GroverJR

Ok, never mind... I just extended the invisible front room to include the garage as well and problem solved. Thanks for all the help.

Well, it is definitely getting there. I didn't think about the Open Below to handle the floor, but as you can see in the picture some siding is still showing (odd, huh?) and also when I align the overhangs the overhang over the attached garage vanishes! I've attached the sample for you to look at. Thanks again for the help! UPDATE: Ok, I changed the foundation to slab and that took care of the lower siding problem. Now if the garage overhang lined up everything would be great. sample.plan

LOL look at the lengths of the overhangs... obviously the top one is much shorter than the bottom one. It could be the angle of the camera I suppose, since it almost looks like the roof pitches don't match, either.

Close, but the overhangs look like they don't match.

Hi, Solver and thanks for the reply. There are a few problems with this solution (I tried it already): the roof lines won't match unless I adjust the room height, even then the overhang extends beyond the roof line on the second floor, and also the floor of the "invisible front room" creates a porch-like area that I don't want. If you can make it work with the provided sample file, let me know... :-)

I am building a saltbox style design but would like to have the roof line extend on the first floor as shown in the image. But, if I align the second floor wall over the first floor wall, the "extension" part of the roof. I have included a sample .plan file in case someone can give me help. Thanks! sample.plan

Yeah, this work around has been suggested before when I was trying to do this build a few months ago. It doesn't really work well either. It bugs me because I could use automatic dormers, but I get errors because the walls are too close, etc. Just another limitation in the software I suppose. If anyone comes up with a solution that works (I posted the .plan to try it out), please let me know. Thanks!

I tried it but no luck, the dormer walls still drop to the "floor" as before. Ultimately, the dormer floor will be there (it becomes the sleeping loft), but since it is back slightly from the dormer walls, the opening will allow a sight-line to the other first-floor section.

Hi, I am trying to manually draw a shed dormer for my tiny house. I can do it making the "dormer" the second level only, but then the exterior wall blocks the view to the open area below. So... here is a different idea and I need your all knowledgeable help. As you can see in the one image, the dormer walls drop all the way to the "floor" level instead of following the roof line. The outside looks right, but I can't get the interior to work out. I've attached the plan as well. Play around and let me know if you have an questions about it. Oh, and the idea is pretty straight forward from the outside view, so delete or change any interior walls as needed. Thanks! TEMP.plan

So, I have made my sample butterfly roof, but I wonder if it is possible to have different roof slopes. In this example, I would like the shorter section to have a 10 slope, and the larger section will have a slope of 4. I've posted the plan. Any thoughts? butterfly_example.plan

putting a open invisible cabinet next to it visually did the trick, but it should be a feature you can disable. work-arounds like this show weaknesses in programs.

I am trying to put a wall cabinet near a corner (about 2-3 inches from the edge wall) but it keeps automatically extending the cabinet face to fill the gap between the cabinet and the side wall (see attached). Is there anyway to turn of the feature where cabinets automatically connect to other cabinets and walls near them?

Yeah, I just checked trial versions of the other software and couldn't find anything about making tilted wall in those either. I have been experimenting with shapes and such to make the "look" of a slanted wall, but the problem arises later with windows, etc. since the polys block them. Now I am experimenting with glass walls...

I was wondering in HD Suite if there is a way to have slanted walls (like in a corn crib, see attached)? Basically, the "floor is smaller than the area of the roof since the walls angle outwards. I have been looking, but haven't found anything yet... Thanks!

It is hard to tell from the angle of the photo, but it looks like you set the pitch of a wall to near zero and not the others (I guess you want a relatively flat roof?). If you try setting all the wall roof pitches to zero, it might fix the problem.

Sigh... and for the 2nd time since you didn't post about a way to remove the feature (which is what I was asking for in the first place), that usually means you can't read and follow simple instructions: "...if you KNOW of a way to disable the archive feature, please post a response. If you don't, then please don't post." So, thanks for simply encouraging me to unsubscribe from my own thread as you are making it useless.

Well, as I wrote in my original post, I have no use for it. For people who want it, great it is there. But for users who don't it should be added as a simple feature to disable the Auto Archive. Word and other programs have Auto saves as well, but you can disable them so why not this one? I was surprised when I saw how much space this feature uses. For me it is all about organization and as a power user I guess I will just have to figure it out for myself. And in case you are concerned about me hacking the registry, don't, I have been doing it for years LOL. Anyway, I'll add this final addendum: if you KNOW of a way to disable the archive feature, please post a response. If you don't, then please don't post. This thread is not about discussing the pros and cons of the feature after all. Thank you.

I did, but I thought someone here might have found a way to disable the feature maybe with a registry hack or something...

Hi, I was wondering if there is a way to disable the auto archive feature? Personally, I don't need the program to back up several versions of my plans all the time. I mean, for 40 plans it is using nearly 800 MB of space! That is crazy... Thanks in advance. -J

Thanks Jo Ann, that is sort of what I want (close enough for the sample) but it bothers me I need to do a work around. After all, it won't look right in framing view or help with a materials list, etc. But at least something like this might solve the problem in 3D mode. I tried using a second floor instead of the landing, but that caused similar problems and even more headaches... maybe i will try it again, but the landing idea was such a simple solution in theory. Thanks all for the feedback!

I can't afford Pro, but I am thinking about upgrading to Architectural version. I can see about the wedge idea or maybe using polygons somehow. Another weird thing is now the ceilings aren't shown correctly. I've attached a pic from the actual plan.

Well, since the wall helps define the room of the second floor, it basically destroys the roof line. The plan was attached to the original post, so you can try this to see what I am talk about. I just don't think there is anyway to do what I want with the software. It is disappointing since I think it should be something that is possible, but developers don't think of everything...

About the landing: it makes no sense to me that you can't place objects on a landing automatically. If you walk through the house and take the stairs, the camera "walks" on the landing after all. I guess it is a feature they need to fix and I'll write them the suggestion. Really, a wall is what makes it a second floor? I thought it was the fact that it is on the second floor. And what do you mean redo the stairs? The stairs are there for a reason and my design has them against the wall of the house. It would be easy enough to build this they way I want, but the program won't do it. If anyone has any other suggestions, PLEASE let me know and thanks.

I am using Home Designer Suite and have a couple questions/ problems and have attached a sample plan to illustrate. 1. Can you place furniture on a stair landing without adjusting the Floor to Bottom value? In the sample image, item 1 shows two chairs placed "on" a landing. However, chair "a" was raised using the Floor to Bottom value and "b" was not. Another problem is as soon as I place the chairs they "disappear" beneath the landing! Even when I raised chair "a" to be above the landing, in the plan view it is still hidden! The only way I can see it was to make the Landing fill semi-transparent. It is like there is no way to "bring the chair to the front" so it is first selected (unless I haven't found this feature yet)? 2. This stair goes to the second level and although I have no ceiling above the landing, there is a solid wall (item "c") that I don't want there (the "x" area should be gone so you can see down to the landing below). If I make the wall invisible, then the exterior wall to the roof line above disappears (since it is the same wall... this is understandable) as in the second image. But how can I get rid of area "c" so I can view the landing from the second floor without messing up the exterior wall/ roof? If anyone can help, I would really appreciate it! Thanks. SamplePlan.plan