PhilipHerlihy

One reflection on all this - I think Chief Architect are making a marketing mistake over this. I have my new graphics card; it runs the new version of HD Architectural, but I don't detect any difference whatever in the performance of any other software. So they'll be placing a cost hurdle in front of a lot of people. This is at a time when Microsoft have decided to challenge many millions of PC owners who are entirely satisfied with their machines to junk and replace them only to upgrade to the delights of Windows 11, or face being unsupported from 2025. We know that lots of PCs still run Windows 7, when the upgrade to Windows 10 was generally easy and free. I wonder how many machines will be doggedly running Windows 10 five years after support has ended. Similarly, I wonder how many HD users will just stick at the 2021 version - or how many potential users will decide not to purchase HD because of the additional cost of an upgraded graphics card. Anyone who's invested in Chief Architect will be using it in a business, and won't be troubled by platform costs. Home Designer is for the DIY market - and for a lot of people will be a discretionary purchase. I've already seen someone in an online group express interest, only to lose that interest when they realised their graphics card wouldn't hack it - on a machine they are in every other respect entirely satisfied with. I want to see Home Designer thrive in the market, and I think this is a problem. So what' the solution? Maybe have the software load an alternative rendering module if the 2022 specs aren't met. After all the 2021 version runs on a lot more machines than 2022 does. So the user gets to enjoy the marvellous rendering we've experienced from earlier versions in the confidence that once they finally upgrade the benefits of the new advances will be waiting for them. The alternative is to lose share of the market that might have bought Home Designer, I fear. It was touch and go with me whether I upgraded - and I'm an appreciative existing user!

For completeness, it's worth adding links to these two relevant Support articles. Message: You are using a video card that does not meet the software's minimum requirements Troubleshooting 3D Camera View Display Problems in Home Designer

Readers of this thread might be interested in the related thread "Graphics Cards".

The OP can find information about his graphics capability here (choose specific processor). https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-prodesk-600-g1-desktop-mini-pc/6595197/document/c04240180#AbT2 https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/graphics/81497/intel-hd-graphics-4400.html From the "Illustrated Parts & Service Map" on the HP website (Chrome reports as "unsafe" but it seems ok) there is no internal PCIe slot to install a graphics card, so you're fixed with the integrated graphics.

Update: I've been agonising over whether to upgrade my zippy but actually elderly PC (see above). Would the 2022 upgrade deliver any real benefit - especially if a hardware update was necessary? I've looked at the GT 1030 cards (around £100, on top of the sale-price £75 software upgrade from 2020), while the GTX 1050 Ti was over double that (actually £215). Yet I've zero interest in gaming, and it seems to me that the only heavy processing is when the 3D views are being "compiled": on my elderly, entirely adequate system this only took a few moments with the 2020 version, so what am I getting for all this cash? Even the 1050 Ti is a good few years old now. Well, I sought advice from support, and they sent back this very helpful response: 1) Changes to 3D rendering:With the release of Home Designer 2022, we completely changed and revamped the rendering engine. The software now uses DirectX 12 instead of OpenGL which was used in Home Designer 2021 and prior versions. With this new rendering engine came improvements in 3D rendering, most notably in lighting, but these improvements also meant that older less powerful graphics cards, such as your GT 640 card, no longer meet the minimum requirements to produce 3D renderings.2) GT 1030 vs. GTX 1050 TIBased on what I've read about the GT 1030, it appears that it at least meets the minimum requirements to produce 3D renderings in Home Designer 2022. However, the GT 1030 meets the bare minimum of the requirements, which means you are likely to see slowness in 3D renderings as you add more and more detail to them. I would recommend getting the GTX 1050 TI instead because it is going to have double the speed of the GT 1030 and give you much better performance. If you would like to see a more detailed comparison of these two graphics cards, I recommend taking a look at their benchmarks, here:https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti-vs-Nvidia-GT-1030/3649vsm2837263) Surface Pro 8Similar to the GT 1030 graphics card, the Windows Surface Pro 8 meets the minimum requirements to do 3D renderings, but you are likely to see slower performance as you add more detail to your plans. Furthermore, we have noticed driver issues with the Intel Iris XE graphics card that seems to cause some customers' 3D renderings to produce pixelation. This is something that we are working closely with Intel on at the moment, but you may want to avoid purchasing computers that only use that graphics card for the time-being. (I'd toyed with the idea of splashing out on a Surface Pro 8 tablet - one day.) So that did it for me - and I turned to the web to find a GTX 1050 Ti. Prices are clearly rising, and availability thin - this evening a few became available on Amazon at £215, and I chose the MSI over the Palit (I've heard of MSI, vaguely). I've also gone for a single, large fan model as I read that the twin small fan versions are a bit noisy, though that was only one reviewer. So, I'm nearly £300 down. For that I should get fancier shading, with acceptable performance (and it's possible my web-cam might work better too). I also have the advantage of being on the latest version, which can be handy for a beginner likely to ask for advice. It arrives next week, and I'll report back on how I get on with it. We know there's a world-wide silicon supply-chain shortage, and we know that graphics cards are being diverted to Crytpo-mining, which translates to huge demand from people with deep pockets. This must be a problem for Chief Architect, as there will be an awful lot of basic desktop machines out there which would run HD up to 2021 acceptably but which won't run 2022 (not if you want 3D rendering anyway). I've had good response from Support - they offered me a 2021 key as a workaround, and the reply above is helpful and detailed. But I rather think they'd avoid disgruntled customers if they flagged up the system requirements more prominently, with plenty of detail available. I'm surprised there aren't more posts about this issue in this forum.

I started wondering where it was that I got the idea that my GT 640 card did have DirectX 12 and Shader Model 6.5. Aha! I guess that settles it!

I'm dealing with a similar problem after upgrading HD Architectural from 2020 to 2022, but I have determined that it's not the DirectX 12 or Shader 6 requirement that's the issue. My existing graphics card is a GT 640 (about 12 years old!) and it does meet those requirements. What it doesn't meet is the requirement for 2GB GPU memory. I'm looking into alternative cards: a 1050Ti is supposedly a decent upgrade, and I've seen it referenced in a screenshot on the Support site, but it's almost £200 here, and I think that money would be better put towards an eventual new PC, as my (perfectly brisk) PC won't be upgradeable to W11. Even a 1030 card is almost £100, and that has much less bang for those bucks.

May be only tangentially relevant, but I recently found that the most recent version (2020 Architectural) wouldn't run on what I'd always thought of as a really high-end laptop (bought a few years ago). Apparently the graphics card needs to be pretty sprightly to meet the demands this ever-advancing application places on it these days. CA support were very helpful, but these are the system requirements these days! It could be that the problem was that the manufacturer has not produced a driver specifically for Windows 10, though I suspect the graphics adapter is just a generation too early. I'd hope that with the 2012 version you won't encounter this problem, but if it installs and won't run, it might be worth looking carefully at your graphics adapter.

Much appreciated.

Am I right in thinking that the "Bow Window" facility in HD Architectural 2020 is fixed at five lights? (Bay has three.)

I'm just starting out again on a remodelling project which had to be shelved some years ago. I've upgraded from HD Interiors 2014 to HD Architectural 2020. I'm also tinkering with Room Planner. The first thing I need to do is get an accurate set of reference measurements! I've invested in a Bluetooth laser measure (Leica Disto D2 - works well), and I've tried out three apps with it. ImageMeter Pro (under £4) works really well - it's quick and easy to annotate photos of the site with measurements. Leica Disto Plan (free for what I need). The "Sketch on Photo" facility works well (though I prefer ImageMeter). Problem: I've tried the "Sketch Plan" facility and I found it a real struggle to achieve the definitive "reference" set of measurements I want to be able to return to. Every measurement I input seems to change others already entered. That's after several attempts at my first room! I did have "snapping" turned on, but that seemed to make it worse. Without snapping, drawing a passable shape, then entering the measurements produces a recognisable but crazy version of the initial sketch (as the app tries to draw it to scale) but without the assumption that walls which were initially sketched at 90° to each other have to stay that way! At least the figures stay as entered - I've become fearful of relying on measurements which were actually changed by the app's idiosyncracies. Room Planner. Very impressive, though it takes a while to figure out how to do things with a very limited set of "adjustments". Again, I felt I had to battle with the app as changing one measurement led to unwanted changes in others already entered. As I got more familiar with how to use it, I found I could get a room approximately right - but what I want is a room that's exactly right. More disturbingly, when imported into Home Designer, the figures aren't exactly what I entered in Room Designer - though this may be due to HD being more picky about precisely which part of a wall's structure you're referring to. What I want is a set of accurate measurements I can come back to if/when I need to. It seems to me that for all the attractiveness of creating a scale drawing right there on my mobile, I may be better off simply with annotated photos, and that brings me back to ImageMeter. Question: Am I missing something! Advice from old hands (and young ones) warmly appreciated.

All studied very carefully. It might be a day or two before I can try this out for real, though. Much appreciated!

I hope this isn't duplicated - the reply I've just written has vanished. Thanks, David: well put. This is impressive software that deserves respect. I've tried fiddling quickly with the settings Mick suggested, but I can't get the plywood to disappear. I don't have an option in defaults to control whether exterior doors are 'Recessed' - I'm using HD Interiors, which has less options. (See screenshot). Meanwhile, I'm getting marvellous results with the furniture - specifying tables and cabinets to match what we're thinking of buying, and dropping them into place before whirling round in 3D. It's helping so much with the decisions we need to make this week. I'll tackle the walls later this week - I'm rather thinking the errors Mick pointed out are what's causing the plywood manifestation. Thank you so much for your help - it's greatly valued.

I can't tell you how grateful I am for this! Yes, I'm a complete beginner, and learning from my mistakes. That 'soffit' was my equivalent of a yardstick on the ground - it was created to give me a visual indication of how far out the curved walls should come. The unexplained error message pre-dates that. I'll remove it once I'm sure I no longer need it. We have to order some furniture shortly - today as it happens - and I'll need to spend the rest of the afternoon planning what we should try to fit in before heading off to the store, so I'll have to correct my walls later in the week. I'd been nudging two rooms (Forest and Garden rooms) to the exact correct size, to make this an accurate planning task, and I hadn't thought to consider the impact on the upper floor! I'm very grateful for your taking the trouble to point out these errors. I'll certainly try the fix you suggest for the 'plywood' and I'll report back. Meanwhile, I'm attaching a couple of photos of the (real) house, which is here: http://leytonstone.net/bushwood The walls of the bay are the same thickness as the main walls (39cm) and most of the bulk of those walls lies inside, with wooden surfaces making a convenient seat. From the main room, you access the bay by passing through an arch formed mainly by a supporting member which holds up the (non-bay) walls of the upper floor. I find I don't have a decent photo of this - the detail already uploaded is the only one I have. (Note to self...) I must say I'm a bit dismayed to realise the bay walls in my plan aren't aligned, and that two seem to overlap! I suspect I'll struggle to figure out how to correct this. Anyway - I have to concentrate on furniture (and another deadline) for the next 48 hours or so, but thank you so much for your interest and your help. I owe you a pint!

Thanks, David. I've just deleted and re-uploaded a zip file of bits and pieces, so that may have caused the problem you found - sorry! If you do have a few minutes then it might be worth refreshing your browser with F5. Yes, it certainly does take some practice - there's a lot to learn. I did do better when I turned off the snaps (all of them). I've found by experimentation that the 'plywood' only appears when I try to install any kind of door at that exact spot. I'm stumped! Likely to slope off to bed shortly - it's gone midnight here.