DavidJPotter

By adjusting your sun light and other light sources in your plan, there is NOTHING else to adjust. DJP

Send the parent roof plane up a level and place the dormer where you then wish. Dormers are programmed to avoid occupying the same space as existing walls on a floor. DJP

I am probably the ONLY Chief User who uses and maintains older versions of Chief and Home Designer software programs. Home Designer version 10 is O L D, I doubt you will find anyone but me who can help you get the roofs and elevations done in a format that you can continue editing and using your version 10 .plan file. Your software is the "little Brother" of Chief Architect X3 or X2 (both versions that I still have ready to help you) OR we can work together live, online to fix up your roofs and any other help you may need, just contact me via email or phone and I will help YOU! DJP

I have Version 7-23 on my PC but I have LOTS of space, I keep my old versions because I specialize in helping people who never upgraded. I have a client that uses X5 another that uses X6, another with X7, X10, one who has X11, many who use X12 and a couple that use X13. When people need help and they have an old version, I am the guy they need. There is no reason other than your own reasons to keep older versions. DJP

DJP Link to video tutorial

Home Designer Pro is full featured in terms of 3D modeling as Premier. The big divide is limited choices and procedures that make Home Designer Pro a very "little" brother to Chief Architect Premier Full Version. Home Designer Pro has an ability to create scaled printed pages using a .layout file as does Chief Premier but the difference is in Pro you create a single layout file for EACH printed sheet and in Premier a single layout file can contain 1,000 such formatted scaled pages. Premier has lots of advanced and tools to make you faster and more efficient where as in HD Pro you can do the same things but it takes you longer to obtain a similar product. For what they charge for it, it is a STEAL!!!!! It is true that this is the forum for Chief Premier users and Home Designer has their own users forum called "Home Talk".

I would just set the cabinet surfaces to a stainless steel material. DJP

I had a new PC built for use with X13 (my old one was good but over five years old) and I have had ZERO crashes so far during Beta testing and since. DJP

I sent you a private message, take a look please. DJP

I would just draw a custom poly line solid to emulate the front gable wall, editing a wall to that shape is extremely difficult to do, a P Solid is easy in comparison. DJP

Once sent to layout any isometric or elevation/cross section can easily have lines added or removed using the "Edit Layout Line" tool while in layout. That IS how that is handled. DJP

No,not in Beta or now. DJP

Most engineers I have worked with use AutoCAD, so I share my drawings in AutoCAD (.dwg) format to speed along their specific work (I do this ALL the time). That is probably what you will need to do also: find a LOCAL, state licensed structural engineer licensed in your State and living near by the location of the project so they will be familiar with local weather and geological stresses to your intended location. DJP

Did you FIRST set your Default Settings - Floors and Rooms - Finished Ceiling Heights before starting your plan? DJP

Anything that you enjoy cannot be "strange", just enjoy what you enjoy! Many dedicated, hard-working Chief Users can and do photo-realistic renderings as part of their business model and services. It involves having a 3D modeling software (Chief, Home Designer, Revit, Sketch Up etc.) to have something to render. Many users obtain professional grade renderings just with Home Designer Pro or Chief Premier or Interiors and some few others use a third party rendering software like Luminon, Twin Motion and others to take it a step further. for what you are trying to do for yourself I think Home Designer Pro's Physically Based Rendering Engine should be just fine for your purposes, you just cannot expect that "clicking a button" will obtain the results you desire. It takes tweaking lighting, materials and backdrop until you get just the look you are after. Nothing really worthwhile comes "easy". DJP

It takes most of us "forever" to get professional grade products until we learn the right settings and adjustments (join the club!). Perhaps it is just my new PC which CPU-wise is a little faster than my old one but my Ray Traces (not PBRRT) but just old fashioned Ray Trace just about two minutes (after set up and adjusting lights and sunlight, just as in PBR). No one just clicks a button. DJP

I specialize in online help, I have all versions of Chief Architect Premier (X 13 - X1), So if you just need a little help when you get stressed, I am your person! DJP

I can work with you live online to get this done if you wish, email me if you do please. DJP

You have to change the entire "Data folder" location of which the Archives folder is just a part. DJP

Cabinet Specification dialog - Box Construction tab - Door Drawer Overlay input box - increase value DJP

I have always used AMD PC's (My laptop is an Intel machine). I have had one or two crashes with NOTING lost thereby because I manually save every few seconds as I work. This is on my new computer I had locally built and I attribute those crashes to a weak spot on my new PC that I have not yet found. The crashes seem to be random in nature and not connected to Chief, any version. DJP

Beautiful! DJP

Several times I have had Home Designer Pro users ask me to help them create construction documents using Pro. I created a layout file for each page, both of the custom homes I helped draft had a minimum of seven pages and the homes are now permitted and built, so it is doable. DJP

They can be drawn manually using short CAD lines and they are also found as a CAD block in the Library Browser under "CAD Blocks - Designer Blocks - Reflection". They are manually doe either way and not by way of any "check box" in a dialog. DJP

Most forum persons here do not use Home Designer Professional, most have not even heard of it. With the 2018 version you have a printed page limitation of 18" x 24" max size. More recent versions offer the full range of paper sizes. Home Designer Professional can do most everything Chief Premier can do, just not as efficiently or finely as Premier. You can at least imagine what the differences of two programs, one costing merely just under $500.00 and one costing six times as much. Professional and Premier are worth every dollar exchanged for their use but they are also not equal in efficiency and ability. Current versions of HD Pro. can import AutoCAD .dwg files, 2018 cannot, it only imports .dxf files not near as useful as .dwg files and on and on. Simple, smaller construction documents can be done in HD Pro 2018 but you would be better off generally by at least upgrading to the current version (2022 just recently released) and even better served by an upgrade to Chief Architect Premier version X13. It is your choice to make. DJP