DavidJPotter

Image quality and resolution are determined by the size of your monitor and quality of your video card. Other that those two factors the limiter overall is the computer language used by all Home Designer titles including Home Designer Pro is called "Open Graphic Language" ( Open GL )which is the way a PC can translate graphic information and make it visible to the eye. This is also true of Chief Architect Premier except that Premier also has a Ray Tracing application ( a separate rendering image application) that can increase the resolution and size of an image, The larger the image output the longer it takes to create. The file format is something you can experiment with (.jpg, .bmp, .png, .tiff and .gif) , I prefer .jpg for several reasons and have not observed a marked difference between image file formats worth mentioning. DJP

Home Designers next version based upon X8 is yet to be released, sorry but you will have to wait to open your file after you upgrade provided the Chief Premier properly formatted your plan file. DJP

After you have your split entry house done you draw your garage, manually setting its "Floor" level where you need it relative the entry and then manually set its ceiling height, when everything is properly set, then build roofs. If you need to you can work out the relative heights on paper to figure out the settings you need (guessing takes longer). DJP

The most local resource is your LIbrary Browser - Millwork - Columns, after that you should take a look at 3D Warehouse where there are free downloadable-importable symbols under many categories you might be interested in. DJP

Those are on a layer named "Ceiling Break Lines" they indicate, in plan view where a roof plane is intruding into the flat ceiling (coffered ceiling). DJP

Do you have Home Designer Pro or something else? DJP

This is the primary way to get this done on terrain: https://youtu.be/LVrWh4NS7jM DJP

I have several Home Designer and Chief Architect Premier plan files on my PC. I save them by client or project name (main folder) and then each version gets the date I created it as partof its file name. This has served me well: DJP

The point of auto roof generation, especially in Pro is to take what it produces and then MANUALLY edit the results to precisely what you want. Just take the next steps and learn manual roof editing. DJP

I found no "Island outlet" after doing a search in Pro 2016 but here is what I did find as a workable solution: https://youtu.be/_pTGQG67h8I DJP

Also in 'Display Options" you can show square footage of each room, interior dimensions, just by checking those layers on or off as you choose. If the "Living Area" is not turned on you can also simply draw a 2D CAD closed poly-line around the area of interest and then select and open the closed poly-line and on it "Poly Line" tab in its dialog box there will be a read out of the poly-lines circumference and Area. DJP

When you show a Framing overview that view has its own "Display Options" (There is a separate "Display Options dialog" for each camera type when active and another for plan view). So the reason you cannot see deck and post framing in such a view is because those named layers are un-checked or off in such views, you can while in such a view, turn on or off whatever you choose. DJP

I cannot tell from your failed image what you originally intended as a result. DJP

If structural walls are out of alignment, floor to floor the first floor walls can "grow" up to the second floor. The remedy is to make sure such exterior walls are properly aligned floor to floor. The software by way of basic programming and automaticity does things automatically whether you want those effects or not (the software is merely a mechanical thing reacting to stimuli). Continue on with the design, being careful to not leave any unnecessary loose ends and in doing that in itself, helps to minimize unwanted results. DJP

Here is my take on what I think, is missing: https://youtu.be/qSQk6JWcveY DJP

I agree with Eric, post a screen capture, a sketch or photo of what you want to achieve and perhaps a copy of your plan file as well. DJP

It is quite "doable" in Chief Architect Premier, just not as easy in Home Designer Pro. Fluted columns and appliques can easily be done using symbols in Pro, what I was specifically speaking to or about was the upper, carved looking panel as something one would do in Sketch Up and then import. Currently in Pro you can do a lot but there are limits to what custom appliques one can create in Pro alone. DJP

Guys and Gals, that is why I asked her to call Chief Architect Inc Sales, only they have the authority to make corporate business decisions. The rest of us here can certainly have opinions but we do not make decisions about sales or sales errors. DJP

By itself NO, but you can make such custom pieces in Sketch Up and then import into Home Designer Pro as applique symbols. ( a painstaking, detailed, involved process but that is what is required for that level of detail) Here is a short video of what is available and how to obtain it https://youtu.be/GgKrFmko5uc DJP

I agree with Eric, what you describe does not agree with my own experiences over the last twenty years. DJP

Call Chief Architect Inc Sales during their Pacific Office Hours: 208-292-3400 DJP

Until you have done it a few times I am sure it will seem "difficult". What you do is to select the roof plane you intend to edit, manually in plan view, While selected the "Edit Toolbar" will appear (because you selected the roof plane). In the edit toolbar is the "Break Line" tool (looks like a lightening bolt). You left-click on that tool icon to make it the active tool and then left-click where you want to break an edge of the roof plane (taking a single line and breaking it into two line segments). The point is to take the eave end of the roof plan, break its edge so you can fold it under the adjacent roof plane (this is what you do when fascia tops to adjacent roof planes are at different values). It is the same thing one would do in the field with carpenters only you are doing it digitally. Here is a video of me doing just that on You Tube: https://youtu.be/3R4hFpya5fk DJP

In Home Designer Pro you can, Using only the window dialog box, emulate most windows on the market. You can look up the specifications of a particular window and using only the window specification duplicate all aspects of most windows on the market except the most specialized shaped custom windows. In the past I have downloaded libraries from Pella, Marvin, Andersen and others and found them completely redundant, just taking up space on my hard drive. I have since deleted them for that reason. You are free do to as you wish. DJP

Do you want the open covered space to have a taller ceiling than the enclosed space? If so, what is the intended ceiling height of each space please? This is not obvious from your plan file. DJP

Call Chief Architect Inc Sales to find out what is possible. DJP