Cabinet Backs and Sides in Interiors


Cube1us
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I am a new user of C.A. Home Designer Interiors (though generally experienced with CAD, in general), and I have run into an issue with cabinets.    I want to model a pier counter - sticks out into the middle of the room, and want to put panels on the backside that match the doors.  There is a knowledgebase article or two implying one can do that with the Interiors version of the product ( KB-03028  was one, but I don't seem to be able to find the other one ), but when I look at the Cabinet Specification Dialog in Home Designer Interiors, it only allows modification of the Front, not the Back or Sides.

 

Am I right in guessing that the KB article's reference to Interiors is either wrong or outdated, and there is no way to customize the side and back of cabinets in Home Designer Interiors?  If so, which level product would I need to step up to?

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Not familiar with the home designer products but you can likely do the kind of thing we used to have to do. Float doors in place, or make shallow cabinet and force those to overlpa each other (transform replicate or point to point move overrides collision.) IOW you build it.

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As you have already discovered, that article applies to Chief Architect Premier or Interiors, not Home Designer Interiors. 

 

As for creating a panel on the back or side of a cabinet in Home Designer, all you need to do is create a normal base cabinet, set it's depth to 3/4", remove the drawer, and then change the "door" into a "door panel" to get the look you want.

 

As for hating "crippleware", there is a simple solution to this problem.  You can always upgrade to a product with all of the features that you want.  I don't think anyone should expect a $79 consumer product to have the same features as a $1995 professional product.

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Dermot, you do realize that it really is essentially the same software under the covers, but with menu options disabled (and removed entirely) and crippled rendering, i.e., this is all about marketing - not undercutting their more expensive product.  It isn't like basic features like this would cost them more to implement.  So yeah, it actually is pretty frustrating. 

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parkwest, "whatever".  Crippleware is the term for software that is essentially the same product, but crippled for financial reasons.  I don't like it, never have.  Back in the day, Burroughs created the B3500, then intentionally slowed it down, to sell a lower cost machine, the B2500.  Been going on for decades and decades.  That doesn't mean I have to like it.  (BTW, BS in ECE Computer Design, Masters in CS.  I can spot stuff like this miles and miles away). 

 

And I could go on - like all of the cabinet makers libraries that they reserve for people using the professional product, and then also put it behind their SSA "paywall".  

 

These were the kinds of behaviors that fueled and continue to fuel the open source movement.   It is a bit harder in this environment, because the product suppliers buddy up with outfits like this to keep stuff proprietary.

 

Like I said, it isn't that I don't under stand it, and the reasons behind it, but that doesn't mean I have to *like* it or not point it out when I see it.

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cube, that sounds like a wonderful concept.  Why don't you design a CAD program and then give it away for free?  You will be rich beyond your wildest dreams in no time at all, I would bet.

 

You do realize that if you don't like CA's marketing strategy, you don't have to buy it... unlike obamacare...

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2 hours ago, Cube1us said:

parkwest, "whatever".   If I were not already into it, I might well choose to use http://www.sweethome3d.com/ .  Not everyone in the world is focused on money as a god.

 

There's other free* open source 3D CAD software out there too.  I would respectfully suggest you use one of those many options instead if you really believe what you're preaching.  Consider all the time and tens of dollars you've put in so far as part of your own personal donation to the cause.  It seems you hold other people's investments of time, money, and/or talents in fairly low esteem, is yours different? 

 

*initial software download might be free but somebody, somewhere, and at some time has or will pay for it in one way or another.  It's a simple matter of fact.  With all due respect, you're just fooling yourself if you think otherwise.     

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Alaskan_Son, maybe you have never written any open source software, or contributed to it.  I have indeed done that, though to a small degree, and not in this particular arena.  So, yeah, to a degree I do practice what I preach.  Folks do donate their time to lots of software development efforts, and not all of that consists of people whose time is made available by the companies they work for - some do it on their own time.  It isn't a matter of esteem.  Your fact is not quite so simple as you seem to think.

 

And, as far as that goes, I have nothing against charging for software at all.

 

Remember that this thread all started when I dared to express my opinion that I don't care for the marketing technique of selling software at a lower price that, under the covers, is really the same as the more expensive software, with some features disabled, known as "crippleware", and that I find it frustrating.  For daring to express my opinion, I have been clawed at by two different people.

 

Fortunately, Dermot did provide an actual suggestion that may help.

 

Bye, over and out.

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