Customer Reviews

Chief Architect Interior Designer 9.0 [OLD VERSION]

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

 

 

I've been thinking of doing a basement remodel and wanted a tool to try out design ideas. I have no CAD, architecture or design experience. It took me about a day's work to build a pretty good 3d model of my home. Still needs some work and there are a few things that aren't quite right, but it's a serviceable model. Only resource I used was the user guide which walked me through the process.

The 3d camera tools are very cool, again a little tricky to master.

You can probably go faster than I did if you are only looking to do one room, but if you're like me it was hard to resist building a model of the whole house. Product was a little addictive one I got the hang of it, trying to put in things like molding, wall colors, furniture, etc.

This product is great for a savy home computer software user or an Interior Designer. The 3D and camera view features are fantastic, but are difficult to learn and maneuver without formal training. The company does offer great FREE webinars and "how to" videos from the website, but does not tell you it is using an upgraded version with added libraries to accomplish the projects they are demonstrating. It does NOT have enough library selections to really design a custom kitchen or bath, but the libraries are more than adequate for simple to moderate designing. I tried this product in lieu of having to purchase the full compliment suite, but find I need the architect version to get the libraries and functionality to complete intricate interiors if I want to do an arched or coffered ceiling for example.

You can get pretty good results with this product if...

1) You are willing to spend some time learning how to work it.
2) It's okay with you to be limited by style of furniture, fabric choices, textures, etc. If you're not great at imagining that a bulky loveseat represents your delicate one, this isn't for you.
3) You're willing to repeatedly change the settings to your preference. It has no ability to save these.
4) If you know how to fix that door that moved on the wall.

I gave this 3 stars because it can be fun. My husband adores messing with it. It pleases him no end to walk through a 3D of a room he created. Each of the problems is a challenge he enjoys.

Personally, I just use 1/2" to 1' cut-outs.

I've used a number of interior design programs, and this one is fun to use. It will teach you how to use it and you will enjoy yourself while doing so.

If you are bursting with ideas for decorating your own home or a friend or relative or if you want to just get your feet wet in the burgeoning arena of computer aided design then this is a great way to get started!

For the hobbyist, amateur designer or do-it-yourself-er this tool is for you. Professional, State licensed Interior Decorators also use this software but often opt for the higher-priced Chief Architect Interiors program just released this year; it is for the consummate professional who demands nothing but the best. But I diverge; for the price; for the ease of learning and implementing Chief Architect Interior Designer has no peers. Try it! You Will like it!

David Jefferson Potter
Austin, Texas

This program is a great Software format for savvy Interior Designers. However, it has a complex learning curve and bad printing instructions, including printing output! Don't buy this, unless you are willing to put in long hours to learn the software program and create multiple samples of your work plus be sure and "save" the output, because it will be a while before you can figure out how to print your results in a format that your clients will accept!

I was very dissapointed with this product. It either didn't have as many features as advertised or they were only available via an "upgrade" of sorts (however, they were advertised as being available in this tool, perhaps just too complex to identify the features). I re-read the instructions multiple times and still could not locate several key features. I was using the software to re-design my kitchen, and maybe this isn't the best use for this product. It had limited cabinetry options and the pieces didn't "snap to grid" as I expected them to. It took way too much time to line up the pieces and the 3D viewer was difficult to use. Bottom line, it was just easier to draw what I wanted by hand than to learn to use this tool. I wouldn't recommend this product for a kitchen re-design unless you have significant time to devote to learning to use the tool and can't draw to scale on regular graph paper. I had hoped to use this to get 3D views of my ideas, but found the cabinet company (and Lowes) will do that for free anyway.

This product did not meet my meager expectations. It did not perform with any more sophistication than a 10 year old version of Punch home designer that was purchased for less than $30. A somewhat sad statement in terms of progress for this software.

The library of 5000 or so items are in most part, not "customizable" other than color and texture. A serious shortcoming if you are interested in seeing a realistic final design layout.

The "final view" function that allows you to see what your final plan would look like in better resolution does not function and causes my computer to crash.

Finally, beware of the 30-day guarantee as the downloadable version on Amazon is not refundable by it's return policy.

Buyer beware. Adequate if you have low expectations, completely inadequate if you are interested in seeing what your design plans will look like.

maybe this is ok if you have weeks to wade through the videos, but i needed something i could use quickly, and this was useless. the quick start sounded good except there seemed to be no way to do what they advertised. i wasted $80 ON something totally unusable.