Resources for Creating a Complex Roof Plan

QUESTION

The roof I am planning is very complex. How can I use the automatic roof tools to produce a complicated roof plan?

ANSWER

The automatic roof tools allow you to create a wide range of roof designs. In this article, we will discuss some of the resources that you have available to you for learning how to use these automatic roof tools. By default, the program will generate a roof plane over the top of each exterior wall in your plan that is used to define a room. The result is a hip roof with the pitch specified in the Build Roof dialog. If you want some other condition over a particular wall - such as a gable instead of a roof plane, a different pitch, or a second, upper pitch - you can specify it on the Roof panel of the Wall Specification dialog.

You can also use the Break Wall tool to place breaks to define different segments of the same wall differently. We have many resources available for you to learn how to use the automatic roof tools available in the Home Designer programs to generate complex roof types, such as: 

Reference Manual

There are a number of ways to access the information contained in the extensive Reference Manual that came with your software purchase.

To access the local copy of the Reference Manual directly and to search its content, you can select Help> Launch Help .

• On the left side, select the Roofs chapter to access each roof section.
  
  
• Alternately, you can use the Search bar to search for a specific keyword or roof style, such as Mansard or Gambrel.
  
  
• If you navigate to Build> Roof> Build Roof and select the Roof Styles panel, you can click on a particular roof style to quickly launch the Reference Manual to learn how to use the automatic tools to generate that particular style.
  
  
  
  

  Another great tip to keep in mind is that if you are ever in a dialog and are uncertain what a particular item means, click on the Help button located at the bottom of the dialog to launch the software's documentation on thatparticular topic.

  
  
• You can also select Help> View Reference Manual to view the entire PDF version of the Reference Manual.

User's Guide

Written for new Home Designer users, but a helpful reference for users of all experience levels as well, the User's Guide features a series of tutorials designed to introduce the basics of using the program. The User's Guide is organized by topic, and walks you through the process of creating a complete model, from the first wall to the interior design and landscaping, and including a Roof Tutorial section.

This guide is available in electronic format by selecting Help> View Users Guide from the Home Designer menu.

Training Videos

Training videos are located on our website at: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/videos/

Choose a video playlist on the left to view videos related to the topic chosen - for instance, the Roofs and Ceilings playlist.

You can also search the videos by keyword using the search bar at the top of the website.

Knowledge Base

This Knowledge Base has an extensive number of articles on how to use the software, including many that deal with roofs.

Choose a category on the left to view articles related to the topic chosen - for instance, the Roofs category.

You can also search for articles by keyword using the search bar at the top of the website.

Some in particular that are worth highlighting as you learn how to use the roof tools are linked in the Related Articles section below, but there are many more that you may want to search through and review.

Webinars

Home Designer Training Webinars are a quick and easy way to get started or learn about our software. You will learn the basic elements of design and howto take advantage of the powerful building and design tools in your Home Designer Software.

Check out our website at https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/training.html to learn more!

HomeTalk User Forum

If you are struggling with how to accomplish a particular roof design, then you may want to consider registering for our free online user forum, HomeTalk.

HomeTalk is frequented by many helpful, long-time proficient power-users of the software, and is a great resource for both information and advice, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Once you have registered your user handle, you can sign in to search prior threads for the answers to questions you may have, and if you cannot locate an answer there, then you can post a new thread of your own as well.

Personal Training

Finally, if you have the Home Designer Pro version of the software, and would like individualized personal one-on-one instruction on manually creating your complex roof design, you have the option of signing up for personal one-on-one training. Information on this service can be located on the Chief Architect website at: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/training/#personal

MORE INFORMATION

Bear in mind that some roof designs may be too complex for the automatic tools to produce in some of the less advanced versions of the software. If you find that you need more flexibility in designing roofs, then you may want to upgrade to either Home Designer Pro or Chief Architect Premier, which provide far more extensive control over roofs.

For more information about our most current program versions and upgrade options, visit our Products page.