DavidJPotter

On which floor please (each floor has its own defaults)? DJP

No actually the "Materials List" is merely a measure of how accurately you built your 3D model, your own knowledge of building techniques and NOTHING else. IT measures only where and how you built your 3D model. Few new users are schooled enough to completely duplicate in a 3D model every cubic foot of concrete to every stick of lumber and masonry. Anyone who hires me to do such a thing I tell them up front that such a construct usually takes ten times the effort necessary for a model good enough just for construction documentation. The model and its settings must be perfect in every detail and then double-triple checked to make sure that is so. Home Designer and Chief Premier software is not a "take off" application. .plan files can be very useful for gaining the raw data necessary for a "take off" or materials list indeed but is not a substitute for experienced competence of a builder-estimator. Many of the Professionals who use Chief Premier and do professional take offs (materials lists) use Chief for raw data and use a second application specifically designed for doing materials estimation. I am not saying it is impossible to do using Home Designer Pro or Premier, what I am saying is that is a lot more than merely setting defaults and making a .plan file "look" like the intended structure. It requires master craftsperson type skill and knowledge in using and emulating in detail the structure inside and out, from foundation to roof framing. To the degree you miss perfection determines the accuracy of any resulting Materials List thus derived. The software does not somehow magically make up for one's ignorance of how things are built, rather it just does what you tell it to do and then measures what you told it to do. DJP

Were I you I would set my "Default Settings - Floor - Ceiling Height" to whatever is the predominant ceiling height (what rooms have a particular ceiling height more than the other rooms that are other ceiling heights. Where you diverge from the default ceiling height is then programmed into each diverging room specification dialog box. So the rule of thumb is that Default Settings is for the majority of room instances and exceptions are handled by way of specific Room Specification Dialog boxes where they differ from the default settings. DJP

Mr. W. Unless you are a State LIcensed Structural Engineer I would not bother building trusses since it is not legal for you to design them by law. Trusses are designed by Engineers only in the USA, the material that goes into them is rather useless as well since lumber or truss companies working with Engineers make and sell them as units, customized for a particular home design. I draw them under the supervision of Engineers but usually I just note "Trusses by Truss company or Engineer", lumber companies and Engineers do their own drawings usually that go with your drawings. Home Designer and Chief Premier are NOT engineering programs and are not substitutes for licensed professionals assigned by the State. DJP

With Pro the paper size is a limitation as well, the largest it will natively print to is 18" x 24". With Chief Premier you can print to any size imaginable. It is true that HD Pro requires a .layout file for each printed page, 10 pages=ten .layout files. In Premier you have one .layout file that is programmed for up to 1,000 pages within that one file. The greater exchange in terms of money gains you a lot more productivity and choices. But in the end it is your choice to make based upon what you need and want. DJP

read this and see if it helps you: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00179/restoring-the-default-size-and-position-of-the-library-browser.html DJP

It seems to me that the programming or perhaps language used of an interior door the idea is that both its sides are Interior (it does not have an exterior side because it is an interior door). That is the point I wished to make and I believe it is the same one pointed out by swarren. What do you consider it should say or not say? and why? DJP

"Best" is an opinion, what i usually use is custom slabs though there is no real difference between a custom counter top and a custom slab. CAD objects are by default 2D, whereas 2D CAD objects converted to 3D objects can then be viewed from any angle, so what you use should depend upon what the purpose of the object is. DJP

Software is not magical, rather it is merely like a pencil or pen for you to wield. You create a second floor and then delete the walls you do not need and want. There is a "Reference Floor" tool for making sure your walls line up. floor to floor. You just work with the software's automatic tools and then manually hone it down to what you need and want. The program's automaticity is both a blessing and a curse from the standpoint that it is not always "right", that is where you come in to make it right in the end. DJP

This is germane to legacy plans and to Architectural in general. Legacy plans always have to be worked over when saved forward, you get error messages about material names that have since changed and also how 3D symbols differ from more antique versions to more modern ones (these often have to be deleted and then replaced). I have seen this kind of deck ghosting as well mainly in legacy plans. This would be easy to fix in Home Designer Pro or Premier but not so much in Architectural because Architectural has NO ability to select and edit framing or deck framing members (you cannot merely select and delete the unwanted deck planking), sorry. DJP

If I did plans for a living I would only use Chief Premier (I have been using Premier since 1995 so I am a little biased).. The ONLY Home Designer title that has real construction document capability is Home Designer Pro where you create a .layout file for each printed page and you are limited in native paper size to 18" x 24" paper as its largest output. Chief Premier has no limitation as to size and you can create only one .layout file for as many as 1,000 virtual pages so Premier provided a lot more flexibility and productivity but does cost considerably more than Home Designer Pro. You can do pretty much anything in HD Pro you can do in Premier but you just have to work a little harder and sometimes out of the box to emulate what you can do more easily in Premier. To do a title block in Suite you actually have to create a title block in plan view first after you have set up your drawing sheet and have shown your sheet in plan view plus you are limited as to how large a paper sheet you can print to. Doing this in Suite compared to Pro there is almost no comparison. DJP

No, not really, depending upon how important this matter is you might consider upgrading to Chief Premier Interiors which can export to .dwg file format. I believe. Interiors 2018 can't even export .dxf files which can be imported into other CAD programs including AutoCAD. But again you would at least have to upgrade to Home Designer Suite, Architectural , Home Designer Pro . Home Designer Essentials and Suite are the only Home Designer titles that lack the ability to export to .dxf file format presently. No Home Designer titles have the ability to export in AutoCAD native file format presently (.dwg) DJP

Here you are, I opened it in X8, programmed it to be editable in Home Designer titles. DJP Project Room Office 2.plan

Actual brick ledges, strictly in terms of fully 3D can be done in Chief Premier as Eric has shown you. Home Designer Pro does not have this ability but in terms of Construction Documentation you certainly can by doing a cross section in 2D and then draw using 2D CAD overlays a brick ledge or any other details required for plans. There is a difference between a relationally correct 3D (BIM) model and a 3D model that is used to create 2D plans from. Even in an isometric view or elevation view unless one has x-ray vision no one can tell or see a brick ledge except in a cross section or detail view which is the standard for construction documentation. For CD's Pro is fine, Premier is of course better and the more expensive. DJP

This is a lot easier to do in Chief Premier than Home Designer Pro but by working in and with Sketch Up you can make the custom objects you need in Sketch Up and then import into Home Designer Pro (with Chief Premier Sketch Up is unnecessary as many custom objects that can only be made in Sketch Up can be made in Premier). For instance the beams that are perpendicular to the roof planes can only be made in Sketch Up or Chief Premier. Also the custom truss in your photo can only be made in detail in Sketch Up and then imported into HD Pro or done completely in Chief Premier. The bottom line is how important you consider such customization is to your products. If you want to stay with HD Pro then you will have to also download, learn and use the free Sketch Up application for creation of custom objects that HD Pro cannot on its own make. DJP

https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00897/troubleshooting-3d-display-problems.html Read this Knowledge Base article that address this kind of problem (basically your video card sucks, minimum requirements to use Home Deisgner software are stated on their website). Read the article as you may simply just need to update your video cards software drivers which is cheap and easy to do. DJP

It sounds like from your post that you would like to use different camera modes. Architectural has several: 1. Standard Render, 2. Vector view (either with or without color) 3. Glass House which also has adjustments you can make, 3, Water color. Each of these camera types are adjustable . Based just upon the words of your post, perhaps I misunderstood but perhaps not. DJP

No, actually I just noticed this post just now. I have posted numerously before about this subject. I do not recommend, generally speaking that one creates terrain by direct import because such imports often create such a complicated terrain object that most PC's or Mac's have difficulty just displaying such a construct due to the potential of too many 3D faces so produced. 3D objects of any kind are displayed, divided into a series of 3D faces interconnected to emulate the actual universe three dimensional objects. Terrain objects are divided into triangular 3D faces. The more faces per square inch the higher the reality of the modulated terrain but also the higher load on PC CPU's and Video Card hardware to parse on screen per second ( a lot of recalculation per unit of time ). This all depends upon the actual shape of the emulated land mass, something that is relatively flat will contain the lowest number of 3D faces, whereas terrain with lots of elevation changes can be so complex as to overwhelm the average PC's ability to display such virtual constructs. All of this is merely a warning that the above can be the case. What I have done to date is to draw such terrain manually using the provided elevation tools. All of my prior attempts to import such data and directly use it to "automatically" create terrain objects has failed and been a waste of my time. Manually creating terrain from graphic data I have found to always work. With terrain, generally speaking, less is more. By that I try to keep it simple and within what my computer can actually deliver. I am not LucasFilm and do not have access to super computers that create the CGI in movies. My point is that the actual physical universe tends to be quite complicated whereas in terms of Architectural drafting and design, such perfection is NOT required to design and build structures. Simply getting it close is usually close enough. Surveyors and those who excavate land for building use very expensive software running on super computers to do that sort of work. You cannot expect relatively inexpensive software and PC hardware to deliver a similar product where land modulation is high, and scientific preciseness is required is what I am saying. What I prefer to do is to take a graphic land survey map or terrain map as an AutoCAD .dwg or .dxf file or if not available an image of such a file. Import that and scale it in Chief or Home Designer Pro and then manually draw lines, and splines over the imported image or file import (with a .dxf file you can actually convert those imported lines into terrain elevation objects and then manually set each object's value, thus controlling directly how modulated the result is). This always can be made to work unerringly. This of course is more work but I have found that at least the work done is not wasted by creating something my PC cannot then work with in terms of time and productivity. DJP

What you want to do can only be done manually. As Eric pointed out you start with a gambrel roof and then manually place a flat roof area to cap the gambrel roof. This is not being suggested as being "easy" rather it is your ONLY solution. DJP

Probably the over the first floor. https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00358/automatically-building-a-one-and-a-half-story-roof.html DJP

https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-01095/home-designer-minimum-system-requirements.html read this and see if that is not the cause of your trouble. DJP

If you have not already done as they suggested you should now do so. Let us know if you then get a success by doing so. DJP

Whatever Chief says, I can most likely help you as I have all versions of Home Designer back to version 7 on my PC (I also have versions of Chief Premier from18 back to Version 7). As I understand it Chief Architect Inc's explanation for this is that retaining the ability to open "Legacy" or antique plans makes the software unnecessarily complicated. The last versions with the ability to open old or antique files was Home Designer 2017 versions and Chief Architect Premier version X8. I am sorry if you were somehow misled. Post one of your old .pl1 etc files here and I will see if I can in fact help you. Be sure you upload the plan file's .pl1, .pl2. .pl2 and .pl0 files and any .ca files as well. In the old days you would have to have all such files to successfully convert them to the new file format (.plan ) DJP

It is a wall tool found under "Build - Wall - Room Divider Wall" it is simply a wall that has been programmed to be invisible. Using it you can divide a space into smaller spaces and each programmable space can have or not have selected moldings of your choice in Home Designer titled software. DJP

Since you did not share with us what software application (version number and title) you created the file in I still cannot tell you exactly what to do. If you have Suite, Deck Designer, Essentials, or Architectural Jo_Ann's advice should work, if you have Pro you can just left-click-select the unwanted roof plane and then delete it. By process of elimination I figure you have a "2015" title but I still do not know which one. DJP