ChrisO

Here's an example. I opened a new plan, completely clean. I created a terrain perimeter. Changed the material to tiles so that the lines will show any strange shape anomalies. I created an elevated region and set the elevation to 5m. I copied the elevated region, and pasted it next to the first region, then moved them together. I changed the second region to height 4m. As can be seen, a number of irregular anomalies were created. Look at the tiles on the 3D picture; the disturbances are all over the place. Look at the join between the two regions; it is not uniform in any way. Look at the contours at the lower end of the plan. They are skewed towards the right hand corner. So now the assumption is that a straight retaining wall should tidy up the anomalies. It does a fair job, provided it is placed with pin-point accuracy along the whole length of the region interface. But there are still anomalies. And, if you alter the length of the wall and do not cover the whole interface across the entire terrain, then the anomalies spread all over the terrain. You might think these are too small to matter, but when you add more elevated areas the effect multiplies, and eventually you ca get some really crazy shapes Now I've added a terrain following wall, and placed a retaining wall at the bottom of the slope between two elevated regions. Look at the results.

I have tried using elevation lines and elevated regions, but the videos said avoid elevation points so I did not use them. I am tearing my hair out over this. It is ******* driving me witless.

Can anyone teach me how to make terrain that doesn't have strange bumps, troughs, etc all over the place? I've been trying for days. Everything I do results in a complete mess. The help webinars make its all look so darned easy, but it just doesn't work they way they show it. Home Designer Architectural 2021

It seems that it is the manual dimension and the interior dimension that I can't understand. My plan has a lot of these so I am focussed on them. A test plan is attached. Dimensions test.plan

I think this must be the most difficult, annoying and plain unintelligible app I have ever used in 40 years. What the hell is going on here?

Why do I get weird terrain anomalies when I put 2 flat pads of elevated terrain next to each other? I need to draw an "infinity" wall with one elevation on one side and a lower elevation on the other side. I've put a retaining wall between the two terrain pads, and the system draws some really strange land shapes.

I'm trying to draw dimensions but just can't seem to figure out how to do it. The only dimension line that I can get to work is the end-to-end provided I draw it along the length of an object. Nothing else works. I've checked Preferences and I've enabled dimensions display. I'm watching videos and copying exactly what they show. Nothing... Home Designer Architectural 2021, On Mac OS

Thanks for the help. It seems that a few of the tips shown in the videos don't actually match with reality. The contextual menus (on right click) do not show what the video suggests they should show. Some are not displayed, and some are greyed. In the end I saw one video suggests that I should make the edit in the camera view: Select the object that has the desired material, and then the required options appear. It worked. Very difficult to find.

I want to use the terracotta tile as a floor material. The colour etc is exact. The tile size should be 30cm x 30cm, plus a 1cm line of concrete between the tiles. But the available tile displays as a much smaller tile. How do change the size of tiles in the materials library? Home Designer Architectural 2021

The "Bahama Shutter" works well enough. It's good. Home Designer Architectural 2021

Having just happily completed the design of a "saltbox kiosk", I copied the building and pasted a duplicate next to it. WHAO!!! All the room structure dimensions reverted back to default, and the whole saltbox design flattened into a basic room with a roof. How do I copy a small building and keep the duplicate exactly the same as the original?

THANK YOU!!!! Such a simple solution. I tried following the support material, but it's totally wrong. Nearly there now. Just need to work out how to change the tile sizes, how to flip the shutter, and how to combine the door with the window.

Yes, I understand. But the invisible walls do not move the peak of the gable. Please HELP! I have spent DAYS trying to make this work. I cannot make it work!

This is the best version I can come up with. I cannot persuade the front roof plane to be any bigger. The gable peak will not budge from that forward position.

Yes, that's a good representation of the concept. How is it done? There are a few details missing that are probably not worth the effort (e.g. supports for the forward roof plane) but this is not an engineering drawing, it's only intended as a visualisation. So it would be OK.

Most of the answers say the same thing. "Follow the instructions". But I have tried that many times. Everything I try produces undesirable results. To be clear, I've spent about a day working on just this small problem. Previously I have tried and spent far longer. Last time I gave up.

I need to create a structure that has a saltbox roof: The rear plane is long and has a pitch of (say) 25 degrees. It is about 75% of the total roof. The front plane is 1/3rd of the length of the rear plane and so is about 25% of the total roof, but has a pitch of (say) 30 degrees. There is a room under the rear roof plane. The rear and side walls align with the rear roof plane (minus the overhangs). The front wall is below the ridge line, but it could also be below the front plane. There is nothing under the front roof plane except a floor which aligns with the roof plane and the front wall of the rear room. How? I have tried everything I could possibly think of. I'm going insane. Home Designer Architectural 2021, build 22.03....

Where can I find some pipes and connections? I need to draw something like a drain field; lots of long pipes, 90 degree angles, 45 degree angles, t-pieces, end-caps, taps. debris sumps, etc. Using Home Designer Architectural 2021

That shutter object is useful. Thanks. I couldn't work out how to use the soffit. One problem is that the roof will be a saltbox style. That is created by adding a room above the front half ground floor, and that means any roofing hacks are going to seen above the ground floor.

This shutter is a single slab of lightweight screen (e.g. bamboo mat or plywood sheet) hinged at the top so that it swings upward and is supported above the window. You've probably seen something similar on a kiosk at a food court. There might be a menu displayed on the underside so that customers can look up and see what is for sale. So, it's a hatchway window without glass that is closed by swinging the shutter down to the vertical hanging position. How do I make it?

OK, that seems to work. It's a bit of a faff though. Can't really see why the "whole building" feature is disabled in the non-Pro versions.

How do I copy and paste an entire building structure? I've looked everywhere for guidance, but can't find it. Version:- HDA 2016

How do I build a roof over a roof? For example, imagine that I create a building with 3 floors. It's just a straight-up block. Now I open the front wall on every floor so that I can see straight into the rooms from outside (e.g.insert a huge window). Now I want to put a sloping roof over each opening/window like a sunshade that hangs out from the wall. Each roof would be directly above/below another roof. How do I do that?