Problem with walls

[TGYoung]

I must admit I've never mastered how TurboFloorPlan 2015 "thinks" about walls.  Here's an example.

Picture 1 shows a section of a current plan I'm working on.  You can see that TFP is reporting that the west-facing and north-facing exterior walls are nice and straight is this area of the drawing.  That short stub of an interior wall in this picture is one wall of a small closet I intend to add to the bedroom.

Picture 2 shows that same section of the plan after drawing the remaining interior wall of the closet.  TFP is now reporting that the north-facing exterior wall is no longer nice and straight.  To my eye it seems to be reporting that the north-facing wall has somehow moved south right where that interior wall creating the "closet" room has attached itself to the exterior wall, though I'm not sure if TFP is really "saying" that.  It makes no difference if I draw that last interior wall from the exterior wall or to the exterior wall.  Either way I end up with a hinky north-facing exterior wall.

The only way I've found to overcome this problem is to start drawing the last interior wall of the closet from the short stub of interior wall toward the exterior wall, making sure to stop that wall well short of the exterior wall.  Then, I select the north end of the exterior wall and start nudging it toward the exterior wall, repeatedly stopping the nudge action and checking to see that TFP is still reporting that the north-facing wall is straight.  At some point, when I still see on my computer screen an air-gap between the north end of that interior wall I'm nudging upward, TFP "sees" the closet as a room separate from the bedroom.  I can continue nudging the north end of that interior wall until it seems to make a connection with the exterior wall, (that is, I can see no air-gap on my computer screen), with TFP still telling me that the north-facing exterior wall is straight.  (Picture 3).  But if I do even one more nudge I'm back to the Picture 1 situation.

So, generally, what is going on here?  There certainly are other interior walls making a solid connection with the north-facing exterior wall that don't exhibit this behavior.  The one thing I have noticed is that if I draw this wall directly, either from the exterior wall to the interior wall or vice-versa, the north "endpoint" of this wall is reported to be flush with the interior face of the north-facing exterior wall, while all other interior walls intersecting with the exterior wall have "endpoints" right in the middle of the exterior wall. 

[Patricia G.]

Hi there,

Sometimes, this issue happens when you have a long wall exterior intersected with several interior walls and the contact points are not aligned. Therefore the yellow band (perimeter) is not straight.
If you check the images, you will see that the closet never becomes an enclosed space (let's say a "room"). This means that the closet space is not enclosed.
Select the north end of the wall => using the arrow keys of your keyboard => move the point up until the yellow band (perimeter) appears straight.

Patricia G.

[TGYoung]

Hi Patricia:

There are only 3 interior walls contacting the north-facing exterior wall, including the closet wall that's under discussion and, in fact I was also facing the same situation on another part of the drawing with only 1 intersecting interior wall.

I did note that the other 2 walls had their endpoints solidly in the middle of the north-facing exterior wall, but that drawing the closing wall of the closet always ended up with that wall's endpoint being flush with the interior face of the exterior wall.   

I have found that if I grab that north endpoint and start nudging it "up", that at some point the south endpoint also begins moving up, skewing the short interior wall of the closet.  But then I can grab that south endpoint and start nudging it down until the short wall is again orthogonal to the two walls it's connected to.  And doing this leaves the north endpoint of the "problem" wall in the middle of the exterior wall, which is now straight again.

It does seem to be some sort of programming problem.

[Patricia G.]

Hi there,

There are only 3 interior walls contacting the north-facing exterior wall

As I said, if there are 2 or more walls, the points must be aligned.

I have found that if I grab that north endpoint and start nudging it "up", that at some point the south endpoint also begins moving up

If you select just one point, the south wall won't move.

It does seem to be some sort of programming problem.

Nope, it is just a matter of alignment. Remember that, when you are joining walls, you are creating breaks, that must be aligned.

If you wish, post the file and I will show you how the alignment works.

An additional note: in this specific situation, I'd suggest to deactivate the Snap to Grid feature.

Patricia G.

[ChecMark]

As you know, Patricia, I am having many of the same issues with how TFP treats walls. I noticed on your response here though that you asked them to "post the file". I tried to do that for one of my responses to you, but the forum said I couldn't post this type of file, which seems rather odd. What's up?

[TGYoung]

Here's a piece of that same original drawing.  You can see the selected wall has its North ending point right in the middle of the East-West wall, and all the other wall intersecting with that East-West wall also end in the midpoint of that wall.  And that East-West wall is now nice and straight.

It's tough working with a program that doesn't really spell out for the user how things work, programmatically.   The "practice, practice, practice" routine works only if you actually can figure out what's happening, and maybe you just never figure it out.

[Patricia G.]

As you know, Patricia, I am having many of the same issues with how TFP treats walls. I noticed on your response here though that you asked them to "post the file". I tried to do that for one of my responses to you, but the forum said I couldn't post this type of file, which seems rather odd. What's up?

In order to post the file, please first zip the file and then proceed to attach it.

It's tough working with a program that doesn't really spell out for the user how things work, programmatically.   The "practice, practice, practice" routine works only if you actually can figure out what's happening, and maybe you just never figure it out.

Do Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Autodesk, etc. explain how their programs work programmatically speaking? Nope. All the manufacturers explain how to use the programs. Anyway, when I talk about "practice, practice, practice" is because, when you use the program and follow the instructions, you will understand more about the program.
Hope this helps.