katalyst777

In the Build Roof dialog, make sure you didn't select the option to Ignore the top floor. Otherwise I am guessing your walls aren't connected. Difficult to tell without images and the plan.

A tip for the future, you can use standard Boolean searching on the main Home Designer website search box. So, you can search for "Windows 10" (including the quotes) or Windows AND 10 (no quotes but to include both terms) and then on the search results, click on the HomeTalk tab to see just forum results to look over some of the earlier threads with problems people have had with trying to run older Home Designer versions on Windows 10. Might be worth bearing in mind though that people aren't likely to post if they haven't had an issue, so there might be some people out there, like David, who haven't run into any problems yet running old versions on the newer OS, and you might fall into that lucky camp if you want to give it a shot.

I know that there are some European centric symbols that have been posted in the Symbols & Content section over on ChiefTalk like outlets and appliances. The advantage that Premier has over Pro or any of the other Home Designer programs is that it allows you to import a symbol, like a light, and actually have it be a light in the software, so you can add light sources to it and whatnot, whereas in Home Designer, everything imported is just a "fixture." We also can't change how the 2D CAD block associated with the 3D symbol looks like they can in Premier. However, if you want Chief Architect to provide specific types of UK symbols, make sure to post examples in new threads over in the Suggestions forum (either here on HomeTalk if you go with Home Designer, or on ChiefTalk if you go with Premier).

No. A full list of the operating systems, video card, and other requirements for each version can be located in this online Knowledge Base article. KB-01095: Home Designer Minimum System Requirements According to the article, Home Designer 2015 was supported on Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 (as well as Mac OS X v10.8), but NOT under Windows 10. You can try to get it to work, but based on other posts here, lots of people have issues with upgrading their operating system to Windows 10 with hardware not being supported. I encountered an issue with my video card not having drivers to support it on Windows 10. If the computer is new with Windows 10, you might have better luck, but since the 2015 software still wasn't designed to work with the new Microsoft operating system, then you'll most likely run into problems and the company's support people won't be able to help if its not on a "supported" operating system. The best choice is to either keep it on the old computer, or upgrade to the new version of Home Designer, depending on how much you use the software.

KB-01002: Using the Dimension Tools

Uncheck "Auto Adjust Height" for the objects that keep moving when the floor is changed. Don't know why the setting wouldn't be maintained though, I've never seen that happen, so probably best to send it into the company's Support department for further analysis.

Yep, you've got a lot more options with Premier. Like solver said, check out ChiefTalk when you're ready to start working again!

You can change the scale of materials, as well as blend the material with a different color. What version of 2017 are you using? (Essentials/Suite/Interiors/Architectural/Pro) If you find something similar that tiles seamless across a surface, you can also import your own brick material.

I agree with Kirk. What images are you looking at would help us give you better pointers to achieve the results you want. For now, without a backup of the entire plan, I had to replace most of missing materials with stuff from the Core catalog, so the wood, countertops and such are going to look different, but overall I think making the adjustments that Marcy suggested to the lights will be a good start. I only turned on the 8 light fixtures viewable in this scene, and put in a couple of "Added Lights" set lower in the Kitchen to make the cabinet doors/drawers more defined. I also increased the transparency of the lamp shade a bit, applied the metal materials to the appliances, and made the countertop material "Shiny" before doing a Final View with Shadows. Changing the color of the light from white to yellowish (and changing the backdrop to a sunset or night scene if it's visible out the windows) will give you more the nighttime look from the interior.

You COULD change all their materials to "Opening-No Material" so you don't see them in 3D, but it would be a lot of extra work to get the material's back. But, it would be easier to make a copy of the plan with the objects moved/deleted using Save As. That way you can return to the original file where they are still present. As David suggested, the Premier version has easy tools to do what you want, but you can work around the Home Designer limit.

I don't think Architectural has the ability to create these shaped windows directly like Pro can, so you're probably limited to the ones from the Library Browser and their sizes.

KB-00683: How to Create a Log Cabin

You can take screenshots and create an image out of it, then import that into the software. Depending on your version, you can probably also create your own using the CAD tools. I think that David's suggestion about importing DXF files only applies to Pro.

This question seems to come up a lot, so I've created a post in the Tips & Techniques section with some basic guidelines. https://hometalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/2468-tip-best-3d-views/

Making the most of Camera Views Make sure your video card meets the System Requirements and is using the most up to date driver compatible with your operating system. Get your camera view's height and angle set up the way you want. Then, use 3D> Camera View Options> Final View with Shadows. Customize your materials instead of leaving them at the defaults. In particular, appliances and other stuff using metal materials generally looks better using shiny metals. The Formica bonus catalog has some shiny metal materials, and Home Designer also released another bonus catalog of metal materials. However, I still prefer using the shiny metal materials we gathered in an earlier thread on how to do this. Apply some texture to your walls and ceilings, it makes a huge difference when compared to a totally flat wall surface. You can blend any color you want with the textures found in the Library under Fabrics & Wall Coverings> Textured. Bumpy, Orange Peel and Dimpled are some of my favorites for walls. We have the ability to have reflections in mirrors and other simple flat surfaces, like floors now, but not an easy way of automatically having reflections in other materials, like appliances/water in pools. But, we can still export an image, flip it in Paint or Paintbrush, and then import it back in as a Stretch to Fit, mostly transparent, material applied to something to create that look. Basic steps in the latter part of this article (and a really nice rendering of a pool reflection using the steps). I used a Wedge from the Shapes folder in the Library Browser to match up with the angled hood for a reflection over that surface. UPDATE! See comments below for how you can fake reflections in other flat surfaces using the Mirror material. Adjust your lighting! If you don't have lights, make sure to add some. Check to see what light bulbs and where the light source is located in the dialog. For the best look, you probably don't want to have everything turned on, and most video cards can't display more than 8 lights on anyway. Use 3D> Lighting> Adjust Lights to quickly choose what to display on/off so you don't have to go into every light's individual dialog by selecting it in the view to check to see if it is "On" or set to "Cast Shadows." Some versions of the software have an "Added Light" option. It doesn't add an actual light fixture object, but can be a nice way to quickly fake light to get the shadows or brightness you may want in a particular area. I believe most versions let you adjust the Sunlight angle. Having the sun shine in through a window is a great way to make the scene look more realistic. Outdoor lights turn "on" when you toggle off the Sunlight. If you can't find a particular object in the software's Library, either in the Core catalogs or the available bonus and manufacturer catalogs that can be downloaded from the website, check out the 3D Warehouse and import something close (like the firepit in the image above), but be aware that not everything is well designed and will look as good as Home Designer symbols, and some can really increase the number of surfaces in the design which slows down 3D views or can cause your video card to run out of memory. There's also a growing list of other places where you can get third party symbols over in the Off Topic forum at: https://hometalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/990-good-sites-for-3d-symbols/ Place objects to make the scenes look more lived in. Outlets and switches, books, glasses and keys on a table, pots and pans in the kitchen, small appliances, soap dishes, towels, rugs, all these little things can really make a scene look more realistic. Change your backdrop! Make sure it looks good out the windows at the angle you want. Import new backdrops for nighttime or winter scenes outside. Finally, for those people really trying to use the software for production work, you're going to quickly find this is a lot of work if it is for more than just your own one-time project, and you should probably see about upgrading to the Premier version to get its ray tracing capabilities. Check out the trial version, view the ray tracing videos and ChiefTalk threads to learn more about how it works to create different types of materials and apply bump maps for the more realistic look. I'm not really familiar with the ray trace options in Chief, so I'm sure that someone more experienced could really improve the ray traces more than what the out of the box settings create. The Premier version also lets you export views to use in third party rendering/raytracing engines. ChiefTalk has lots of info on those as well, like Kerkythea and Artlantis. Other suggestions welcome!

KB-00136: Creating a Manual Bay Window

Probably worth it to you to save up for the upgrade, but you might also want to post over on ChiefTalk in Seeking Services. Maybe someone would be willing to make the changes for you for a smaller fee than the upgrade would cost you.

Well, yeah, if you zoom in on an image enough outside of the software, you're going to start seeing the individual pixels. Pro has options for size when you export images, so you can make it larger than your screen allows, so would be able to zoom in farther before the image gets blurry or pixelated, but at a certain point, if you keep zooming in on a photograph, its not going to stay crisp.

Attach the plan.

You could find some track lighting in the 3D Warehouse, edit it in SketchUp so its off angle, and then import into Home Designer. It won't give off light like a symbol from the Library Browser, but at least it would give the basic look.

Never save any files from any software directly onto a USB drive. Always save to the computer's hard drive, exit out of the program you were using, then within your OS you'll transfer the file to the USB drive and make sure to properly eject the drive. The other person then should copy the file from the USB drive to their computer (not work on the file while it's still on the USB drive). If you go with a cloud system, you'll still want something that just backs up data to the cloud, not work on desktop applications where the files are only stored on the cloud.

Easy to do in Pro, but anything less, just set the overhang for the gable ends to be very small and see if you can get away with using a resized Isometric Wedge from the Shapes folder in the Library.

This section is for Tips. For future reference, post questions in the Q&A. Solver's already answered the question.

Echoing to post the .plan file and an example of the type of roof you want (doesn't have to be exact but enough to give us an idea of what you're trying to do). Without that info, attached is my guess best on what you're trying to do (created in my old copy of Architectural so you should be able to open it). example.plan

Your signature says you have Architectural, so use Pony Walls.