Amazon.com Review

Here's a legitimate excuse to procrastinate on that weeding. Instant Landscaping is a four CD-ROM set that promises garden planning without the dirtyfingernails and patience that actual plant growing demands. Each CD-ROM is aseparate program from a separate producer, which means that instead of tillingthe soil, you'll be spending a lot of time sifting through this software,uncovering the elements that will help make your garden grow.

The first disc, Instant Landscape, is for the person whose approach to gardeningis architectural. It's also more likely to be enjoyed by folks who can point andclick fearlessly once in a program, since guidance is minimal. The selling pointhere is that users can import an image of their own home, and then add shrubs,salvia, or rhododendrons without lifting a shovel. Getting photos into theprogram is easy if you have an existing digital image of your home. Then a visitto the landscaping section provides plants, garden accessories, fences, andother elements to try. Expect to take some time getting the virtual"landscaping" down. Our first experiments with this program resulted in colossalperennials that dwarfed our home, and porch panels painted a color not found innature.

3-D Garden Designer 3.0 is from Burpee, the seed company. This fairlycomprehensive program is for the plant lover. Navigation here is intuitive: thefirst screen includes a Primer that explains gardening basics, an Encyclopedia,a Styles section, a Planner, and a Water Gardens chapter. Each section breaksdown further into myriad subcategories that explain everything from compostingto how hardiness zones are calculated. This program contains the largestillustrated plant reference library in the bundle, with a speedy search functionthat works with both common and scientific plant names. The garden planner is afun feature that allows you to select plants from the reference library, "plant"them on a grid, then see a 3-D version of your garden in spring, summer, winter,and fall. Fair warning: onscreen growing conditions are better than actual ones.When we "planted" a garden that already exists, the virtual plants werebigger--and much less scraggly--than the actual ones they were modeling.

Colorful Water-Wise Gardening is a booklike program with no bells and whistles,but plenty of useful information that will appeal to organic gardeners. Theprogram is broken into nine chapters that range from Flowers by Color toBiological Pest Control. The format of this program requires users to hasslewith screen arrows to read the entire screen, which is a shame. Use the index asa table of contents, and learn how to repel ants with talcum powder and grow agarden that blooms even in the winter. The Gardener's Journal is just that: atemplate for a diligent digger's diary. It automatically keeps track of moonphases, but keeping a log of the high and low temperatures, weather, and whatwent into the ground when is up to you. There are also templates for audio andvisual diaries if you have the accessories in place to record sound and/orvideo.

Planners will enjoy this bundle of programs, and spend hours researching beforethey dare put a seedling in the earth. Earthy folk who garden because they cravedirt on their hands and bugs in their hair may find this highly organizedapproach too tidy. Every gardener who uses this set will probably discoversomething they didn't know, which may or may not make up for time spent on thecomputer versus time spent in the actual garden pulling real weeds. --AnneErickson ... Read more

Reviews (11)

waste of money!
I bought this product, took it home and it wouldn't even load on my computer Windows XP ...New Laptop Computer...Missing and Corrupt dll ext......! All the other cd's that came with "Instant Landscaping" worked but I didn't want them...I purchased the boxed package to get "Instant Landscaping" not that other stuff!!!

Won't load in XP; No support
DO NOT BUY THIS. The Burpee 3D app will not run on XP. There is not support.

No backup support for this product
I bought this from QVC. Two of the programs would not load running Windows ME. I contacted the manufacturer and there is no support available.

Do NOT waste your time
Outdated software that doesn't even operate correctly half the time on current Windows operating systems. I tried to contact the publishers and was told that the software isn't even being supported anymore and that I should return it to wherever I bought it...they didn't even try to help me, just told me to return the software! Not worth the money whatsoever.

Only sligtly better than the paint utility in Windows
Without any 3D capabilities, this software is equivalent to taking a .bmp of your house and pasting clip art of trees onto it - remarkably unsophisticated. I only used the landscape designing software and didn't look at the other 3 CD's (I am trying to put everything back in the box to make it look like it hasn't been opened so I can return it). Reviews for other landscaping programs seem far from impressive either...maybe there are just no viable options in the low-end landscaping software category. ... Read more

Features

• Sophisticated, yet easy-to-use landscape design software
• Fill your landscape with beautiful trees, shrubs, and flowers
• Add swimming pools, gardens, tennis courts, and more
• Nighttime 3D viewer; decorate for Christmas, Halloween, and more
• Instant, realistic, 3D views; print, save, and email all your designs

Reviews (1)

Don't bother..
True, it's easy to install and use. But, without the ability to add grids (like feet, inches, etc.) it's useless. Very limited functionality in selecting and modifying selections (i.e. can insert a tree but the description remains, you can't remove it). Non-standand in terms of Windows, like right click on an object and expect to edit the properties, forget it. House designs, deck designs, etc. limited in color and type. It's cheap, but still not worth the price. I'll be doing my planning on graph paper instead of this. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Sierra's Custom LandDesigner 3D Design 7.0 may offer only five landscaping and gardening applications as opposed to the eight titles bundled with Complete LandDesigner 3D Design Collection 7.0, but the suite still packs an enormous amount of functionality for its relatively low price. The program let us design complete landscapes and gardens by dragging plants, walls, trellises, and other elements from an extensive database into either a 2-D or 3-D representation of our yard. It was easy to position and reposition these elements, and the truly uninspired can turn to the included predesigned gardens and design guide for inspiration. These two aspects of the program can incorporate everything from your climate to feng shui in order to provide suggestions that are relevant to your landscaping needs.

The software comes with so many features it's tough to decide where to begin. We really liked the aging feature that let us see how the plants we had selected would look any number of years after we planted them, letting us plan for the future. There's also a handy slider bar that let us easily see how the plants would look during various seasons, adding accurate blooms in the spring and leaf color changes in the fall. It was simple to import digital pictures of houses and add virtual landscaping elements, and once a design was finalized everything we wanted to include was added automatically to a shopping list.

The one drawback to this software is that the graphics aren't too great, especially in the 3-D modes. They are adequate for giving an impression of what a garden will look like from a distance, but up close everything disintegrates into a mess. Still, thetop-down 2-D views are crisp, and the photographs in the plant encyclopedia are good, and as long as you have the patience to deal with the frequent CD access this software demands you'll be planning the landscape of your dreams in no time. --T. Byrl Baker ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Sorry, I disagree.
I LOVE this software! I was almost completely discouraged from buying it by the negative reviews, but I'm glad I decided to take a chance. I'm working on landscaping my yard, and I'm one of those people who can't visualize things: I have to see it. This software may not reproduce everything perfectly (my backyard is all slope, and I can't get it perfect: but it gives a pretty good idea), but for my money its done a fantastic job of recreating my house and all surrounding areas. I've experimented with different hardscaping and planting beds, and I've created really good designs that work for me. Yes, the software took some time and patience to learn, but I found the Help menus extremely helpful and easy to use. Maybe I'm more motivated to put this time in-- but I've enjoyed every hour I've spent. I find it so much fun and so useful that I'm using it to help my brother design a landscape for his backyard. It far surpassed my expectations, which were admittedly kinda low at the start.

Do Not Buy!!
This is the worst written software I have ever bought! There is no valuable help built in and it is very restricted on the shape that you make your lot or garden. The toolbar has only a couple of buttons and you have to click on them every single time you complete a task, even if it's a repeat task. There also is no toll-free support. Very user unfriendly!

Buyer beware!
I NEVER write product reviews, but I just had to with this item. Be advised that (according to Sierra online support) you DO NOT get everything listed on the box--LandDesigner, PhotoGarden Designer and Garden Encyclopedia are the only products you'll receive software for. You WILL NOT get Designer Garden Library or Landscape Design Guide. I wrote support three times on this and the fact that I can't seem to go back to fix the windows I added to my house, and received curt, insufficient answers days after I submitted them. I'm considering sending this product back, but I haven't seen another with reviews that were much better. I'm very frustrated and wish you better luck with your software purchase.

Doesn't live up to expectations
Perhaps later versions will be more intuitive to use and the plants more realistic but this one is neither. I found the user interface and help confusing and inadequate. Many frustrating hours were spent trying to learn it. My hope was that the program would provide a better idea for plant spacings and mapping of what I have. I had also hoped it would illustrate visually what groupings would look like before I purchased them. But when I entered the groupings I already have, what I saw was a badly rendered cartoon version of my plants. It is like looking at a badly done portrait and recognizing only elements of the person. Maybe a later version will be worth the time and effort to get the data entered.

Intuitive, but too cookie-cutter like to be of any use.
Custom Land Designer is advertised as "5 unbeatable tools for designing and maintaining the perfect landscape and garden." The only way it can be unbeatable is if there is no competition. The 3D design portion is intuitive to use, but has no precision measuring or snap-to capabilities, making designing a facsimilie of your house impossible. The selections for your home are sorely lacking as well--a handuful of ugly windows, a handful of ugly doors--so you're better of selecting a prefab house resembling your own. The software has a slope feature, but you can't see any slope in the miserable 3D view. The mousewalk in 3D seems to be random--you move the mouse, sometimes you head in the right direction. The sky backdrops are laughable--one has a worms-eye view of a house, skewing the perspective in 3D and making your house and lot appear fit for a mouse. The trees and plants in 3D all look the same, and become distorted when you change height. This has the effect of making every design look like something from 1988's Jack Niklaus Golf for the 386; or better yet, colorforms. Grating sounds are played whenever you place an object thereby adding to the irritation of arduous design. It is as intuitive and easy to use as it is completely useless and bland. Also, as a side note, the manual I got was for 3D Home and Land design, so I have a manual describing programs I don't own. ... Read more

Features

• State-of-the-art virtual aquarium for your PC
• 20 different species of fresh or saltwater fish
• Digital food--feed them and watch them eat
• Fish cam--closely follow your favorite fish friends
• Pop-up interface--customize your aquarium on the fly

Reviews (1)

Total 3d - only if it stays up
evidently the problems with version 6 (and 5 and 4 and 3) aren't resolved in Version 7. I've had this thing 1 day and it's crashed 4 times! Actually "crash" isn't the term, since it just goes away. No error messages, no warnings, just closes out. I haven't been able to relate the problem to any action on my part - I seem to be doing different things each time it bombs. Looking to return it. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Master Landscape & Home Design offers nine programs on one easy-to-use interface to help you design home exterior and landscape projects. The suite includes an extensive, sortable plantings library organized by nursery-standard zones. Deck, home exterior, topography, and other options add realism. New technology allows you to integrate your own photos of your home, allowing you to walk or fly through your creation in 3-D.

Use the 3-D Exterior Home Design program to view your home with thousands of subtle paint color choices, or design walk-out basements and split-level designs with the slope tool. The ClearView tool renders your design with a glass-house effect, giving you a wire-frame perspective of your topography without your landscape plantings. A user-definable database helps you find the right plantings for your planting zone based on your search criteria. More than 2,000 selections of flowers, shrubs, trees, ornamental grasses, ground cover, and more are featured. As you design, the Landscape Estimator compiles planting information, producing a report in an editable, printable, exportable spreadsheet format.

Design the perfect deck for your home plan with Ultimate Deck. Multilevel or multistory decks with 3-D photorealistic textures, stairs, railings, object placement, and color capabilities give you the ability to design exactly the deck you want. Deck Wizards walk you through railings, baluster options, and more. Users can also create objects from scratch or modify existing selections from a library. Change colors, fabrics, patterns, textures, and more, then use your creations to furnish your home plan. ... Read more

Reviews (24)

Master Lanscape software is not a toy.
If you're looking for an easy software package that lets you play for a few hours on a Saturday afternoon and get quick gratification, then this definitely isn't for you. Rent a video game, turn on the TV, or go plant some bushes.
If you want a very sophisticated architectural design package that a layman can learn to use without being a math wizard, then take the time to learn how to use this product. From what I've seen, it's the most advanced on the market. It is awesome! But you have to take the time to go through the Help Tutorial or you won't know what the tools are, or where to find them.

I've been writing instructional materials for software systems for fifteen years. My opinion is that the Master Landscape and Home Design application is an incredible piece of programming. You should just about be able to do anything you want with this software, and all the background you need is basic carpentry and basic cipherin'. Sure there are design tweaks that would make it easier to use, but I would assume if the company wants to stay on top of this niche in the market and make the product better in the future, then they'll continue to upgrade it as time goes on.
Congratulations to the design team. This is a very slick product for the backyard builder.

Not recommended
I bought this software for my husband a year ago because we wanted to be able to put a photo of our house into the landscape plan. We have yet to figure it out. The manual is the size of a text book. The software is not user friendly. If you have lots of free time to learn how to use it, this software might be a good tool. I am not impressed.

I got Punched
I ordered this software to help me design my backyard. It was way too difficult to use. Trying to look at my project from different angles was impossible. I sent in my rebate last September and have not recieved my check. I went online to see what is going with my rebate and it claims my check has already been sent. There is no date of when the rebate was sent so I guess it is the old "Checks in the mail" answer. If you want to keep your sanity "DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT". I only gave them 1 star because it did install and this site doesn't have a 0 star selection.

This has got to be the worst garden design software around
I purchased this product last week in order to complete a garden design for a client who wished to see various 3D views. In my previous job I used AutoCAD and TurboCAD, so am no novice when it comes to computer-aided design.

I feel that this product is slickly packaged fluff - I would be very surprised indeed if a qualified horticulturalist or garden designer was in any way involved in the design.

Firstly, the site layout tool is fairly easy to use, allowing you to get the basic plot onto your plan. From there on though, things begin to go awry. There is a very poor selction of fence styles etc, but to custom draw your own is extremely cumbersome, using a clumsily designed and rather archaic 3D-Custom builder, which you must swap into and out of. In addition, the selection of styles for hard-landscaping surfaces is very limited, meaning you can only render a vague idea of the actual finish you are looking for. Finally, on the hard-landscaping front, the photo-importing tool (one of the main features that swung me in favour of this product) is terribly difficult to use.

On the plant side, it goes from bad to worse. The plants that are in the selection are badly drawn to a large extent, and one feature that is absolute fluff with no basis in reality is the plant ager. This feature ages all trees almost identically up to the age of 20 years, which is pointless. Even the most extreme novice is surely aware that a black oak will be considerably larger than an English Hawthorn as time progresses? More importantly though, the plants have no Latin names - which is quite shocking in any garden design programme. The English names are Americann-English, which varies wildly from real English (yes, I know it's an American product, but to launch it in the UK or Europe without taking account of this is lazy, money-grabbing marketing) It is for this very reason that Latin nomenclature is used!!!! The English list is not even alphabetical! In addition, the 'artists renditions' of many of tha plants are quite inaccurate.

I have read a few good reviews of this item on this page, and can only assume thay have been paid to write them. This is most definitely the worst piece of software I have ever purchased, and I will take it back to the shop I bought it from as soon as I can to try and argue for a refund. DON'T BUY IT!!!!!

Worthless
Afer 12 hours and about 35 crashes, I have a cartoon-like "landscape" that only vaguely resembles my property and isn't even useful for proportions. I was hard pressed to find a single feature that behaved as advertized.

THis software was worse than useless because it took the whole day to figure out how badly I was cheated. ... Read more

Features

• Design a landscape around any home plan?even those created with 3D Home Architect 5!
• Observe your creations by sun or moonlight with lifelike day and nighttime viewing
• Edit your plans in 3D and 2D
• Access multiple rendering modes for a more accurate image of your landscape design
• More than 200 3D decorative and functional garden objects

Amazon.com Review

Work on your yard on the rainiest of days, or plant a garden you neverhave to weed. Create a 3-D rendering of your dream garden, scan a photograph ofyour home and lay out flowers and trees around it, or just research the bestplants and gardening techniques for your geographical area. Total 3D LandscapeDeluxe 3.0 makes all of this and more possible.

The Total 3D Landscape process is relatively simple. First, lay out a plot ofland including a home floor plan, lot shape, lawns, garage, and gardens; hills,depressions, streams, and ponds go into the mix as well. Then it's time to addplant life: browse a catalog of more than 4,000 cultivable plants to find yourfavorites, or use the detailed search engine to match what you've got in mind.If you want to find flowers of a particular color for a specific soil type, andthen define the types of insects these flowers will attract, this program canhelp.

Total 3D Landscape Deluxe 3.0 favors detail-oriented users, gardeners who wantto nail down every possible element of their landscape plan before going outsideand getting to work. The program's interface is somewhat unfriendly and doesn'toffer many shortcuts for repetitive tasks. What it does provide, though, isplenty of gardening information--on seasonal planting, irrigation, gardendesign, climate, plant types, and everything else a home landscaper can imagine.The program will even calculate a budget that estimates the cost of the gardenyou're planning, one that's flexible enough to include such elements as the costof labor if you aren't planning to do all the heavy lifting yourself.

As if that weren't enough, Total 3D Landscape Deluxe 3.0 comes with three otherapplications: Sunset Garden Problem Solver, Black and Decker LandscapeConstruction and Design, and The Better Homes and Gardens Guide to Gardening.This trio of helpful resources will fill out the encyclopedia of gardeninginformation available to users. With these additional sources, you can extendyour gardening expertise indefinitely, turning to this CD-ROM library again andagain. --Alyx Dellamonica ... Read more

Reviews (17)

Watch Out! - Inexplicable Double Images
I am seldom moved to complain publicly about a piece of software, but Total 3D Landscape did not work properly on my plain vanilla Dell system running Windows 2000 with plain vanilla video. Working in 2-dimensional mode and placing plants in location, I got unwanteed duplicates of the plants 6 inches to the right on my screen. I'm one of those persons who has been fooling around with computers so long that I can fix almost anything. Not so with Total 3D Landscape. The program was completely unusable and simply not worth the more than two hours I wasted on reinstalling and searching for any possible mistake I might have made.

Buy DIGS
Spend the cash and buy Design Imaging Group, Inc software. www.designimaginggroup.com. It is expensive, powerful and works flawlessly. You cannot get good landscape design software cheaply. I have tried them all. Good luck.

Look Elsewhere!!
Not user friendly! Look elsewhere. Continues to lock-up with windows XP. The packaging is deceiving. Refused to honor rebate (no leeway for mail time).

Won't see the CD Rom
The program seems to have the right idea, but it crashes all the time and now I can't even get it to recognize the Data CD Rom while I'm running it. Real waste of time and disappointment.

Incompatable with Windows XP Professional
Program crashes with Windows XP Professional. Other reviews indicate frequent crashes with other systems as well. You can spend a lot of time learning the program and entering your specific plan, only to go "KABAM!" Really a shame, since there seemed to be so much potential. ... Read more

Product Description

Total 3D Home & Landscape Suite provides all the tools and inspiration you need for your next home and garden design project.This suite combines powerful 3D design tools with dynamic imaging, designer showrooms and gardens, brand name products, pre-designed home and garden plans, and digital photo importing - all together in one package!Whether you are remodeling your house, decorating a room, or creating an enchanting water garden, everything is included. ... Read more

Features

• Use the Floor Designer to drag-and-drop over 1,500 floor plans into place -- work with them or simply use them for inspiration
• Over 2,500 designer showrooms to give you ideas for your home
• Millions of possible combinations - colors, textures, appliances, flooring, fixtures and furniture -- all real products from leading manufacturers
• Browse through a Database of over 4,000 plants to pick what will look best in your landscape Import your own photos to add new plants and yard elements
• When your work is done, take 3D walkthrough of your home and garden to see how it looks

Reviews (1)

Pretty good. . .almost
Not a bad product. . .once you figure out that you have to check the arial view after every little change you make to ensure you haven't crashed the system.I got most of a home built, then forgetting my own advice, made several changes without checking.Well, sure enough, now the place looks like an earthquake hit -- all the furniture is floating and out of place and the system has a glitch, so I can't put it back.Not a user friendly program, but if you have computer experience you should be able to figure it out. ... Read more

Features

• Interactive Identification System
• Color Photos of each species
• Geographic sort and distribution maps
• Illustrated Glossary of Terminology
• Page number references to over 50 weed reference books

Product Description

Atari (24800) Punch Super Home Suite MB ... Read more

Features

• The Instant Landscape CD shows you a new world of virtual gardens. Choose from thousands of renovation possibilities.
• Import a picture of your own garden, then begin choosing location for your hedges, ornaments, and more -- with a click of your mouse
• Detailed botanical reference guide helps you pick out plants & flowers for the perfect garden
• Add more additions to your dream home with the Instant Deck, Pool & Hot Tub
• 30 video tutorials help you deal with every facet of construction, from start to finish

Product Description

Get the expert advice you need to remodel, build a new home or get ideas on how to bring a fresh look to tired decor! Includes 10 complete products to design and decorate your home with ease! Includes: Sierra Home Architect, Photo Home Interiors, Designer Rooms Library, 3D Deck, Home Design Guide, Home Improvement Encyclopedia, Electrical Wiring, Cost Estimator, 3D Design Shop, and Design Trace & Import. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

WASTE OF MONEY!!!!!!!!!
THE BOX LOOKS PRETTY LIKE MOST OTHER HOME DESIGN PROGRAMS BUT THIS SOFTWARE IS GARBAGE. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY. I SUGGEST BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS HOME DESIGNER AND HOME DESIGNER 6.0 THEY ARE EXCELLENT PROGRAMS WITH AN EASY LEARNING CURVE. ... Read more

Features

• Import digital photos from any digital camera
• View dozens of included landscapes and garden designs
• 3D Shadow Tool provides a life-like animation of how shadows will fall across your home or yard
• Drag and drop new floor plans, colors and textures, railing and fences, even irrigation systems
• Six separate 2D and 3D views show you every detail

Features

• Smart YardBlocks(tm) to create landscapes fast
• Select from hundreds of professionally designed building and yard elements
• Reference over 4,000 plants
• Take a 3D walk-through or see aerial views from any angle
• Import house photos to view new landscape

Reviews (5)

Sad
Initially I thought the software was difficult to use. Then I realized that it was just unuseable.

If you want to search for plants, it's worth it
The landscaping features are limiting and a bit difficult to get used to. However it's very large plant database with pictures was very helpful to me. I ended up just using that and found plants for the particular area I needed. It lets you enter every possible piece of criteria to search for just what you need.

I want my money back
I have been struggling with this for 3 days. it is very difficult. Instead of being able to enter measurements, for lot, lawn, etc, it is all done w/pointer & is very imprecise, I am ready to toss this one & get a different one!

Don't Waste Your Money
This program is an absolute waste of money. It is impossible to achieve anything close to what you want. You cannot design squat with this software. Buy modeling clay or graph paper instead. I rated it one star because I wasn't given the option of zero.

absolute trash
did the geeks that programmed this [software] ever do any landscaping ?? i bought this to plan the landscaping for my new home and after several hours of wrestling with this have decided i would be better off with graph paper and a pencil. rubbish... ... Read more

Features

• This professional-grade design engine integrates a host of new features from a single, integrated interface
• Use the Dynamic Dimension Editing tool to adjust room dimensions with a single click
• Get every detail in your dream home just perfect with the unlimited customization tools -- every object, color, and texture can be altered
• Plan out every detail from floor plans to furnishings, with just a few clicks
• Enjoy brilliant onscreen images with photo-realistic 3DTrueView rendering

Reviews (1)

Broken the moment you open the box
Promises much, delivers very little. Don't believe the hype. It looks good from a distance, but up close it's more hassle than help. Installing the software (exactly per instructions) was the worst experience I have ever had installing any software. After following all of the support advice on the website, error messages appear regularly. You must turn off all hardware acceleration to see the walls you draw. The real surprise came when I tried to put a door in the wall. Seems reasonable, doesn't it? I mean, we all use doors, right? Just about any structure you would draw would have at least one door, right? Not in this world. There is no capacity to insert a door or opening in any wall. Per the manual, once you have the landscaping program (they install together, and you can't have one without the other) the DOORS command is not available. So, you can't have doors. Sorry. So, I am stuck with a software package that can't be returned. This product is a borderline rip-off. Don't waste your money. ... Read more