Kbird1

-Wall heights are controlled by the ROOF height not the other way around in HD/CA Titles , if you can in HDA you need to set the top wall's ROOF height to 2'6" -Play on a 2nd plan not your "good" one till you get it right. -Essentially you have a Gable Roof , just with two different slopes even though you have made it LOOK like a Shed Dormer for ascetic reasons (nice) as it breaks up that big tall Wall. a thread from a month or two ago... http://hometalk.homedesignersoftware.com/showthread.php?19439-How-to-add-a-dormer-to-the-attic-level&highlight=dormer

(Re your no#1 question , you should probably have used custom ceiling planes ,since you have Pro, rather than the Soffit Tool , per video 2245 on the link above.") Actually not sure what the trouble is with your no#1 ?, I just tried it for my own "lesson" and it works fine . might help to place the big 45° angled boxes first then join the others to it and resize 45° as needed . that seemed to be the only issue I had. it doesn't matter if the Soffit goes into the wall some on the back so it fills the hole in the back corner. M.

couple of other Tuts. that may help too , http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00358/ http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00904/#

I see a horizontal line and what looks like a beam sticking out of the wall at the RH end.... The horizontal line is I think cos the Attic wall isn't aligned with the stairwell wall , go up to the attic , select the wall and see if you have the option to "align with below" Not sure about the "beam" if that is what it is? M.

Do you have a lot of Saved Cameras in the Plan file ? any thing 3D will add to the file size , bad model/items of #D Warehouse is another one. just trying to think what would bloat up a plan like that since you say you don't use models other than HDS ones.... M.

I hadn't actually seen that tutorial ...it's not very good , points 10,11,12 etc are missing , they should of said to turn off Auto build roofs and then move the wall back to the original 30 ' mark I believe , etc. by pulling the wall in (a guessimate you will need to play with) you can get the roof to build over the original wall at the correct height , eg 2'6" All I do , is set the two end walls to Gable , then open the left wall , set the roof pitch to 10/12 ,, hit ok , open right hand wall , set roof pitch to 5/12 , hit ok go to the build roof dialog and build the roof with the correct options such as overhangs etc. Then you have to play with your wall heights to get the Pitch to come to the centre of the roof. This is easy in Pro , as you are able to Change the height of the Roof Baseline , in the Roof Plane DBX , in other titles you may have to use the Tutorial method if you can't change the Roof plane or baseline height. You don't need your Dormer , its not a dormer ,I think you can delete it..... try this , do a SAVE AS and make a second plan eg my garage plan #2 , then "play on the copy" incase things go wrong. Delete the dormer and just make the Saltbox / Double Pitch Roof on the RH side. ( or top side in your plan by the looks.) PS nice space

I know the Staff aren't on the Q&A Forums much at all here at HomeTalk , but I thought the FAQ/Sales Forum was for Presales questions etc ... didn't mean to waste your time after the Q&A question ,which was why I reposted here as I thought others might want to know too. M

Thanks David , I was expecting one of the Sales Staff to see this and answer...... found this too Room Planner plans saved to your cloud account can be opened in Room Planner on any iOS device as well as imported into Chief Architect X6 professional 3D drafting software and Home Designer 2015 programs.

A few Pics would help but it doesn't actually sound like it is a real dormer ,just looks like one, if it is sitting on the exterior walls of the Garage . It sounds like what HD calls a Saltbox Roof and is one of the standard styles ( see Roof>Build>Roof types.) in that it is just a roof with two different slopes . if the main beam is in the centre ,eg 14ft off each wall then the two walls will need to be of uneven heights ,with the shed side being significantly higher with those pitches . eg double ? since one is 5/12 and the other 10/12 . M

Hi David , Does the Room Planner App work with HD Titles? could it be used to View / edit files? Can any HD Title import Room Planner Files or is Room Planner For Chief titles only? Thanks M. I do not have a smart phone and have not used "Room Planner", that is a good question for "Sales Chief Inc" though. DJP

Try this Tutorial and some videos on ceilings http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00160/ videos http://video.homedesigner.chiefarchitect.com/?search=ceiling

I haven't seen a file that large personally but I would say calling C.Service would be a good idea , especially if the last title had issues too. M.

Hi David , Does the Room Planner App work with HD Titles? could it be used to View / edit files? Can any HD Title import Room Planner Files or is Room Planner For Chief titles only? Thanks M.

Downloaded the trail Version today to look at and noticed there is a toggle for Scroll Bars under View>Scrollbars too ...at least in the Windows version... M.

The versions have to be the same Year or newer ie Pro 10 can open older but not 2012,14 or 15 plans , but not sure there is any restriction between titles in the same year. someone may correct me on that M.

Put a report in the Suggestions Forum so they look at it for the 1st Patch/Program Update....

No worries ask away I am not a big terrain guy , nor have 2015 , or a Mac but if I can help ? You are of course jumping in at the Deep end with Terrain, (hence Manual reading is needed) but if you think PS is a doddle you'll get it edit: Some advice I see on the CA Forums about Terrain ( not in manual) is to always leave the Terrain Perimeter (TP) with parallel sides , or weird things can happen with your Contour lines and to make the TP wider and longer than your Real World Plot eg as if you were drawing in your neighbour's Plots too , this aids in Camera views in particular so you don't see the "Edge of the World". You can always draw your Property Lines (PL) on the TP with CAD Lines in Plan View so you can place Items accurately and even a square basic house , (4 walls) , so you have something to reference/measure off too. M.

being reported on X6 too , but no cure yet.... (X6=2015 versions) https://forums.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/1304-dialog-box-windows-sometimes-hides-behind-the-main-window/

The Video Pages for Terrain http://video.homedesigner.chiefarchitect.com/?search=terrain

have a look in the online help or download the Reference Manual (Help> download ref. Man. PDF) and look at how to change the dimensions sizes . But briefly Edit>defaults>dimensions>Manual or Temporary Until you learn to place the cameras ,always start with the Perspective Overview , then move in with the zoom in button or arrow keys , even it can get confused sometimes and all distorted , so I just close the window and start again. You can also use the fill window button in camera views too which will sometimes "fix" the view and bring you back on subject but depending on size of plot you maybe well back from a retaining wall. In the 3D>3D Setting> Options Menu there is (was?) an option to turn scrollbars on and off in different views but I read someone's else comment that on MAC they are off. I thought on Mac they appeared when you put your mouse over them though? There is ALOT of reading to do , the manual is invaluable , have the Ref. Manual open at the terrain section and refer to it constantly , and watch the Terrain Videos to get the basics...

normally it is only greyed out IF you have already created one , is what David meant , it's possible you are zoomed in too far or too far out to see it but it is normally 50 x150 ft ? or something when 1st created. Try the Perspective Overview camera and see if you can see Grass anywhere.... or Click the Fill Window Icon and see if the Terrain Plane comes into view...... it will just look like a rectangular box with a green dotted outline in Plan View.... in a Full Camera view or Perspective overview you will get the full 3D with a grassy rectangle. Mick.

If you use I.E. and hit Save , not Save As (which lets you choose where it is saved) , I.E. always (Win7) puts it in your User Folder under Downloads eg. C:\Users\ {your-name]\Downloads In Chrome it is the same folder as above but you can set a specific Folder for all downloads and/or have it ask you where to save each time too...in the advanced settings menu. https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95574?hl=en

My guess would be that the Laptop's video Card is fairly slow and has a small dedicated ram buffer eg 256mb, ( or shared) so on a file that large it has issues as it can't swap images in and out fast enough in 3D , you could try turning down all the graphic options in Preferences>Render Tab and use Vector View not Standard View. An upgrade to Suite 2015 may help in this case as the newer versions now support Intergrated Graphics such as the Intel HD 4000 chip . You can download a trial version I think and try it perhaps...

It's also a good way to do "As Built" (Existing), "Demolition" , and "Proposed Plans" (or play with different Ideas) as you go through the different Stages as you Draw, As HD only allows 1 Layout/Print Page per plan M.

No problem, not sure if the Image wasn't there before or I didn't see it ..... maybe you just added it? It is an unusual looking Roof ,with a few "strange" Pitch markers , you wouldn't normally see eg 7 1/16 / 12 , 9 11/16 / 12 , with some of the pitches being offset etc so I can understand him wanting some clarification but I don't see anything too diffircult to "see" what it is... perhaps you can Post some images from an 3D Over-view , looks like an interesting one....... actually you could Print the images from the 3D overview and include them for the Builder , should help immensely with his "understanding" of this not so typical roof. M.