DavidJPotter

Open your framing defaults and really stare at the dialog please DJP

These Knowledge Base Help articles may help: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/search/?q=renderings+all+black DJP

Here is a You Tube video I made that might help: https://youtu.be/rA64F8ujLcM DJP

It is not completely clear what you do wish to achieve. Posting a copy of your plan helps but for any useful help to be offered it must be crystal clear what you wish to do. No one knows that better than you, so please make it clear first, post a copy of your plan so that others can then help with some certainty. DJP

With anything except Home Designer Pro, you must be utterly precise with presettings to guide the roof generator to a desired result. In order to do that you need to understand well how Home Designer is programmed to achieve results, guessing does not count and if fact just makes things harder than first finding out what to do by way of careful study of your Reference Manual found under "Help". You should also study "Roof types" found in the build roof dialog which explains the necessary pre settings for each roof type. Rather than trying to learn all you need to know as you go is almost impossible, so I recommend that you practice and learn on simple test plans until your grasp of the software is sufficient to then do what you want to do. DJP

Here is a You Tube video of me working on your file: https://youtu.be/QeFrBuOqRuI DJP

Au contrair, mon ami! I have Home Designer titles running just fine back to Version 10 running on my Windows 10 x 64 PC DJP

If the CAD details are in dxf format then yes, in other file formats then the answer is probably NO DJP

You should contact Chief Architect Inc Tech Support for such questions. They know how Chief is programmed to work, you get opinions here (not very useful really), call them and find out the Truth. A cloud based system might work but only ONE file can be used by a group and by only one user at a time not several users at once. Verify this with Tech Support please. DJP

If you mean, nut and bolt duplicate log home structures the answer is NO, if you mean emulate, look like and be useful to build log homes, the answer is yes. I know of no 3D modeling program anywhere that duplicates, log by log, a log home. I suppose Sketch UP could be used, making the logs one at a time, stacking them, then creating the windows and doors one at a time from scratch then adding roofs, well I say to you, no thank you, very much, ugh. DJP

The best that can be done is by adjusting lighting and adjusting material properties. That is not a "Science" but is rather an Art. You get good at those adjustments by hours and hours of trial and error tweaking. The ones that look the best probably took awhile to tweak-render-tweak-render until your level of quality control is reached. Secondarily, the quality of one's video card and monitor can be a limiting factor in Home Designer renders, the better the video card the better-quicker you get the best possible results. DJP

The key is to make the exterior wall thicker and then as LawB suggests use a thinner wall segment for the window to be in and to slant the sides, as LawB suggests. It is a bit of additional work to do so. How much you do is controlled by your desire to have it look right or not. DJP

Delete the "round window" and replace it with a default window which you can then control by way of its dialog box. The specialty windows from the Library Browser can be resized but not otherwise changed as to their character. DJP

In Home Designer titles and versions LawB's answer is correct, In Chief Architect Premier one can set images and objects on any layer or custom made layers and then turn them on or off at need but as I said, this is only possible in Premier. DJP

Sometimes the "dormer tool" is not the "answer", in such cases you create the dormer manually where you need-want it and you might have to roof it manually as well. In short, you do what the architectural situation requires, there is no wrote "right" answer. DJP

Architectural has no such ability, you will have to upgrade to Chief Premier to do as you wish, I am sorry to say. DJP

Your trusses were built before you manually created trusses, that is why they are sticking through the roof plane. Each truss must not be opened and marked "Force Truss rebuild" to correct the existing situation. This is controlled firstly by the ceiling height setting per room specification dialog or Edit - Default Settings - Floor - Ceiling Height setting per floor. There is an additional control for specific truss conditions in the "Build Roof Dialog - raise off plate input box" that is fully explained in your Reference Manual. In every State of the USA only Structural Engineers can design trusses and other structural instances, are you a State Licensed Structural Engineer? DJP

Since you are not being very specific, I would use 1" thick upper cabinets as appliques to emulate the wainscot, placing them by the stairs in an elevation camera. You would be limited to the current selection of cabinet fronts to apply that is what came to mind. DJP

It may be that you are seeing merely the overall quality of your PC or MAC hardware as opposed to something else. Attached is a dollhouse image I made from your plan using "Standard Render", Water color and Technical Illustration camera types (see attached images), so there are other choices for you. DJP

You should be able to download older libraries, try and see. Older plan files can be opened in newer versions but older versions cannot open and edit newer version plan files, that is the way it has always been. DJP

I am sorry no one has acknowledged your post. The fact is that none of us can directly help you, even if we wanted to. Your problem is germane to your PC and as such, your best source of help will be Chief Architect Tech Support during their Pacific Time office hours, M-F. DJP

Welcome to the forum. In order to deliver help, helpers need to know what software you use and its version number. Home Designer software, each version has several differing titles and each title has differing abilities to get things done, very important. The first thing you need to do before any other thing is take the time to really learn how to use the software you bought, its settings and procedures. If you do not, you will merely create chaos and wasted time for yourself. Be kind to yourself and take the time to study and practice with what you have. whatever it is. DJP

Thank you, with Pro you can directly edit manually deck framing, alas this is not as easy to do in Architectural but you can emulate additional posts and footings using cabinet soffits and footing objects. DJP

And your question is? What? DJP

There is no Magic or tricks, just knowing your settings, tools and procedures as well as what the software can and cannot be made to do, the main limitation is your skill and knowledge only. DJP