Customer Reviews

3D Home Architect Professional 5.0

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

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

I'm a user of both 3DHA 4 and 5 and have read the comments here; Versions 4 and 5 are VERY different and not compatible - they were created by different companies. Having worked with both applications extensively, it is apparent (to me at least) that version 5.0 is much more powerful than 4.0:

Inserting a roof: After selecting the Roof Tool, simply right-click over the structure and choose "Auto-Insert". Now, move one of the walls - the roof automatically re-sizes. (Way cool.) Version 4.0 required a 'regeneration' of the roof which I found quite awkward.

Other examples:

* Ability to modify ANYTHING and EVERYTHING (4.0 did not allow modifications to furnishings);

* Full 3-D Editing (try that in 4.0!);

* View Modes that only professional packages have (wireframe, hidden line, shaded, etc.);

* Improved 3D Navigation - no more 'step, step, step' motion. The 'Orbit' Tool alone is a vast improvement.

* 'Pick Points' and 'Insert Mode' - these allow you to draw continuously without having to re-click a tool. For example: if you are drawing walls (thus is 'Insert Mode') your cursor can leave the workspace and change drawing options or views WHILE drawing!

* More control over appearance - they've even introduced Line Styles and Hatch Patterns. (That's right: Hatch Patterns in a retail home design application!)

* 'MS-Office' interface: they've changed the UI to be more compatible with Office applications. 5.0's interface reminds me of Visio. I prefer 5.0's interface as 4.0's was so quirky.

Every single aspect of this software has been improved and made more powerful. The quality of plans I am able to produce in a short amount of time exceeds the capabilities of 4.0 hands down.

I'll never go back to Version 4.0.

I decided to upgrade from 3D Home Architect 3.0 to 3D Home Architect 5.0 Professional. The installation on to Windows XP-Home was simple and trouble-free. This product is not an upgrade. It looks a little like 3D Acrchitect, but that is where the similarity ends. Broderbund has chosen a new software engine from another software company to supply 5.0. Plans from earlier versions of 3D Home Architect are not upwards compatable. Many of the user friendly features from earlier versions are simply gone. Not replaced by more powerful tools; just simply gone. Examples are: Copying objects is now arduous. You cannot simply modify one window and copy it to adjacent walls. You have to create windows from scratch in the "catalog", then insert them. There is no longer a tool for referencing walls from other floors (locations). You can duplicate items from one floor to the next, but if going from the basement to the 1st floor, concrete walls will need to be changed, wall by wall and property by property. You can perform a great deal of manipulations of objects (dimensions, colors, surfaces), but trying to reposition and redimension objects is too time consuming. I bought this assuming the roof tool would have been upgraded. What I found was that all the lower level tools are now at a basic level and are missing the efficiency of the previous versions of 3D Home Architect. I am now going back to 3.0 and hoping I can find a version of 4.0 collecting dust on some store's shelf. Very dissapointed.

The fact that 3D Home Architect v.5.0 is not compatible with 3D Home Architect v.4.0 drawings is the single worst upgrade mistake you could make - and I paid the price (see Broderbund: Technical Note ID: 31665). Who's bright idea was that? Find them and tell them they should sell shoes - not technology products. You can give them my name and I'll be glad to them directly. Broderbund should know better. Even if the formats are different they should have created a migration tool. No excuses - they should have. The fact that I now must REDRAW all my work in order to take advantage of 5.0 features is insane. For their protection, other potential Broderbund customers should know about this total lack of customer support perpetrated by their company. Too bad. I really thought Broderbund had it together.

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

I bought this version because I thought it would have an updated graphics engine and also you got 3D Home Landscape Designer v4.0 with it. Well neither is true. The other reviewers have already covered why the interface sucks so I will give you a different reason. The Landscape Designer that comes with Professional 5.0 is a "Special Edition". When I got it I thought: Oh, a special edition it must have more plants and objects with it. False! Here is what the readme file says after you buy the overpriced version:

3D Home Landscape Designer SE 4.0 is a Special Edition version of 3D Home Landscape Designer 4.0. 3D Home Landscape Designer 4.0 contains the following additional features and content:
Features:
* Slope and Elevation Modeling
* Plant Editor (ability to create and add new plants, edit plant definitions, and download new plants)
* Encyclopedia of Plant Diseases and Cures
* Collection of 9500 plant photos in thumbnail and picture mode
* Plant Origin (click on a world map to learn your selected plant's region of origin)
* Print 3D Views
* Align Objects
* Group Objects
Content:
* 5500 additional plants
* 230 additional 3D Garden Objects
* 250 additional Plant Objects
* 15 additional Sample Plans

Here is the best part: After buying thinking I was getting the two 3D Home products in one package with some special features included, I found out that to get these additional features for Landscape Designer I would have to "upgrade" and give Broderbund another *. I think that it should have said this somewhere on the box, and then I wouldn't have bought the combo and be disappointed twice! *as per review policy

I didn't buy it through Amazon, and I wish that I would have visited this site before I wasted my money (THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO RETURN SOFTWARE). So heed this advice and buy v.4.0. I bought Broderbund's 3D Home v.4.0 instead of Punch's and Sierra's based on others reviews and I would still recommend it over the other ones that are out there currently.

I think Broderbund made a big mistake in going in the direction they are. I just hope that they or someone else will bring back an updated cheap version of Art's "Chief Architect" to the market, or I win the lottery so I could afford to buy the real deal. I hope Broderbund will honor it's "100% Satisfaction Guaranteed" policy as there will probably be a lot of disappointed people who buy this version based on the reputation the previous ones gave 3D Home as I did.

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.

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.

The program has loads of excellent features objects, and very good rendering capability BUT...
You cannot output this to a standard dxf or dwg format. (If you try the current "dxf" ouput option, you get a file that autocad (the primary software that uses and created dxf) cannot display.

When asked about this I was told by Broderbund tech support that they don't intend to provide a capability to produce blueprint quality / compatible outputs. If you plan on trying to print out and paste together a large design - forget it! You can't be sure you have the same scale or orientation on the paper. Not a pro-quality package.

Window sizes are wacky - they don't match the way builders talk in terms of a "Three O by Four O window. (3 feet by 4 feet) Windows in this software come out with labels like - 2'11 11/15" by 3'11 15/16"

Less critical but very annoying is the pain of moving around in in 3d or 2d - not an easy thing to do. Nobody does 3D movement all that well but this one.... needs work. In 2D it's really ugly to move from one corner of a large drawing to another.

Bottom line - it's a fun program to play with but don't try to use it for a real home design. You will wind up having to hire a architect to create real usable drawings.

After reading the box, it sounded good so I bought this program. Took it home and invetsed about 16 hours playing with it and designing a home we plan to build. Several times the program would shut down without warning and without saving my work. I contacted Broderbund via E-Mail support and they wrote that they were still working on fixing that problem. Also wanted to print full size drawings on my home printer (Like other programs)and it would not do that either. Broderbund said they were working on that one too. Other features I thought I had were not on the program. I was very disappointed and very happy to see a money back guarantee on the box. I am currently waiting for my refund. I then spent a bit more money on the Punch! AS18 program and have to say...What a difference!