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The new computer is surely a big part of how happy I am with the upgrade. With that being said, I have been working with HD2021 for a couple of weeks now...I am pleased with the changes discovered to date...others have already covered some of the upgrades but here is my take... The new roof plane/ceiling plane tool is worth the upgrade cost. Much simpler to understand and implement The new rail menu is really nice once you unlearn old habits. Options make more sense. The print options are better but still no automatic way to print 11 x 17...I built a custom template Material changes appear to be easier...but maybe I am just developing better skills The new stair tool is easier to use and understand The see through walls option is cool IMO...the upgrade was well worth the price... Regards Rick

Andy I spent a little time turning the floor joists 90 degrees and adding structure to support the floor...you will find the design on the foundation level. See the notes for criteria. Google attic trusses and you will see what they look like... a change in pitch to 10/12 or 12/12 will add considerable second floor space with 8' ceiling with no worries about long floor joist spans...the attic truss provides the floor joist system In looking at the room labels I assume the small room in the master bath is a water closet room and the room behind it is a walk in closet...I do not see any closet space allocated in the other 2 bedrooms. I poked around a bit and find some issues with the way the walls and roof are drawn. You have walls sticking through the roof among other things. It will take a bit of work to remediate these issues...not a problem.. converting the roof framing to trusses will help with those issues... I see the default ceilings are flat at 9'...are there any vaulted or cathedral ceilings desired...just need a bit of direction and some time... If you would like to collaborate on the design...call me at 248 918 7973...my wife is recovering from surgery at the hospital so I have some time....I will take my laptop with me... Regards Rick 9-pier foundation and floor revised.plan

Andy Are you open to turning the stairs 90 degrees with the upper landing being in basically the same spot? Without room labels it is hard to determine your room usage thoughts. What are your plans for the 2nd story...How do you propose to carry the floor joists. When using reference layers I do not see any bearing wall under the left side of the floor joists...if your plan is to only use the width shown, I would use attic trusses..just a rough calculation but you would end up with a room with the 8' flat ceiling in the center is about 8' wide...change the roof pitch to 9" and you pick up additional width at very little additional cost... Let me know your thoughts and I will help you work on the design... Regards Rick

Andy 1. Yes, otherwise you have an asymmetric load or shear plane on the pier 2. Yes, because you are running the stairs 90 degrees to the floor joists, all the joists butting into the girders at the stairs need to have engineered joist hangers...same thing for 2nd level ceiling joists 3. Not without having the entire drawing for review Microlam beams can be used in lieu of either the 3 ply 2x12 girder or a steel beam. This layout screams for an i joist floor system. The layout from the supplier will show full length i joists spread across the length of the foundation with proper length doublers/triplers adjacent to and straddling the main joist. All the lap joints in the center of the structure are eliminated. If you have not ever used i joists, you will be amazed at how straight and flat the floor will be; provided you do your job installing them. Rim joist can be either engineered material or dimensional lumber. Layout plans and engineering info should be supplied by supplier...same for any trusses you use Regards Rick

I will see if I can help...with what I see in the attached pdf, two things jump out at me...but first a question or two...is this a ranch type single story house on a crawl space or basement...I will continue with that scenario in mind... Your inspector is not empowered to stipulate the pier locations...your load bearing beam determines the maximum span...he can though be a PITA...signed engineered drawings trump his authority... What are you using to carry the joists in the middle...a properly sized steel beam can easily span 12 feet... Have you considered using I Joists for the floor joists...a 11.5 inch I Joist can span over 17 feet and you can get them in 2’ increments up to 40 feet long...in my experience, like the roof trusses, the truss designers will size the I Joist correctly and provide engineered layouts Hope this helps...any other questions please ask... Regards Rick

Thanks...only place I didn't look...There is a 2 page thread on Chief Talk about this subject...after reading through the thread I see where it is not as big an issue as I thought it might be...the solutions are not as direct as the original copy/paste in place tool but are adequate... still learning a ton everyday...great program for what I am doing at this time...like HDbyJustin, I am only a couple or three good jobs from taking the big step to CA Premiere Regards Rick

I bought a new computer (see signature). The 6 year old laptop slows to a crawl when you start any detailing or the terrain perimeter. I decided to upgrade to HD2021 at the same time. Observations so far are quite satisfactory. The new print parameters are one of the main reasons I upgraded. The new stair tools are nice but took a few minutes to understand how to use the new tools. I have not used the new cabinet tools or the waterfall countertop but they look promising...the same goes for the new roof pivot tool. I looked at it and some of the dialog box choices have changed. I am working with a new client and the roof tools will certainly come into play.I will update this commentary at that time One tool that is no longer in the open item toolbar is the "copy/paste in place" option. I used that tool quite often in HD2020 and will miss it...edit: after more use and some advice given below, this is a very small issue at best. It just requires a bit of adjustment to the mindset... Regards Rick

I have found that with a bit of try and try again I can get the rotation speed way down...i just drag it like I just want to move it a bit and after a couple of drags it spins real slow...its easy to get it to spin fast... Regards Rick

Eric ...so there is really no disadvantage in this particular plan...I am already working the terrain numbers using Level 0...it.s just a numbers game...in the future I will make sure terrain is built on Level 1... This little exercise has answered a question formed during watching various terrain videos. I noticed a wide swing in elevation numbers from video to video...this helps understand why... Thanks again for all you do here...you make a big difference and alleviate some serious stress... Regards Rick

Eric I didn't realize that the terrain would be at level 0. Is that typical or did a setting value someplace in the defaults cause this to be at that level? I have not seen that situation previously Thanks

Ok...I now have the structure how I want but when I tried to work on the terrain there is not a visible editable terrain perimeter.When in 3D the terrain perimeter seems to be there When selecting any of the terrain tools, including the data tools, all are inoperative. I have built terrain previously. I have tried all the settings, saved and renamed the plan to protect the design. I reset all the defaults. There is still no visible terrain perimeter thus no way that I see to build the walkout terrain. To test the settings in place, I opened a new drawing, drew a simple box structure and checked for a terrain perimeter. It is there and functional. I have attached both files Help please Regards Rick Kingston Ranch Walkout Truss and Ceiling.plan Terrain test.plan

Thanks...that verified what I figured out earlier today by just working various scenarios...glad to see though that someone else thinks the "story pole" operations within the software are less than real world intuitive... Regards Rick

When I have run into this in the real world( actually building the house), a nice piece of 1x trim to match the rest of the house laid on top of the wall tight tp the drywall easily solves the problem...and a bonus is the working area in the stairwell has added room area...

By working with the advise of Eric and David, the drawing now conforms with my design preference...hooray...thanks again

Thanks to both of you for the help... Eric...as I said in the original post, I tried all of the listed attempts to build the roof system...as a 50 year construction professional with 35 years of construction manager experience, I easily visualize how the results should look...but I struggle with the software techniques needed to make the vision appear on the screen. I really struggle with the story pole elevations as the reactions to attempts to set floor and ceiling elevations do not make sense to this experienced building professional. Attempts to realize a 10 ft ceiling in the garage by lowering the floor elevations always changes the 2nd floor ceiling...change that setting and the floor jumps back up. I am sure I am misunderstanding how this actually works within the software...I surely appreciate all the help you provide... David...thanks for the extended effort to make this work... Your video provided the missing step in the manual building of the second floor from a blank plan. I tried this technique a couple of times but could not get rooms to build as required for attic trusses. Changing the wall definitions and space programming was the missing step...Thanks for providing the info...the truss manufacturer said the trusses can be built with 8/12 pitch but your drawing shows clearly the short ceiling height...I am changing the roofs to 9/12 which will add the desired head room in the attic. Now I just need to figure out the story pole requirements so the garage ceiling height needed for a door opener is obtained...9'6" is the minimum... Again, my sincerest thanks to both of you for the help Regards Rick

I have spent many hours trying to understand building a storage attic above the garage using attic trusses. I have a utility room between the garage and the house. I have built a half vault, no trusses there because I didn't want to have my head explode, ceiling in the kitchen living room areas of the house. When I attempt to build the attic room above the garage,as soon as I hit the enter key the attic blows through the utility room ceiling then through the common wall between the house and utility room and wipes out my vaulted ceiling. The half vault ceiling was created with soffits...I am ok with that at this time. I know that the truss manufacturer can build the trusses so the necessity for me to design them is moot..but I would like to understand how to do this...I believe it is a good tool to have in the portfolio I have read the knowledge base and watched the videos. I have tried building over the lower level, starting with a new 2nd level and deleting attic walls after the big blowout, raising the roof pitch to 9/12 and prayers to the CA gods... No success...My only specification that has a minimum is the garage ceiling...I would like 10' but can live with 9'6"...minimum needed for a garage door opener... Help please Kingston Ranch Walkout Trusses and Ceiling Planes.plan

That worked...I am very puzzled as to how that happened as I set the all defaults prior to building any walls...thanks for the help Regards Rick

Eric I was able to use your info and one of DJP's videos to make the ceiling planes and trusses as shown in the attached plan file...I know the results are not perfect as far as framing perspectives show but I am satisfied. My long standing policy of not telling framers (or any trade for that matter ) how to do their job will preclude providing perfect framing plans. I used the "soffit" trick to build the high upper wall at the living room/dining junction. The truss engineers will have to figure out ow to carry the loads. But another issue arises...and hours of working on it have been fruitless.Somehow I have managed to builds some interior walls with one side sheathed with the exterior wall board and batten material. Any help in getting the walls to display correctly will be much appreciated Have a great evening... Regards Kingston ranch with trusses.plan

I will try again tomorrow...Thanks...

Eric...thanks for the quick reply...After reading the knowledge base and watching video, I did place the planes first...and then second...kept getting a planes hit one another...break them or use handles to bring them closer...not able to get around the message ...there are no planes on the drawing I sent as I wanted as clean a floor plan etc as possible... This plan exists in a presentable state now...I could get permits and build it...but my desire is to learn as much as possible about using it for design for others purposes. I have progressed to the point that a client commissioned me to design an even more complicated home for him...I was able to put together a very nice package on layout pages...he understands that truss engineering and design was in the arena of the manufacturer...one down and hoping for more work...and I want to produce more complete packages in the future... Regards Rick

I have been struggling for two days trying to build the ceiling planes in the kitchen and living room using trusses. I have read the knowledge base and watched the videos. The desire is to have a half vault ceiling in the living room using a 5 pitch lower pitch and 8 pitch upper pitch. The kitchen ceiling is flat at 102". The truss will rise vertically at the room divider to meet the 5 pitch height. The rooms are centered at the grid line in red which is the C/L of the house. If you look at the garage you can see I was able to construct an attic truss providing a bonus room with stairs...yeah... I know the stringer penetrates the deck at the top level but frankly after spending a bunch of time with the stair tool I gave up when I got to that point...fix it during construction with a chain saw...as an experienced user of stair calculators I know the stairs fit but the overly complicated stair tool drove me to distraction ... Regarding the truss design...I know the truss company can build the trusses but I would like to know how to draw them in HD 2020 Pro...my skill set has increased exponentially but I must surrender on this battle...any help is appreciated...file attached Note: This is my own house but I am using this as a portfolio design to show potential customers sent by a couple different lumber yards what the designer is capable of providing... Regards Rick ... Kingston_Walkout_Ranch_HD_forum_copy.plan

After reading Dave and Eric’s excellent reasoning behind this amazing program, I felt compelled to comment. First, Dave and Eric are selfless providers of first rate info on the operation of this “tool”...thanks to them...their advice and videos have answered many questions I have had on how to use this tool... Daves spot on description of the designers of the program is priceless information about why the program is what it is...what may that be...it truly depends on where the users strengths and weaknesses lie. Some users are engineers or technical application professionals that use their software skills to fight through the clutter...other users fall into categories that bring other skills too many to talk about here...but I would like to bring my experience to the table. My working life has been spent as a construction worker. Master mason, carpenter through the absorption of 50 years experience in the field, electrical and mechanical knowledge obtained in a similar fashion and mostly 30 plus years of construction management...many of those years at a senior level position have provided me with skills that certainly help in maneuvering through the minefields left by the very non-builder designers left by the writers of this product. I have worked with architects and engineers who put on paper designs and details that can’t be built as shown...far too often in my opinion... The takeaways here is simply that the end user has to use the advice given above... study...try the techniques...study some more...it eventually will make sense if you just follow the rules spelled out in the reference manual...how do I know...ha ha...I tried the other alternative...brute knowledge of construction to bull my way through...the program always wins...now if I could just figure out how to make my 11 x 17 layouts print to the sheets edges.... Regards Rick

Eric I so appreciate your help... Prior to sending the sheet to layout, I see exactly what you show...600 dpi...after sending to layout, clicking on the printer icon in the toolbar changes back to 96 dpi... Working in field today...not at my computer so no way to post image or file... Regards

Yes, I am working with layout mode... locked in 96dpi means that all attempts to get back to the print quality for the pages from initial printing have failed...every time I click on the printer icon in HD2020 it reverts to 96 dpi... as to your work flow statement... I believe that your directions is the route I took... are you saying all layout printing is done a pdf???...I remain confused... Regards

I have been working and learning for a few months now...I have made great progress...in fact, I have designed three separate projects...there have been struggles but I plodded on...a lack of any real CAD experience was somewhat offset by substantial field experience as a Construction Manager...I have lurked here and gleaned so much knowledge from the knowledgeable and helpful contributors...thanks for what you do... I am using HD Pro 2020 and just acquired a Brother MJC 6545 DW printer...on the whole the printer works great... The question: While working through the various steps required to setup Layout pages, I also saved the plan to a PDF...The printer did accept the change and printed accordingly and printed at 96dpi...now though, I want to print in typical HD Pro quality but the program seems to be locked in the 96 dpi mode...I have read the documents and watched video but remain stuck in that mode... A second question: after reading and watching video, I am unable to figure out how to make text display larger than default when added to any print project... Any help is appreciated Regards