Reviews (22)

Very Powerful
I purchased 3DHome Design Suite 5.0 after trying many different programs on the market including previous versions 3.0 amd 4.0. This product finally has integrated landscape and home design which previously was two different products shoved in one box. After a couple of hours, I designed my house and had a sloped lot created. This program was much better than previous versions of 3D Home and other brands

I liked it
I write this review sitting in the study of a house that I designed entirely myself using the broderbund software. It took me two years, but I was able to make floorplans that a local builder was able to work from and get permits from. My house is exactly as planned and the 3-D model generated by the software is a spitting image of the house. When I show it to people and tell them that it was all done before the house was built they don't believe me.

I get the impression from the reviews that people think being an architect is something one can learn in an afternoon from a book. Not so. If you really want to design something that will be built, the amount of time you will spend mastering this software is nothing compared to the time it will take you to understand how all of the various local and national building code rules are going to force you to do this or that with your plan.

I am not an architect, but I was able to use this software to enable me to have a house built exactly to my specifications. If you aren't willing to invest a lot of time in it, you should hire a professional.

Most UNINTUITIVE product ever used
I've been in software development and sales for almost 20 years. This product qualifies as the most unitiutive product I've ever used (going back to DOS days). I've sold very sofisiticated software products that were 100 times easier to use. I can't believe Broderbund trys to sell this as a consumer product. In addition, after working on a design for an hour or so the software would crash and corrupt the file forcing me to recreate my work. Never mind saving your work every few minutes. It didn't matter as it would still corrupt the file. I would highly recommend finding a different solution.

What A Piece Of Garbage!
Can't add much that hasn't already been said...hard to use, completely counter-intuitive...and the help index and instruction manual are useless. If you type in "soffit," "beam," or "fireplace" there aren't even entries with corresponding instructions! Also, where are commands for crown molding, baseboard, etc? I'll stick with Version 3, which is a much easier-to-use product and offers more features.

This is a HUGE step backward from version 3.0
I've used 3D Home Architect 3.0 for years with great success. Even though it's 5 years old, it beats the pants off of version 5.1. Actually, 5.1 appears to be a completely different package, and you can't open any projects that you created with the older versions. Tasks that were so simple with 3.0 are ridiculously difficult and frustrating with 5.1. For example, if you add an interior wall that is not connected to an exterior wall, you have to drag it to where you think you want it, then measure (with a very difficult to use tape measure), then move it again, measure, and repeat until it's where you want it. What happened to automatical visual dimension lines that were in 3.0!!!? The primary problem with this version lies in it's lack of usability. It takes hours to do what took minutes in the previous version. I was grateful for Broderbund's money back guarantee - I took them up on it. This product stinks. The biggest dissapointment is, there's no upgrade path for fan's of 3D Home Architect 3.0, which was (and still is) an exceptional product. I STRONGLY recommend against this product. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Home renovation software takes a big leap forward with 5 in 1 Home Design, a package that lets you draw an imagined future home or work on altering the one you have--without investing in building materials or architects up front! Divided into a series of specialized applications, this program makes it simple to hone room layouts, design decks, fine-tune furnishing designs, and landscape any size or shape of building lot. And when the individual pieces are polished, 5 in 1 Home Design pulls everything together into the big picture of your dreams.

Unlike many comparable packages, 5 in 1 Home Design provides a fast and streamlined process for drawing floor plans from scratch. Moving wall by wall, rather than room by room, a user can lay out everything in detail. Whether you are reconstructing an existing house or dreaming big, the program's learning process is swift. It is still possible to end up struggling to convince the package that an interior room is indeed inside the house (and thus deserving of carpet rather than lawn), but these glitches are rare and relatively easy to amend. Anyone interested in having a basic plan done both painlessly and fast will love the interface this program offers.

Other tools in 5 in 1 Home Design allow you to walk through the three-dimensional model of your house, print out pieces of a model so you can build it yourself, and fit the home inside and out with furnishings and finishes. You can switch to these tools without ever shutting off the core floor plan, moving to an overhead view of the house and back, then breezing into a furniture-building application. To minimize headaches, all the data on each house is kept in a single file.

In short, 5 in 1 Home Design will help you put together homes just as you imagine them. The power so handily available in this design program makes it an obvious first choice for those new to home design software and a real boon for anyone looking to brainstorm ideas for constructing, decorating, or renovating a house. --Alyx Dellamonica ... Read more

Reviews (18)

A few limitations, but better than the rest
First I tried Broderbund total 3D home. Big mistake - I'm still waiting for my refund. Unless you want square, pre-designed rooms that don't connect, leave it on the shelf. Then I tried Punch 5-in-1. Within a half hour I had an entire floor design complete, with the dimensions I wanted, something the other brand didn't even support. I added a basement, second story, roofs, stairs, etc. easily and accurately.

Downsides: the topography tool is somewhat limited, and a custom roof feature would be a big plus - but it's so much better than anything else out there (in this price range) that I gave it 5 stars.

Just Don't
I bought this program awhile ago, and I absolutely hated it. I no longer have it. It crashed constantly and although it had many good features (landscape, exterior, decks, interior), it was difficult to use...and yea theres plenty of better programs out there

Very Disappointing
I bought this software to replace an old Visual Home software I have had for many years. I will probably uninstall Punch and re-install Visual Home because Visual Home is much easier to work with. Also, my old software has much better kitchen and bathroom fixtures, furniture and at least offers more garage/shop items to place in the model. The only advantages to this Punch software is the deck design and the fact that you can design additional floors over the first floor footprint. I have not gone as far as using the furniture workshop and the RealModel--I don't think I will waste my time. This WAS NOT money well spent.

Keep Looking
Ok, I too bought both 3d home Architect that is marketed by Broderbun and Punch Pro Home Design. The Broderbun product is bad but Punch Pro is horrible. I have read the manual so that is not the problem. While the software is not intuitive, and the documentation is superficial, learning the software is not the problem. It's just plain bad. Standard features in any package like this - 2d (plan view) zooming in and out, undo, selecting a feature to modify, etc, just don't work correctly. Advanced features like moving around in the 3d view don't even come close to being adequate.

I thought maybe it was just me so I started examining the sample plans they provide. They all look like they are slight modifications of the same three or four plans, are all pretty simplistic, and most have structural problems. If all you want to do is draw a box with a roof on it this software will do it - but you'll still suffer getting it done. If you want to do anything slightly creative don't even bother.

If all this isn't bad enough they suggest that you download and install the "patches" for the program. The "patches" are over 150 megs. This size of the patches isn't that big a deal for me because I have a fast connection. If you don't have a broadband connection too bad I guess. The patches don't help with most problems anyway.

My last warning - there is a reason this software does not come with a money back guarantee.

It just misses
This is a program that seems to have so much, but then you find all of these stupid limitations that suggest the program was never "play tested". These limitations have made it almost useless to get what you need. Examples (in no particular order):
1. With the CAD tools, you cannot "group" graphic items like you would be able to do with any simple drawing program (let alone CAD).
2. The screen can show the "grid" spacing, but you cannot make a floorplan printout with the grid, which can be very useful for visuallizing and making hand sketches.
3. The furniture tool is worthless. You can create 3D objects, but there is no way to specify their size (no menu you can acess to enter dimensions, not even on-screen rulers so you can see it).
4. When you use the ruler tool, you can show the lengths on your floorplans. However, if you print a floorplan with these rulers, they are not scaled correctly with the rest of the drawing, so they give incorrect information for dimensions.

5. You cannot export drawings into a useful format (e.g. no GIF, JPG, etc.) that you could then import into other programs.
6. It is next to impossible to specify different wall thicknesses. You can customize a wall thickness, but then when you have a wall that connects to that another wall, the program automatically groups them together and makes the thicknesses the same for both. Yet another example where there is just no need to do this.
7. You cannot specify lengths that are a fraction of an inch. Everything is rounded to the nearest inch. I don't think it would have been that difficult to specify the variable as a floating point rather than an integer. But the programmers once again didn't think about it. In the real world, there are items and walls with lengths that have fractions of an inch. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

You'll apreciate this software only if you tried other softw
Uesed 3.0 for 5 years. BASIC and PRECISE!. Serching for more power I recently bought Punch Platinum.What a junk! Sold on Ebay 3 days later. Then I bought the Better Home & Garden Suit 6.0, the same company who designed the 3D Home Design 3.0 10 yeras ago. Guess what? It sure has more power and features, but can't substitute the precision of the 3.0's wall & frame layout function. The 6.0 included siding & dry wall thickness in the wall design function which is very confusing.
The 3.0 is wall design is still more profesional and give precise
frame demension.I use the 3.0 for wall layout then import the floor plan to 6.0 for more detailed design. Because you needed the precise framing demension for framing inspection. Once the siding is one it's too late if the dimensions are off.

Useless due to Printing Problem; A LOT OF SPAM FROM BRODER.
I bought this in order to work on plans for finishing a basement. The program was easy to use, and completing an initial plan was quite intuitive. However, when I went to print, nothing happened -- just an error message. After spending some time with the manual (which was well organized so at least it wasn't too much time) and then with on-line help, which was somewhat spartan, I discovered that there is a glitch that prevented it from printing with the software configuration on my system (which is relatively up-to-date). After that diagnosis, I worked through two potential solutions provided on-line without success, and it came down to reconfiguring and updating my entire system or jetisoning Home Architect.

Since the program wasn't that expensive, this was a minor annoyance, and it is more the time lost with the program than anything else. However, since registering the program and using the on-line help, I have been inundated by spam, often two or three emails a week promoting Broderbund products.

it does work with XP
Contrary to the prior review, this software works just fine under XP. I'd recommend checking for software updates to XP and/or ensuring the drivers are current. If it makes a difference it is XP Pro SP1, always kept current over the internet, running on a 2500+XP w/ 512 memory and 128mb 9600 ATI card. Fairly current stuff.
I've got this window open on one monitor (looking for an upgrade--but finding out it might not be worthwhile unless I spend hundreds of dollars) and my garage/apartment open in the other screen.

3D Home Architect Deluxe 3 & MS Windows XP
Everyone else has done an excellent job evaluating this product. However, I thought that I should add that I use Windows XP, and this program DOES operate with out any problems for me. I thought this might be beneficial knowledge for any other XP user's out there!

WATCH OUT WHEN CHANGING OPERATING SOFTWARE
3D was the first program ever purchased for building floor plans. I was told it was very user friendly, and it is. My wife and I had the highest hopes for this program, when we were using MS Windows98. It appeared to be everything we ever wanted! Then we replaced our operating software to MS Windows XP, just one month after purchasing 3D. The AMAZON On-Line description states it will work with 98, ME, XP, and 2000.
IT WILL NOT WORK WITH XP. WE CONFIRMED THIS WITH BODERBUND. Sadly, we are now looking for a compatible architect software.... ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

From your first rough sketch to the final coat of paint, 3D Home Architect Professional 5.0 helps you realize your home dreams. Based on an industry-grade computer-aided drafting (CAD) engine, the 5.0 release of 3D Home Architect Professional gives you everything you need to succeed with your design, remodeling, or addition project. Advanced 3-D editing and photo-realistic rendering bring home plans to life, while the intuitive interface is easy to master. Enjoy unlimited customization of objects, colors, and textures. View every aspect of your design details with eight vivid rendering modes. Explore the extensive library of home plans, furnishings, and more. Plus, you receive 3D Home Interiors 2.0 along with landscape and garden software. ... Read more

Reviews (43)

Powerful beyond belief
As a user of 3D Home Architect 4.0, I was a little miffed at first to find the interface 5.0 change from 4.0. As I spent a little time with the more complex interface, I realized that the new power of this program was awesome!

New features I found included curved walls, multiple 3D Views, and real-time navigation, features that were not possible with the old version. The new roofing creates the most complex shapes roofs I could ask for, with curved, multi-faceted and multi-sloped roofs with multiple plate heights.

I inserted skylights, curve-top windows, doors and created complex structures, not possible with 4.0. Objects that I did not find in the database, I easily imported from 3DS files that I found on the internet.

This upgrade was definitely worth the money and worth the slightly larger learning curve.

ATTENTION BRODERBUND 3D HOME ARCHITECT v4.0 OWNERS!!
From the negative reviews of the 5.0 product, I decided to do some research on another product that was recommended: Chief Architect Home Edition 5.0 (or CAHE5).

Apparently, the vendor who makes CAHE5 also made Broderbund's 3D Home Architect v4.0 product. But they did NOT make the new v5.0 software; it was sub-contracted out to another company. Probably explains the new interface and the fact that v5.0 is not compatible with v4.0 (you cannot import v4.0 designs).

CAHE5 *is* compatible with 4.0, and it will import v4.0 files. The vendor says that CAHE5 is the true update to v4.0.

FYI, The vendor also says that the next release of their software will be renamed to Better Homes and "Home Designer Suite" v6.0. It's available now, in fact.

...

NOTE: I do not work for Chief Architect, Broderbund or any other computer company. I'm just a homeowner researching for the best home design software and I believe in sharing the knowledge.

Regards,
Roland Thomas

This version is horse crap. Pitiful and useless....
I used a previous version on my old computer and had no difficulty. Apparently, I've lost intelligence in the past year and a half, as I cannot get this version to cooperate. You draw on the 2nd floor and the walls show up on the 1st. How'd that happen? I'd love to know. I gave up trying to draw from scratch, which I did before on the previous version, and began trying to modify an example model. Bugs are everywhere. I want my money back. I'm not a computer software engineer, but I do have a Mechanical Engineering degree and I can't use this piece of feces.

1 Star or less
Strong "don't buy" of this product... less than 1 star.

I ordered it online at Amazon.com (through J&R Music and Computer World). Both of these companies delivered as promised... 5 stars for them.

I was very pleased with past versions of 3D Architect, unfortunately version 5.0 (and 5.1) has problems, the same problems as other users have noted.

When I ran into these problems on day 1 of using ver 5.0 I went to the Broderbund website and upgraded the system to 5.1 (available online for free). 5.1 has same problems of being booted out or locked up.

I was able to make some progress by setting the "auto save" feature to 4 minutes. This way WHEN (not if) it locks up you only loose a few minutes of work.

Lock ups are very frequent (SEVERAL PER HOUR) and it is not RAM, PC Speed or HD space related.

I am in the process of returning the software to Broderbund since both Amazon and J&R Music and Computer World have no refund policies on opened software.

Hopefully they will offer a refund.

Better Homes and Gardens is releasing "Home Designer" for $99. It is a bit pricey but appears to be more in line with older versions of 3D ARCHITECT.

Keith Landry
Houston, Texas

Try some other software
I bought 3D Home Architect Pro 5.0 after seeing positive reviews. Oops, those were for earlier versions! Maybe those worked, but 5.0 doesn't. Nice features, but this program automatically closes itself on a regular basis, as others have reported. And not for lack of computer, this is on a 2.20gb P4 with 256 RAM and plenty of hard drive. Save your money and buy something else. I have Punch Home Design Pro Platinum now, which seems to have comparable features and at least lets me design something without crashing. I returned 3DHA 5.0 and got my money back, and you probably will too if you buy it. ... Read more

Features

• Software to help create harmonious and balanced surroundings
• Optimize office environment for maximum success
• Enjoy peace of mind; foster good health; revive energy
• Plan color scheme and decorations to enhance fortune
• Create harmony between each member of the family

Amazon.com Product Description

Easily design your ideal landscape around a virtual image of your home with 3D Home Landscape Designer 4.0. View your creation over time and through the seasons, all in 3-D. Use the extensive plant encyclopedia to select the perfect plants for your garden and expand your botanical knowledge. The encyclopedia features 7,500 plants with 9,500 photos. Find facts on growth zones, climate, soil, and more. View 100 plant-care demonstrations and look through 600 illustrated solutions to garden problems. The software also features instant 3-D viewing of your designs with onscreen plant growth and seasonal changes and slope and elevation modeling. Even view your garden during the day or night or add 3-D garden objects like gazebos, fences, lighting, and more. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

Some good stuff, but where are the plants?
To be fair, this software has some good stuff in it. The part dealing with design and layout of the landscape is all right. The 3D walk-through is not so bad either, although the plants could be a bit more realistic looking.
Two things bothered me though, Lack of common plant species, and home design.
I live in Colorado, and the software did not have any of the common trees and bushes in my backyard. Cleveland Select Pear, Purple-Leaf Sandcherry, Miss Kim Lilac. So I couldn't really do any sort of representation of what my yard already looks like. The software does let you enter new plants, but I want to design, not waste my time compensating for the software. To double-check this, I also entered the plants from Colorado State Universities Plant Select 2000 list. Nothing.
The house design was rudimentary, the grid was completely inaccurate, my house would have been 300 feet tall if I had been going by the grid. Also, the lack of window and door components was really depressing.
All in all, disappointing software.

Underrated
I found this software to be quite versatile once I learned my way around. I was able to create a surprisingly realistic 3-D scape of my house and yard and it certainly has helped me to be able to visualize what I wanted to do. The program will never make your garden look real, but to expect as much would be ridiculous.

Having said that, there are two issues I have with the software. First and foremost, the program restricts you from placing trees that exceed the "typical" height of the species - in my case I have two rock maples that must be over 60' tall, but the program won't let me make them big enough.

Second, the program does not do a good enough job with the plant encyclopedia. Common names are often inaccurate and it was only after much searching that I was able to find many common plants listed under bizarre names. Also, some obvious species are missing. No oregano or coriander, for example! Broderbund needs to make the architecture open enough to allow open exchange so users can create and share new plant species.

Still, it's easy to "fudge" something like coriander, and there's a wealth of great data in there. I enjoy it thoroughly!

What a waste of time and money.
I purchased the landscape design software recommended on Victory Garden - what a waste of time and money (Staples will not refund software that has been opened). I tried several times to get past the first few basic steps of positioning the house on the lot and after hours of frustration I just gave up and removed the program from my computer. I didn't get anywhere near the "design" step. I use a computer 40+ hours a week at work, so I'm pretty savy, but this program is not user friendly. It focuses way too much on the 3-D glitter and not enough on useful and usable tools for the home landscaper.

DON'T EVEN CONSIDER THIS JUNK
I purchased this software because it was the only software I could find to do 3D landscaping. I thought I got a great deal when it was discounted from $54.95 to $6.98, but I found I paid too much. Its not even worth the hard drive space it takes up. The software feezes up frequently, the drawing features are very limited...only lets you draw your yard and home in retangular shapes. Not intuitive at all. Very limited plant encyclopedia. I'm sorry I wasted the postage.

Useless without 3D Home Architech
The basis of landscape is to fit it to your house. Unfortunately, if you don't have 3D Home Architech already, you're hosed in having any chance of devolping anything useful that looks like your house. Buyer beware - you need the suite - and there's no warning that 3D Home Architect is needed. And once you've bought this software, you are destined to buy more outdated software to make it useable - so you might as well go for it all with the suite. It has been a long time since I have bought any Broderbund software, and it will be longer yet, as in never! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Waste of time
I bought this at CompUSA last year. The program tinks. It has very few pre-drawn deck layouts which are not really editable. There is nothing in the program that helps you draw a deck from scratch any better than pencil and paper. Basically, unless one of the pitiful few decks shown included perfectly matches what you want to build, it's useless. It's a sham to call this "deck design". Completely false advertising. Junk junk junk. Download a free 30 day demo of smartdraw and at least you'll have a decent and easy to use drawing program to use. Need something for a longer timeframe, then pay for smartdraw or some other actually useful program vs. throwing away your ... bucks.

A Simple CAD program
I'm not sure why this is called "Instant Deck Design". There are a few canned deck designs in here. If you want to make your own deck design, you are basically given a standard CAD package that allows you to do 2D or 3D packages - there aren't even any canned deck accessories.

I did find the program useful, and I did draw my deck using their 2D tool. I was hoping it would help with structural calculations, etc., but it doesn't. So don't expect any help in pier locations, beam sizes, lumber selection, etc. If you select a canned deck it does provide a material list, but not if you draw your own.

Summary: Inexpensive, allows you to draw your deck, but really not much help other then a drawing tool. ... 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 Product Description

Professional Home Design Platinum integrates 16 professional tools, including Cabinet Wizard for automatic cabinet design, Custom Texture Builder, the PlantFinder sortable database, and PhotoView for importing photos into your design. Other new tools for topographic excavation, 3-D cutaway elevations, and more are also included, giving you millions of design combinations.

Use 3D Home Exterior Design to view your home in 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.

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. And make sure everything is planned to perfection with tools for planning foundation, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing. Even create custom cabinet designs with just a few simple mouse clicks with Cabinet Wizard. ... Read more

Reviews (21)

Better than most...but still
I've been using Punch software for a few years now. For most simple applications, it seems to do what I need. It's when you get to the complicated stuff that it breaks down on you. A couple of specific things that would make their software much better:

1. More detail in properties menus. They tend to stick to standard stuff and you find yourself including things into our design that have absolutley nothing to do with what you really want. But its' the only design feature they have that comes close to what you want.

2. They have a ruler on the side of the screen. How about one across the top also. You always have to guess where you are horizontally.

3. I wanted to design a retaining wall for a hill behind my house. The landscape feature in Punch assumes the wall will be a skirt around the house and will not let you convert it to an outside wall without adding an extra segment to it. What's tha all about? Most retaining walls are single segment.

4. The 3D viewer should be expandable to full screen.

5. In the properties pane, particulalry for wall segments, you should be able to include length and angle. That would take the guess work out of trying to measure using the auto dimension or the ruler. I've wasted a lot of time on this one.

all for now.

NOPE
My husband and I both tried for hours to use this program. First a foundation is required- without it you don't have any exterior walls. We found that the drawing tool is simply inadequate. If you make a mistake you are in many instances stuck with it and have to delete all of your work and begin again. The dimensional tool is a joke, you can't simply specify a wall dimension or an angle such as 45 degrees. After hours of work our foundation was an approximate representation, not an accurate one. I can't testify to the rest of the program, we never got beyond the foundation. Sorry we bought this!

I've tried and tried, and could NOT get it to do anything
This software is a waste of money! BLECH! It doesn't even deserve 1 star -- it deserves 0 stars. If you ~MUST~ buy landscaping software, I SUPPOSE this MIGHT be okay. I found this software to be IMPOSSIBLE to use, ultimately getting nothing worthwhile or helpful out of it. What I felt was unabated frustration. It is definitely NOT user-friendly. My advise: Don't bother!

~ I really wish there was a Macintosh version of affordable landscaping software (hardscape, softscape, plantings) costing under $75 or less. There probably ~USED~ to be such software, but Microsoft killed off the maker, as usual.

STOP! DON'T BUY IT!!
I'll cut to the chase. Here are just a few of my complaints (I posted this on the Punch forums - which also suck by the way - but, curiously, it never appeared):

My biggest complaint is primarily focused on the inability to precisely move objects or points. I built three different triangular-shaped roof pieces. For some reason, one piece had a point that was a few feet higher in elevation than the others. The software only gives you a top-down modeling view. Think about that. How can you precisely line up two points in the Y axis (up and down) if you can only look at them from the top? Punch gives you the ability to view in 3D perspectives but anyone with any experience in 3D modeling will tell you that that doesn't work. You need all three views - top, front, and side, for accurate modeling. The result? Inaccurate models and a very frustrating piece of software.

You can't join or group objects or points (wall ends automatically join but then that creates other problems I won't even get into). The Snap-to feature, which could help a lot, doesn't work. It's there, but I dragged wall pieces, furniture, all kinds of stuff onto the grid and nothing stuck. Yes...the feature was turned on. The perspective 3D "walk through" camera is psychotic. One click and it's zooming in, the next click, same button, it's zooming out.

I checked out the Punch software forums and found lots of similar complaints and quite a few more related to problems I had yet to encounter (lots of texture complaints).

There is obviously a market for this software. It actually has a lot of promise. The problems are relatively simple to fix. In fact, I read a comment on their forums that said that people have been asking them to fix some of these problems for some time and that the developer apparently isn't interested. Why should they? Suckers like me come along at Home Depot, Best Buy, and here at Amazon every day.

I advise you to keep looking, stay far away from this developer, and spend a few extra dollars on a better program if you really need it.

Awful
I purchased this software thinking it would be better than an old version of 3D Home V.3 I was currently using. What a joke. Do not waste your money. Very Difficult to navigate. limited fixtures. I could draw faster in ACAD 2002. ... Read more

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

• Set the size and layout of your perfect kitchen, then add your own design choices to the floor & ceiling
• Add tiles, granite, a kitchen island -- and plan out how light will reflect over your workspace
• Select a wallpaper design, laminated countertops and other endless varieties of kitchen decor
• Your design will come to life in brilliant 3D rendering you can explore fully -- zoom in & out and view your kitchen from any angle
• Dim the lights or illuminate your design fully by changing the lighting with your mouse

Reviews (2)

Not worth your time or money!
This software is very unfriendly. You can't delete windows once they are in place. The 3D rendering doesn't work, either. I have windows "floating" in mid-air in the middle of my virtual kitchen!

Big disappointment
This is not a serious design tool. The program is very limited. If you are only going to design square or retangular rooms (the program restricts you to these options) - it might serve some basic needs - otherwise I would not recommend it. Tried contacting the company for further assistance - got no response. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Too Limited to be Useful
3D Home Interiors is supposed to allow the user to "Imagine and Create Beautiful Interiors," but unfortunately, there isn't enough here to allow would-be decorators to use much imagination, and the whole thing is rather complicated to use.

I found it easy enough to get started, drawing a floor plan for my living room, but adding objects was a sometimes painful process. For example, in trying to place a lamp on a small table--several times I moved my cursor too far from the table and the lamp fell to the floor. I could not figure out how to get the lamp off the floor and back onto the table. Simply moving it up onto the table wouldn't work. I'd have to delete the lamp and retry until I got it positioned correctly.

The decorating choices available (furniture, cabinets, carpet, etc.) are mostly American Traditional, so if you're hoping to try out more exotic options, like a South American rec room or an Asian dining room, you won't find enough here to be able experiment with different looks. The software is also buggy. Several times, while trying to pick out the finish I wanted on a piece of wood furniture, I was given dozens of inappropriate choices, including pictures of Charlie Chaplin and clock faces. I was also dismayed that I was unable to add crown moulding or any other type of woodwork or architectural detail to a room, nor was I able to add bed curtains or a canopy mist to any of the beds.

There are several "Designer Rooms" available to view, which are supposed to provide the user with inspiration, but which are so bland and uninteresting that it's embarrassing.

The biggest lack by far though is the inability to add your own custom colors, finishes, window treatments, fabrics, and so on. If you're wanting to see how a particular color of paint or wallpaper will look in your room and it isn't available in the "catalog", you're out of luck. I saw a gorgeous window treatment in a decorating magazine and was unable to recreate it here, since it used unusual fabrics and more than one valance. I fail to understand why a game like "The Sims" allows users to create or download thousands of custom objects, but a program like this, which is supposed to be for decorating purposes only, does not. ... Read more

Features

• Design the right fence, using the styles and materials you need for both privacy and decoration
• Choose from wooden fences, split rails, or chain link in various colors
• All the difficult calculations are performed for you -from the concrete needed for posts, to the boxes of screws needed
• Enjoy the privacy and comfort of your new fence in no time, with this software for the do-it-yourselfer!

Amazon.com Product Description

Professional Home Design offers 12 programs on one easy-to-use interface to help you design all of the critical components of your home, including foundations, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, custom windows, custom roofs, and much more. This package includes 3D Home Exterior & Interior Design, 3D Landscape, and Ultimate Deck, plus a 3-D scale model creator and an autoframing feature with a cost estimator.

Use the 3D Home Exterior & Interior Design program to view your home in 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. And make sure everything is planned to perfection with tools for foundation, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing planners. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Read This Review
Ok, I also bought both 3d home Architect that is marketed by Broderbun and Punch Pro Home Design. The Broderbun product is ok but Punch Pro is horrible. I have read the manual so that is not the problem. While the software is not intuitive, and the documentation is superficial, learning the software is not the problem. It's just plain bad. Standard features in any package like this - 2d (plan view) zooming in and out, undo, selecting a feature to modify, etc, just don't work correctly. Advanced features like moving around in the 3d view are a bad joke.

I thought maybe it was just me so I started examining the sample plans they provide. They all look like they are slight modifications of the same three or four plans, are all pretty simplistic, and most have structural problems. If all you want to do is draw a box with a roof on it this software will do it - but you'll still suffer getting it done. If you want to do anything slightly creative don't even bother.

If all this isn't bad enough they suggest that you download and install the "patches" for the program. The "patches" are over 150 megs. This size of the patches isn't that big a deal for me because I have a fast connection. After 5 days of trying I still can't download them. They tell you on their site to try at non-peak times. I've tried from early in the morning to late at night on weekends and on weekdays. I've never even got a download to commence.

My last warning - there is a reason this software does not come with a money back guarantee.

punch professional home design
I dont usually WRITE reviews, but I do find them VERY helpful when deciding to buy a product so Im trying to return the favor.
It was with some hesitation that I bought the above software- reading many positive and equally negative views for the various packages. I went with "professional" so that I could change elevations for uneven lots- very useful feature.
what I was looking for in software was something that i could easily draw my own plans for a home, add textures, furniture and be able to easily view it in 3-D to asssess for room space, design etc. I didnt expect the software to be able to generate professional, usuable plans to construct a home for (not my goal). This software does a GREAT job with my objective, and its rather easy to use.
Ive constructed a 3 level complicated outer wall home(not a simple box) without much difficulty
(Ive spent 3-4 hours, all 3 levels are essentially done, just adding a few more windows, furniture etc)...(not in the computer field, reasonably computer savy)
I must admit, when I first sat down, I wasnt impressed with the program....so I opened the manual- pleasant suprise! After I began to build the home, using the steps in the manual (very clear) it was easily accomplished.( I was afraid i would have to build a simple home to get used to the features , but it wasnt necessary)

Some VERY nice features:
1) Live view in a window- 3-D as you build it - it shows up view.
2) Importing scanned plans- that you can resize and draw on- VERY nice feature
3) walk through in 3-D- after I figured out to drag around the small arrow on the 2-D blueprint and watch the 3-d window- realized how nice this program is. you can get a really good feel for how big the home is/ rooms are- how open etc.
PROBLEMS:
I was unhappy with the textures- there was "bleeding through" of the exterior textures into the interior and vice-versa- went to the user support groups off punch website and found out the the software works better when you turn your pc graphics accelerator down(or off in my case)(renders 3-D in software- not hardware) - now the textures look really nice. they turn off while im moving through the house- and draw back on once I stop.
UNKNOWNS:
havnt used the estimator, deck builder or done much landscaping(added a few trees) so cant comment much about these- again...not my main focus for the software

BOTTOM LINE:
I think this is an INVALUABLE tool if youre planning on building a home - If you want to be able to walk through a home in 3-D, design it easily and not spend alot of time this works VERY well.
got a manufactures rebate on the box and purchased it for a very reasonable price at Bestbuy.
I would buy this again without hesitation.

less than honest marketing/packaging
Purchased Professional home design suite from Punch. Overly complex and difficult to use in general. I was fairly satisfied nonetheless until I tried to outfit kitchen and bath space. To my amazement I found out that I would have to purchase an additional program from Punch called Cabinet Wizard (and upgrade to "platinum edition" Professional home design suite for approx. $40. dollars.) That is when I decided to take advantage of the full refund offer, which I will believe when the Punch check clears my account. I have used and been very pleased with my old 3D Home Architect from Broderbund for 5 years and now will purchase a newer edition.

Plant database is hard to use.
One of the more frustrating parts of using Punch is plant selection. One has to select from pictures that are scrolled down the right side of the screen. Down in the lower left hand side of the screen is the name of the plant being displayed. One should be able to type in the name of the plant and have the picture displayed, rather than the other way around. The database of plants, while seemingly large, is quite sparse, and is especially weak on native plants, which are of increasing importance in contemporary landscape architecture.

There must be something better out there...
I would have to agree with the other reviewer about this software. The Punch Professional Home Design suite is one of the most frustrating software applications I have ever used. I have been using the software daily for nearly 3 months. It is difficult to do just about everything in this program. I can't brag about the technical support I've not received from Punch either. They say that it is available to registered users, but I've not received a single response to my requests for help. The program itself is quite sofisticated, and powerful. For example, the 3D rendering is awesome. Punch would do well if they would spend the time to improve upon the features the program already has instead of adding new capability. Punch needs to significantly improve this product. Until they do, I will not spend another dime on this software company. ... Read more

Features

• Craftsman's most popular residential estimating databases
• Stand-alone estimating program
• Video tutorial
• Includes a program that lets you export completed estimates into QuickBooks Pro for job costing, or progressive billing
• Monthly price updates are FREE and automatic all during 2005