Don_Anderson

Hi All, Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I really appreciate it. Don

Please refer to the attached screen shot of a 3D view of a kitchen I am drawing. I have several questions. 1. I want all the kitchen cabinets to have a cherry wood stain finish. I don't see any wood finishes in the materials options for cabinets in the HDP 2016 Library. Am I missing something? Can I import a picture of the cherry cabinet finish we have now? 2. I want to be able to select all the cabinets to make this change. In the online help I learned to use marquee to select multiple objects and even unselect ones I don't want in the selection but then I can't figure out how to open them for editing. If I right-click on one of them that selects just that one. How do I open all the selected objects to edit their properties? 3. Same thing for the countertops. If I get an answer to #2 that's fine but it would be great if after you made an edit to one cabinet (say change the countertop material from black granite to the beige granite) you could right click on the next one and choose something like "do the same edit to this one". In Microsoft Word you can select text or other element and press F4. Word will then make the same edit to the currently selected element that you made on the last edit. 4. Same question to change the default 30" upper cabinet height to 36". I guess if I can get the answer to #2 I could change the height, countertop material and cabinet finish at the same time. 5. I was able to import a 3D view of a Wolf GR366 gas range but it is not in color. I suppose that may just be the way Wolf made the file that I downloaded. If so is there another way to get a 2D or 3D view of something like a range into HDP 2016? 6. When I placed the corner upper cabinet it brought a backsplash with it but the other upper cabinets did not. Is this a bug in the program? I would think you would specify backsplash separately. Thanks, Don

Hi David, Thanks for making the video. I picked up several tips from watching it. Cheers, Don

I tried using manual dimensions but the dimension line was not offset from the wall. It was coincident with the outer edge of the wall and I could not figure out how to move it out. I watched two of the training videos on dimensions and I learned that whenever a room is completed HDP will display dimensions exterior to the outside walls for those rooms. So I just drew all the outside walls as shown in the screen shot I posted originally where they did not line up, except I extended the last wall segment to make it meet up with the beginning of the first wall segment. That caused a closed space to be created and HDP immediately showed the dimensions for each wall segment on the outside of the structure. Then I was able to edit the dimension of each wall that was not the same as on the builder's drawing to make it the same. I had a few false starts when the wrong end of the wall moved but I used the little icons to specify which end I wanted to move. Now all the exterior walls have the same outside dimensions as on the builder's drawing.

The developer for a housing community where we are thinking of moving sent me a PDF drawing of the floor plan for the house. I am trying to transcribe it into HDP 2016. The problem is that HDP 2016 shows the dimensions on the interior side of the walls but the builder's drawing has them on the outside. I tried to adjust for this by adding or subtracting the exterior wall thickness, which according to the HDP 2016 preferences is 6-11/16" but as you can see by "My Drawing" the walls don't meet up when I get back to the starting point. Is there a way to force HDP 2016 to show exterior wall dimensions for exterior walls? I realize that I will want interior dimensions when I get to the point of drawing interior walls but if I can just force HDP 2016 to show exterior dimensions now then change it to interior when I start drawing interior walls that would be ok. Thanks, Don

I've started the layout of a rambler with walkout basement by starting with the first floor. I realized when I tried to put in the stairs and they looked strange that I need to now add the basement. I watched the training videos for basements and walkout basement and ended up with what is depicted in the attached screen shot. The footing is at least half the height of the foundation wall. The product used in the video is Home Designer Architectural 2015 and the menu for Build Foundation must be different from HDP 2015 because the dialogs don't look the same in HDP 2015. I tried making the height of the foundation 96" but apparently I put that dimension in the footing section. But I cannot find a place to put it so that the footing is the default value and the remainder of the foundation is 96". I was able to set the terrain perimeter and the slope to allow the back of the house be be above ground but I also cannot figure out how to make the foundation step down on the sides of the house with the slope so at the back of the house it is just a slab and the back wall of the basement level is an exterior wall rather than concrete. I am probably going to be asking a lot of questions of this nature until I get up to speed and I appreciate the patience of those of you for whom this is second nature. If there is another way for me to discover these things I am happy to hear about it but for now I only know to ask here. I have watched many of the videos which are very helpful but I still have many gaps in my knowledge. Thanks, Don

I did what Kat suggested. Looking at the dual sink cabinet in our current master bathroom I see that is what the builder did. There we have a cabinet for each sink with a thin cabinet between that has drawers. Thanks to the others who answered. Now I have several ways I can go in the future. Don

I just started using Home Designer Pro. I am transcribing a plan from a PDF into HDP for a house by an independent developer who said he would be willing to make some changes to the design. I want to use HDP to make these changes and send the developer a drawing of the changes. I am trying to add a vanity with two sinks to the master bathroom. I made the vanity using a Base Cabinet from the library then I placed a vanity sink in it. When I tried to place the second vanity sink I got the attached error, namely "The fixture or appliance currently in this cabinet will be deleted to make way for the new fixture or appliance you are installing, OK?" with only Yes and No buttons. I have also attached a screen shot of the section of the plan showing this vanity. Any help would be appreciated. Maybe I'm doing this all wrong or maybe I'm just missing some way to add the second sink. I'm happy to remove the whole thing and start again if that means doing it the right way. Thanks, Don

Thanks! Don

I am using the trial of Home Designer Pro (HDP) and will probably purchase it soon as it seems to have all the features I need and then some. I am interested in a couple of homes that will be built in a new community by an independent developer. He is much more flexible on making modifications than the big spec house developers. He sent me PDF plans of the houses in which I am interested in and I did a walk-through of one that is framed and roofed. We discussed various modifications and he said to just jot down my requested modifications on a printout of the plan, give it to him and he could have his architect incorporate the modifications and he can let me know how these will affect the price. The problem is that it is difficult to know how certain modifications will work unless I can see them in 3D and of course Home Designer Pro would be ideal for that. I asked him if I could get a file electronically and do this in HDP. He said it would be much easier to do it his way. I plan to manually transcribe the PDF drawing into HDP but before I do that I wanted to ask if it is possible to import a PDF or open a PDF with HDP and HDP could "read" the drawing. So far when I imported a .jpg file it is just an object in HDP. Also, if I could get the drawing file from him or his architect, what types of drawing files can HDP open? I am pretty sure his architect is just a local builder's plan service as that person's web address is on the information box at the bottom of each sheet. Thanks, Don