DavidJPotter

"Silly" outcomes come from uninformed (guessing) settings. The key to this software is through careful study followed by practice or looking to find out without guessing. Competence comes from YOUR knowledge of the software tool you are using/guiding to a product. https://youtu.be/5kFCWT37R7M Link to a YouTube Video PLEASE COPY-PASTE THIS LINK INTO A BROWSER ADDRESS WINDOW TO VIEW DJP

Dimension tools in Home Designer Pro and in Chief Premier are identical. See Eric's post above as your solution. DJP

I have never in thirty years of drafting and design ever heard that term used, can you also show a photo of one please? DJP

DJP PS: the only reason floor input box would be "grayed out" would be if you were not currently on the first floor (second-third or foundation)

Terrain was added as a feature back in the 90's and has since been treated as an "add on", so what you do is manually set the Garage's floor 34 inches below the "Zero Inches" of the house and then modulate the terrain to itself as a unified object and using the "Building Pad" input box of the "Terrain Specification Dialog" to align the terrain to the structures. DJP

If you used "Elevation Points" I would consider that is the problem. I always use Elevation lines, splines, flat regions to emulate terrain. Where elevation abruptly changes one used a "Terrain Break" object. The reason I never use points is that they alter the terrain concentrically from the center of the point outward (terrain is rarely like that). DJP

I assume you are speaking of "Marquee Select", if you are, there are three "Modes" it can be set to use found in Edit - Preferences - Edit - Marquee Selection", I recommend you try each one and see which behavior you prefer, I often change the mode depending upon what I am doing. DJP

Help articles about dimension tools at the Home Designer Website. DJP

In photo one, the openings in the porch wall are just doorways manually located. In photo two the eyebrows are merely manual roof planes supported, manually with corbels from the Library Browser. The parapet railings can be manually set to whatever height you wish and in this case I would not use roof planes but rather make the (no ceiling areas) Balcony's. What you are asking for is over an hours work for someone who has spent the time to learn how to manipulate the software to a specific result. It is done by following procedures, dialog box and Default Settings and a bit of knowledge about creating manual roof planes. Take it a piece at a time, learn the tools necessary to create that piece and then move on the next piece or segment of the plan until finished. No one can merely guess their way to a product, it requires study and practice to then gain knowledge and competence. DJP

Open the "Build Roof" dialog and then click on the "Roof Styles" tab and then click on the "Shed Roof" tutorial and then carefully study it please. DJP

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See attached image to further illuminate Eric's post please DJP

Thank you for sharing your plan, I took a look to see what you are speaking of. 1.The first thing to understand about framing and trusses in Home Designer software is that, especially about trusses they are pre-programmed to file the void between the top of the ceiling and the bottom of roof planes so they just fill the void that YOU create in a model. 2. The software is not a substitute for a State licensed Structural Engineer who is the ONLY person who is allowed by law in all 50 States to design and adjudicate their design. 3. So any trusses you create using a software program are at best purely conceptual. DJP

Doors a basically symbols and are rather fixed except relative to their dimensions. You cannot change a symbol in this software other than its dimensions and location. In order to do was you wish you must find a door symbol that looks as close as possible to your actual intended door. In terms of construction plans, they are a conceptual guide to other building professionals as to the desires and intended outcome of a project. Commonly one specifies or goes and buys such things as doors, windows, fixtures, appliances, light fixtures and then makes them available to contractors/sub-contractors to install them. Therefore it is not necessary to make the plans a perfect duplicate down to nine decimals of the plans to actual project. The sizes and locations are important in terms of the plans, the exact type or appearance is not. Anyone strives to make perfect, I am just saying that the plans do not dictate in detail a project, rather the client paying for it does. DJP

Please read, found under the "Help" menu: "Read Users Guide". Then Watch/read some of these Help Resources to get better oriented to how to use the software properly. It is not recommended that one guess what the commands, dialog boxes, check boxes are for and what they mean and when and when not to use them. I recommend that you study and find out how to use your software before using it. DJP

One more time... DJP

You went WAY overboard with the "Emissive" property setting on several materials.that is what is causing the weird, distorted camera views you are getting. The software is only doing WHAT YOU TOLD IT TO DO!!! DJP

Build - Build Roof Specification Dialog - Structure Tab - various categories to get what you want. And in Pro you can open and manually edit roof planes as you wish. DJP

Commonly, in this software you set the floor height of each structure manually and separately. You set the foundations by way of Room Specification dialog - Structure Tab per structure/room (you set the Edit Default Settings - Floors and Rooms - First Floor for the majority or largest structure and the secondary one you do manually). Terrain is an add on feature which, by way of its Specification Dialog - Building Pad input box, you control its height relative to your structures/buildings. that is the way it is programmed to work. DJP

You can communicate a "Feature Change or Addition" at the Home Designer website but I doubt they would spend a lot of time on an object that is only used in Europe (I could be wrong of course). In all Chief Architect and Home Designer software titles there are NO (none) such animated symbols or objects, you can manually, by way of a door specification dialog - Options Tab, show the door open or closed and that is it my friend. DJP

A door such as you describe does not exist in the software and in my thirty years in the Building Business, I have never, until today, heard of such a device. That said, what I WOULD DO would be to place a pass-through to create the opening and then some (like a custom slab object or reshaped cabinet soffit object) to emulate, look like, represent the door whether it slides up or down. What language do you commonly speak? A lot of what we do is to make something right, say what it is using text and place that into Construction Documents so Builders and Sub Contractors then know our client's desires and intentions. So an appearance need only look like what it is supposed to be to be graphically useful because we say what it is using text tools. Absolute perfection is not what we create, what we do create is perfect, useful and informative COMMUNICATION. DJP

If you have Home Designer Pro you can open a roof plan specification dialog - Polyline tab and find out the area of a roof plane. You can click on each edge of a roof plane - open its dialog and look at the "Selected Line" that yo clicked on and find its length as well. This is NOT the case in Suite or Architectural, sorry. In Suite and Architectural you can use "Dimension tools - Tape Measure" to dimension the lines of each roof plane while in plan view manually. DJP

Unlike Chief Premier that has custom molding polylines Home Designer Pro does not. What can be done in Pro is by the additional use of a free software program called "Sketch Up". In sketch up you can make, from scratch 3D symbols and objects that can then be imported into Pro as symbols for use in your plan files. (Groan ! another software program to learn!). Sketch UP, as I said is a free cloud based software application that is easy to learn and use. You can make Newels and Balusters round or square by way of the respective dialog box for rails and stairs but rails, in Pro are by default "square", sorry. BTW I see no railings in your posted image, just plumbing and electrical conduits. DJP

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