Article Number 121


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How to use the Build House Wizard

The information in this article applies to:
Home Designer
Interior Designer
Home Designer Suite
Home Designer Deluxe
Architectural Home Designer
Home Designer Pro


QUESTION
How do I use the Build House Wizard to plan the layout of a new home?

ANSWER

The Build House Wizard feature offers a convenient way to design a new floor plan by arranging room boxes rather than by drawing walls.

To use the Build House Wizard

  1. Start with a new plan and select Tools> House Wizard> Start House Wizard  from the menu to open the Build House Wizard.

    Answer all of the questions, clicking Next to continue from one window to the next. The Wizard will ask you a number of questions about the home you want to design.


  2. Click Next to select the Number of Floors that will be in your house, as well as the size of your garage.

     



  3. Click the Next button again to display the First Floor Main Rooms to set the number of bedrooms and bathrooms that you want.  Remove checkmarks from the type of rooms that you do not want in your design.




  4. Remove checkmarks from the Misc Rooms that you do not want to display, and select the number of closets.




  5. Click Finish to close the Build House Wizard and room boxes will appear on your screen.


  6. Arrange the room boxes as desired. Once all of the rooms you need for your home are on the plan, they can be moved and resized as needed.



To move a room

  1. Click on a room to select it.


  2. Place your pointer over the center of the room box over the square Move edit handle. When correctly positioned, the mouse pointer will change to a four-headed arrow.


  3. Click and drag the room to the desired position and release the button


To resize a room

Click on one of the side handles to reveal a two-headed arrow and drag it to resize the room box.

NOTE: Try and place the rooms so their sides just touch. Small gaps or overlaps are OK. Placing a smaller room completely inside of a larger room is also acceptable. If two rooms overlap, the smaller will take its space from the larger.

 

To generate individual rooms

After using the wizard to create your initial structure, you can add individual room boxes. Select Tools> House Wizard from the menu and click on the type of room you want to add to the plan. By clicking on the plan, you will be able to add the room of your choice in the location of your choice.

 

To delete a room

  1. Click once on the room to select it.

  2. Press the Delete button on your keyboard.


To convert all of the room boxes into a working plan

After you have finished arranging and resizing the rooms, select Tools> House Wizard> Build House  from the menu to convert the room boxes into fully editable walls and rooms.



NOTE: The room boxes on each floor must be converted separately.


Finally, take a 3D Camera Dollhouse View to see the results.



You can now return to floor plan view and add or edit objects such as the walls, doors and windows, furniture and appliances, room materials and floor coverings, etc.



MORE INFORMATION
For more information on learning how to use your Home Designer software, with your plan open, select the Help menu.  You can choose to view the .pdf versions of the Users Guide and Reference Manual, and even search the Help by keyword if you select Contents and Index.

Last updated on: 03-19-2009