DavidJPotter

The update is for Home Designer 2015 products, so if you have one of those titles and had that problem updating one of those you should contact Chief Architect Inc Tech support so they can help you.

DJP

Have you downloaded "Core Content" yet? You have to manually download that, the command is under "Library - Download Core Content". When that is done you will be able to sellect objects from your "Library Browser" to place in your plan and view with "Camera Tools". There is no substitute for learning the tools and settings for your new software FIRST so things are then less mysterious and frustrating.

DJP

If a floor plan is all you need you can download "Room Planner" free from ITunes and install it as an app in I Phone or you can get Home Designer Essentials for under $75.00 if you have no I Phone.

DJP

I tried to import into Suite 2014 a library parsed for Chief Architect Premier X5 of letters and numbers (I also tried to import that same library into Home Designer Pro) with NO success, the import failed in each case.

You can try a search at 3D Warehouse for numbers and letters, download them and see if they work in Suite but that is for you to try and find out please.

You can change the fascia color within the materials tab of the "Build Roof Dialog" or just use the "Material Painter or Materials Eyedropper AFTER studying how to use those tool properly in the Reference Manual first (you can cause a lot of grief for yourself if you use those tools without knowing how they are programmed to work).

DJP

Here is a You Tube Video Tutorial on what you can do along that line in Home Designer Pro:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXvYP5sXxlw&feature=youtu.be

DJP

Stair objects have a solid white "fill" which will tend to obscure other objects in plan view. Open each stair object and remove the "fill" making them "transparent" and that should solve your visual plan view problem.

DJP

The "High Shed/Gable Roof." command is designed to do exactly what is shown in image #2 (that is what it is specifically for). To get image #3 you just set the ceilng height a little lower than the rooms to the left and right or make that room narrower  and that will force the roofs lower. My advice is to just set the ceilng height a little lower until you get the look you want. "High Shed Gable " command is for creating a shed roof and nothiing else.

It is very easy to miss your point with limited information and if I have done so, I am sorry but based on just what you said and showed and I am guessing that you want image #3 as a result.

DJP

Jo Ann, that is terrific! Heck I would be interested in seeing a video of how you did that especially since I already pronounced it "impossible",very well done indeed!

The only limited thing here was my certainty of what can and cannot be done outside of Pro and Premier.

DJP

Such matters are subjective and opinion driven. I am a professional computer drafts person and so I have taken to bulding my own computers since 1999. Each PC or Mac is different, especially Windows PC's, so actual performance can vary.

I suppose they advised you to make sure you have the latest software drivers for your card.

Most professional Chief Premier users use NVIDIA based cards (not ATI), I always buy PNY brand video cards (I have had poor performance from anything other than PNY brand NVIDIA cards).

My current card has 2 Gb of internal memory (my old card was similar to yours at 1 Gb VRAM), any PC that uses shared video RAM will suffer from poor performance (like most laptops for instance), you really need a dedicated video card with its own RAM internally.

The latest-greatest video cards are very expensive and are fancy but not necessary (my current card I bought for under $200.00 and it works great). If you can afford better, do so. Generally speaking the more you spend the more performance you get provided the card's architecture fits Home Designer well (that is why I stick with PNY brand cards).

DJP

That particular tool is confined to placing piers only along foundation stem walls-footings and will not place them outside of the confines of such drawn walls. The software is merely stating that fact to you.

Other than that I am not sure what you want to accomplish, I mean it looks like you have piers in place, so what exactly do you want to do that you cannot aparently do please?

This software is full of cryptic "error messages" that are worded in a way that is often hard to understand by end users (they are worded in programmer Geek-Speak mostly). Trying to understand them is often a waste of time and the important issue is "getting your creative work done" as opposed to becomming fluent in "Geek Speak".

Those messages are mainly for the software developers. They are parsed and created by software developers for their own use. In other words such messages are well understood by those persons but were not written with us, specifically in mind.

I rarely read such "Error Messages" having seen them all multiple times and only worry about getting things done, that is my advice to you about such things.

DJP

Dear Lady, respectfully a statement such as "The training video instructions do not work." is just another way to say in fact that the steps shown in the training video were either not successfully taken and or not fully understood and implemented. Please keep that in mind.

Steps successfully  taken always equal desired results, so look for the setting or step not implemented and you will then have a success.

A room named "Deck" by default will have no roof possible (open the Room Dialog Box - Structure Tab" of any "Deck" room and you will see that "Roof over this Room" will be unchecked by default due to the naming convention choosen.

Place a "check mark" by "Roof over this Room" in the Room Specification Dialog and then when a roof is ordered built and you properly set the directives in each of the germane Wall Specification Dialog box - Roof Tabs then a shed roof will then and only then appear.

I am not a mean-spirited person but do mean you well by the above words, my intent is to help you.

DJP

New users most common error is not setting "Edit -Default Settings - Floor" and other germane default settings before starting to create walls etc. When settings are incorrect and not planned out from the beginning you always get chaos and unnecessary wierd results. The software must be guided to a desired result, it is a mechanical device and "knows" nothing other than what you set it to "know".

Take the time to study and practice using the Reference Manual as your guide and then apply that competence to your project. Otherwise you then learn by trial and error only, wasting your time unnecessarily. Learn to use your tools and then and only then, use them is my advice.

DJP

I agree with Mick in that Suite is not capable of creating a Dutch or Texas Gable. Otherwise you should be able to get close in terms of the covered porches. 

That is done in each of the exterior wall dialog boxes-roof tab where you can then preprogram each wall to have a compound roof pitch situation over the walls that define the porch roofs (there is a input box on the "Roof Tab" for "Pitch and then Second Pitch" so over such programmed walls the sofware, once properly set will then build a low pitched roof and then a steeper pitched roof over areas so programmed by you.

If you really need it done correctly in every way you would be better off to have Home Designer Pro that has manual roof tools and other enhancements that once learned would then inable you to create whatever you desire. Suite is very able but not in the area of complex roof design and creation.

DJP

All you need to do is to turn on (check) "Attic Walls" while in an overview camera (they (attic walls) were turned off in that "Display Options" dialog for your overview camera. (see attached You Tube Video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQejzVauWoY&feature=youtu.be

DJP

By the way, did you enclose your second floor with walls when you ordered it created? No walls equals no floor or walls and I see in your images no floor or walls that define the second floor. What did you do or not do please?

DJP

PS: I am busy working on a couple of paid projects and thus have little time for gratis work, sorry. You post the plan and others can at least look and help

LIke Eric, I mainly use Chief Premier and HD Pro but in Suite you would have to set up the roof commands in each of the wall dialog box - roof tab - pitch input box that define the flat roof area. They would be set to 1/16"x12" or 0" x 12" pitch so the roof generator would then be guilded by those commands and build a "flat" roof.(even a flat roof is not oerfectly flat do it will drain during rain)

The rest of the walls that have hip roofs built over them can be left alone with their settings as to pitch done in the Build Roof Dialog box - Pitch input box.

DJP

You can also use free services like "Google Drive" and "Dropbox" for files too large for directly posting here (you post a hyperlink to such files instead of the file) so any size file can easily be shared thereby here.

DJP

Eric, why do you have an invisible wall next to a deck railing-invisible wall (that is what it looks like to me you have done). Commonly you just use a railing wall that is invisible to demark the boundries of a deck "room" and such walls, so programmed have an "exterior and interior" wall setting that colors the visible edge of the deck so defined. An additional invisible wall (if that is what you did) is unnecessary and productive of unwanted artifacts.

DJP

I prefer 2D images for people as fully 3D life forms either look ugly (angular and unreal) or if very well done have so many 3D faces (facets) that their presence overwhelms most PC's ability to render them (that is why I prefer 2D images, they look better and do not stress my PC's rendering hardware).

DJP

An easy way to visually eliminate "Z" fighting is to set the "sheathing" layer of your roof planes to the same material as the roof surface. This makes your materials list inaccurate but fully eliminates the sheathing showing through your surface material assignment (shingles).

Something else you should check is under "Properties" for the shingles you are using to make sure they are set to "matte" as opposed to "reflective" or "polished" in terms of how they handle light refraction in rendered views.

DJP

Most of my software programs are also 32 bit but a 64 bit PC will easily run 32 or 64 bit programs easily. A 64 bit PC or Mac has hardware designed to run 32 or 64 bit applications.

 

 

will it resolve the issue if i upgrade my 3GB RAM to 6GB?

No, in that Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 x 32 will only use a maximum of 3Gb of system RAM, one would have to have a modern, 64 bit operating system to use more than 3Gb.

 

 

may i ask the steps on how to set up virtual memory? and do's and dont's about it. thank you again.

Open your Windows "Help" files and search for: "

DJP

Read these Knowledge Base Help articles please:

http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/search/?q=split+level+entry&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&default_tab=support&site=chief_architect&client=chief_architect&restrict=ChiefArchitect&proxystylesheet=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chiefarchitect.com%2Fsearch%2Fchiefsearch_stylesheet.xslt&output=xml_no_dtd

DJP

 

Thank you David, that was a big help. However, I specified trusses in the Build Roof DBX but all it did was show roof rafters, no trusses. I had to manually build trusses and then align them with the existing rafters.

That is the way it is designed to be used: you make your presettings, build roofs, then manually build trusses and then and only then build framing. The auto-framing then frames to the trusses that should be in place. That procedure is laid out, step by step in the Reference Manual found under the "Help" menu. I realize that it is many pages but the way to address that document is a little at a time followed by practice on what was studied. It is searchable and so you can persue your interests as opposed to reading it in sequence.

DJP

There is a "Raise off Top Plate" input box in the build roof dialog that controls roof height relative to the top plate. The way the truss tool works is that it manually fills the space between the flat ceiling and the bottom of the roof planes so it is imcumbent upon you to tell (set) that height as above and then the truss tool will then fill the spaces you create.

In terms of posts and footings, you must manually edit those to your purposes using manual tools. The software is merely a mechanical device that must be led-controlled to a specific result and that control must come from you (not the software).

DJP

The ethical thing to do is to buy the plan and then you have a legal right to edit the results to fit your needs. If you really like it then properly exchange with the author is my advice and leave dishonesty to criminals.

DJP