Kbird1

just wanted to Clarify , that if you have Pro you can use the Auto Floating Dormer Tool and then manually edit the Roof plane in front of the Dormer to cut it out once the Dormer is exploded.

It seems that you can't immediately ( at least for me) change the size of the dishwasher ,add it to the library, then try to place it back in the same plan . If I created a new plan and added a cabinet the new 18" dishwasher went in fine , same as if I closed the original plan , reopened it then inserted the new 18" dishwasher it worked fine. perhaps opening and closing the library would have worked too after adding it to the library? so the library updated itself ? note I made the dishwasher 17 11/16" , since the original 24" one was 23 11/16. Thanks again for the tip.... Mick.

are you sure you aren't in Technical Illustration mode or Glass house Mode (set to red) instead of standard view ? ie watercolour in RED

Bert you need to update your Profile Sig. ( see Mine) so we know what Title and Year you have ,this information can affect the advice as they have different capabilities. Cat5 boxes can be "connected" the same way as outlets are connected with the same tool > Build>Electrical>Connect electrical in most titles. ( also an icon on the Electrical menu mine is near the cabinet icon) see chapeter 18 of your Reference Manual. Check the libraries online at the website for any you don't have , you can also import sketchup file from 3D warehouse if needed ( see import menu for file types for your title) Usually Home runs to the electrical panel are not needed on the plan , (the electrician is aware of those) , the Elect. plan tells him where the panel is ( one in the library) but mostly it tells him where switches.outlets,two way switches, fans, dimmers etc are and low voltage items like Cat5e and Alarm Panels are placed. Mick.

@t65 you obviously played a lot with the plan after you turned off auto roofs you have a bunch of bad walls and 3 or more rooms on the second storey are set to the wrong room heights ,so check all rooms and click the default buttons if needed to correct them. Add a wall to the end of the house where the garage "was" and set it to full gable, this will give you a room definition and thus a roof. however the room on the end's roof and ceiing are turned off for some reason in the room DBX ,click both to get your roof back. I also found I had to delete the lower master bedroom knee wall ( and the room next to it on the right) to eliminate some weird roof returns being generated, and I had to turn off the Attic setting in that area so the roof generates correctly as the roof is building off the knee wall not the outer wall ,which is why you have a roof on the 1st floor there. Once the Roof and heights are as they should be then you can turn of Auto Roofs again and put the knee walls etc back. try this out and post pics (and a new plan) of any issues , sorry I can't save it and return as I have Pro 10 so have to use the Trial version to look at your plan and the Trial can't save anything. In some of the pics you'll notice I changed the fill in the exterior 4" wall to blue so they are easier to see as I played with the bad upper wall to get it right.

check the Ref.Manual on Dormers , sounds like you just need to resize the Dormer , the wall height specifically, it sounds likes since you want the front wall to stay over the exterior wall , lowering the height will pull the dormer down the roof. Dormer 88" high Dormer 48" high M.

the dimension you have circled is the distance between the two (interior?) walls not the roof overhang, roof overhangs are changed in the Wall DBX for each wall or in the build roof DBX if setting the default distance. If you change the 1079mm to 760 either the right or left wall will move left or right ,thus yes one of the other room sizes will change too and thus it's dimension too a better way to do this is to select the wall you want to move then click the dimension and change it as desired so that the wall you want to move moves, other changing the 1079mm to 760 gives you no control over which of the two interior walls moves, the left one when I tried it but not sure why. Are you doing the Tutorial on how to build a Clerestory Roof ? ( not a Clear Story ) http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00492/

perhaps nothing if the settings in Preferences>Render are already maxed out for Standard View in the Preview section but normally the max triangle size is 60" and in final view it is 24" , you can also turn on hardware edge smoothing at the top , if not setup and play with the software edge smoothing settings too , they are usually 0% on preview and 80% for Final view . Click on the Help Button (bottom Right) in the Preference Render page window to bring up the help/settings page for explanations PS You know HD Pro doesn't do Photo Realistic Render like Chief right ? Mick.

bit hard to tell from your pic but I think that is the BX04 Spindle in the Library under Arch.>Millwork>Balusters>Boxed>BX-04 so if you draw a 1/2 wall you should be able to place these on top by adjusting the distance to bottom to the height of the wall and then using the CTRL key to movr them onto the wall in plan view , like this

if I understand you right ? ( why an image of something similar helps) you want to make a 1/2 wall ,say 42" high , and then put Spindles (balusters) on top of the wall up to the ceiling ? Kind of a retro look ? This should be do-able by either placing spindles (balusters) from the library on top of the wall Manually , you could also use "Shapes" from the library to do the same thing if you don't like the library items , eg turn a box into a 2"x2"x54h" Spindle ( add material as wanted) , place it on top of the wall and then copy/paste (or Transform/replicate is better in Pro) and make another 10-20 as needed for the rest. Mick.

post a pic perhaps of what you mean , but you need to update your profile sig (see mine) so we know what software you are using as they all have different capabilities, thx. M.

use "undo button to go back if you haven't saved it yet or you can use a backup copy of the plan, if you didn't make one look in the archive folder in the HDS Data folder in my documents. I am surprised you have the roof you do ,cos at some point you had it right before turning "auto rebuilt" off. looks like the end wall of the Cape is missing too , lost when you deleted the garage walls.

When you define the wall , do you retain the "main layer" as the framing ? and make sure the check boxes for dimension to this line are checked still / are on the right layer? Tech Support may not be aware of this if you think it is a bug call them or emial them so they can look into it before the next Patch... M.

thanks for the followup , I will try again , the resizing isn't an issue with the intergrated 2 dishwasher , so I maybe doing something else wrong...

Check Edit>Defaults>Dimensions> Check all 3 are setup correctly for wall surfaces,both sides etc. M.

2015 Titles require activation/deactivation between Computers earlier Versions other than Pro Do not.

With essentials it might be the only way as you don't have framing Tools do you ? David will probably have a definitive answer for you but I can't try it I only have Pro and there are other ways with Pro but I think User Rfcomm2k did his Barn that way even though he has Pro and he put walls into his I think for an Office extension do a search on his threads/content perhaps for more ideas. In Pro we can use this Tut. too http://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00598/

I think on the knowledge base it says you can install all versions except Pro on 3 computers but asking Sales via email would be the best answer. check my Sig. for the knowledgebase shortcut and look in the Installation folder edit here it is http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-01028/

An archived version should work but you may loss work , though that is probably the point in this case One thought looking at your pics , was have you changed a "white" material for a Gold one or similar ? most of those items would normally be "white" of some kind except perhaps the door handles, were you perhaps trying to paint something Gold and were in the wrong "paint mode" ? Mick.

try a "Restore" in Win7 go back a day or two and see if that helps ,if not try back a bit further when you know it was good. Otherwise phone them tomorrow so they can work it out for you on there end

hmmmm wonder why after a full delete they were still being "remembered" ? was happening to me too....bit weird... M. ok ... I was able to recreate that with your info , once you move an "auto" dimension it becomes a "manual" dimension so does not get deleted when you do an edit>delete objects>auto dims. you also need to delete manual dimensions which might be a problem if you already added lots of dims manually yourself though, in which case i'd delete the auto dims again and leave it alone , you can test it with a simple 20'x20' box "house" for yourself. thanks for posting back , info is sure to help others... M

yep freshly opened the file looks fine , who knows about tomorrow you should report a bug I think and send the file in so they can duplicate it or refer them to this thread. Dims are set in the Edit>Defaults>Dimensions DBX usually ( the icon that looks like a wrench tool too) Yep Mi is colder than here so was wondering why I see no studwall around the basement room's exterior walls ( which will change the dims of course) M.

Yes I know what you mean I started in Suite , then AHD, and now Pro. ( and want chief of course ) I guess it is cos Suite can't do any CAD work which Pro can , I was surprised your manual has only 1/2 the pages of Pro's one but I guess that would be right. They have started renting Chief for $200 month in a rent to buy plan , it's yours after 15 months but I haven't seen similar ideas for Pro.

where are you seeing double dimensions? I downloaded the plan and the basement doesn't appear to have any, like under the 15'1" in your pic, but it looks like you deleted the exterior ones so I used auto ext. dims. to add them back and see nothing strange. the garage appears to have double interior dims was that you or the auto int. dim setting? I used 2015 Trial as Pro 10 wont open this file BTW. turning off some off the options for what the int. dims locate may help eliminate some dims. so it's not so cluttered, and you have some manual dims in there too ,eg the bathroom and the bedroom doors under it, they btw wont have a 2" stud in between them. Do basement walls not need to be furred out /insulated/drywalled where you are? edit: after deleting you interior dims to see the manual ones left I got the double int. dims too now

And check this thread from a while back too Robyn ,same issue as you https://hometalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/396-dormer-issue/