a lot of the boxes in both residential and light commercial. What is changing is that other non-traditional software like Sketchup, Archicad & AllPlan are being adapted by third party companies as standard software which is a good sign for a smaller company like SoftPlan. I hope SoftPlan expands into this market share by continuing to reach out to companies for software integration (one example being SoftPlan supporting direct .FBX export of models but labeling it as Export to Lumion which doesn't officially support SoftPlan...for now at least). There is no one software that does it all, but SoftPlan is carrying its weight of being a fantastic drafting software that has been around for a long time and continues to improve in features and values the user experience. So yes, 2D line drawings are definitely a highlight feature inside SoftPlan that should be explored by any person switching from other software like AutoCAD.

[David Zawadzki]

I second the constant validation ethics of a software retaining "industry standard" status. I often do project visualizations for clients that I work with, and they are always blown away with how I can do live changes in front of them because of the ease-of-use SoftPlan offers. I also have meetings with other industry professionals whom I always get their first comment to be "what software is this?" that may be used to the industry standard of Autodesk products such as Revit & AutoCAD. The design language of 2D to 3D that SoftPlan uses is highly efficient and I have not seen many other products come close to this integration of drafting. What I do see as a challenge is the evident support of third-party plugins and extensions for mainstream software like Revit or AutoCAD because of their "industry standard" status. Despite this market share Autodesk has, I have always and will continue to recommend SoftPlan because it is a powerful software to use that checks a lot of the boxes in both residential and light commercial. What is changing is that other non-traditional software like Sketchup, Archicad & AllPlan are being adapted by third party companies as standard software which is a good sign for a smaller company like SoftPlan. I hope SoftPlan expands into this market share by continuing to reach out to companies for software integration (one example being SoftPlan supporting direct .FBX export of models but labeling it as Export to Lumion which doesn't officially support SoftPlan...for now at least). There is no one software that does it all, but SoftPlan is carrying its weight of being a fantastic drafting software that has been around for a long time and continues to improve in features and values the user experience. So yes, 2D line drawings are definitely a highlight feature inside SoftPlan that should be explored by any person switching from other software like AutoCAD.

This post should be pinned to the top of this forum!

[Fred Russell]

my 10 cents is I have only used auto lite, and felt in 2004 it just wasn't easy to figure out and maneuver around the tools.

I bought Softplan and my first house was a 3200 sf. The learning curve was about a month and I had a nice plan with a

somewhat complex roof. It is the first house you see in a gated community,   

I just immediately understood i WAS DRAWING A wall (3d) AND WINDOWS, ETC.

tHE MEASUREMNETS are always dead on.

Softplan is all I use for plans "Softlist" cost and 3d.

each update it gets smoother and smoother.  Roofs are getting much more friendly.

I don't search around on programs.   A nice floor plan takes a half day, when I know where I'm going.

I a lot can draw a plan and have a price in a day.

Yes once i messed with Softplan, and I had tried "Chief" I was happy and moved on.

It has always felt like Softplan programs to help make drawing fast.       Drawing in 3D when wanted is easy, etc, etc.

[Wesley Penner]

I suggest that you make sure that you have many commonly used 2d drafting tools as keyboard shortcuts. Move, offset, align to edge, set distance between, adjust, extend. This will greatly speed up your 2d drafting. But I am sure that you know all of this. I have never used AutoCad to any extent. I understand that it is powerful, but whenever I need to quickly sketch something out in 2d I turn to SP.