DavidJPotter

I am sorry, in that I am thoroughly spoiled by the use of Chief Premier and Home Designer Pro; in these applications you can directly manipulate manually roof planes to edit them where and how you need them to be. In these you can just act whereas in Architectural and other Home Designer applications you must use secondary means to effect change. Some of the Non-Pro and Premier users here may have useful advice as to how to help you. Whereas I would merely suggest you upgrade and make it easier on yourself to do what you want done. DJP

If you are using in plan view the "Show Sheet" tool that is controlled by the "File - Print - Drawing Sheet Set Up" in terms of "Drawing Sheet Set up - Landscape or Portrait". This for printing orientation to paper. I rarely use that tool since I mainly use Pro or Premier that have a "Layout Sheet" tool for printing that other Home Designer titles do not have. Let me know if that is the case and what application you are using. DJP

The exterior wall seen in your image stops at the intersection of a perpendicular exterior wall, the reveal that shows is the edge of an interior wall at that intersection (a common occurrence) you can cover the interior wall reveal with a thin soffit or perhaps a custom slab if you like. Repairing such an occurrence using walls is unnecessarily complex and not recommended. DJP

I looked you up and all I could find was Suite 2018. In any case you should be able to make a custom slab with holes in it to serve or if you wanted the holes in the side you could construct four custom slabs that would reveal when blocked a hole or slot in the side of the block is my thought. Selecting a material type that can be made transparent or semi transparent. DJP

If you are still using Suite 2018 your best bet is to make a custom object in Sketch Up for importation into Suite. Suite limits your choices big time in terms of materials assignation, you would be much better off with Home Designer Pro that provides more such choices. DJP

In confined spaces like bathrooms and some smaller kitchens a "Dollhouse overview camera" view is often helpful to communicate the space. You can also make a wall invisible to get a farther out camera viewpoint as well. DJP

Unlike "reality" a camera can be placed in a plan view that truncates adjacent objects which looks strange, just move the camera viewpoint out of the interior or edge of adjacent objects and you should be fine. Also placing a camera viewpoint in an unreal or un "human" viewpoint can be done but gives you an unreal view, these are things you can control if you desire. DJP

Version 8 is extremely old, the oldest Home Designer title I have on my PC presently running in Windows 10 is version 10. I might have something older on my Windows XP hard drive but I have not opened any of those antique applications for years now. I am sorry but I just do not know. When I have time I will look. DJP

You open the CAD object's dialog box. Go to it's Line Style Tab. Uncheck "By Layer" and then set that line, arc or polyline to the line weight you desire. Rather straight forward. DJP

Engineering is not the point here, I believe. All that you are dealing with is expecting a mechanical device to exercise Human judgement which is an unreasonable consideration. Software is merely a mechanical servo mechanism for you to use but you must control and guide it manually to a specific result is all you are confronting. You need not redraw attic walls at all but rather just change the wall type to the wall type you desire manually by going to the <A> or attic floor level and then select and make the programming changes (the mechanical software will complain by delivering "error" messages but that is just a robot being a robot, which you should just ignore and just do what needs to be done with the tools at hand. DJP

In your original post I could not tell what exact outcome you needed and wanted, I still do not know and not knowing that I have nothing to offer except to ask that you clarify what exactly you are asking in a way that than can be exactly answered. I know you know what you want but it is not clear to others exactly what that is. DJP

Please ask this question directly of Chief Architect Sales and or Tech Support, they will know and they will say. DJP

Call Chief Architect Sales to ask them whether or not you can buy the library instead of upgrading to 2018. I do not know if this is possible or not but they will know and say. Disappointment you can recover from but doing nothing but that is a waste of time. DJP

Here is my advice on this subject: a way I have developed to deal with this type of wall conflict Floor_Plan;_Design__4_(HDP).zip

The best way to find out is to use it and then view the results, go for it! DJP

It sounds like to me you are expecting 2D behavior (Like AutoCAD etc) from a 3D Architectural application. Do as Eric suggests "Fill in your signature" so we all then know what software you are actually using, it makes a big difference. Post a screen capture of what you are seeing that is "insane" and Ideally a copy of the .plan file you are having trouble with. Note: What you do not yet understand can feel like "insane" but is probably not so. You have not yet provided enough useful information for anyone to truly help you, please provide it so we can all understand. DJP

I think you are making this more complicated that is necessary. 1: unless you are a state licensed Structural Engineer it is illegal for you to design trusses of any type (In Texas where I live it is a $5,000.00 fine for doing so). 2: all you need to do is to set the ceiling height at the bottom of the intended truss cord. Then build framing, you can manually edit the framing to better emulate what is actually going to appear if you like without using the truss tool. Trusses are designed by Engineers and constructed by others to be delivered at your site. All your model needs to do is to as closely as possible to look like the finished product. Perfection is NOT required. If in fact your Engineer or Truss company specifies trusses they can give you details of what the trusses will look like for your plans, they need NOT actually be in the plan in 3D. I do not know any carpenters that use 3D details for framing and such details are purely 2D in nature. DJP

You could use a soffit or slab to emulate a wall, a soffit will not mark the ceiling like a wall does. DJP

What I might try is to make a Save As copy of my problem plan to use as a control for creating a new plan. You take a blank plan file, set its Default Settings the same as your control plan for the first floor ("Edit - Default Settings - Floor" for the first floor in your blank plan. Then copy-paste your control first floor using the tool "Edit Area Visible" to do the floor copying. The the same is done for the second floor and or Attic, then you can recreate your "Floor Zero" or basement from scratch if no floor zero currently exists. If you make any procedural errors you undo (CTRL-Z) and try again until you are successful. Once successful you can then just complete your design in the new copy. DJP

There are some French, South African, Australian, British and Scottish users who have posted here but not as often as USA members, I believe that is merely the way of things for now. We will endeavor to help you if we can. Welcome to our forum! DJP

Open and look at the auto symbol's dialog box-materials tab to see what choices you can make relative to materials. DJP

Thank you for sharing your plan. I think you have done well so far. I m sure you have learned much about working with the software. Along the way you have also made many errors due to your lack of self education in and with the software and of home design and construction. You should carefully read your included Users Guide and any relevant sections of the Reference Manual when and where you get into difficulties. The main problem I have with this plan is not "Walls" but rather this design lacks basic necessary amenities necessary to support daily life: No bathrooms, no Kitchen, no closets, the family room seems to be the only "bedroom". The current design is completely unsustainable for comfortable, safe daily living. This software is predicated upon Default Settings and other settings, check boxes, input boxes and controls that you use to guide the software to a specific result. It is obvious to me that you have completely bypassed any study and just started creating without the fundamental knowledge and understanding necessary to arrive at a livable result for a Family home. I have been a professional designer and teacher for over thirty years, so I do not say these things to discourage you but to point out as Eric has suggested that you rethink and redo your design from the bottom up AFTER you have spent some time confronting what a home must be and have to make your daily life for you and your family comfortable and safe. The building of framing is unnecessary especially in the case that you are not a carpenter or builder. In any case one never builds framing until the design is completely finished in terms of spaces and amenities and the ergonomics of daily life have been evaluated and considered. For the untrained person it is merely eye-clutter and not very useful. Structural Concerns are best left to Structural Engineers who are schooled in the dynamics and stresses buildings must contain to be safe and sound. This software is not a substitute for that profession. When I finish a design I share it with such a person licensed by the State to adjudicate such matters that are key to the Life of any structure including its foundation, rafter size, wall framing, wind bracing etc. I do wish you success but also I must point out that your design needs a lot more development, thought and consideration perhaps with the input of your wife and family to make sure it serves you as it should. DJP

Try zipping the plan file and then attach the zip. DJP

You are going to need to share a LOT more information that the above to solve this conundrum. Post a copy of your .plan file along with what the ceiling heights per floor are to be and then, and only then can anyone actually help you. Too much missing data for that now. DJP

No, what you do is to build the terrain a step (elevation object) at a time and once the terrain is correct in its rises and falls you then set it TO the structures you have drawn using the "Building Pad" input box in the Terrain Specification Dialog Box. It requires patience, there is not "trick" but rather just being methodical, checking each elevation change in camera views until you get it just so. DJP