Showing posts with label landscape. Show all posts
Showing posts with label landscape. Show all posts

Punch 5 In 1 Home Design Review

Punch 5 In 1 Home Design
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
This is software that you have to spend some time with to understand. But if you spend the time, the software delivers and leaves the competitors behind. Most of the negative reviews I have read point out shortcomings that really don't exist if you understand how the software works.
I initially thought that the program lacked certain features or had some of the same shortcomings mentioned in other reviews. A few minutes on the phone with their Tech Support people to supplement the manual and the help feature and I was pointed in the right direction. In most cases the software could do what I was trying to accomplish, the problem was that I was not far enough up the experience curve. One thing I did do was upgrade to the Professional Home Design for another $20 dollars. It is worth it. My overall experience with home design software is that you have to be patient as it is not simple or intuitive as gaming software.
Two shortcomings - No strong undo feature so you need to save before you try something new. Also, there is a limit to 3 floors, so if you have a finished basement, a finished attic and two floors, you can only show 3 of the 4 floors; although you can complete the remaining floor in another file.

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General Information - Manufacturer: Punch Software- Manufacturer Part Number: 20100- Manufacturer Website Address: www.punchsoftware.com- Marketing Information: Power tools for serious home design PLUS Ultimate Deck for the perfect outdoor addition to your living space.5 Powerful Programs in One That launch from the same easy-to-use interface, including our unique RealModel software that lets you build a 3D scale model of your home design! Product Information - Software Sub Type: Architectural- Software Name: Home Design- Complete Product- Features & Benefits: 3D Interior & Exterior Home Design: There"s no other software like it! ALL program components work from the same simple interface, so all design tools and 3D capabilities are always at your fingertips. The LiveViewtm window continually previews your work, in real-time 3D, as you draw.Ultimate Deck: This feature includes powerful tools to give you complete control to design the perfect deck for your home plan. Multi-level or multi-story decks with 3D photo-realistic textures, stairs, railings, object placement, and color capabilities give you the ability to design exactly the deck you want. Deck Wizards walk you through railing, baluster options, and more. Choose a basic shape or create one and watch the program create a beautiful 3D rendering of your deck design.Ultimate Deck automatically calculates square footage so you can easily develop your materials list. And, since Ultimate Deck works seamlessly with all other parts of the program so can walk and fly-through your entire property. Your deck and landscaping come to life with photo-realistic 3D, complete with shadows, giving you an accurate representation of your design.3D RealModel: Only Punch! software lets you build a professional-looking 3D scale model of your homeplan. Our RealModel technology takes your home design and creates the components needed to produce a model...directly from your design file. All of your chosen

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Punch Professional Home Design Suite Review

Punch Professional Home Design Suite
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
The 3d view is very limited, you can walk through but you can't tilt your viewing angle vertically. The objects are very basic and there isn't much of a selection. The "12 powerfull programs in 1" is rediculous. The plumbing "program" is just a few bathroom objects that you can place in your house. The electrical and HVAC are just like the plumbing. Autoframing is useless. If you decide to change something you can't drag a box around everything and update them all at once. Example: i wanted to change my wall hieght, i had to right click on every wall, select "wall properties" from the menu, and then highlight a box and change it. And i had to do that for every wall seperately. The lanscaping feature where it changines the plants to show how they will look in 5 years just scales up some flat images of the plants.

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12 Programs in one intuitive easy-to-use interface... POWERFUL, PROFESSIONAL TOOLS to help you design all of the critical components of your home including foundations, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, custom windows, custom roofs, and much, much more!

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BOB VILLA HOME DESIGN (Jewel Case) Review

BOB VILLA HOME DESIGN (Jewel Case)
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
BOB VILA'S HOME DESIGN - CD
Conceptualize, Plan and Build the Home of Your Dreams
2001 Broderbund Properties, LLC.
Compton's Home Library, Windows Version 1.0
DESCRIPTION:
Design your dream home today with Bob Vila as your guide. Bob Vila's Home Design brings success and style to every home design project.
Easy enough for the weekend hobbyist yet advanced enough for the experienced builder, Bob Vila's Home Design helps you transform all your brilliant ideas into brilliant 3D color plans and more!
Design a Unique Floor Plan
Build your own floor plan with amazing accuracy and detail with a suite of easy-to-use CAD tools.
Choose from Today's Finest Homes.
View these spectacular homes through animated home tours, detailed floor plans, and color images of interior and exterior layouts. View from any Angle. Create and visualize your dream home or floor plan in both 2D and 3D views.
Design Like a Pro
Start your next home design project or remodel with Bob Vila's Home Design. Whether you're a novice or a pro, you'll be designing your plan with walls, doors, windows, plumbing, wiring and more in no time! The suite of powerful yet easy-to-use CAD tools includes an extensive selection of 3D symbols for easy layout of cabinets, carpeting, furniture, fixtures, decks, hot tubs and landscaping. You can even create your own 3D objects.
Choose from Professional Plans
Browse through the HomeStyles Interactive encyclopedia of 1001 professionally designed home plans and find the perfect floor plan for you. Many include 3D views, animated home tours, and color images. More than 100 plans are fully modifiable, so you can adapt them to fit your specific needs.
Or Start from Scratch
Design and produce your own floor plan from the ground up with up to 20 floor levels, appliances, furnishings, wall coverings, and more. Top off your dream home or addition with a variety of roof shapes and styles, complete with dormers, chimneys, skylights and even complicated roof lines. All with the click of a button!
Get Expert Answers from Bob Vila
Gain valuable information from Bob Vila's video tips, which cover a range of topics from selecting the perfect home site, to hiring an architect, to decorating the interior of your dream home.
Walk Through Your Creation In 3D
Transform your 2D plans into 3D renderings with amazing ease. Choose any angle for viewing and take a tour through your very own dream home or project for the first time!
System Requirements: Windows 95/98 - Pentium 2 or faster - 16MB RAM - 2X CD-ROM or faster.

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AutoCAD LT 2011 - 5 User Pack Review

AutoCAD LT 2011 - 5 User Pack
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I have been using AutoCAD for over 22 years and by far this is the worst release that Autodesk has ever produced. First of all it runs slow. I am running it on a Core i7, 8 GB Memory, 1 GB Graphics, Windows 7. I also have AutoCAD 2010 running at lighting speed on the same computer. 2011 is infested with bugs and Autodesk so called enhancements in 2011 are just blowing smoke and mirrors. They have all but destroyed the Hatch command with graphic crap that takes three to four more steps to hatch an object in your drawing, if you can get the hatch pattern to even work. There are many, many more commands that they have also slowed down just for the WOW factor and has nothing to do with productivity or speed. And why did they changed some of the icon to "mickey mouse" looking icons. Skip this release and wait till next March when 2012 comes out. If you are on Autodesk Subscription (highly recommended) then keep 2010 and do not install 2011.

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AutoCAD LT 2D drafting and detailing software is the professional choice because we focus on boosting your productivity. A comprehensive set of tools enables you to accurately and efficiently create, document, and share your drawings. Creating in the genuine DWGTM file format provides stability and compatibility when you communicate with clients and colleagues. And, with varied menu and user interface options, you can optimize the software for the way you work. Packed with powerful features, AutoCAD LT is built for professional drafting.

Five-Seat Stand-Alone License The MSSA license allows you to install, register, and activate stand-alone licensed Autodesk products on several workstations using a single serial number. You can use the Autodesk Deployment Wizard to create preconfigured install images. Only one serial number is required to install and activate multiple workstations.
Install and activate each seat of the MSSA license on one additional workstation for each user, such as on a home or a remote workstation. You can do this only if the two workstations are used at different times, by the same user, and are owned or under the control of the license holder.

Take Control
AutoCAD LT 2D drafting and detailing software is the professional choice for productivity, reliability, and compatibility. Extend your competitive advantage by using industry-standard AutoCAD LT software for 2D drafting and detailing. Create drawings in the genuine DWG file format for enhanced stability and compatibility when communicating with clients and colleagues. And get even better performance by optimizing your software for the way you work. Packed with powerful features, AutoCAD LT is built for professional drafting.
Document Use a complete set of 2D drafting and detailing tools to produce precise technical drawings--accurately and efficiently.
Document in 2D Create simple or complex drawings from standard shapes such as lines, arcs, and circles. Modify existing geometry with commands such as stretch, copy, rotate, and scale. Add annotations--including text, dimensions, and tables--to help convey your ideas.
Be More Productive AutoCAD LT is designed with one goal in mind: increasing your productivity. Each release of AutoCAD LT includes feature enhancements and additions that introduce new ways to promote drafting efficiency.

Collaborate Work easily and effectively with clients and colleagues.
Get Industry-leading Reliability and Stability Create drawings in the genuine DWG file format and have confidence in data integrity when sharing your work. Maximize productivity by reducing time lost tackling corrupted or incompatible data.
Enjoy AutoCAD Compatibility AutoCAD LT is fully integrated with other Autodesk software products, making it easy for you to share data with others or expand your capabilities.
Incorporate External Files Reuse data and create richer documents by referencing external information from colleagues or clients--such as DWG files, JPG and TIF images, Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, and DWF and PDF underlays--in your drawings.
Share Files Electronically Electronically publish and distribute drawing sets in a single DWF or PDF file for fast, secure collaboration.

Optimize Improve efficiency by making AutoCAD LT work the way you do with a variety of user interface options.
Standardize Drawings Save time and standardize drawings by using blocks, adding dynamic properties to accommodate multiple sizes or views in a single block. Get quick access to frequently used content, such as blocks, hatches, and commands with tool palettes.
Tailor Your Environment Quickly find your way around the screen with tools to locate commands, view all open drawings, and navigate between different areas in an open drawing. Optimize your work environment by tailoring the location and appearance of commands to meet your needs and company standards.


Top Reasons to Buy AutoCAD LT 2011 Software
Improved Drafting Tools Continual enhancements to 2D tools in AutoCAD LT software help make drafting easier and more productive. In AutoCAD LT 2011, new grips for polyline and hatch editing enable you to more easily add or remove vertices or convert line segments to arcs, and vice versa. A new Hatch contextual user interface enables you to change a hatch's scale, angle, or origin on the fly. Text in linetypes always stays readable, regardless of the line's direction. When rotating a viewport, you can use one command to choose whether the view shown will maintain its original orientation or rotate along with the viewport.
Better Communication of Design Intent Publish high-quality PDFs directly from AutoCAD LT to easily share information. Objects and layers in AutoCAD LT 2011 can be made transparent, so you can see through them. Transparency affects both plotting and on-screen appearance, giving you more options for identifying phases of work, highlighting areas of a drawing, and more. The new Hide and Isolate Objects tools enable you to display only the objects you need, regardless of their layer.
Windows 7 Certification AutoCAD LT 2011 is the first AutoCAD LT version to be Microsoft Windows 7 certified. Upgrade your hardware and operating system with the knowledge that both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of AutoCAD LT 2011 software are compatible with--and are supported on--all available Microsoft operating systems, including Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.
Additional AutoCAD Functionality Several tools previously available only in AutoCAD software are accessible in AutoCAD LT software. In AutoCAD LT 2011, the new Quick Dimension tool enables you to more easily create a series of dimensions for selected objects. Create irregular boundaries or trace over objects with the Sketch command. Add colors and patterns to your drawings with gradient fills. Use the Align command to move, rotate, and scale objects to line up with other objects. Non-rectangular viewports are also supported, enabling you to create a viewport in any shape you need.
File Format Compatibility AutoCAD LT software enables you to open DWG files received from colleagues and clients, regardless of the version of AutoCAD software used to create them. Save your own work to a variety of file formats, as far back as R14-compatible DWG files and R12-compatible DXF files.
Powerful External Reference Tools The External References palette supports the use of PDF, DWF, DGN, and image files (JPG, TIF, etc.) as underlays in DWG files, in addition to the traditional DWG references. Use object snaps with vector-based PDF or DWG files to locate new objects relative to geometry in the underlay. Open externally referenced files of any format with a simple mouse click, or edit DWG references in-place to make changes while continuing to view the host drawing's geometry. Use the Clip External Reference command to show only the relevant portions of a referenced file.
Dynamic Blocks The flexibility of Dynamic Blocks provides a powerful alternative to bloated block libraries containing multiple variations of similar block definitions. Dynamic Blocks enable you to modify a block's geometry without editing the block definition or erasing it and inserting a different block. With the Synchronize Attributes command, you can easily add or remove attributes from existing block definitions.
Flexible Annotation Tools Significant improvements in recent releases of AutoCAD LT to text, dimensions, multileader, and tables enable you to create and edit annotations faster and with more flexibility. Tables can be easily split into columns to fit into the available space. Misspelled words are automatically indicated with a dashed red underline. Add jog lines to dimensions, control the linetype of extension lines, and break extension lines around objects. Use multileaders to align notes, group similar keynotes, and associate multiple leader lines with one symbol or note. The Annotation Scaling feature automatically calculates text and dimension sizes, as well as block and hatch pattern scales, based on the drawing scale.
Better Layer Management Modifications you make in the Layer Properties Manager are instantly applied to the drawing, enabling you to immediately see the effects of your changes. The same layer can have different properties, such as color or linetype, in different viewports, so you can easily highlight specific information in each viewport. Layer management tools also let you select objects in the drawing in order to freeze, turn off, isolate, or lock their layer.
Streamlined User Interface and Online Help The AutoCAD LT user interface helps increase drafting productivity by presenting commands in a concise visual format that responds to both active commands and object selection. Quick View Layouts and Quick View Drawings provide fast and visual methods for activating a layout in an open drawing. The Quick Access toolbar provides constant one-click access to frequently used tools and commands. The new Online Help system in AutoCAD LT 2011 includes access to regularly updated content. You can link from a help topic directly to related information in the online AutoCAD Knowledge Base, discussion groups, and the AutoCAD Exchange community site to save time searching and navigating.

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Realtime Landscaping Architect 2011 Review

Realtime Landscaping Architect 2011
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I've tried several landscaping programs before and this one is definately the best. I feel much more legitimate as a landscape designer now that I can put together plans in a timely manner that look just right. Their technical support is also great and it's nice that they offer a demo on their website.

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Landscape, Deck and Patio Designer with NexGen v2 Review

Landscape, Deck and Patio Designer with NexGen v2
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I have been searching for a good, but in expensive, program for helping me get some ideas for building a deck and patio for my back yard. I basically "took a shot in the dark" and decided to buy this program (Office Max was the cheapest I found - ~$40). I was very apprehensive about this software because I had not had luck with similar software in the past, plus reviews for version 1 were not that great. However, I have been pleasantly surprised so far. It takes a little time to "enter" you house floor plan to get it ready for your deck ideas, but once you are there the program is great. The software gives you a lot of deck and patio templates to choose from, plus you can easily make changes to these templates to customize it to your home (i.e. it is very flexible). Most of the reviews I read on Amazon (on version 1) say that the program is not user friendly. I found it relatively easy. If you can navigate around Photoshop, CAD and similar programs, you should be able to use this program fine. If you have difficultly with productivity programs such as Photoshop or Excel and such, then you will likely have a hard time. There are a couple of glitches in the software, but nothing that causes a major crash or loss of material (just some minor inconveniences). I started using the software on a Thursday and by Sunday I feel I am about 80% proficient with it (working/playing on it for about 2 hours per day) and already have a design for a deck and patio. Bottom line: the program does what I wanted it to do, its relatively easy to use and its working above my expectations.

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Create beautiful outdoor living spaces! Start with a photo of your house or from scratch, Fast and Easy! Thousands of plants to choose from; the Plant Finder will help you select the right plants for your area. Create the perfect Deck or patio then add outdoor furniture and accessories. Place pre-made outdoor kitchens or create a custom outdoor cooking island. Custom fences, concrete stains and paints let you finish your outdoor spaces. Add a pool with Pool Designer and light it up with outdoor lighting. Integrated training provides help if you need it. Make Punch! your landscape design partner.

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Punch Home and Landscape Design Professional, Version 2 Review

Punch Home and Landscape Design Professional, Version 2
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I bought this software at a chain office supply store. After working fine the first day, I booted up the pc, and started the program the next day. Not only would my program keep lagging, it would have an error pop-up, and completely close the program losing any unsaved work. The 3D view was insanely slow, and wouldn't show any furniture that I had loaded into the 2D view. I was very optimistic about this software initially, and it is pretty easy to use. I tried calling the company for tech support, even went so far as to submit a ticket. "There is nothing we can do, it's your pc's fault" We have a great top of the line pc, enough storage for 10 of these software's, and it has the main operating system that the software recomends. Needless to say, I took it back to the store today, I exchanged it for another form of home design software (from another country) and it is installed and as I am writing this review, I have a pretty little floorplan completly done and no system problems whatsoever.

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Design your home or landscape like a professional! With our easy to use tools, choose from editable home templates, or design from the ground up, it's like you are your own architect! Punch! Home and Landscape Design Professional gives the most advanced tools, features and designing options in one package! Want easy? No problem! With our QuickStart feature you can design a house in 60 seconds, choose from editable home templates, floor plan trace or scan in a photo to add landscaping to an existing house or change the paint color of an existing room. Interiors, landscaping, additions, outdoor living, renovations or from the ground up, it's all here! Need help? With just a click of the mouse get video tutorial help or tap into our Training Center. Watch your designs come to life in vivid 3D or create blueprints with a touch of a mouse!

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Home and Landscape Design Premium with NexGen Technology v3 Review

Home and Landscape Design Premium with NexGen Technology v3
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
This is not the easiest design progrem that I have used. It takes a while to get to know how the program works. Still can't use it the way I would like.
Good Luck!

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Design the fast and easy way. Intuitive tools provide a fun way to design your dream home, remodel your kitchen or bath even plan room additions. Design an outdoor living area or experiment with landscaping by importing a photo, adding plants, custom fence and use the 'grow' feature to age your landscape over time. It couldn't be easier; drag and drop rooms with nexgen technology. Drop in furniture groupings even landscape gardens with a single mouse click. Exclusive SmartWand makes decorating a room or the whole house as simple as drag and drop.

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Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Pro 8.0 Review

Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Pro 8.0
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I purchased HomeDesigner Pro 7.0, and then upgraded to version 8.0. The software is pretty good, especially for a one level floor plan. It gets pretty iffy, for multi level plans. The videos are helpful, but I keep looking at Barnes and Noble, for a book that would explain how to use some of the really great features of this product.
What really bothers me, is that when I now start the program, I get this popup window that informs me that an "update" is available. Normally, when I see that an update is available, it is a no cost update to the current version. But...no, this update is for a $200.00 upgrade to the next version. THIS IS NOT AN UPDATE!!! And it's pretty annoying to have to click the NO button, just to start the software that I've already paid for.
Functionally, the libraries don't really include uptodate materials, and eventhough this is supposed to be a Chef Architect product, it's really turning out to be a poorly supported product.
And then there's this UBS device, used to make sure that the software is being run legally. Well, if you can tell that I don't have the latest version of your software, why do I need to have the stupid USB device taking up one of my ports?
So, I have to say that the product is not really bad, and can be pretty useful, but this whole issue of making sure that the software is being run legally, and the annoying "Update" messages makes me sometimes regret that I've spent the money. It's beginning to look like a money pit.

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Design your dream home like the professionals with Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Pro 8.0 which is professional home design software for the serious home enthusiast. Developed by Chief Architect, this new product includes exclusive design advice by the experts at Better Homes and Gardens magazines. It is perfect for Home Design, Remodeling, Interior Design, Kitchens, Baths, and Deck and Landscaping projects.Some of the features include Advanced CAD tools, it enables you to create blueprints, includes manual framing tools, it contains over 9,000 items to create a 3D model of your home and more.

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Home and Landscape Design Studio PRO for the MAC v2 Review

Home and Landscape Design Studio PRO for the MAC v2
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Software filled with bugs. There is NO customer support. I was on hold for a half hour and gave up. The online site doesn't function correctly. Impossible to leave any communication. Don't waste your time or money!

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Total 3D Home, Landscape and Deck Premium Suite 12 Review

Total 3D Home, Landscape and Deck Premium Suite 12
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
This product took far longer to download than specified (I had nothing else running). It is not user-friendly what-so-ever. The help function does not help with the errors the product returns when building a floor plan so I have given up after several attempts.

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Total 3D Home, Landscape & Deck Premium Suite 12 -- The Easiest Way to Design the Home, Landscape & Deck of Your Dreams!
Do you want to update your living room, bedroom, or kitchen, but aren't sure where to begin? Or maybe you're designing a new home? TOTAL 3D Home, Landscape & Deck Premium Suite makes updating or building easy -- no design experience required! Simply drag-and-drop to get started!

Exclusive, Easy-to-Use Features!
Other brands can be complex and difficult to use! Only TOTAL 3D Home, Landscape & Deck's unique, user-friendly design helps you get started quickly. No other home design software is easier to use! Drawing your room, selecting flooring and cabinetry, choosing a color palette and furnishings are all just a few clicks away.
Simply drag and drop Smart RoomBlocks to create your home design or select a plan from 14,000 sample plans included in the software.

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Chief Architect Home Designer Pro 10 Review

Chief Architect Home Designer Pro 10
Average Reviews:

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I've only owned Home Designer Pro v10 about a month so my review might be a little premature but so far, I'm extremely impressed and feel it's one of the best software products and drawing programs that I've ever owned. The learning support available on the HomeDesignerSoftware.com web site is exceptional and a good part of what makes me so enthusiastic. I've always been a drawing enthusiast(Corel Draw, Illustrator, Visio, you name it) and was going to do my house plans in 2D when I remembered those 3D programs I'd seen on tables in Costco and Sams Club. Checking out Amazon, where I buy most of my stuff now, I saw there was Home Designer, HGTV, and Punch!, amongst others. Some reviewers of HGTV and Punch! complained about awkwardness of use or difficulty in learning whereas users/reviewers of Home Designer more typically remarked how relatively easy the software was to learn and use. So I decided to give Home Designer a try, fell in love with it, and haven't looked back-never even tried the others.
One of the best kept secrets of Home Designer is that there is a 30-day free trial of the Pro version available from the Home Designer web site. It's hard to find because the home page offers a slide show and the free trial offer only comes up on the second or third slide. Look under the Pro product, too. My recommendation is to download the free trial, start trying it out using their excellent video tutorials at HomeDesignerSoftware.com, and look at the features matrix to see what you get in the basic Essentials version versus the Suite verus Architectural or the full-blown Pro version. I initially was just going to go for the Suite version, which at $83 right now is a sweet spot in price versus features (pardon the pun). I planned to upgrade slowly to the Architectural and then Pro versions if I liked what I saw. But since I REALLY liked what I saw and my house has complicated roof and ceiling planes that are easiest to model with the Pro version, I jumped in the deep end right away and am glad I did.
Home Designer is not basically a CAD program. You can draw lines in 2D plans and in elevation (vertical views). But Home Designer and other programs like it, such as HGTV and Punch!, are basically object-oriented drawing programs that allow you to model by placing pre-fab objects such as exterior walls, interior walls, windows, doors, roofs, furniture, cabinets, appliances, etc. You typically place these objects in 2D, then get to immediately review and adjust the results in a life-like 3D view in which you can place a camera(s) wherever you want inside or outside your house. Although usually best done for modeling within a room or a given area, you can also place and adjust objects directly in 3D. You can even create an animated movie to walk yourself through the structure, pause, look around, etc. Each of the objects has length, depth, height, color, texture, etc., that you can extensively adjust within the characteristics commonly found in construction or decoration for that type of object, e.g. layers within a wall. There is an extensive library of objects and materials for construction, interior design, landscaping, etc. You also import objects from other programs like Autodesk's 3DS or Google Sketchup. Since Sketchup is free, it is my choice for creating any 3D object from scratch that you don't happen to find a template for in Home Designer. You can't really create a 3D object for which there is no template in Home Designer itself. For example, we have a brick mailbox shaped like a pillar (rectangular prism). I drew it in Sketchup, imported it, slapped a brick texture on it all around, and my wife remarked "There's our mailbox!" Right now, the latest version of Home Designer (10) does not know about the latest version of Sketchup (8) but a Sketchup 8 drawing can easily be saved in a previous version format for importing into Home Designer. I found a triangular prism imported from Sketchup very useful for filling in an odd-shaped space in the vaulted ceiling of our masterbedroom that I couldn't quite complete with the tools in Home Designer by itself.
Home Designer's video tutorials took me a long way towards quickly learning to model. But what if I just want a quick reference or need to look up something in more detail than the tutorial has time for? another unfortunately too well-kept secret is that there is both a very well-written PDF USER GUIDE (239 pages) with written versions of tutorials and an in-depth PDF USER MANUAL (910 pages) that provides very organized clear explanations of the way things work (when you download the TRIAL, in the HELP menu there will be the option to view/save each manual). Plus the 29page Getting Started Guide that helps get you up and running. So there's a lot of excellent video and written help to rely on. Also, user forum, support database with solution finder, etc., on web site but haven't used those myself.
So, hope all these words convey my enthusiasm. Home Designer is a great product. It's a lot cheaper and easier to learn than something like AutoCad or 3DS. It allows the average home enthusiast to easily and quickly create and view amazingly realistic 3D representations of his/her home. Since Home Designer has a lot of power but it's not unlimited, you may find some things for which you have to settle for a close approximation or import something from another program like Sketchup where you can painstakingly create a 3D object from scratch. You're still going to have to work to truly master the program. But if you love your house and yard and want to model it, play around with it, see how it could be remodeled, don't just sit there. Give the free trial of Home Designer Pro a spin, try the video tutorials. And if you have as much fun as I did, you may soon want to own a version of the software that's appropriate to your needs. For me, there were too many times I said, "I can't believe I just did that. This view is amazing."
My final bit of advice. If you're recreating your house plans from scratch as I am, get yourself a laser-measuring tool. I got myself a Bosch DLR130K Digital Distance Measurer Kit and wonder how I ever lived without it. Using it is almost as much fun as drawing with Home Designer.
P.S. One of the best reasons for trying the trial version is to make sure you won't be caught short on needed features in the version you decide to get. Here is a link to a detailed matrix of the capabilities of each version. [...](EDIT:since Amazon deletes links, see Comparison Matrix, lower left HomeDesigner site-scroll thru list). Some of the details may not mean much to you until you try the trial version with the tutorials. But for example, I got the Pro version because I have a complicated roof and I wanted complete manual control over roof design.

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Chief Architect Home Designer Pro 10: professional software for home design, remodeling, interior design, kitchen and bath design, landscaping, deck design, and cost estimation for the serious do-it-yourself user. Home Designer Pro offers advanced design, building, and CAD tools with the ability to create blueprints, framing plans, roof plans, and more. Use the same tools as the professionals and design your dream home today!
Professional tools for designing your dream home. View larger.

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