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Did you try making those cuppola as a DORMER?

Can I make suggestion. Since that is just holding up a pretty much flat roof probably an Aluminum cover type there is not much loading on those posts that they require a full footing. You could get by with just the normal 4" slab and aluminum posts bolting to it. If this is supporting the house hip roof then I would change the row of posts into a RAILING WALL with Posts to BEAM and railing set to OPEN so it does not have railings. Choose your posts design, size and spacing. this then creates an outdoor room you can change to PATIO and lower as required and have house roof cover it. It will treat this railing wall as part of the house and then creates proper foundation, and you can have a footer under the entire length if you choose.

Remember 2026 version is subscription based which means yo have to pay every month or year to work on drawings. if you stop paying the program stops working. But yes newer versions can open older version files. Newer versions CANNOT save as older versions so everything a new version opens becomes a new version file.

I currently have Home Designer Pro 2016. (I know I need to upgrade anyway. But I really don't use it as much as I used to, but is sure is nice to have when I want it.) I have a couple questions: 1- I need to upgrade to windows 11, Has anyone done this with an older version like 2016? Will it still work? I am afraid if it doesn't work I am going to be in a bind. 2- IF I upgrade to 2026 can I still open my old 2016 model/drawings? (Like AutoCAD will) Thanks, Chris

I think I searched existing topics pretty well, but only found where it was suggested to turn on "Post, Footings" in the Display Options. I already had that checked. I've got three patio roof posts each with a square concrete pad footing. They show everywhere except on the Foundation Plan. After I took these screen shots, I carried one of the posts down to the top of the buried footing, even though that is not how I would build it, but that won't make it display either. Am I missing something overly simple??

I'm dredging up some history because I found this very useful, yet it falls just short of my needs. In my project the ceilings above the main room are vaulted, and the method shown above doesn't quite work for that... I unchecked the "Flat Ceiling Over This Room" option in the structure for the intermediate floor (clerestory). Is there a work-around for this? I never got it to work, so I modeled the cupola structure as a separate file, exported to DAE and then imported it into my main project. This is pretty cumbersome, and you have to create roof openings at the ridge, and that leaves an artifact. Here's what I ended up doing for my project... - Interior and exterior showing vaulted ceiling and the artifact left between the roof openings at the ridge Cupola model I created using Home Designer: Anyway... my work-around was very fiddly especially when aligning the interior walls where the cupola model was meeting the roof opening walls. To complicate things further, the other structure on the project has two residential wings that are set at 45-degrees... the software really struggles with roof openings through vaulted ceilings unless the structure is set orthagonally. Dave

floor plan? Ceiling height in those rooms that gable side walls include should have done what you want.

Hello I am looking for a way to raise up the center wall and gable to make the center gable have a little different from the two side gables. Just looking to make the front wall under that gable about 2' taller. I have tried raising the ceiling heights in the room under this gable but that did not resolve the issue. I also tried manually adjusting this gable but that didn't seem to work either. Home Designer Pro 2024 Thanks in advance.

You can skip splitting the wall and instead add a Wall Material Region in HD Pro 2023 for just the tub area. It lets you paint tile onto a section of the wall without messing with the wall structure, and you can stretch it exactly where you want. I did this after a plumbing fix from https://www.pm247.co.uk/services/plumbing/kent/ and it kept the model tidy while showing the new tile patch perfectly.

one is not drawn to proper size. my guess is your PLAT info is incorrect. So how did you upload? Better to draw so you can set it as terrain boundary

I have uploaded my plat and imported it to the layout. I sent it to the back, but I can't figure out how to resize the layout to fit the plat size. Can someone please help. Thanks-DJ

That works. Just used a board and batten texture, didn't like the staggered look for the panel options. Thanks

I typically adjust the thickness of the post/beam to what it will be with the wrap, then change the material to what it needs to be showing.

I've got general framing posts, and a roof beam drawn to support a patio roof. I want to wrap them with fiber cement board, but have not found a way to do that. Can someone help me out? Screen shot below for reference. Thanks

Hi Jessica, I just tested it on my side, and as far as I can tell, .DAE exports from Home Designer always bring the textures with them into Sketchup. See the attached screenshot of my results. .STL files likely won't work, however, as that is a file type made for 3D printing, so it often won't export with the textures. You're correct in that turning off layers in your file should affect what gets exported. I would ensure your camera is the active view when changing the layers, as each separate view (floor plan, elevations, etc) have their own layer set. If you see the roof missing in the camera, you shouldn't have a roof in the resulting .DAE export. Once more, you can see the results of turning off these layers in my attached screenshot. Nathan Chief Architect Software

Hello @scootersyme, Thank you for the question! There is a feature in our Chief Architect Premier product that allows you to find objects (including framing members) in the plan. There are other features as well that make it easy to show framing in a wall detail and include it on your layout sheet(s). Below are a few screenshots of what this looks like. If you see value in this along with the many other features that are exclusive to the Premier product, there is an Upgrade Path for you to move to the Premier product (you save $500 off the first year annual subscription). You can download the Premier Free Trial and open your Home Designer plan to give it a test drive. If you have questions or would like to see these features in action, feel free to reach out to me in sales (if I am not immediately available, anyone is sales can help) 208.292.3400. Kind regards , Derek Pedersen Chief Architect Software In Premier, there is an edit button to "Find Object in Plan" at the bottom of the screen. After clicking this button, the object will be highlighted (selected) in your plan, so it is easy to find. The Premier Product also has a feature to show the wall framing detail by selecting the wall and then click the edit button "Show Wall Detail." You can add a framing schedule to this view to show additional details about the framing in the wall. In this example, I selected the header in the materials list. Note that the header in the wall detail below is highlighted (selected) so I can easily identify its location.

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Click on the 3 dots in the top right of the post, and delete should be there as an option.

Unfortunately, I cannot delete the post, or I do not know how. All I see is the option to edit. Brian

If you're using Chief X17, stay on the Chief forum, as the 2 programs are different, and there will be different options available. You can just delete this post to eliminate confusion.

Posted this in ChiefTalk, but thought there might be users here who aren't on that forum. Sorry for the double post. I am struggling with the roof on the attached plan. I know the little shed roof on the back of the main floor was an add on and I did not know if there was a way in the wall settings to get the roof to generate to match the attached images of the actual home. Would love it if someone could point me in the right direction. I have it close but the last little bit is killing me. Thanks in advance, Brian 1 Woodlawn Ave.caproj

manually edit the roof plane in question

Hello, It's great to have a propagated materials list especially for framing materials but... is there anyway to see where a particular framing member exists in the print. For instance there is a 2x6 that is 6' long and I would like to see where this 6 footer is in the wall framing. There is a "Detail" heading but it's blank and there is nothing to click on. Thanks for any help with my issue.

Hello and thanks in advance. I am looking for a way i can have auto roof rebuild turned off but when I move a specific exterior wall, I can go in and automatically update the roof to cover this 1 wall change without doing anything else to the other roof planes. Home designer pro 2024

Anybody have any luck exporting a .STL or .DAE and the materials stay in place with importing into Sketchup using Sketchups native import tool. and how to export just the walls and landscape without framing and every other detail. even unchecked in 3d view full camera or overview it still exports with everything.