Chief Architect® Home Designer Suite® 2015 Reference Manual

526 Pages·2014·12.17 MB·English

home-designer-suite-2015-reference-manual.book Page 1 Thursday, May 29, 2014 4:26 PM
Chief Architect®
Home Designer Suite® 2015
Reference Manual
Chief Architect, Inc.
6500 N. Mineral Dr.
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho 83815
www.HomeDesignerSoftware.com
home-designer-suite-2015-reference-manual.book Page 2 Thursday, May 29, 2014 4:26 PM
© 1990–2014 by Chief Architect, Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this book or the accompanying software may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Chief Architect,
Inc.
Chief Architect® and Home Designer® are registered trademarks of Chief Architect, Inc.
This software uses the Ruby open source
This software uses the FreeImage open library. See http://www.ruby-lang.org/ for
source image library. See details.
http://freeimage.sourceforge.net for details.
This application incorporates Teigha®
FreeImage is used under the FIPL license,
software pursuant to a license agreement
version 1.0.
with Open Design Alliance.
Teigha® Copyright © 2003-2013 by Open
Design Alliance. All rights reserved.
All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of Chief Architect, Inc. or their respective
owners.
Created in the United States of America.
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Contents
Chapter 1: Program Overview
Startup Options.......................................................................20
The Home Designer Suite Environment...............................21
Using the Mouse.....................................................................23
View and Side Windows.........................................................24
Toolbars and Hotkeys............................................................26
Menus.......................................................................................26
Dialogs.....................................................................................27
The Status Bar.........................................................................30
Message Boxes.......................................................................30
Preferences and Default Settings..........................................31
Drawing a Plan........................................................................31
Viewing Your Plan...................................................................33
Getting Help.............................................................................34
About Home Designer Suite..................................................34
Upgrade to Chief Architect....................................................35
Home Designer Suite Trial Software.....................................35
Chapter 2: File Management
Compatibility with Other Programs.......................................38
Organizing Your Files.............................................................38
Home Designer Suite Data.....................................................39
Creating a New Plan...............................................................40
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Saving, Exporting, and Backing Up Files.............................41
Thumbnail Images..................................................................44
Auto Archive...........................................................................44
Undo Files...............................................................................45
Opening and Importing Files.................................................45
Searching for Plans................................................................47
Backup Entire Plan.................................................................51
Closing Views and Files.........................................................52
Exiting Home Designer Suite.................................................53
Chapter 3: Preferences and Default Settings
Default Settings vs Preferences............................................56
Dynamic Defaults ...................................................................57
General Plan Defaults Dialog.................................................57
Preferences Dialog.................................................................59
Angle Style Dialog..................................................................66
Chapter 4: Toolbars and Hotkeys
Toolbar Arrangement.............................................................69
Hotkeys....................................................................................71
Chapter 5: Layers
Displaying Objects.................................................................74
Layer Sets ...............................................................................74
Display Options Dialog..........................................................75
Chapter 6: Creating Objects
Architectural vs CAD Objects................................................78
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Snap Behaviors.......................................................................78
Object Snaps...........................................................................78
Angle Snaps............................................................................79
Grid Snaps...............................................................................79
Creating Objects.....................................................................80
Copying and Pasting Objects................................................81
Chapter 7: Editing Objects
Selecting Objects....................................................................86
Editing Line Based Objects...................................................88
Editing Arc Based Objects.....................................................90
Editing Open Polyline Based Objects...................................93
Editing Closed-Polyline Based Objects................................96
Editing Box-Based Objects....................................................98
Editing Spline Based Objects..............................................100
Editing Circles, Ovals and Ellipses.....................................102
Displaying Objects................................................................104
Moving Objects.....................................................................106
Aligning Objects...................................................................107
Resizing Objects...................................................................108
Reshaping Objects...............................................................109
Rotating Objects...................................................................110
Deleting Objects....................................................................111
Undo and Redo.....................................................................113
Chapter 8: Walls, Railings, and Fencing
Wall Defaults.........................................................................116
Wall Tools..............................................................................116
Railing and Deck Tools........................................................117
Fencing Tools........................................................................119
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Exterior and Interior Walls...................................................119
Foundation Walls..................................................................120
Room Dividers and Invisible Walls.....................................120
Polygon Shaped Decks........................................................121
Hatch Wall.............................................................................121
Break Wall.............................................................................122
Drawing Walls.......................................................................122
Connecting Walls..................................................................124
Displaying Walls...................................................................125
Measuring Walls...................................................................126
Editing Walls.........................................................................127
Editing Straight/Curved Wall Combinations......................130
Aligning Walls.......................................................................130
Roof Directives in Walls.......................................................131
Attic Walls.............................................................................132
Wall Type Definitions...........................................................133
Wall Specification Dialog.....................................................134
Railing and Fencing Specification Dialogs........................138
Wall Hatch Specification Dialog..........................................141
Chapter 9: Rooms
Floor and Room Defaults.....................................................144
Room Definition....................................................................144
Selecting Rooms ..................................................................145
Displaying Rooms................................................................146
Editing Rooms......................................................................146
Room Types..........................................................................147
Room Labels.........................................................................149
Decks.....................................................................................151
Floor and Ceiling Heights....................................................151
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Stepped Floor and Ceiling Platforms..................................152
Special Ceilings....................................................................153
Room Specification Dialog..................................................155
Chapter 10: Doors
Door Defaults........................................................................161
The Door Tools......................................................................162
Displaying Doors..................................................................164
Editing Doors........................................................................165
Changing Door Swings........................................................166
Special Doors........................................................................169
Door Specification Dialog....................................................170
Chapter 11: Windows
Window Defaults...................................................................178
The Window Tools................................................................178
Special Windows...................................................................180
Grouped Windows................................................................181
Displaying Windows.............................................................182
Editing Windows...................................................................183
Window Specification Dialog...............................................184
Bay, Box, and Bow Windows...............................................192
Bay, Box, Bow Windows and Roofs....................................194
Bay/Box and Bow Window Specification Dialogs.............196
Chapter 12: Multiple Floors
Floor Defaults Dialog............................................................200
Floor Tools............................................................................200
Adding Floors........................................................................201
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Displaying Floors .................................................................202
Deleting Floors .....................................................................202
Split Levels............................................................................203
The Current Floor.................................................................204
The Attic Floor......................................................................205
The Reference Floor.............................................................205
Chapter 13: Foundations
Foundation Defaults.............................................................208
Building a Foundation..........................................................208
Displaying Foundations.......................................................209
Editing Foundations.............................................................210
Deleting Foundations...........................................................211
Foundations and Rooms......................................................211
Foundations and the Terrain...............................................212
Fireplaces..............................................................................213
Fireplace Specification Dialog.............................................215
Library Fireplaces.................................................................217
Chimneys ..............................................................................217
Chapter 14: Roofs
Roof Defaults........................................................................220
The Roof Tools......................................................................220
Automatic Roofs...................................................................221
Build Roof Dialog..................................................................221
Editing Roofs........................................................................223
Gable Over Door/Window....................................................224
Skylights................................................................................224
Skylight Specification Dialog..............................................225
Dormers.................................................................................227
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Editing Auto Dormers...........................................................228
Dormer Specification Dialog................................................228
Roof Returns and Other Details..........................................230
Roof Pitches in Degrees.......................................................231
Chapter 15: Stairs and Landings
Stair Defaults.........................................................................233
The Stair Tools......................................................................234
Anatomy of a Staircase........................................................234
Drawing Stairs.......................................................................235
Displaying Stairs and Landings..........................................237
Editing Stairs.........................................................................237
Merging Stair Sections.........................................................238
Landings................................................................................240
Maintaining Tread Depth......................................................242
Starter Treads........................................................................243
Wrapped Stairs......................................................................244
Other Special Railings and Stairs.......................................245
Creating a Stairwell...............................................................245
Rooms Below Staircases.....................................................247
Staircase Specification Dialog.............................................248
Stair Landing Specification Dialog......................................253
Chapter 16: Electrical
The Electrical Tools..............................................................258
Auto Place Outlets................................................................259
Creating Wiring Schematics................................................260
Electrical Library Content....................................................260
Displaying Electrical Objects...............................................260
Editing Electrical Objects.....................................................261
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Electrical Service Specification Dialog...............................262
Chapter 17: Trim Tools
Trim and Molding Defaults...................................................266
Corner Boards ......................................................................266
Corner Board Specification Dialog.....................................267
Quoins...................................................................................267
Quoin Specification Dialog..................................................268
Editing Corner Boards and Quoins.....................................268
Millwork.................................................................................269
Chapter 18: Cabinets
Cabinet Defaults...................................................................272
The Cabinet Tools.................................................................272
Cabinet Fillers.......................................................................274
Placing Cabinets...................................................................275
Displaying Cabinets.............................................................276
Editing Cabinets...................................................................277
Editing Cabinet Styles..........................................................277
Special Cabinets...................................................................278
Cabinet Specification Dialog...............................................280
Shelf/Partition Specification Dialog....................................286
Chapter 19: Terrain
Terrain Perimeter..................................................................289
Elevation Data Tools............................................................291
Terrain Modifier Tools..........................................................294
Terrain Feature Tools...........................................................295
Garden Bed Tools.................................................................296
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