DavidJPotter

Post some image screen captures please so we can see what you mean by "layout" please. DJP

Here is a video tutorial of me creating a custom material (blue stone) in Home Designer Suite 2016, this procedure works in all Home Designer titles and versions with some variables in the dialog appearances: https://youtu.be/COiLAp1BBDw DJP The texture I used in the tutorial is also attached for download here

Find a good, high resolution picture or image file of the blue stone (you may need to crop or shape it first in an image editor), when prepared, then import it into your Library Browser as a new material, import the image, give it a "material name" and then you can assign it to any object that will carry a material. A full, detailed explanation can be found in your Reference Manual - search for "Custom Material" there. DJP

Not really. But now that I know that you are using Architectural, I can say that a solution for your problem can be solved only by thinking out of the box and planning ahead. If you had Home Designer Pro you could easily adjust individual roof overhangs but with Architectural you must use "Temporary Walls" to guide the roof generator to a specific result and then remove the temporary walls after you achieve the effects you desire - you turn off auto-rebuild-roofs command in the "Build Roof" dialog and then delete the temporary walls once they no longer have a purpose. This is the only way I know of to exercise some direct control over roof overhang values in Architectural. You draw a temporary wall where you want the roofs to build to and then once roofs are then built, you turn off "Auto Build Roofs" and then remove the temporary-guiding-wall. DJP PS: I know your plan is precious to you etc, but I assure you that those of us who have mastered the software, plans are a nickle a billion. My only interest in having the plan is to help you only.

Did you uninstall before trying to reinstall? I do not have a Mac but on a PC you can run a "Repair" routine from the "Control Panel", does a Mac have something like that? If you fully uninstall and then install from the DVD should work, since it does not, there is something then wrong with your Mac that is blocking a normal-usual action. Just keep trying but be methodical and intent on success. I have been a user-teacher since 1999 and this is the first time I have heard a complaint like yours. Sorry. DJP

Welcome to the Forum. Certain ground rules better facilitates two-way communication between members. When posting a question you always need to also share what software title and version you are having the problem with (different titles have differing abilities). You cannot safely assume others will understand what your problems are without at least being able to view an image of what you are seeing, the best solution is to post a copy of your plan file so others that are interested, can download the file and see for themselves, what is wrong. DJP

Think of cabinets as modules that fit together. When you order cabinets at Home Depot or Lowe's they are organized as individual modules that then are fitted together on site. The same is true for cabinets generally as well as islands. you add as many modules, facing in whatever direction to suit your purposes. You then use the cabinet specification dialog to further customize each module. DJP

I beg to differ Eric, please see this You Tube video I just made: https://youtu.be/9i9LJVGRDJ0 DJP

If you upgrade, you should have to do nothing at all, only if you do a "clean install" would you then have to reinstall Home Designer. I recently installed Windows 10 on my laptop, the transition was flawless (all my programs stayed in place). I did not like how my laptop ran with Windows 10 so I un-upgraded and everything is still fine. My laptop is 8 years old, and not strong enough to run Windows 10 well, if your machine is less than 8 years old (it currently runs Windows 7 or 8) it should run Windows 10 just fine. I do plan to upgrade my desktop that runs Windows 7 to 10 when it is available. DJP

Truss height above "FF" is controlled in the "Build Roof Dialog- raise off plate input box", this gives you full z-axis control of trusses but MUST be done before auto building or manually building roof planes (Trusses follow the void created between the underside of the roof rafters and the flat ceiling of rooms, it this is not set up correctly you get what you got). DJP

Not that I know of, I would be happy to be wrong. DJP

When I say "Adobe Acrobat" I mean not the free reader app which Adobe offers for free download, I mean "Adobe Acrobat Professional" which contains lots of custom tools like hyperlink, shapes, lines, text tools etc, an expensive program. DJP

I opened my copy of Pro 2016 and looked (in Chief Premiere they added a "Rails" tab to the wall specification dialog which allows editing any rails-I am sorry to report that they left that feature out in Pro). So I could recommend that you add a shaped, custom located soffit to cap the railing, you can set its material to whatever you wish after it is in place. To get the soffit to cover the existing rail, you use 'control key-left-click-drag' to get to cover up the ugly, incomplete rail. DJP

I know this feature is part of Chief Premier but I never used it because such links, when placed only work in a plan file, so in order to share such links you would have to share the entire plan file, which is usually a little too much to handle for casual users. I do not think this feature, such as it is, exists in Home Designer Pro at all (I suppose I could be wrong but I did look for it in my copy of Pro 2016 before posting). A better authority for this is Chief Architect Sales or Tech Support in terms of something other than my opinion based upon only my experience. I have done this using Adobe Acrobat which does have the ability to manually install hyperlinks into a document that connects to documents or imagery outside of the PDF document. DJP

I did these You Tube videos some time back about Terrain, they might be useful to you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u61Q1oUr2A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW1Fb8qckJQ DJP PS The terrain tools are identical in Chief Premier and Home Designer

I opened and looked using my copy of Pro 2015 but I did not read that KB article, I am glad I am wrong in this case, thanks Kat! DJP

Looks like you ordered roof framing built and then altered the roof pitch. Framing once built does NOT automatically update when roof plane changes are made after the fact. Now you must rebuild roof framing and it will then follow the roof planes as expected where and as they are now. DJP

The materials list function tabulates framing members as total linear feet as measured in the model. If you have not yet ordered framing to be built, then the count will be "zero" linear feet, after ordering framing built, it then tabulates the framing by size as linear feet. DJP

I often use .dxf and .dwg graphic files, I have never used a .dxf text file. You might want to ask Chief Architect Sales or Tech Support or perhaps the Reference Manual for precise data about such files. I have used this software professionally for almost 30 years without needing to use such a file, sorry. DJP

Here is a You Tube video of me using the dimension tools contained in Essentials 2016: https://youtu.be/4-q64gPTNhY DJP I must admit I misspoke earlier about the "internal Dimension" tool (it does not exist in Essentials, sorry) but the tools that do exist you can use

Here is the video (done in Architectural 2012) but the technology of doing this work has NOT changed in all these years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hncV8yl-ND0 DJP

I did not have time to devote to your question earlier this week, but now your attachments are missing (images and plan file). So all I might add is that sometimes insisting upon "walls only" is not the best course in terms of 3D modeling. I rather think I might also use soffits to emulate small wall segments next to other walls as a more workable solution over the use of tiny wall segments which are often times hard to work with and control-soffits are not hard to control. DJP

Gabriela, As Eric pointed out, this is a volunteer forum personed only by end users. I had family visiting yesterday and did not have much time to respond (I have more time today). Here is a You Tube video I made of me creating a version of your carport in Architectural 2016: https://youtu.be/BDUVRnJGZcE DJP

There is specifically an "Internal Dimension" tool in every Home Designer title and version. It is specifically designed to drag between two walls and will automatically create an accurate interior dimension between two walls, every time. Part of learning software is learning what tools are available and what they are used for, take a look please. DJP

I am sorry to say that Suite is not capable of such a view, all you have in Suite is a framing overview camera to view framing. Home Designer Pro offers true, framing elevations, Suite does not. DJP