Kbird1

Specific problems include: - the extended roof from the porch toward the new addition, shading the front entry door, has no support to the invisible gabled wall I used to extend the roof line. I would think there would need to be a post holding up that gable. - Also the ceiling of that "room" beneath the same extended roofline doesn't have a closing end on the front. It's obvious when you look at a 3D shot from the front. These are the only two obvious problems I can see. But, due to my inexperience with this, I have the general distrust in the design that might be resolved if someone like you looks it over. Thanks very much Fred Strohacker You have about 50 trees placed but I see no Terrain built yet ? thus your deck stairs are not correctly built as they default to only 12” high with no terrain. you don’t need that invisible wall/room divider actually, just make the roof over hang 6’4” ( approx) of the wall with the door in it. That fixes the ceiling and eliminates the Attic wall you don’t need though you may want it ?. You also “lost” two other invisible walls just off the deck there when placing the original, and one in the middle of the deck,so I deleted them. Make the railing there “Post to Beam” to support that Roof ,you will need to break the railing (wall) where you need the beam to finish. I think you used room dividers to get the roof straight at the 45° wall, this cause attic walls in this situation to be built auto above them so delete them , it wont affect the roof. Change the plan material , in defaults to the same for ridgecaps as the roof ie natural shingle. you have some wall alignment issues at the back and at the roof too which is probably a room height issue. Deleting the Trees and furniture didn't alter the file size much.... One issue both Eric and I have working on this plan is that once we save it , you wont be able to open it as 2014 can’t open 2015 plan files. Do you plan to upgrade? Mick.

One of the other Users here Solver (Eric) is in Overgaard , AZ , and is pretty fluent in HD , like me he also does Design-Build and will be familiar with AZ permits/codes and probably knows an AZ Engineer as well. I would suggest you PM (private message) him via the Member's listing as I have not seen him online here in about 2 weeks or so. In the meantime Fred, you could PM me your email address so we can arrange to go over your drawings and see what maybe needed. Mick EDIT PM sent

I am not a Mac guy so don't know of any converters. I tried a few of their other Models in .skp ( couldn't find another .dae to try) and the .skp's imported fine but I don't think the MAC version of HD does .skp's right? Try sending a report to Tech Support along with the file for them to try , perhaps HD's import function needs updating in the next Program Update? the dae files I found on the KARE 3D page came as .zip , with the .dae and images in a 'model' folder ,I am not sure if that is normal? Did you try importing the materials in the 'model' folder into HD and then assigning them to the table?

thanks for posting back Brad , nice to know they are looking into it too , was hoping to find out why that 3/8" seemed to make a difference.... M.

Someone like myself , Max or David could clean up the Drawings for you but in the End you probably need a local Engineer at least, for the Permit .You can always post your Plan file here so others can look at it and make comments and suggestions too. As Max suggested ,he ,like me, or any other Good Builder could probably take your Drawings and do the build from your "vision" , no problem , however if you want a fixed price type contract you will need everything highly spec'd and decided up front --- with a possible budget , no point designing something that will cost $500K if you only have $200K to spend....a common scenario as most people don't have any idea how much Renovations cost . M.

Thx treenet , don't have the "both" option in Pro 10 and I guess not in 2014 since the OP stated she Had to use one or the other , but is it worth the $200 upgrade is the question? M.

I had not noticed that you need the Pro Version for .3ds as mine is still in its 8hr "free" Pro evaluation period , so you might need to do a batch conversion of all your models at once. SU 2015 is out now too but I still have SU8 and 2014 installed. Are all there files like this or was it just that particular Table? Have you tried contacting the Company direct ? M.

That would probably depend on the City and need for a building permit (and possibly State licensed Engineering too) .....or not since it's a Cabin , but to get bids yes I'd think you need a set of Construction Documents , which a Drafter should be capable of doing , though they would need Chief X5 ,X6 or above to use your HDA'14 file as I don't think HDA can export .DXF AutoCAD files like Pro can. Check on the File>Export Menu. There are a number of people who supply services online such as DJP (on this forum) , David is in Austin and uses GoToMeeting. http://djpdesigns.com/ Tommy Blair is also in Texas and uses GTM too. Tommy Blair tblair55@sbcglobal.net; Remodeling Plans Construction Drawings 713-467-0579 I am not familiar with anyone in Salt Lake but if you use the Seeking Services link on the Forum front page you could ask over at ChiefTalk if you'd prefer someone local you . Mick.

I don't use Sketchup (SU) at all really Warren , just for stuff like this or because I have Pro 10 still I can import a SU 2015 file and then resave it as a SU Ver.7 file so I can use it in Pro10. for that I use the save as menu item an open the drop down box, and save as the required version, to save as another type of 3D Model such as this table, as a .3ds file, use the Export>3DModel Menu item. M.

"Both" is only an option in Chief AFAIK......... not sure if that changed in 2015 Titles? Did you check that David ? M.

Yes I would of thought that part was in all versions....so the only other option is to "stand closer" so to speak in your view or use the Full Camera instead of the Perspective Overviews perhaps. And you do have the latest Drivers for your Videocard right? Mick.

Thanks Jo I had not seen that article , it too is using the Stairwell's automatic Open below designation for the Foyer similar to the mezzanine Article , but more appropriate for this example. M.

A lot of Manufacturers have switched to undersized units these days , they tell you it is avoid framing errors but I think is cos it saves them thousands of dollars over the course of a year on few hundred thousand window units in less materials. a 3' x 4' window used to come as a 3' x 4' unit and when youframed it you made the hole 3/4" bigger in each direction , these days you frame at the "given or nominal size" of 3'x4' as the window is actually 35 1/2" X 47 1/2". But hey you are the Architect , so you are the Boss , no need to be one of the "sheep" following local practices ... draw them all sides if that's how you prefer it , they'll get used to it I assume the local City Planning Office doesn't have a preference? M.

oh..ok didn't realise you couldn't edit the active camera in titles other than Pro. I am sure Jo is right but ...... So there is no 3D>3D Default Settings options? which effect all cameras I think or you cant click on the overview camera in plan view and and open it ? ( not open view, just open)

if that is how you need to do it in your area I'd do it the other way around , get auto to do the windows , since there are usually a lot more of them and then manually dimension the Exterior Doors as needed. Personally as the Builder I prefer Sides ( or Rough Opening) so there are no math errors on the Jobsite but it depends on who is doing the Layout M.

try checking the "both Wall sides" box in the defaults , so the dimension will "see" the interior side of exteriors walls too, other wise it will dimension to the exterior walls dimension layer as defined in the Wall Types Definition DBX (dialog Box) for each wall. Note that Temporary Dimensions are not effected by the Dimension Defaults so that maybe part of the confusion ? have a look in your Ref. Manual on Dimensions>Locate Objects and at this KB Article http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00491/74/Home-Designer/Dimensions/Changing-Your-Dimension-Settings.html If you have already drawn dimensions or used the Auto exterior dimensions icon you will need to delete them to get them to update as once drawn they are "Set" and do not update dynamically if you change the defaults. Not sure if Suite has the Delete Objects button on the Edit menu to make this easier or not? ( I have Pro) M.

There is a new KB article here about z-fighting and other graphic anomalies http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00107/ which says To accommodate large terrainIf you have a very large terrain, and are experiencing z-fighting only when taking a Full Overview , then you may need to use a standard Full Camera View outside of the structure and adjust it to create the type of view you want. You can also increase the Clip Surfaces Within setting in your Perspective Full Overview Camera Specification dialog. The default will be 24", but you can increase this to a larger value, such as 300". You may need to test different values in this plan in order to create the results you want in the overview without experiencing Z-Fighting. You can specify this in your camera defaults as well, however remember to reset the "Clip Surfaces "Within" back to the 24" default when the overview camera is not in use. This is because all cameras created in your plan will be affected, not just overviews, and this can create undesirable results when trying to take an interior camera view.

this method is commonly used and this tut. may give you more insight http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00210/ though about stairs/loft/balconies. I am not saying that your original attempt was/is wrong , but for some reason HD isn't liking it . I , on many occasions have to make myself build stuff in HD as HD needs it to be built , not necessarily how I would do it on the Job. It is why I would be interested in what Tech Support has to say about your Plan. BTW do not trust the Materials list for your takeoffs ,its only as good as your Model and it's math is sometimes just plain wrong. M.

Do a search here and on the old Form for z-fighting it is essentially two materials competing for the same 3D space and can often be eliminated by moving closer in your view or changing the 3D Clipping Distance. Do the search and you will see answers beaten to the punch...

good to see that works Jo it's how I would normally do it , but then I have not seen any designs like this here ,being that most of our Lots are only 33' wide. M.

If you don't have a copy of the "bad plan" download it from above again and send it into Tech Support , noting it is a reproducible error, (ie add/minus 3/8" and it fixes/disappears) and see if they have any insight , perhaps it is a bug? I'd be curious to know too , so if you get an answer from them please update this thread. Thx. Was wondering about the stud height , thought you guys in Idaho were using a different height for some reason have never understood why HD takes into account the finished Floor as a Builder/Remodeler, it is a non entity on any building site but of course for Int. Designers/Architects etc it is possibly helpful, though I always use the Rough ceiling height as Framed ITRW. M.

For whatever reason the textures for the.dae come in a separate folder from the model when you unzip Collada file (.dae) and it seems HD and Chief don't import this .dae correctly however Sketchup 2014 opened the file fine , so I exported the file from Sketchup as a .3ds model instead and now it works properly , the textures are there when imported into HD , though there was an error about there being "no faces" it seems to be okay see if you can import this HD file I exported from my Library for you,since I am not sure if you have sketchup or not ? Kare Pure Table.calibz You could also I guess import the textures from the unzipped Collada file into HD as new materials , then assign them to the "grey" model.... M.

Still pretty strange , there is no reason the Roof/walls shouldn't build right at any height you set , so I am not sure why raising the default ceiling height on the Main floor 3/8" fixes this weirdness ?. Though typically here the rough ceiling is 109 3/4 ( assuming 105 1/4" precut studs and 3 plates) or 96 3/4 (assuming 92 1/4 precut and 3 plates) ,which allows for 1/2" or 5/8 ceiling Drywall and then the wall drywall doesn't need cutting whether stood vertically or 2 sheets horizontal. The 2nd funny roof over the entry /porch is cos the entry is at 12' like the kitchen , you can set the Entry to the same height as the Office (default) and the Roof will "fix itself" , then once your Roofs are built and auto rebuild Roofs is turned off you can reset the entry to 12' if desired without the new roof building again though you may need to only go say 11'3" so the inside looks right too. Is the Roof at the end of the garage supposed to be angled instead of straight either side of the bumpout? There is a strange roof over the Master bedroom too you need to do some manual work on. The anomalies and missing stucco etc above the kitchen is cos you have roof planes protruding into the wall (Pic1) RH side and one extra roof plane by the looks (Pic2) those may not be the only ones but is what I'd look for in your other weird areas. M.

possibly nothing.....does it have colour/materials assigned in Sketchup? post a link to the Table or the file here so someone can check for you... M.

Brad I had a thought , try making all the rooms on Level 1 the same height (109 1/8) , and where you want the taller Level 1 Rooms eg kitchen/ living Room/stairwell draw them in on the 2nd Level and designate the Room as "Open Below" , and Lower the ceiling height as needed in those areas that are not full 2 storey high. M.