OscarPiper

Eric, Thanks. As a novice user with a complex tool., I was unaware of the different ways of using the material painter. Accessing it from the 3D menu, I can now see the options that you list and using the Plan version does what I want to do. This is very helpful to know. Also, it took me a while to figure out what you meant by wall definition but I finally realized it wasn't the definition of the wall that I wanted to change but the definition of the type of wall I was using. That also works. Having done both of these things, the materials list now shows James Hardie board as I wanted. In reading the manual further, on p540 I found that the Material Defaults dialogue (which I was using) lists the items I said worked for changing the default the way I expected so I guess that the walls default is still working a little differently.

Thanks, Eric, but when I spray a material colour onto the siding, I have to do it to each wall section. As I said in my original post, that's a kludge. I'd like to be able to change the colour/material ONCE and have all the exterior walls change. The way to do that is to change the default and that works for everything I've tried except exterior walls.

Home Designer Pro 2021 I would like to try out various colours of siding on my house plan. I did the same for doors, windows, and cabinets and the process worked fine. It isn't working for exterior wall materials. I suspect a bug in the software (it is clearly iteratively developed and sometimes these things happen). Here are the steps I follow: Choose the item in the plan (e.g. window, doors, cabinets, walls, etc.) Make sure each instance of the item is using the default for that item's materials. Go to the defaults dialogue and select the item (this is the default value) and make sure it is using the default. Go to the defaults dialogue and select Materials and then select the item. Set the material for that item to what you want. Now, to change the colour, I can just go to the material and change the default value. If I look at the item and then its materials it will say Default and then what the specific colour/material is. These steps work for everything I have tried EXCEPT exterior wall surfaces. It even worked once for the exterior wall surfaces when I set it to "Dark Brown Tongue and Groove". I tried changing the default material for Material...Walls (Exterior) to a selection from the James Hardie Manufacturers Catalogue (Evening Blue). The default material changed but the display in 3D did not change and when I checked any of the walls they were still using what it said was Default: Dark Brown Tongue and Groove. I thought perhaps it didn't like using a Manufacturer's Catalogue in a default (but it should not care). I tried changing it to something from the Core Catalogue. It still kept the Dark Brown Tongue and Groove. Nothing I can do will change it. I can apply the Evening Blue manually to each wall section but that is a real kludge and I should be able to change the default material and have it work. Right now that is what I am doing. I have the program installed on several different computers (as I travel) and the required files are stored on Dropbox and I make sure they sync. This shouldn't be a problem. The software should handle it. Any suggestions other than what I have already tried are welcome. I have tried searching for this and have read the manuals and can't find any other hints. The easiest way to do this is to make sure all my exterior walls are using the default material. I have done this.

You can manually select and move the dimension lines. Select the one that overlaps (and use tab or Next to select the one you want if they are overlapping and you can use the mouse (or arrow keys) to move it out of the way. Hope that helps! I'm not an expert myself but that's one thing I've learned to do. I also colour my manual and automatic dimension lines with different colours so I can tell which is which. ...Janet

Thanks, Eric. I watched your video about setting preferences. There were a number of tips there that you pointed out that I hadn't found (others I had found). I'm still learning the software now but I *do* use the available resources as much as possible before asking for help. I'm new to this tool but not to using software in general. So RTFM is second nature to me (I even read EULAs). I've been using the Reference Manual pretty extensively for a lot of it as well as all the other online resources. The basic answer seems to be that this relatively inexpensive software is great for a lot of things but not really for complex issues. Your answer "Split levels are a pain with this software unless they are very, very simple." sums it up for me. Building this split-level will also be a pain since we're built on granite and will have to remove rock to sink the garage. We'd already discovered that it is probably easier to design something from scratch rather than using it to make additions or changes to an existing building after first tediously drawing it "as-built" (which we did, sitting in the building so we could confirm measurements, including going into the attic to measure rafters). Now that I know this, I will cludge things (manually draw) where I can't make the software draw it as it is. I mostly just need to have it look ok on paper for the permit application. We'll be involved in the actual construction ourselves and my husband is a structural engineer so we will be building it according to our local building code. He's already doing hand-drawings for a lot of the detail work.

Home Designer Pro 2021 Based in Ontario, Canada (EDT) We have an existing single-story home with a basement and we are adding an attached garage with living space above. The garage will be added mid-height between the existing basement and the existing main floor, creating a side-split house. 1. Problem: The Wall The wall for the second level is complicated because it will share the lower part of the wall with the upper part of the adjacent main floor wall (both sides of wall are interior) then it will go into the attic space above the original building (one side interior, the other in the attic), then it will come out of the roof and be a "standard" exterior wall. So three wall types for one wall. This part of the wall is 2x6 studs. Below the second level floor is 2x4 studs (original exterior wall). Any idea how to make the show properly? In real life, it will be relatively easy to accomplish. In Home Designer, not so easy. Right now in the rooms with this wall, the original wall shows drywall as expected but then the rim board for the 2nd floor and the sheathing for the stud wall above are shown. UPDATE: I solved this by dragging the lower portion of the wall that had drywall up to meet the ceiling. Doesn't seem like the right thing to do but it worked and the framing looks ok too. 2. Problem: Stairs up to second level From the main level we have a split staircase to the basement with a landing partway that has a door out to the garage. This went in with a bit of work but no real problem. Over the stairs from the landing to the basement we want to have stairs from the main level in the original building to the second level in the addition. This is a problem. I've added a doorway in the wall on the 2nd level but when I create the stairs to go up to it, there are studs in the way. I can't figure out where they are coming from. The original building has 2x4 studs and the addition will have 2x6 studs. So from the basement, the wall is footing, 10" concrete block, knee wall, first floor of the original building, 2x4 studs, 2nd floor of the addition, 2x6 studs. Also, the stairs come through the roof over the original building. I've drawn a wall on the second floor of the original building in the area where the stairs are located and it will have a roof and the original roof trusses will need to be reframed but getting the roof to draw properly is an issue. We originally tried creating a dormer in the roof of the addition and extending it over the existing lower roof. UPDATE: I'm going to solve this by manually adding the framing and material required using the handsketches of the details. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. ...Janet Cliffside_SplitLevelInterior.pdf Cliffside_SplitLevelCrossSection.pdf Cliffside_SplitLevelAnnotated_JDK.pdf