DavidJPotter

When you copy-paste terrain data into another plan it looses its 3D components. Those will have to be added again in the new plan you copied to. The usual practice is to create the terrain in the SAME plan as the structure due to the above fact, sorry. ?For the same reason copy-pasting the house is a poor practice is because the objects are pasted but NOT the Default Settings of the parent plan, the default settings are applied in the target plan and not the plan copied from, sorry. My advice is to copy-paste the terrain objects into your house plan, orient the terrain objects to the desired location of the structure and then set the terrain data as you wish in the new plan, object by object. Keep it as simple as is possible and in the future do not do them separately. DJP

If you have never sloped a soffit, the above advice may seem confusing but soffits can be ordered in Architectural and HD Pro (not Suite) to have a slanted shape (look at the soffit dialog box-General Tab - Sloped soffit). When checked it gives you two input boxes to establish the soffit's bottom height and top height (used to vary the angle of slope). There is also a "Follow Roof" check box for creating vaulted under roof beams. Soffits are quite versatile for simple custom 3D objects. Take a look. one sloped soffit could look like a simple bracket and another one stretched out could emulate a shutter. That was all I was suggesting. DJP

Ask your Architect to send you single views of each floor separately which can, one at a time be imported into HD Pro per floor to then trace over with Pro's 3D tools to then start creating a fully 3D model. The thing about AutoCAD is that it is and always has been a 2D only drawing program, so its exports are strictly 2D and must be used merely as a guide to create a fully 3D relationally correct rendition of your intended home. What he sent you was all floors showing in the same drawing, designed to be properly sorted out only in AutoCAD using its organization of layer names which does NOT translate easily into Pro OR Chief Architect Premier, I am sorry to tell you. He shared what can easily be viewed by another AutoCAD user and not easily sorted out in any 3D software. DJP

The plan opens and edits in my trial version of Pro 2021. I also opened it in X12 and it is properly marked for use in Home Designer titles. Look again. DJP

Home Designer Website Help articles on creating a "Prow Roof". DJP

Create a "Terrain feature" inside the greenhouse and program it to be a "Terrain Hole" to handle. DJP

I think your best bet (provided you have Architectural or HD Pro) is to create the shutters from sloped soffits: one at an angle to emulate the shutter and little skinny ones to emulate what holds them open against gravity. I did look for existing symbols at the Home Designer website and then at 3D Warehouse first. I do have an old symbol I bought, years ago that might work, you are welcome to give it a try. DJP Bahama Shutter.calibz

https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00890/placing-an-apron-sink.html DJP

You have to guide the software to an acceptable result, especially for something like a Greenhouse. The roof planes must be set to emulate actual greenhouse roof planes in appearance. As Eric suggested the walls must also be ordered to be thinner to emulate actual greenhouse type glass walls. It is a bit of careful planning and execution on YOUR part to get that done. Yes but it is YOU and NOT the software that creates any desired effects. DJP

I lowered the Crown Molding down to 108 (Finished Ceiling Height), You had it at the structural ceiling height of 109 1/2". DJP

https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/search/?default_tab=video&q=custom+stairs&page=1 DJP

chiefuserdavido 's solution is workable. You can draw a deck around the pool and then use a polyline set to "Hole in floor" to cut out for the pool or as he said, draw the deck around the pool, using invisible railing/deck walls to define the deck around the existing pool. Either way should work. DJP

No,sorry, that is what the "Adjust Material" tool is for partially. You make a copy of the material you intend to alter. Then once copied and renamed, you can then edit the new material with the new name to the orientation you wish. Check out these helpful articles and videos about materials on the Home Designer Website. DJP

Consider a sloped soffit to represent the simple brace. DJP

I can open any Home Designer Plan file in Chief Premier so opening a plan file made in Suite opening in Architectural should NOT be a problem. In terms of any benefits, please see this web page on the Home Designer Website: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/#compare DJP

I downloaded and looked at your plan. I saw two problems: 1. you wish to have open riser-single stringer stairs which does not allow any "closing in" of those stairs so published. It makes no sense to have open riser, single stringer stairs run over other rooms without any workarounds. 2. A simple way to do this is to use regular stairs marked to be enclosed also with the setting in "Rail Style" set to "stringer at wall" to by default then have them mostly closed. You wish to have a modern look for your open stairs, I get that but sometimes you have to make compromises between what your software is capable of (without also using Sketch Up to create complicated custom constructs to fill in what HD Pro cannot do) and what you actually wish to portray. Chief Premier has the native tools necessary to workaround this design problem, Home Designer Pro by itself does not, sorry. DJP PS: I just thought of this, you can set stairs to not automatically connect in "Edit Preferences". Once done you can leave your first stair object where and as it is. Then the second stair object you set to a closed-in style (sides and bottoms enclosed) for the run over your pantry area to the second floor. This will involved some patience and trial and error efforts to bring it off but I believe can be done in you are intent enough.

I charge $75.00 per hour for one on one help with Home Designer and Chief Architect software. Let me know if you wish my help please. DJP

https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/videos/watch/2214/ https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/category/75/defaults.html https://cloud-hd.chiefarchitect.com/1/pdf/documentation/home-designer-suite-2017-users-guide-materials-tutorial.pdf DJP

Suite is the least able software that Home Designer makes, it is also the cheapest. That said, it appears that you have figured out how to create a 12" thick wall. Now you just draw two such walls at 45 degrees to each other and place a door in each wall. The main thing you cannot do using Suite is to vary the thickness of doors nor can you alter the casing of such doors in Suite. Other than those limitations that are built-in, you should be able to do this in Suite. DJP

Only Architectural and above have the "Pony-Wall" Feature you need to show a foundation wall that has concrete on the bottom and frame wall on top (Like Jp_Ann said). If you wish to step the foundation as well, you can skip Architectural and go with Home Designer Pro that also has the ability to pony-wall and STEP foundation walls. Happy Thanksgiving! DJP

In a camera view, select the unwanted wall, open its dialog box and then go to "Wall Types" and change just that one wall to the wall type that you do wish to be there. Then click "OK" to close the dialog box. DJP

I think your best bet is th use the material region or custom backsplash tool to create your "Angled slash) across the glass doors and glass wall created while in an elevation camera. DJP

There have been some discussion and a few videos about Chief Premier X13 (Version 23) upon which Home Designer Pro 2022 will be based. Beta Testing of X13 has not yet started (probably early next year), so no one knows, even at Chief Architect Inc what exactly will be in HD Pro 2022, You will just have to wait. DJP

No, not really just as jlliles87 indicated above. In Chief Premier one easily can do this and many, many other choices but it also costs a lot more than Home Designer software does. DJP

Foundations can be drawn manually or "automatically" (all "Automatic" procedures are dependant upon YOU properly pre-setting all attributes and settings before "auto" building anything, so it is only usefully "Automatic" IF your pre-settings are correct in Default Settings and within Room Specification Dialogs). It takes a while to learn where all the settings exist and when and how to use them, so do not get in a hurry but rather be very methodical and plodding until you gain through study and practice what is what and when is when. DJP