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You are posting on the Home Designer forum, not the Chief Architect forum. You will likely get better help there. https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com

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Hello! I am on X17 (newly updated from X15) and I am working on some physically based renderings and things just look different/messy. See attached, the cabinetry lines are not clean and they almost look blurred together, almost like watercolor. Any tips for getting this back to normal?

Based off of that description it sounds like you may not have been in the elevation view when navigating to 3D> Rendering Techniques, since these options are only available when you're in a camera/cross section view. If this isn't the case I would recommend contacting Technical Support for further assistance. Using the Technical Support Center: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00717/using-the-technical-support-center.html

This is a drawing brought in from Home Designer Suite. When I go to Vector view its dark and won't let me choose it.

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You would only need to save a new layout page if you change the plan. Save the pdf to your desktop, then add all of the layout pages into one last pdf to make the full plan set

@Jdscott, It looks like you're using the Standard Rendering Technique which will not display edge lines. Switching to the Vector Rendering Technique will give you the edge lines that you're looking for. This can be done by being in the elevation view, going to 3D> Rendering Techniques, and selecting Vector View. I hope this helps!

@ANewViewforYou: You can import the plat into your plan as an image or PDF, then scale and rotate it as you like, then trace over it to create the Terrain Boundary. Then if you really want to get fancy you can add the terrain elevation data so your 3D renderings and elevations are realistic.

But after you save a layout page to PDF, don't you then have to delete everything off that layout page and create a "new" one, so you can never update the "old" one you just saved to PDF? Or am I missing something?

Hello, What option needs to be checked to see individual lines on the wall framing? It looks like one solid piece now. Thanks

This thread never really got to a true conclusion, so I'm just circling back to discuss the eventual solution... While I was able to get things close to correct in HD Architectural 2025, I was just never able to solve the roof on the bump-out in the rear of the house. It was pretty clearly just not possible given the limitations of Architectural. The true solution came when I finally spent the bucks to upgrade to HD 2026, and I then figured out how to make it work using manual roof planes. It was not intuitive how to do it, but by watching all the tutorials I could find and then through some trial and error, I figured it out. Here was the incorrect bump-out roof from HD Arch 2025: Here is the corrected roof, using manual roof planes in HD 2026:

What is your overhand set to? HOw was it built? extending 2nd floor joists or some sort of Look-outs that extend out to catch roof weight and loads? Could make 2nd storey room on each side that has Zero Height and make roof from it. What does HELP screen say as they have Gambrel examples.

Hi folks, I've been wrestling with this for hours, and I cannot seem to duplicate the exact type of roof/second floor seen in the picture attached. I can get the gambrel roof by defining the roof on the first floor walls, specifying a pitch of about 38 in 12 and 5 in 12, but just can't figure out how to get the second pitch to overhang like shown, with inset windows. Note that the 2nd floor area is exactly the same as the first. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

This article covers the Automatic Trusses of newer versions as well as Manual Trusses from earlier versions. Hope this helps! https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00981/creating-roof-trusses.html

I don't think auto-build roof trusses were available until HD Pro 2022 or later, if that is what you're asking about?

Just save them as Pdf's and you can make as many pages you want. Just change the page name and number as you go

My layouts are maxed out at 5 pages. I have tried going Tools-Layout Page Setup (I do not have a "Layout Page Setup" option). I have tried going to Tools-Layout-Change Layout Page and hitting 6, but it still just takes me to page 5.

Re-build the roof?

Is anyone else having trouble generating trusses in older versions of HD Pro? I check the box, but it shows stick framing and not trusses. I've used them in the past, but cannot get them to generate any longer.

This is exactly what I need - thank you! When I change the door size the label wasn't automatically changing, it was using the original door size, so this is working much better.

The sizes shown by default for doors are inches broken into foot/inches. Example is 2668 = 30" x 80" (always width x height" You could change the dimension in the "label" tab to %width%x%height% to have it show in inches. If you want other text, you can add it to the label box too. Yet after a while, it can look cluttered with too much information. That why I do a separate door and window schedule at the end and number the doors 1,2,etc. in a text box w/a square shape

I would like to display interior door sizes on the plan. Is there a code such as %size% that I can put into the label on the door settings? The automatic label shows what looks like the door catalog number. I can go to each door and specify a label but before I do that I wanted to see if it is something that can be automatically displayed with a setting. Thank you!!

Z axis is vertical and points to sky. X axis is left-right with respect to floor plan Y axis is front to back with respect to floor plan You meant rotate in y axis. Another trick open up an elevation in orthographic (section or elevation) looking at the object you want to rotate. Click on object and the rotate triangle comes up and you can rotate on screen plane. SO in your case open elevaion looking a that is gable end. Click on this vertical structure. Grab triangle and rotate and then move it to where you want. yes it is clumsy but works.

These are 2 great options.....thank you! And yes, I did mean the Z axis. In other words, the post the red arrow is pointing to, I want to copy/paste and show it at 45 degree angle.