Please Help...Interiors product. Am I an idiot?

[melissastar]

Please help me.  I just bought the interiors product. I'm not a professional, but an avid DIYer with experience in a variety of computer programs, but not CAD programs.  This one is making me feel like an idiot.  I suspect (hope?) that this is largely because the interiors product does not offer the same options and sophistication that the pro  and other programs, which the online videos and other training materials are geared to.   Could that be the case?  Two examples, right at the beginning:   I'm trying to set defaults for my first project...walls, to start.  The only options I seem to have are to pick one of the preset styles offered....brick thin, stucco thick, etc.  I can find no way to modify them to suit the walls that I need to match the project I'm working on.  What's worse, it's pure guess work which of the presets might come close.    Am I missing something? Being totally stupid?  There is no "edit" choice to select anything else.  All I can apparently do is pick a preset and then select and reset the wall thickness for each individual wall. 

 

Second right-off-the-bat example:  When I draw my initial walls...there is no temporary measurement offered.  It's pure guesswork, then go in to to edit the object to the right size.  Surely this can't be the case?  

 

I'm more than willing to concede that I AM an idiot, if only someone will tell me what it is I'm missing to get started correctly.

 

PLEASE!!!

 

Melissa

[katalyst777]

Architectural and Pro both allow you to customize wall types, according to the Product Comparison on the main website.

So yes, in Interiors, increase the wall thickness on each individual wall and then change the materials as needed.

KB-00363: Modifying a Wall's Thickness

KB-00071: Changing the Color or Material of a Single Wall

 

You shouldn't be overly worried about setting exact wall distances until the room or house is drawn, but I'm pretty sure that you should still see dimension lengths for a wall display on the Status Bar at the bottom of the program window when you are drawing a wall, regardless of the version you're in.

KB-00245: Setting Exact Wall Dimension Lengths

 

Also check View> Temporary Dimensions (if your version has it) and check to make sure it's toggled on.

[melissastar]

Well, that's already a giant help!  For one thing, yes, I can see the temporary dimensions....when I looked at the bottom of the screen.  I was looking for them next to the wall being drawn, because that's where the tutorial shows you they are!    And I thought the interiors product said you could customize wall defaults too, but perhaps I didn't read carefully enough.  

 

I do need to be careful about dimensions, as the project I am working on has the footprint already set in stone.  I can only modify the interior and exterior doors, windows, etc.

 

Thanks!

[DavidJPotter]

Most everything the software does or does not do is controlled by settings and icons, firstly "Default Settings" and then other applicable settings in various object dialogs (every object in this software has a dialog which can enable you to edit its appearance and behavior).

As Kat said, the more money you spend for software the more able and more choices you then have as a result.

 

DJP

[melissastar]

Thanks, all.  I'm doing a bit better now. The main difficulty seems to be that the online tutorials, videos etc. appear to all be geared to the more expensive, sophisticated products. So I try what they say to do, and it doesn't work for me.  And then I can't find any information about what the work around is for the cheaper, more basic Interiors product.  But that's really all I need...can't justify spending a lot more just to help me plan my new house!  

 

Right now, I've got two specific problems, but I'll post a separate question on them.

 

Again, thanks for your help.

[English]

If you want to upgrade I believe (and you may want to contact sales) that CA will give you an allowance for the existing version and deactivate its license.  I upgraded from HD Pro to CA X8 and was given a $500 allowance.

Alan