Kbird1

try these materials I made about 6-8 months ago , HD's Chrome is made to look good when Ray Traced in Chief which doesn't work so well in Standard view in HD https://hometalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/128-stainless-steel-library/?hl=%2Bstainless+%2Bsteel

turn on the reference layer ,will show in red.....check your manual icon on the rightside usually.

No Problem Keith , no it doesn't alter the ability to change anything as normal in any individual plan , just saves a tonne of setup time , you can even have more than one template of your own if you want, eg HD is setup to American standards etc so you can do your own to more closely resemble your local settings or different types of buildings. Should like you printed the webpage instead of going upto "tools" and click the Print label , which brings up another Browser window with a printable version of the page. I usually actually then "Print to PDF" using PDF995 and just save them to my HD Tutorials Folder.

this site is another good example of Chief's file exported to KerkyThea or Lumion etc, most high end photo realism seems to be done in Progs other than Chief , but you need Chief too get the 3D file exported 1st. eg in .3ds format. some examples in this thread on CT : https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/2856-3d-rendering/#entry37762 Lourdes site is here: https://www.behance.net/Wrightdzign

@Warren sorry, I was thinking of Chief Lite I think, which they don't make now for X7 , looks like Interiors has Ray Trace but am not sure what else is "missing" http://www.chiefarchitect.com/products/compare.html

I didn't think STL files had any materials ? or lighting information for that matter ? is that wrong ? without that info it wold just be a single colour model wouldn't it? M.

No Problem ...I too like the Manual tools but still build mostly auto 1st then correct IF needed ,especially on simple stuff. Don is lucky to have Pro and there will be many times he is glad of the extra functionality , but a lot of users here have the $79 Suite Version and they don't have all the "goodies" of Pro or Chief , I am surprised you are trying Pro actually since X4 still has lots of life left I'd think ( X4 is the same as version 10 Pro I think) , itsa pity is you do a plan in Pro15 you wont be able to use X4 with it , playing with simple stuff I don't know if you will see much different , if you ever want to do ConDocs etc again though that will be a different story, doable but a lot more work. M.

Best bet J is to follow the CapeCod Tutorial linked to earlier in the Thread it will let you build the 1 1/2 storey house you want in Suite since you have no manual control of Roofs. Measure some of the furniture you plan on the 2nd floor as 36" knee walls may not be high enough to accommodate some Dressers etc , and at some point you will have to turn off Auto Roofs , so changing your mind later could cause you issues as you'd need to rebuild the roof to change it's knee wall height. M.

As Far as I know Warren only CA Premier does the Ray Tracing , though that may have changed , are you using CA Premier Trial or CA Interiors Trial? Mick.

Sounds like you always use the Default Plan Keith , which is actually a Plan File called ProfileM,Plan (m=metric , no M if imperial) , I would leave it alone but you can use and setup any Plan you have as a Template ,with all your usual settings in Preferences, and all the Defaults set the way you use most often, you custom Wall types so you don't need to redefine them each Plan etc etc. You don't need to use any of the supplied Templates ,once you have setup a blank Plan with all your settings , save it as My Template ( and a 2nd time as My Template Backup) , then instead of using the New Plan button , just use the Open button , open My Template.Plan and you have all your settings ready to go on a Blank sheet, without having to go thru all those DBX's again and again. this is a Tutorial for Chief on how to do it , and some stuff doesn't apply to Pro like Annotation Sets and Layers , it should guide you sucessfully http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00463/

Jintu is definitely one of the Rendering Masters, does great work as does Patricia at 3D-Diva http://3d-diva.davidmichaeldesigns.com/ Warren , do you have a special discount ? or did you mean Euros? Chief PremierX7 is $2200USD after your $500USD Rebate not $1500USD. If I see someone selling a license cheaper I will let you know.... You can Rent to Own Chief -- $200USD a month x 15 months but when I asked they didn't allow the rebate if you "Rented". M.

Just remember Max that Don doesn't have the "tools" ( ie 15 yrs + experience) in his arsenal yet to do it manually which is why I suggested just starting again since it is literally 5-10 clicks of mouse and done.

you'll have to delete the current foundation and rebuild it , but 1st set the Foundation Defaults in Edit>default settings>Foundation Stem wall minimum height is the setting for the Foundation wall height and the width is typically 8" wide.For a Basement of 8' you'll need a stemwall of about 102" perhaps more?, due to the basement slab. but it tells you in the DBX what the height will be , just click on another editable number to get the field to update that info. Click on the Edit Default Foundation Wall button to set the foot Footing, it is usually 24" wide here (earthquakes) but many places allow only 16" wide and I think is the Default in HD. Most places it is 8" thick , see the pic. (DBX = Dialog Box , you'll see it used a lot on the Forum) .

It's ok Keith I figured out it was the Eldorado Stone library ........... you didn't tell us you had been playing and making funky EPS Wall definitions of your own , don't know the issue though yet, perhaps send plan to TS as I can't see why the wall Definition is causing that exterior brick layer to poke out on the interior (bug?) but I think it has to do with your wall "layers" and that the Main layer is no#7 the interior drywall though not say no#4. ***Update yes changing the main wall layer to no#4 fixed it for me I changed the wall type to CMU and all is well. YOu could try altering the Wall def. and see if you can figure out the issue after main wall layer changed

The defaults would depend on the Template you used to start this Plan , and whether you perhaps changed the default HD Pro template , perhaps by accident? or perhaps you made your Own Template Plan as I and others have? Close the Plan in HDP before you try uploading a copy to the Forum. Can you do a "backup entire Plan" and zip the folder and post here pls? my Computer doesn't have all the textures your plan has , for eg I see no brick at all in any view like in your pics above. I just see a brown colour so far but will look a bit more into it. M.

No problem , hope my plan above gives you some tips , happy to help if I can , see you over on CT I guess https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/

none of the Home Designer Titles can export Files compatible ( eg .3ds or .obj) with most external 3D Rendering programs such as Kerky or Blender that I am aware of. Pro can import those files but not export them , only CA Premier can export ,but it also has it's own Ray Tracing Engine too. M.

Kat maybe right Keith , did you change the defaults perhaps when you were doing that Castle/Office Block Project ? if not it , post the plan so we can take a look.... M.

CA reported finding a bug today on older intel cards but don't say when a fix will be released. https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/3930-x7-performance-crashes/page-3#entry37420

or simply place the sink outside the cabinet ( answer yes to DBX) and use the Ctrl key to move to the desired location after, you will need to reset it's height that is all as it will place outside a cabinet at 36" to the bottom , in a bathroom that should be closer to 30" usually . we had this discussion here if you want more ideas too https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/341-inserting-two-lavatories-in-a-custom-triple-face-vanity/#entry2436

I would suspect with this plan that yes, you will need to do some interior wall cleanup in elevation or 3d views due to it's complication and differing heights ,but it doesn't take that long to grab a "beam" in elevation and drag the wall back up to the ceiling with the edit handle. ie the kitchen "beam" the Floor structure tab is calculating the floor thickness ,12 3/8" ( main floor is 10 3/8??) with the heights because you haven't eliminated it in the DBX ie you need to set the floor thickness to 0" and the floor finish to 0" too. Yes not intuitive and the program should ideally do that automatically for Open below rooms but doesn't. Did you get X7 ? cos x6/2015 wouldn't open that open to below plan. I also noted that not all the rooms on level 1 are the same height (109") which may confuse things too with the open to below rooms. X7/2016 only Our House4 - Open to below.plan M.

Heights are set with the Floor defaults or in your case thru the Room Specification Dialog Box (DBX) , if the raised slab isn't in the same space as a Room then define the Slab area with invisible walls/Room divider walls to form a "room" so you can set the Rooms height. the garage slab height you set the same way after designating the Room a "garage" in the structure tab. but use a negative value as everything is set off the main floor height of 0" so use -6" I am not familiar with the term "construction lines" , you'll need to clarify or provide a sample... tutorials on Split levels http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00269/ http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00932/ Please add your Version and Title to you signature for easy reference , are you using 2015? if you need to add pics or plans to your next post see my signature for a link to a how to. M.

Brad ....why are you still not using the 2 storey "open below method" ? seems to work for me , though I don't know what this house should really look like or the true heights of Rooms etc .....t All auto Roof , no manual work so far , I see one glitch with overhangs but is this right? the plan:Our House4_R1.plan

Pro only has one layout sheet so to do the different pages as noted you have to name them differently , the problem with that is that Pro can only use 1 "live" Layout Sheet , ie it will be automatically updated with anything you do to the Plan once it is sent to the Layout the 1st time. So you have to be very aware of what you have updated etc , or only do Layouts (ConDocs) once you have everything drawn and finished, then create a layout per level as you can't geta set of Plans onto one sheet of any size, let alone a 12x18 (Pro max size) The other way to do it is to use a different plan name per level ,eg 1st floor, foundation ,2nd floor etc and have a "live" layout for each , but this can be an issue too if you change something in one plan it wont update in the others etc . Either way you need to be very aware of the Layout limitations etc. and Plan accordingly.

I would make sure it works in your computer 1st since it is 5 yrs old , ie you have the PCIE Slot for it etc. but that should do fine.