DavidJPotter

An actual question, clearly stated would be easier to address than the comments you have so far made. DJP

I do one on one teaching and tutoring via the internet and Go to Meeting service, so from my point of view, it matters not, where you live. DJP

Home Designer Suite 2015 is not capable of creating a true scissor truss object. This can be done using Home Designer Pro or Premier software. For what Suite costs it is a steal but it is not also fully featured like Home Designer Pro. You can create a 4/12 ceiling by setting the roof planes to 4/12 and it will look correct for interior views but to fully 3D model a true scissor truss requires more expensive software to do. DJP

Pamela, please view some or all of these Home Designer Training Videos that address "Dimensioning" you will find that you can manually add dimension points to existing strings of dimensions and or just create manually new ones as you require without having to start over from scratch. I commonly use auto-exterior dimensions after I set up "Dimension Defaults - Locate Objects" and then manually edit the results for my plans http://video.homedesigner.chiefarchitect.com/?search=dimension DJP

You can place a door, set the door swing to "0" inches and resize to suit or you can place a window, make it "fixed" and then change its attributes to look like a side light, either method works just fine DJP

The reason users at Chief Talk and myself tend to say "you must have Pro or Premier..." is because we are all spoiled and lazy basically being able to manually manipulate roof planes. Kat is 100% correct in this case (and many others as well) that you can do what you want in this case with what you have by a little "out of the box" thinking and just using the tools you have to hand. Carefully study her (Kat's) post above, all the necessary steps are there to take. It may require several "try's" until you get exactly what you want but you must persist and learn from your mistakes. The key is to split your home into two separate buildings, laid out so that after roofs are automatically built you then turn that "feature" off and manually move the two buildings and their roofs together using the "Edit Area" tool and patience. DJP

Slanted walls as such do not exist but much can be emulated using roof planes and skylights (skylights can be created on roof plane surfaces to create openings). If you want full creative freedom you will need a program like Archicad ($10,000.00) or learn to use Sketch Up where freeform custom creativity is supported. Chief and Home Designer are unbeatable for what they do and what they cost but they are for more traditional construction methods. DJP

What you need now is a State Licensed Structural Engineer (licensed in your state and perferably one who lives close to your construction site) so he or she can design your foundation (the foundation is the most important element and best left to those who are licensed by your State to design such constructs. Any competent Structural Engineer should be able to develop stamped, validated Construction documents that any competent builder could then build for you. You can export what you what done in Architectural into ".dfx" format which any Engineer should then be able to import into AutoCAD and use to make his or her drawings. Depending upon the size of the addition an Architect might be subsituted but in my experience Engineers are quicker and cheaper and more senior to Architects. DJP

In "Edit - Default Settings - Dimension Defaults - Locate Objects" you can choose whether dimensions locate to sides or centers or both as you choose. That is also where you control all other tendencies of dimensions as well. DJP

Set up your Dimension Defaults ( Edit - Default Settings - Locate Objects) to "Surfaces" so your dimension lines locate to wall surfaces (if you are measuring an existing space, you are probably measuring it from its existing "surfaces"). At all times, you make the software do what you want it to do by studying how it works and then practicing with it until you fully understand how to make it do what you need done. Study the articles listed here: http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/search/?q=dimensioning&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&default_tab=all&site=chief_architect&client=chief_architect&restrict=ChiefArchitect&proxystylesheet=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chiefarchitect.com%2Fsearch%2Fchiefsearch_stylesheet.xslt&output=xml_no_dtd and you will then know what you need to know. DJP

objects at 3D Warehouse are free (no cost in terms of money, up front) but some of the symbols are more trouble than they are "worth" in terms of their inherent "quality". I often download several symbols so I can get at least one that I can use, then throw the others away. How they look when imported into Home Designer is the make-break point. If you download a loser, then just ditch it and try another one. Sometimes I can take one of those symbols to download and then edit it in Sketch Up to improve its appearance in HD (Sketch Up is also a free download and relatively easy to use to make and edit objects). The outcome is your major concern, not necessarily how long it takes, just do not accept early defeats and persist until you get what you want done. DJP

Generally speaking, you just intend to have it that way you wish and then tinker around with anomalies until you get the result you want. As you have seen, roof planes and wall poly-lines can be edited, holes can be patched up. This software is sophisticated but it is not perfect in anyone's hands by default. Your most important attributes will be stubbornness, patience and intention to succeed. The more you study and practice, the faster and smoother you will get (Rome was not built in a day either). Doing this kind of work with this software to me is FUN, so have fun! DJP

Here is a You Tube video of me sorting out your plan file: http://youtu.be/JH52ol-H1vI DJP

How to set up and preprogram for various roof types is fully described in the "Build Roof Dialog - Roof Styles Tab" in your software, in terms of suggestions, I would recommend that you start with those help articles, practicing using the settings after study until you begin to see how the software works for yourself. Then apply that new knowledge to your own creation. DJP

Take a look at the choices you can make on the "Options" tab of the "Build Roof" dialog (boxed eaves, eaves set to either "square or plumb") you do have some choices. DJP

Look again please, the "Option" I mentioned is called "Single Door Only" on the "Options Tab" of any door Specification Dialog (I did my checking in Architectural 2015 so it is not merely my opinion). DJP

Create the door, set its width and then go to the "Options" tab and select "single door" otherwise the door splits into two doors. DJP

You can do a Google Search for "Herringbone Seamless Textures" ( https://www.google.com/search?q=herringbone+seamless+textures&rlz=1C1CHMO_enUS578US578&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=951&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=6N7gVIfXEIqyggSp4IOoBg&ved=0CB0QsAQ ) and then download one of those and then import it as a "custom Material". As part of that cycle of action you assign that custom material the "herringbone" pattern (each material has a texture file and a pattern file, the texture file is what you see in "render camera views" and you see the pattern file in "Vector Camera Views". DJP

Make the walls first, then the roof generator will then create the roofs appropriately for that wall thickness (as you have seen roofs do not automatically change after you create them, so redo the roofs when you change the walls), it is just the way the software is designed to work and not work. DJP

Here is a link to a You Tube video of me working on your plan: http://youtu.be/Y4eU_wvccN8 DJP

I downloaded your plan but I need to know a couple of things: What software do you have that you used to create this plan? It is not obvious to me what is the addition and what is the "as-built" part of the house? Once I know those two datums, I can the offer a cogent response for you. DJP

You can zoom in or out as you need. The native child-window-planview is at a real world scale (1' = 1') so you only need to scale down when printing to PDF or paper so your drawing will fit on the target paper size, Your main limitation in Architectural is that you are limited to three floors , the dimensions (x and y) can be as large as your PC-Mac can parse per second. I have designed commercial buildings with over 1,000,000 square feet per floor, so I know this can be done. The more detail (3D faces) a plan contains determines the "load" on a computer per unit of time in terms of camera views etc. DJP

If it is occurring in just one plan, that plan is probably corrupt (psychotic-unpredictable etc), this usually happens to new learning users who made too many wrong guesses as to settings, which when they accumulates too many of these, the plan becomes corrupt. Since 1994, I have seen this happen 11 or 12 times and the common denominator is they were files created by new, learning users. You always have recourse to Tech Support and perhaps it is something that can be sorted out. I have seen several such plans that no one could sort out (fix-repair). Send a copy to Tech Support and see what they say. DJP

Have you studied and practiced with the Materials Eye-Dropper (It has four distinct and different modes of use)? Have you studied and practiced using the Materials Spray Can (It has four differing modes as well)? If I want to color just one wall, I commonly just open its dialog box and change just that wall by way of its Materials Tab in the Wall Specification Dialog. This software offers so many different ways to apply materials to objects that an unschooled person can create havoc and chaos fairly easily, until learned it can then seem quite mysterious and vexing. The quality and functioning of your video card is also important, that kind of hardware uses software drivers to communicate with your monitor, it that software is corrupt or out of date, it can also cause unwanted results. I spent many uncomfortable hours learning this software, so I understand (generally) where you are coming from. DJP

Here is a You Tube tutorial about that subject, made for Chief Architect Premier but the steps are the same in any Home Designer-Chief Inc software title: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWibFFtn9Ik DJP