Home Design Software

Hi Perry,

I found these when we were designing our house. Still had them saved in my bookmarks.
http://www.blackmtnsoft.com/
http://homeplanpro.com/

We ended up doing it ourselves starting out on a scrap of paper and then getting the plans professionally drawn up. We've been holding our breath to see if it all works out and so far, so good.

Cheers,
Helen

I use a package from Punch Software called Home Design Studio. I’ve also used their Architectural Series 4000 product. They have a range of products ranging from about $50 up to about $250. Can’t really compare it anything else, but it does the job. Once you’ve learnt how to use it you can quickly put together a house and play with different ideas.

I’ve used Home Design Studio to put together a concept design of my proposed new home. Might post some scenes from the package at a later stage.

The other main player in the non-professional home design market is the Better Homes and Gardens series. The product is developed by Chief Architect, which also do professional architectural software costing several thousands. The non-professional product price range is similar to Punch Software’s price range and you can upgrade to the professional package as used by architects if you want to and still read all your files.

The good thing about the packages is that you can buy the bottom of the line package for about $50 and upgrade to the higher packages if you find it really useful, as I did.

I looked at the My Virtual Home web site, but I got the impression it was a useful tool for visualising how the home might look when decorated.

Matt - Are you saying that it had a floor plan design capability?

I downloaded and installed Sketchup from Google. Looks good, but I didn't think that it had the detail necessary for developing basic floor plans. I'll take another look.

I also downloaded the trial for Fastplans (black mountain software). Low cost, but an obtuse user interface which was very annoying - to draw a line, click, hit enter, then hit an arrow in the direct you want to go and enter the length. Accurate, but a bit frustrating.

Thanks for all the input so far!
Perry

Hey again,

Being a Mac user my options are limited, but with Sketchup i was able to get my ideas on the screen in an intuitive manner ( I couldn't even figure out how to draw a rectangle of set size in Cadintosh!) Plus the files are cross platform compatible. Here's some screenshots from our house design.

(Hope this works ...)

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Nathan,

I'm also a Macintosh user and I'm currently using Punch Software's Home Design Studio. There are certain things I like about Home Design Studio such as the ability to input land contours.

One thing I hate about Home Design Studio is most of the supplied furniture is intricate (meaning that it chews up memory and slows everything down) and it all looks like it's come from the 70's.

Like your work.

Cheers,
Casa

Thanks, but i think i might be getting credit for some one elses hard work. Sketchup i found so simple to use i was drawing models of a similar quality nearly straight away, the only skills i have picked up are short cuts that make drawing faster. Once you can use the pencil, tape measure, rectangle and Fill tools you're pretty much set.

Well in that case Thanks again. It's all our own design , not many project builders had plans that suited our 37m wide block that would have allowed for passive cooling and heating (or that didn't look like something that belonged on a farm). So we designed it out of an unwillingness to compromise, would have been nicer (and quicker) if we could have just chosen an off the shelf model. But this way we will at least have a better chance of getting it right, plus allows us to have individual touches like the library with built in shelves, or a work shop nook in the garage.

Here's a couple of snapshots I did this morning with my virtual home:

This is looking down the hallway from the front entrance



and this is the back:



I will post more later...

Matt

Look there are eaves on the side of the garage
But I can't see the V8 when the roller doors down?
Just razzing you Matt.
MVH looks like a great bit of software.
Steve

So the software automatically puts in Eaves, and you have to manually take them out! Surely not......