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You an do a Cross Section/Elevation of the wall. Once you have this, you can select the retaining wall and use Add Break tool to the top of the wall to break it into sections. Once you break the top of wall, you can make it step the way you want it. This can also be done in 3D view, but is not as easy to accomplish. One interesting thing about this, is that the terrain will not change so the wall can be taller than terrain on both sides if you want instead of terrain even with upper side of wall.

You can use recessed light. Set it's height so it's on top of shelf and resize it to whatever size you want. Then just adjust the light data. Change to Spot Light, Set Tilt angle to 90 and Direction angle to 180. Base Offset needs to be zero or negative number. You can change the Cut Off and Drop Off as you like.

Well it turns out I was incorrect all around. Eric, you are correct arcs do not splines make. And the Spline Roads/Sidewalks do curve. The trick is you must connect at least two of them together when you first draw them. The tool works just as I would have thought it should. I just had to get past operator error. Dig5050 had it correct earlier in this thread and I must have tried it with straight roads or something as I didn't get his explanation to work when I tried. David and Eric, thanks for your help/suggestions. To clear this up for anyone searching in the future, here is the explanation support was so helpful to offer: "The edit tools - Change Line/Arc, Intersect/Join Two Lines, Fillet, and Chamfer are only available for regular line and polyline based objects - they are not available for splines.Extend/Trim Object(s) are also line and polyline edit tools; however, they are not available in Home Designer Pro. They are only found in our Chief Architect Premier and Interiors titles.Splines behave totally differently from regular polylines. To see what I mean, draw a single segment of a Spine, Spline Road, or Spline Sidewalk. It looks like a straight line. Now, draw a second segment snapped to the end of the first, but going in a different direction. When you release the mouse button, you won't get two straight segments: you will get a curve. The curve of a spline can be edited by clicking and dragging its end edit handles or the Reshape handles located along its length (or in the case of roads/sidewalks, along its centerline). You can add more breaks using the Add Break edit tool."

Maybe I am conflating my terms. What I am considering splining is the ability to arc, add breaks, turns, or other poly lines. Perhaps that is erroneous. Anyway, I figured out what I was trying to accomplish which is to create a sidewalk shape and be able to widen the whole thing without having to manipulate individual segments. The tools work the way I was expecting, they are just labeled backwards. One note however, unlike similar tools, you can't add multiple arcs to a single sidewalk. You will need to add additional sections, connect them together, and then arc the individual sections even though they will look like one long section.

Okay, I just discovered something and found out I was mistaken. Straight Roads/Sidewalks and Spline Roads/Sidewalks are actually different and splining them is possible. The problem is they are labeled backwards. Straight ones can be splined and Splined ones cannot.

Eric, I agree. Although not a huge issue for me, I will submit a ticket and see what they have to say.

Thanks David, I am very aware of the driveway area tool and how to use it along with the other polyline tools. It's the same as all the other spline objects which all should really be consolidated into one tool in my opinion. The only difference between Driveway tool, Feature tool, Garden Bed, and the other similar tools is the default texture as far as I can see. Although all of these will work to create sidewalks, none have the ability to keep the sides parallel as you manipulate it once you've added splines to it. The ability to maintain parallel is what I imagine the sidewalk tool was intended to do, but obviously doesn't. That being said, I have used HD for several years and although I am not expert, I am quite familiar with most of the tools and how to manipulate them to create desired results. What I haven't figured out, is an easy way to keep splines parallel without extensive tweaking.

What are you referring to? Is this polyline sidewalk something different than a spline sidewalk? Where can I find this? I'm assuming you mean creating another terrain feature and using the spline tools available on it to create a sidewalk. I am aware of this, but don't know of a specific "polyline sidewalk". What I gather is that I am correct and that the spline sidewalk and road tools do absolutely nothing and are identical in every way to the straight ones. This spline sidewalk/roads aren't pre-programmed limitations, they are flaws. To have a tool that is called "Spline Sidewalk" and has no splining capabilities is like mounting a switch on the wall, not connecting it to anything, and calling it a light switch. For the above reason, I don't use these tools either, but I would like to know an easy way to make both sides of a polyline feature parallel to each other. I'm sure there is a way, but I haven't figured it out yet. Any help pointing me in the right direction with that would be appreciated. Rob

This thread is old, but for me, this issue still exists. As far as I can tell, there is no difference between a straight sidewalk and spline sidewalk. The same goes for roads. All will produce straight sidewalks or roads with no spline tools. The only handles they have are length and width. This has been the case for several versions at least since I have been using HD since 2017 version, have upgraded several times, and have never seen this feature work. Perhaps I am missing something. The roads and sidewalks can be converted to a plain polyline which will give the spline tools, but it can't be converted back to a sidewalk or road and becomes no different than any other terrain feature. The benefit of the sidewalk and road is that the sides stay parallel when adjusting width which isn't the case for splined objects, at least I don't know an easy way to do it. I want the ability to create a curved sidewalk or road and manipulate it while keeping the opposing sides parallel. Is there a way to do this that I've yet to discover?

Okay, GSM is sort of what I thought it was, but doesn't seem to have the functionality I wish it did. It would be so much more convenient to be able to adjust a texture uniquely for each surface and have it "stick". Perhaps it will do this if each one is modified as it's placed as one comment in the thread you shared suggests. I will play with it and see. Thanks for the links.

So I need to do it just like I did a few versions ago I guess. What is the purpose of GSM then? I assume when unchecked it will only adjust textures on like objects/surfaces? For example, it will adjust all ceilings with that texture, but would leave other surface types unaffected? And if checked would apply changes to all instances of that texture? Seems like they fell short on this feature. Would be so much more useful to adjust each surface individually

The Adjust Material Definition is a great tool, but I don't see that Global Symbol Mapping does anything. Whether I leave it checked or unchecked, it still changes the material on multiple objects. I want to be able to adjust Angle of material on different surfaces, but if I change it on one surface, it will change it on all. Isn't this what the Global Symbol Mapping button is supposed to be for? To be able to adjust each surface individually? Or is this does this only lock for each type of surface? For example, I have a room with a shed roof that has a slopped ceiling and a flat section of ceiling that butt up to each other. The texture is t&g boards. When it renders in 3D, it runs the textures perpendicular to each other. If I rotate one texture with the Adjust Material Definition tool, it will also rotate the other regardless whether the Global Symbol Mapping button is on or off. Am I missing something or is this option that lacking? HDPro 2023