DavidJPotter

Being that you have a 2014 title you cannot download and import the latest version of .skp files, Try some earlier version Sketch Up .skp files. You would have to have a 2018 HD title to use the latest .skp files-that is your answer. DJP

I do not see why you could not draw a Porch creating a Room Specification Dialog, set up the outer wall and side walls as per the "Roof Styles Tab" of the "Build Roof Dialog", make sure the porch room dialog has "Ceiling and Roof over this Room" checked and then auto-generate a shed roof over that defined porch or as Eric suggested just manually draw a shed roof. Either way you really need a porch area defined over which to create a shed roof. DJP

First of all you do not actually "import" symbols from the library Browser you simply click-select them and then left-click to place them on any floor you wish. If you are speaking of imported symbols from some place like 3D Warehouse then yes you import those into your Library Browser for later placing in your plan on whatever floor you choose. DJP

Look in "Default Settings - Camera Defaults". Just about everything in the software goes through "Default Settings" to get anything done. DJP

Sorry you cannot. You can flatten the terrain a little where the car sits but you cannot rotate the car. DJP

The best tool for doing remodeling is Home Designer Pro due to its ability to manually edit and create roof designs and ability to manually edit and create framing members. All other HD titles consider the entire structure to be a "new construct" as opposed to only part of the construct. The materials list is also so programmed to measure the entire construct (not just part of it), so as Eric suggested you can just build the add on by itself (again hard to do with anything but HD Pro as aforementioned) but is possible. What you must understand is that the "Materials List" just like the software in general measures the entire structure. It measures what you did and not necessarily what you intend to do in the field. If your .plan file EXACTLY mirrors exactly what you will do in the field only then will you get an accurate Materials list and not otherwise. This requires great advanced skill in terms of the .plan file and its creation. I rarely am hired to create such a .plan file because of the additional time and care that is required to create such a discrete construct. It is more a matter of your own personal skill, creativity and intention as opposed to what software you use. The right software just makes the job easier to do but does not determine whether or not such a job can or can't be done. DJP

Go look at some existing B&B layouts near where you live. Search on line (such places often have floor plans of existing rooms to view and evaluate). Use your own creativity in terms of what you would find acceptable in such a room, create it in your software and evaluate what is good and bad about the result. Such a room needs to serve the comfort and purposes of both traveler and landlord-manager in terms of cost and maintenance, just think it through and act. DJP

I opened my copy of Architectural 2018. Built a garage, set the Room Type to "Garage". Went to "Edit - Default Settings - Foundation" and set the foundation type to "Slab on grade" then ordered the foundation to be built. I then did a "Framing Overview camera view" and I can then clearly see a bottom plate, studs and two top plates in that view, easy as "1-2-3". I wonder what you did that A monolithic slab does not have "a single row of block". My point is that the software does NOTHING but what you tell it to do by way of Default Settings and other settings. Things only come out right when you cause them to by your own intention and control not by magic or chance. DJP

You create a screen capture of what you wish to communicate/share (on Windows Machines the keyboard command is "CTRL-Print Screen". Then you open the created image as necessary in Windows Paint or some other image editing software and add any useful text annotations. Then when ready you employ the "Drag files here to attach, or choose files" command provided in the Forum reply dialog. If you want to share a copy of your plan file you close your HD software and then using the same command: "Drag files here to attach, or choose files" command after first compressing the .plan file into a ".zip" file (Every Windows Operating system provides such a utility by right-clicking on the .plan file icon and choosing "Send to...compressed archive" command. You then attach the file you intend to share (either image or .zip file) so others can better understand what you are facing. DJP

I learned this software while designing for a remodeling firm. I have always used two plan files: 1 is the home as it is before remodeling and then 2. As many versions of the proposed remodeling version. the one my clients then pick goes into the final printed plans along with the "As Built" so a permit authority can graphically see what changes are proposed to take place. That is the way I now do it quite successfully. I also apply this to custom home design, saving each version until the client is happy with a particular design which is then used to create the printed plans. I found out to my dismay that sometimes a person will say to me "Now that I see this version I think I like the version we worked on last week" so If I had not saved that version, I have more work to do on what I did save. DJP

In terms of a purely 2D detail this is rather easy using Pro's 2D CAD tools to add that feature for a cross section or "Wall Typical". It becomes a bit harder to do in terms of 3D as long as one is not too insistent on precise reality of Soldier courses and masonry sills especially in terms of classical slightly slanted brick and stone sills. There are two ways to do this in any Home Designer title: 1. Use manually shaped and located cabinet soffits shaped like soldier courses and straight (not slanted) sills. 2. Using a custom made object in Sketch Up one can emulate a slanted brick sill symbol for importing into Home Designer, assign a brick soldier parsed material to those soffits and or custom symbols. The thing about symbols imported from Sketch Up is ideally they are precisely sized in Sketch Up before importation into Home Designer because to resize them once in HD tends to misshape the object and lose the reality of appearance once imported and located in your plan file. DJP

Understood, Best of success to you! DJP

In Architectural you select the "Elevation" camera, left-click outside the side of the building you wish to create an elevation view and then drag your cursor in the direction you wish the camera to "look". There are different camera tools for differing purposes. As a new user you would be well served to fully read your included "Users Guide" and then refer to your included "Reference Manual" (both found under "Help" dropdown menu), the Reference Manual has detailed and specific help to explain all the tools and settings you need to understand to get products. DJP

Commonly in the USA Gable ends especially non-street facing ones usually have a lighter weight material like siding for the structural reason Eric pointed out. While designing a custom home a person is wise to take the home's building costs in mind and spend your money where it serves you best. Once you finish your design you might show and discuss the project with several experienced builders who may have additional suggestions to make along this line of reasoning. Welcome to our forum, I wish you nothing but success! DJP

Post an image of exactly what you are seeing please. DJP

Often times the auto roof generator is limited in your ability to set up the walls and dialog boxes to create automatically certain roof designs automatically. I usually start with the auto roof generator and then take what it produces and edit the design manually. Manual roof editing takes lots of practice since the burden of creativity is all in your hands but is the make-break of whether or not you get the look that you need and want. First learn your basic tools: roof dialog, Build Roof Dialog, local room dialogs-ceiling heights and the roof tab where you can try to create roof returns (sometimes these auto settings can fail to produce a specific outcome and you then have to step in manually to create what the auto settings missed). As a new user you tend to lean on the software and its settings but to become truly competent you must learn how to manually manipulate things to exactly what you need and want. Studying the Reference Manual is a great place to start in terms of finding out what settings and where those settings are. But a next essential part is putting into action what you just studied so it fully becomes usable knowledge and not merely just word significance. The words are there to communicate "actions" so it is your responsibility to make sure the words a fully understood by you (words have usually several definitions and can be easily misunderstood if you are missing the definition intended by the author to communicate what are the precise actions involved. As Eric has pointed out you will probably fare better with useful answers at Chief Talk than here. Chief has MANY more features and tools than any Home Designer applications. DJP

Unfortunately no Home Designer titles have this ability. This can be done in Chief Premier and Chief Premier Interiors only. DJP

This You Tube Video may be of some help to you: DJP

If I were you, I would ask a local Structural Engineer or Builder your question. DJP

Architectural does not have a convert to slab tool like Pro nor can you cut a hole in an existing slab in Architectural (I looked). DJP

Actually there is not an "easy solution" but there are things you can do to make this easier. Temporarily turn off "Angle Snaps" just until you get exactly what you want. This action makes drawing arc's and circles a bit easier also using the "Alt" key while editing an arc of either a curved wall or a CAD arc. Is the patio area a circle like your pink circle? If it is an area within a larger area as looks the case above from your image, I would use invisible walls especially if the floor material differs from the larger area's floor area. This is a trail and error action, just keep trying until you do get the look you want. It can be done. DJP

I helped write the Reference Manual back in 2005. I still open it when I get stumped, that is why I recommend doing so. It works when nothing else does. Reading it is more reliable even than calling Tech Support. I call Tech Support as a last resort when I have exhausted the usual Help sources. I do not offer advice based on any other reason than I know what works and what does not only. I have learned many things here and at Chief Talk from others as well. DJP

Software does not "Decide", "Know", "Predict" or advise. It is a mechanical device that depends upon YOUR Guidance to create outcomes. You supply the intelligence and guidance by way of study of how it designed to work by carefully reading your "Reference Manual" found under "Help". If you do not guide it by way of Default Settings and dialog boxes you merely get what it is preset to do from its makers. You do have sufficient tools to guide it to precisely what you want, those tools are found under "Default Settings - Categories" (there are default settings for everything in the program: cabinets, foundation, floor, framing, walls, etc" each of these need to be studied to find out where they are and what each is for to create a particular outcome. There is also a "Build" main drop-own area to implement the various actions and subproducts you will want. They are there waiting for you to find them, take a look. DJP

What I would do is to open a wall that is intended to be 90 or zero degrees, open its dialog to see what its present angle is relative to plumb. That data will then give you by how much you need to rotate the plan back to plumb on screen. Once you have that rotation value you use "Edit Area All floors" to select your structure, then while it is selected in that tool mode you select from the "Edit Toolbar" the "Transform-Replicate" tool and with that tool's dialog you select "Rotate" as the applied attribute and enter the rotate value in degrees either positive for clockwise rotation or a negative value using a minus sign before the rotate value and then click "OK" to effect the rotation change. If you mess up all you need do is to use the "Undo" command (Ctrl-Z) to start over. If you have not used the "Transform-Replicate" tool before I recommend that you FIRST carefully read a description of its uses in your "Reference Manual" and then practice on a simple test plan before inflicting its use on your plan that you have time invested in. Let me know how it goes. DJP

When you start a new plan the walls should be drawn in alignment with the provided grid lines. There is NO prosurvival reason to ever EVER rotate the structure, not ever! To do this is to invite unnecessary trouble, dismay and difficulty. It is designed and constructed to follow in the main the provided default grid lines in the "X" and "Y" axis. If you are doing a site plan you simply rotate the site plan to a proper relation with the existing structure and adjust the magnetic "North Pointer" to this orientation as well. You should NEVER rotate the structure off default angles! If the structure has some some non-ninety degree or zero degree walls that is to be expected keeping those to a minimum, the majority of walls need to be set to ninety and zero degrees. Like you early in my Chief/Home Designer career I too "struggled" to the point where I adopted the above as being true. You are welcome to blaze that trail again if you wish, just keep your agony to yourself please, you have been warned. DJP