katalyst777

KB-00023: Deactivating Home Designer

Download the Core Catalogs, they include a number of plants as well as many other items.

KB-00048: Downloading Library Catalogs
 
Once they are downloaded, you can either browse the folders in the Library Browser, or use the Plant Chooser to search by common names.

KB-00936: Using the Plant Chooser
 
Then if there is are regional plants that you can't find, then see if you can find images or 3D symbols from other places.

KB-00883: Importing Plant Images
 
KB-00888: Importing 3D Symbols

Home Designer doesn't let you change the Newels/Balusters associated with a staircase directly.  BUT, you can set their material to "Opening (no material)" so they don't display, then put the wrought iron scrollwork items from Arcways and adjust their heights to follow the stairs.



I don't know of a good way to create the volute on the ends though except maybe importing something close from SketchUp

The edit toolbar button to align doesn't show up if the walls are already aligned, or if they are too far out of alignment, or if the walls are not the exact same angle between floors.

It sounds like you turned off your Angle Snaps.  Turn them back on, then fix the off-angle walls.

KB-00311: Correcting Crooked Walls or Lines

Most of the rendering complaints I see in the forum are video card issues, not with the general quality?

You can create shiny floors in Home Designer too.
Make the floor material in the room "Mirror" Use a rug/soffit/closed box shape resized to cover the entire floor. Apply the floor material (plank/tile/whatever) to the rug, then edit that material to be slightly transparent.
(35% is what I used for the attached example just from one of the samples included in the program, I'd want to tweak the lighting and other materials more if this was a real project.) Do a Final View with Shadows. For what it's worth, here is also one attempt to recreate your hair salon image in Home Designer Pro 2017. I didn't have any salon type chairs, so those I did have to import from Trimble's 3D Warehouse. Everything else is from the library. I would need to tweak the lighting to get the trey to show up brighter, and I could probably find a better material for the folding screens, but I think it's decent for a first try.

The article states that Pro, Architectural, Suite and Home Designer Interiors all have the ability to import 3D symbols, but not Essentials, so yes, upgrade if you want that feature.

KB-00888: Importing 3D Symbols

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.

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-00038: Resolving a Gap Between Floors in Camera Views

I disagree.  I think Wall Types are much easier to understand with the new dialog, but the ones you've modified in this file are definitely a mess.  You've got no Exterior wall layer in any of the ones I just looked at real quick.

The "Next door SIPS wall" should have you select the "aluminum" layer and Move Up and "Color - Whipped" Move Down.

"Next door rendered" should have one "Color - White" Move Up under Exterior Layers, Insulation Foam Move Up under Main Layers, and leave Color - Whipped at Interior Layers.

Same with "Next door gable end" - Have one layer under Exterior Layers, one under Main Layers and one under Interior Layers.

That's as far as I got, but if you fix your wall types, then you won't have the floor gap anymore.

In other words, sinks get placed in cabinets with countertops.  The Kohler vanity symbols aren't cabinets so far as the program is concerned, so you can't just place a sink in them.

This is a better question for the company's technical support people.

https://support.chiefarchitect.com/home

I have a vague recollection of there being prior posts about some wireless mice with that a slowness or lag kind of problem in the drawing window area, but I'm not having any luck doing a search.  If your mouse does happen to be wireless, maybe try using a different, wired mouse and see if you have the same problem?
 
 
Just found one earlier thread that might be help, although not what I was thinking of.

Try going to Edit> Preferences, click on the Edit heading on the left side, uncheck "Synchronize with Cursor" then click OK.

They're there in floor plan as well, but on Floor A (the Attic level).

https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-00995/

That means that they'd only show up in a Floor Overview or Floor Camera taken on Floor A.

Base cabinets with no face items and a Base Molding applied to the bottom, with resized Doric columns (from the Library Browser in Millwork) stacked on top of them, and an Arched Valence (also from the Library Browser).

Plus Soffits above the Wall Cabinets on the right.

A normal carport could be created by following the instructions in this article.

KB-00908: Creating a Carport

In Home Designer, you're better off just finding something similar and importing it.

KB-00888: Importing 3D Symbols
 
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/search.html?q=sail+shade
 
 
I guess it's worth mentioning that you can model your own if you upgrade to the Premier version.

KB-00842: Creating a Custom Sail Shade

Like solver, I'm not totally sure that I follow quite what you're asking.

If it's about the first floor, I would probably use an arched Doorway opening, not columns to create this.

If it's about all the little railings, depending on your version (you may want to add this to your signature to avoid having to tell us each time) then you can probably just use Railings set to use Panels set to something under Architectural> Fences & Railings> Turned.

If it's not either of those things, well, then I think we're going to need more info?

If you have Pro, you can try using similar steps to what's discussed in this article.

KB-01187: Creating a Barrel Roof
 
However, that's a lot of work to get just right.

The Premier version has actual curved roof tools.
 
You can probably fake the look using something like an "Awning," but you'll have to adjust the material applied to it to be pretty small if it's corrugated like your image so that it doesn't quite look so odd when tiled across the curved surface.

Hold down the Control key on the keyboard to temporarily override the Snap/Button settings while you move the chairs in to place.  Then, if the chair is displayed "on top" of the table in floor plan view, see . . .
 
KB-00412: Moving an Object to Display in the Front of a Group of Objects

Looking over the new features in 2017, I think this one has changed.
"Paint One Wall. Quickly change the material on the surface of a single wall in a room."
If I'm reading this right, the Material Painter can now be used to change the materials on a single wall, instead of the whole room.

Make sure the files are in a normal image format (JPG, GIF, PNG).

If attaching a plan file, try zipping it first.
 
Maybe try using a different web browser.

Your options are . . .
To import an image into the floor plan view like this. Create your own in the software using the CAD and Text tools. Another thought is that someone on ChiefTalk probably already has one created that they'd be willing to share. Try posting over there under "Symbols & Content."

Look at the end of the article, I'd guess the "Print in Color" checkbox is selected in the Print View dialog when you went to create the PDF.

You can request a free trial version from their website to compare the differences from the New Features link that solver provided.

https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/trial.html

The 3D Navigation and corner windows from the list look nice, but I don't see anything major jumping out at me personally to justify the upgrade right now.

KB-00901: Creating a Sunken Living Room

KB-00467: Troubleshooting Missing Toolbars
 
KB-00113: Restoring Missing Toolbars

It might be too short on the forum itself, but you should be able to search the main website for SEH.  I would guess based on this Knowledge Base article that error probably has a "Check Knowledge Base" button that links to it.

KB-00802: Troubleshooting Exception Error Messages