DavidJPotter

I recently reread the "Users Guide" and it occurred to me that, as a long time user and teacher I should point out that many questions asked here on this forum by new users and not so new users are fully answered in the "Users Guide" ( Help - View Users Guide) and secondarily any other answers are fully contained in the Reference Manual ( Help - View Reference Manual) and Video tutorials (Help - View Video Tutorials). Why Human Beings no longer study is a mystery to me, I guess we are in a hurry and modern people have not been trained to study first and then, having become learned. then do. I am merely suggesting it to you as a new thought and a better, more economical use of your and others time. DJP

Here is the You Tube video of me working on your plan: https://youtu.be/_k6o0fDij6w DJP

Sight unseen, I will say that part of "doing wrong" is an integral part of the learning process. Until one "knows" and has certainty due to applied study and practice, one tries and fails and from that process one gains knowledge. I will look at your file and get back to you. DJP

Only in Home Designer Pro do you have a "layout page", you make a different layout page for each printed page of plans ie. plan view.layout, then electrical.layout, elevations.layout, foundation.layout etc, one layout file equals one printed page. None of the other titles (Architectural, Suite, Interiors and Essentials) have that feature. DJP PS: Any software package contains tools and procedures, it is your job to find out from your local permit authority, what they require as acceptable plans and create them using the provided tools the software provides to meet those requirements. The software contains the tools, you must contain or acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to produce what the local Permit authority requires. No software on Earth that I know of, does the job for you, that is your job to do

Your tool of choice should be Terrain Splines which can be edited to closely follow graphic terrain lines of elevation. DJP

There is a skylight tool and it does what it does, if you want something else you have to make it in Sketch Up and then download - import it into Suite DJP

As frustrating is this is (understandable) in my experience, what happens in Sketch Up can only be repaired in Sketch Up. Home Designer has no effect on Sketch Up files so if they are messed up in Home Designer, they need to be fixed or redone in Sketch Up. Something you did or failed to do caused the unwanted result. DJP

Nothing was attached DJP

Do you have Home Designer Pro or something else? DJP

Due to the grammar you used, I am not sure what you are asking exactly. Are you calling a "drawing" a plan file or what exactly do you mean please. It always helps to know what software you are working with and its version number and to share a copy of your plan file as well so we can see what you see. DJP

It sounds like to me you should have used "comma delimited" as the import criteria instead of CSV, try that and if still no joy, call Tech Support for a clarification of procedure. Frankly, I never use that method because terrain planes created via data import do come in as intended by the surveyor but also oft times the resulting terrain object is so many-faceted that most PC's have difficulty parsing 3D views of such objects due to their resulting 3D face count. What I prefer to do is to import as a graphic 2D dxf file and then trace over the elevation lines with elevation splines, lines and regions to get a result, it is not necessary to duplicate every shift in elevation and makes a topo that a PC can more easily handle. DJP

When I opened your plan copy, it had a concrete floor and no grass (no terrain plane actually too), so I created a terrain plane and still no grass in the garage. DJP

In a camera view you can click on the wall you want to edit, you left-click then hit the tab key or next button. When that is properly done you can then see the wall's wall poly line, that will have handles on its four sides that you can then grab to edit the wall (alter its height). A second method is to format the wall to be a solid railing wall where its height can then be altered by way of the Newels and Balusters tab, height input box. DJP

Remove the roofs, draw the deck over the garage and then build the roofs again. DJP

This is remedied by altering (changing) the ceiling height value either on the second floor and or first floor, changing it gradiently and then after each change, checking the results in an overview camera. What this does is to move the roof planes up or down (by changing the second floor ceiling heights up moves the roof planes up on the second floor or down if you use a lessor value for ceiling heights). You change the ceiling values a little and then check to see if that helped or made worse how the roofs are in relation to each other (first floor to second floor). In Suite, that is the only way you can apply control to the z-axis height of roof planes. DJP

I tried to upload this library file but it was too large for the forum. It is a library of "People" created by a Chief Architect Premier user and Architect. Please use this Dropbox link to access and download the library file : https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4d266s1we6uuhs0/AAD4OAKEmlEa_sal-YE5TrIla?dl=0 BTW if you still have your old program you can export the images you like and then import them into your new license. DJP

Monday through Friday, Pacific Time Business hours is when Sales and Tech Support are available. DJP

In Home Designer Pro the only option is via "Edit - Default Settings - Dimensions - Format - Units" where you can globally change the way dimensions display, take a look at that dialog and practice changing the "unit" dropdown. In Chief Permier you can change the format defaults or a for a single dimension string but in Pro it is only via Default Settings. DJP

I am getting the same results as you are, so I would recommend sending a copy of your plan along with your description to Tech Support and ask them for a workable answer. It appears to me to be a bug. DJP

Do you have a "Monolithic Slab" in your plan? What command did you use to acquire that result exactly? What program title and its version number are you using? Have you watched the provided tutorial videos about "Materials Lists" that are available on the Home Designer website yet? DJP

I think drawing the dormer manually is your solution. I recommend being happy with a useful result as opposed to "perfection" as such a state is oft times hard to create but a useful result is rather easy. DJP

I think no one has answered your "question" because you already answered it with your attached PDF. Normally, I I make a dormer part of a room, I "explode it" into its individual parts first but that is merely a habit of mine, in order to have a "room" you have to have a space closed with walls, this gives you a room specification dialog box, that is a fundamental requirement. DJP

You should always start with the first floor, then the second floor, if any. Then get the roof system on the structure. When the house is complete, only then would you then start the terrain plane and working out the walk-out basement. The terrain plane was added (1998 0r 1999) as an option after the software had been on the market for several years so it is always added after the structure is in place and is set to the structure (see "building pad" input for Z-axis adjustments of the terrain plane). It took me an entire year to fully learn the software and get certain results and I was using it every day to support my family as a remodeling designer-sales person. I know most persons here are not "Pros" but there is no reason to do anything as an "amatuer" even if you are one. DJP

The remedy is to place symbols where you intend them to be, placing things underground would confuse anyone understandably so. That is something you did and so the remedy is to refrain from doing weird, unexpected things. The software is a mechanical device that follows your orders only, so just make sure you orders make sense as you make them. DJP

What you have is a very tall wall due to the ceiling height of the area it is a part of. What you must do to handle is to make that single wall a pony wall with an exterior wall type on top and an interior 4 wall below adjusting the two resulting wall poly lines so that the exterior portion shows to the outside and the lower portion displays an interior wall to the inside. This can easily be done in Home Designer Pro or Architectural that have the pony wall option. DJP