DavidJPotter

Exactly where you can control the backdrop varies from application to application; In Home Designer Pro the control dialog box can be found under the "3D" main menu section "3D Defaults" In Home Designer Suite the control dialog can be found under the "3D" menu section "Backdrop" In Home Designer Architectural the control dialog can be found under the "3D" menu section "Backdrop" What do you have? DJP

You have made a fundamental and common mistake by drawing your building in the software at an off plumb angle. The software is designed to operate best at right angles, the building orientation should be to the software's "North" up-screen - South - Down-screen". You then add a "North Pointer" object to graphically show "Magnetic North" ( See 2D Line tools menu for creating a "North Pointer"). You never cant or rotate the structure as it makes drawing off angle roof baselines and other objects unnecessarily difficult. DJP

Read and then practice with the data offered by these on line, free tutorial articles: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/search/?q=walk+out+basement&default_tab=support DJP

When you create a render view it is still fully adjustable. You can also adjust sun , added and ambient light sources, even the color of emitted light which directly affects results. There are no "absolutes" except for machines other than, as I said your own opinion of what is right and wrong. DJP

Call Chief Architect Home Designer Sales during their Pacific office hours. DJP

You can adjust the photo before importation but not after importation in an image editing program like Photoshop. Or take the picture with its orientation in mind. DJP

When I have used custom images and photos as an imported backdrop the imported image comes in just as it is (not flipped). I have never seen this happen ever. That it occurred to you is rather mysterious. There are no controls over backdrops once imported so were I you, I would delete the current imported backdrop, flip the original image and then reimport to see if that helps on the oft chance that the image itself has some unusual properties causing the unwanted results. Such images should import to the Library Browser "as is" without any alterations. DJP

The setting you seek is to be found under "Edit - Default Settings - Plan - Show Living Area" which is the bottom most check box. Running "Plan Check" should have restored it unless you also unchecked it in "Plan Defaults - Show Living Area". DJP

I am sorry to say this is a limitation built into all HD titles. When you assign a molding profile to a cabinet it by default wraps around the front and sides of a cabinet automatically. Only Chief Architect Premier adds the ability to manually create "molding profile poly-lines" that can be edited on each of the poly-lines edges (line segments). DJP

Like Eric said you can do something about those 2D CAD points under the "CAD" menu. You can also just delete them by, with nothing selected, just depress the "Delete Key" multiple times. This action removes, one at a time any visible "2D CAD" points. They as an automatic function can be turned on or off in "Preferences - CAD" if they annoy you. In earlier versions they used to be essential for certain functions and roof editing but now they are just kind of extra baggage but you can control them. DJP

I checked in HD Pro, Architectural and Suite and I found no specific settings to control that automatic behavior. In Chief Architect X9 Premier I did find a setting to control that behavior but it was left out of Home Designer titles I am sorry to say. You might try using a skinny spacer cabinet and then set the 2" or 3" wide spacer cabinet's material settings to "opening no material" (found in the Library Browser - Materials under the "Misc. Materials" category) making the cabinet "there" but "Invisible". I do not know if that will work but it is something you can try. DJP

I looked in Suite & Architectural and that setting can be found under "3D - Backdrop". In HD Pro and that setting can be found under "3D - 3D Defaults -Backdrop". DJP

That is what the "Joist Direction" tool is for and also the "Break Line Tool" found under "Build - Framing" menu. It is explained in detail in your Reference Manual under the "framing" section. DJP

There are several variables relative to "color correction": 1. The color, brightness, Hue and contrast can be adjusted within your monitor 2. You can adjust the same attributes within your utility for your video card 3. There are such controls resident within your operating system (Windows or Mac) 4. Within your Home Designer application you can adjust the properties of ANY material, make it darker, lighter, change its hue, make it emmisive or dull The only arbitrator of whether or not you adjust such settings is completely up to you and your own opinions as to what looks "right" to you. DJP

Open your software. Go to the "Help" menu and within that menu one of the selections there is "View Video Tutorials", Left-click on that link and that will open your browser to that website. DJP

You select the "Architectural Block" (grouped furniture) and while selected look for the command in the "Edit Toolbar" (this toolbar is visible only when you select an object) that says "Explode Architectural Block" (nothing "explodes" rather it merely un-groups the group of objects into individual parts. DJP

If you are using the "Box Window" tool it has a dialog box with three different roof settings for the auto roof builder. If those are insufficient then do as Eric suggests by taking the rectangular roof and edit it into a shed roof plane. Roof planes have a dialog box as well for simple editing of those objects. If you have not yet done so, your software comes with a free "Users Guide and Reference Manual" found under the "Help" menu of the main toolbar. You should study these two documents and use the built in Help Files (select the kind of object you wish to learn about and then Press the "F1" key). Not something to be done in an afternoon but you can work on this kind of study followed by practice of what you learned in short, daily self-training sessions over time. If you will do this you will quickly master the software and its tools and settings. If you do not you will never become certain of how to get things done with this. It is your choice to make. DJP

Call Tech Support for a precise answer. We here are users not programmers or software Architects. I personally use Imperial only and round to the nearest 1/2" so I cannot answer your implied question. DJP

Whatever you have application wise if the out building's slab is higher or lower than the main structure then you have to manually adjust the "floor level" of the out building separately from the main building. The software is merely a mechanical device that you must do the thinking (presetting and programming) for. It "assumes" all structures on a floor share a common absolute floor and ceiling heights that are set in "Edit - Default Settings - Floor - Structure Tab", so any differences in terms of absolute relative heights between buildings is something you must be responsible for. DJP

Only the high muckety mucks at Chief Architect have any ideas about the marketing of Home Designer. No one here has a clue as to their corporate plans and strategy. As Kat already mentioned, Chief Premier can already do this and it does so in part due to its higher sales price. DJP

I agree with Eric in that Home Designer and Chief Premier are programmed for traditional building methods. That said once one well learns the software and its abilities and shortcomings you can design just about any Architecture that includes right angle walls (for free form curved walls you really need something more exotic and expensive). Existing wall types can be altered to emulate metal structural walls and metal studs. I also agree with Eric that starting with Architectural is a bad economy move, for a little more money you will be better off with the extended abilities of Home Designer Pro due to its ability to manually design and edit roof systems. Most Chief Architect and Home Designer users design using more traditional, mainstream type construction (wood, sip, masonry, concrete type walls) but as I said once learned it can be easily adapted to your specific needs, just not by default. DJP

Home Designer and Chief Premier are both programmed to not allow a window to easily share the space of intersecting walls (invisible or visible) so the thing to do is to avoid this situation . You can always avoid this in the case of invisible walls by using a little common sense in order to get your job done. A clerestory room can be a room with no flat ceiling or a first floor room with no ceiling and a second floor room above it programmed to be "Open Below". You just need to do what is applicable for a specific situation to get around programming arbitraries. I could not figure out in your plan file exactly where you are talking about but "Wall Breaks" are not needed as you say and they are just making your job unnecessarily hard in my opinion. I realize it is very obvious to you but I point out that not having seen your plan before It is hard to track exactly where and what you are speaking of. In terms of semantics I would call your upper windows "Transom Windows" and not "Clerestory" because there is no vaulted ceiling, rather just a higher ceiling. DJP

It takes precise body language (one's control over the mouse) to control the mouse which controls the camera viewpoint. It is something you learn to do or not do while using the software's tools. When you want the camera to stay put you take the mouse out of "Move Camera Mode" and revert to "Select Objects Mode". It requires experience to see and operate with the different mode selections, after awhile you simply learn what to do and not do to maintain intentional control. It is not automatic or software based rather it is based upon your knowledgeable habits and control that you knowingly exercise. DJP

In HD Pro that is what you must do: Create a template.layout file with the information on it that you want on each page in the title block area. Open the template.layout and then save-as a copy for each printed page (Floor Plan.layout, second floor.layout, Elevations.layout etc) You order the page numbering to suit your purposes on each .layout file In Chief Premier it is a little easier to do, you just have one .layout file and it contains up to 1,000 blank pages all in one file, the data you want repeated on each page you place on "page zero". Both methods work respectively, you work a little harder in HD Pro is all. DJP

It appears to me that you images you posted were created using the "Floor Camera" tool which excludes anything above or below the floor on which the camera view was created (it is programmed to work exactly like that). What you should use is a "Full Camera" which includes all floors and surfaces that can be viewed from a particular camera viewpoint. Nothing "wrong" you just used the wrong camera tool. DJP