Chief Architect is great for plan and elevation production. Volexi layers on photoreal presentation renders in a minute, from the same 3D view.
Volexi turns a Chief Architect 3D view into a photoreal render in 30–60 seconds. Export the view as a PNG, upload it to Volexi, choose a lighting and material preset, and receive a finished image ready for client review.
What the numbers say
Inside VolexiChief Architect residential practices using Volexi during the beta reported client approval cycles shrinking from 2.3 rounds of revisions to 1.4 rounds on kitchen and bathroom presentations, based on a 58-project sample from US design-build firms in Q1 2026.
How it works
Three steps from a Chief Architect 3D perspective to a Volexi photoreal render.
In Chief Architect, open your perspective camera or ray-trace view. Frame the room or elevation you want to render.
3D → Pictures → Save Active View As Picture. Choose PNG, set width to 2048 or greater.
Drop the PNG into Volexi, pick a lighting preset (morning, evening, night), choose flooring material, and click Render.
Why Chief Architect teams choose Volexi
Yes. Any version of Chief Architect that can save an active 3D view as a picture works — Premier X15, X16, Interiors, and Home Designer Pro.
Chief Architect Home Designer consumer versions also work. Volexi reads the exported picture; the origin software version does not matter.
Yes, substantially. Volexi delivers in under a minute; Chief Architect ray tracing typically takes 10–40 minutes for a comparable scene.
Chief Architect ray tracing is CPU-bound and depends heavily on the user machine. Volexi runs inference on dedicated GPUs and returns results at predictable speeds regardless of laptop hardware.
Yes — that is the most common use case. Material presets cover hardwood, marble, tile, and concrete flooring and pair with morning, evening, and ambient lighting.
Home-design sales rely on realistic finishes and light. Volexi lets you generate variant renders — wood vs tile flooring, morning vs evening — in under five minutes, perfect for side-by-side client decisions.
No. Your machine only exports the PNG and uploads it. All rendering happens on Volexi servers.
This is a practical benefit for residential designers on laptops. You can run Chief Architect on a modest machine and still deliver presentation-grade renders with the same hardware.
Chief Architect exports rendered in Volexi
Eight dimensions that matter when you're choosing an AI or traditional renderer for architectural visualisation.
| Dimension | Volexi | Chief Architect's native renderer |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | Import export, render in 30 seconds | Material, lighting, and camera setup per scene |
| Export formats accepted | PNG, JPG, Chief Architect 3D view | Native scene file only |
| Pricing model | Pay-as-you-go credit packs from $9 | Bundled with base license |
Chief Architect's native renderer is a trademark of the owners of Chief Architect. Volexi is not affiliated with or endorsed by the owners of Chief Architect. Feature comparisons are based on publicly available documentation at time of writing.
Volexi works across every major architectural CAD format. Explore the full cluster.
Export a 3D view, upload to Volexi, get a client-ready photoreal render in about a minute. Credit packs from $9.