BraveUserMike

Fortunately for me, I realized I did want all 3 of the lower corners higher and I was able to lay out the sails in a way I like.

I came up with an arrangement with the provided shapes that I like; no rotating necessary.

I tried importing the newer versions without luck

thank you both, I’v gotten a little further with this. Someone pointed out the library and although it only lists versions for 2023 and later I was able to use the 2023 version in my 2019 software. Using the kite version of the sail in that library I was able to get something resembling what I want into the design. It’s not perfect but it was good enough to be able to define the post locations. I don’t think rotating the sail will do what I need. With the library I’m working with you can pick from a few different versions of rectangular sails and then adjust the “height” so the shape of the sail is set by your choice out of the library and the height setting which basically adjusts the difference between the highest and lowest point of the sail. Here are some snippets from where I’m at now. I have two identical sails both connected to the same high point on the house which is the correct point where I actually want it. Going straight out from that connecting point the corners of the two sails connect together to a cable that goes out to a post at the property line. That single post is at the vector of if each sail had its own post straight out from a line drawn through the center of each sail to the corners opposite of these corners. Each sail has its own post at the property line for the other far corner. The rear sail has a mounting point into the poured concrete between the 1st and 2nd floor. The front sail has a post at the front corner of the garage. I want the 2nd corner of each sail next to the house to be higher. The correct attachment points are there in the design now. If I were to rotate the sail to get the corner there I would end up with one of the other corners out of place. I don’t think this can be done without being able to select a corner of the model and adjust the shape of the sail. Maybe this is a feature in one of the later versions of the library?

As far as I've found the shape you select to start with is the shape you get. No matter the shape you choose you only get to adjust the height of the object and the height of either the top or bottom in relation to ground so you can adjust a single angle but that's it. So I can almost get the 1st sail the way I want but not quite. I'd like the front corner next to the house to be higher.

and I should say property line instead of fence. In real life there is a fence. In the design there's just the property line. Either way the ideal is to keep the poles out of the way. I'm intending to go with 5" schedule 40 steel set with cement in a 12"x4 foot drilled hole

Hmmm, well.... They still let you make it available. I think I can trust you. Maybe we could work something out where you leave it on your account, make it available, and I install it. I downloaded the x14 library and it's letting me try to use it. I was able to place the 1st sail, size it, open the object and set the height from ground roughly around where I want it. i haven't tried working with the posts yet or adjusting the angles. Right now I'm looking at it in perspective view wondering how I'm going to do what I want. The 3 posts in the snippet aren't from the library they are just extrusions I was playing with. They aren't the right height but they are positioned in the right places. I'm thinking I need to draw a guide line between the high attachment point on the house and the attachment point on the pole by the fence to determine the height of the corner of the sail. There will be a cable going from the corner out to the post by the fence. I'm planning on making the posts by the fence something like 7.5 ft tall above ground so the cables are comfortably above head height. This will let me get 2 posts out of a 21' pipe and avoid having to put posts in annoying places. I don't think you can draw lines in perspective view though.

Maybe I can for $3.99? By the way do you still have that 2021 Pro license?

Well,I forgot everything I learned. Hopefully temporarily. I need to add sun shade sails to the plan now. I started a new thread: How to model Sun Shade Sails

First off, I’m using Home Designer suite 2019. I last used Home Designer in May of 2025. I was dealing with some complex roof issues then that I was able to overcome well enough to get accurate roofs for perspective views with the help of the forum. I only use the program for designing stuff for my own home so I have a pattern of learning to use it well enough to accomplish a project and then forgetting how to use it before the next project I need it for. I need to add some sun shade sails to cover the driveway in front of my garage and the boat parking in the side yard behind the driveway. I’ve helped hang some sun shade sails for other people before and they usually end up having to anchor them differently than they had planned. The sails like to be stretched straight out at 45 degree angles from their corners so there is a straight line of tension from the opposing corner so anchor placement needs to be planned along that line, not along sides. I’m going to need to install poles to do this and I want to model it in home designer so I can get the pole placement and ideal height of each pole planned out with some certainty before I start drilling holes and pouring concrete. If you don’t already know what a sun shade sail is, it’s a piece of fabric with buckles in the corners that you hang taught with straps or cables to provide shade and protection from rain. Installations go from interesting arrangements of different geometry sails on quality structures that add architectural interest to poorly hung squares that look tacky. I would like to end up more towards the 1st side of the scale than the latter. I had started planning this out last May and have a design with 7 poles already placed but no sails. I want to model the sails to verify/correct the pole placement and determine the ideal height of each pole. I have my survey in the design already so I can trace the driveway which I haven’t added to the design yet. The driveway surface will have to follow the terrain surface. I think I remember there being a tutorial for that. Hopefully working through that will bring back some of what I used to know how to do in the software. The sails will be at varying pitches, each sloping in 1 or 2 directions. Stretched fabric doesn’t stay square, the edges curve in. If someone experienced could share some pointers on the best way to model them it will probably save me a lot of trial and error as I work through this.

With that, I think the roof is about buttoned up. I think it looks right from the outside. The main thing I've noticed left outstanding is the ceiling underneath the 2nd floor room that supports the roof behind the actual 2nd floor. If I make it an open underneath room the whole 2nd floor roof disappears. I probably need to adjust the ceiling height for there not being a floor.

ingenius! I’ll try it tonight

Thank you, I was completely fixated on making the section of roof that lowered with the fudging/tweaking around the stair come back in line with the rest of the 1st floor. It never occurred to me to tweak the rest of the 1st floor to match.

because if I put it there the roof ridge over the main house breaks that's why I asked you if you were able to do it without the roof line breaking

Doing that, to get the roof ridge across the main 1st floor to continue across as one ridge I have to move the orange room divider well forward of the curved stairwell wall so I end up with roof in front of the curved wall in the plan where it doesn't exist in real life. Have you been able to get the main roof right without getting roof in front of the stairs?

Hey Jo Ann, When you did it were you able to get it to keep the roof line over the main house? The roof line broke for me. I was able to get it back by defining a small open below room in the 2nd floor behind the front door and adjusting the ceiling height; however this separated the little section of roof around the curved wall from the main roof line. I couldn't come up with anyway to get the roof from the main house to continue up to the break point in front of the door without it tearing into the stairwell wall. I was able to hide it a bit by applying the roof shingle material to the gutter. I guess this is as close as I can get with this software unless you have more suggestions. Would I have this same problem if I had the pro version of the software? I feel like it's kind of a bug that the software doesn't respect the exterior wall and ploughs roof through it. Can you explain how you were suggesting to fake the shed roof over the curved stairwell well?

Okay, so if I pull the room divider away until the overhang is no longer hitting the stairwell an attic wall that is defined as a stem wall shows up with a hip roof on it on the ground and the section of roof over the main house between the 2nd floor and the porch roof breaks with the main roof line. I guess I can add invisible 2nd floor walls to define an open below room over the area and adjust the ceiling height to bring the main roof all back in line then bring the edge of the porch back to where it is supposed to be?

And here's what I have in the plan before I start dragging the room divider the defines the side of the porch away from the half wall.

Okay, I’m going to follow your directions and hopefully it will become clear to me what you meant about my measurements but I’m skeptical. As far as I can tell my measurements are pretty accurate. The porch edge of the porch slab/the half wall touch up against the curved wall. The roof line from over the main house comes down to infront of the curved wall where it meets the gable over the porch. There is a 2 foot overhang that buts up against the stairwell. Everything is laid out in the plan just like it is in real life except in the plan the roof plows through the wall instead of butting up against it.

Hey Jo Ann, can you explain more thoroughly? I changed the half wall into a room divider wall already. Which measurements need revision? Which wall needs to be moved and where to?

I replaced the half wall between the edge of the porch and the curved stairwell wall with a room divider and no change. I rebuilt the foundation again and no change. I changed the porch room to a patio room and rebuilt the foundation, then to a slab and rebuilt the foundation, still no change. I can't figure out how to get it not to plow rough through my stairwell.

The extra gable on the end of the 2nd floor was a tiny misalignment between the actual 2nd floor wall and the wall I added to define the fake room behind the actual 2nd floor.