DerekPedersen

Hello, Thank you for the questions and for your interest in using Home Designer again for your projects! Here are some thoughts in regards to your questions. 1. A modeling tool to get a idea of design with use of space - All of our Home Designer products will work well for space planning and floor plan concepts 2. Designing the landscape - Stepping up to the Home Designer Architectural will give you quite a bit more landscaping options. If landscape design is a big part of your projects, then you may consider this product or above. 3. Designing a pool / spa - All of our Home Designer products can create a custom in-ground pool. You will have some additional options as you move up the product line for a more custom pool. 4. Designing a 700sqft ADU - If you are looking to generate construction drawings for the accessory dwelling unit, the best product would be Home Designer Pro. If you plan to have the construction drawing completed by a professional, you can consider one of the lower products, such as Suite or Architectural. You can definitely start at the Suite level and upgrade down the road. You get a $100 discount off the price of the higher product (Architectural or Pro) if you already own Suite. Here is a link to our upgrade page that shows pricing. https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/discounts/ Feel free to reach out to your sales team with any questions at 208-292-3400 or email sales@chiefarchtiect.com Kind regards, Derek Pedersen Chief Architect Software

Hello, Thank you for the question. The ray trace function runs primarily through he CPU. The Standard and other rendering techniques such as Watercolor, Line Drawing, etc. as well as the 2D views run primarily through the GPU (graphic card). The Physically Based rendering technique provides the closest result to raytracing and runs through the graphics card and provides near real-time results. Our development team is looking at the newly released real-time ray trace capability that the RTX graphics cards can provide, but there is not a feature in Chief Architect that utilizes this graphic card function at this time. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions at 208-292-3400. Kind regards, Derek Pedersen Chief Architect Software

Thank you for the question and for your interest in upgrading. We do currently have an upgrade special where you can upgrade from older versions not listed on our website. You can contact our sales department for more information at 208-292-3400 or email sales@chiefarchitect.com Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Software

Hello Joe, Thank you for the question and for your interest in Home Designer Software. If you have access to a property survey with topo information in a cad format such as a DXF file you can import the terrain and contour elevation data and automatically convert it into a 3D model of the terrain. You would need our Home Designer Pro version as a minimum product to import the terrain in a cad format. Here is a tech article about how this is done. Note that this is a Chief Architect help article so some of the options will not be available in Home Designer Pro. For example, you can only import DXF terrain in HD Pro, you can't import DWG files in Pro. https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00719/importing-terrain-elevation-data-from-a-dxf-or-dwg-file.html There are additional ways to develop your terrain including importing GPS data and using the terrain tools such as elevation lines, points and regions. For these tools you would need our Home Designer Suite or above. Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Software

Hello Mike, Thank you for the question and for your interest in Chief Architect Software. You can generate a hotkey list in Home Designer by clicking on the "Tools" menu and then select "Create Hotkey List". You will be asked to name and save the file. Once saved, navigate to the saved location and double-click to open the file. I have attached images for your reference. Please feel free to contact our Sales Department with any questions. sales@chiefarchitect.com or call 208-292-3400 Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales

Hello, Thank you for your interest in Home Designer and for the question. We have a 30 day current version guarantee so that if a new version releases within this period you can apply for the upgrade. You will find details and the form here. https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/shop/guarantee.html We will be releasing the 2017 version within 30 days from now, so you will be covered by our current version guarantee. Please feel free to contact us with any questions. sales@chiefarchitect.com or 208-292-3400 Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales

Hello, Thank you for the post and question. Customer Service has reached out to you directly to offer assistance. Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales

Hello Robyn, I can't visualize what you are describing. Can you attach an image of the plan and rendering that shows the issue? Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales

Hello, The typical cause of this is that you have a broken wall connection. Zoom into all of the wall intersections and make sure they are connected. If there is a small gap, room definition is lost and you won't be able to open the room specification dialog box. Hope this helps. Derek Chief Architect Sales

Hello, Thank you for the question. Below is a list of the primary differences between the Interiors version and Architectural in regards to the cabinet function. Architectural has the ability to create angled cabinets. Interiors only has standard hardware for pulls and hinges. Architectural has a catalog to choose different hardware. Architectural has additional drawer styles but the door styles are the same. Architectural has a larger catalog of molding profiles. Architectural has the ability to specify custom cabinet labels. Architectural has a custom counter top tool for custom shapes for counter tops. Architectural has a custom backsplash tool. The resize of cabinets works the same in all products. I hope this helps. Feel free to call our sales department at 208-292-3400 if you would like to discuss. Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales

Hello, Thank you for the question. You will want to draw your stairs on the lower floor instead (stairs by default will draw to the floor above). For example, if you are adding stairs that connect the basement to the first floor, you will want to go to the basement floor (floor 0) and draw the stairs on this level. Once the stars are there, select the stairs and click the auto-stairwell tool to create the stairwell. You will see the direction indicators correctly at this point. I hope this helps. Here are a few stair resources. http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00420/71/Home-Designer/Stairs/How-to-Create-a-Staircase.html http://video.homedesigner.chiefarchitect.com/?search=stairs Regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales

Hello Karen, Thank you for the message. The link below will bring you to a Youtube video of our Quick Start webinar. If you forward the video to 29 minutes and 41 seconds and begin watching at this point you will see how to draw a "U" shaped stair. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl_LqMrd6os&index=3&list=PL7J4ch5cuz98ZvCydx8NNmfHBHSZReG_M I hope this helps. Kind regards, Derek Chief Architect Sales