Customer Reviews

3D Home Architect Deluxe 3 (Jewel Case)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I purchased three highly recommended PC architect programs to put my ideas onto paper. One was too complex, almost a full CAD program that would have taken months to learn by trial and error. The next was too simple to do any serious planning. Broderbund's Home Architect (previous version with book included) was JUST RIGHT. I didn't need the book which was mostly documentation of the fixtures and models included. I started playing with simple frame designs and tried to replicate parts of my favorite layouts from Home Design books. It took me a few weeks in my spare time to get good enough to do some serious drawing. By the time I finished my plans three months later, I had 3-D views, all the electrical switches & outlets installed to code (automatically), an exact measurement to the sq. ft. and materials list I actually used for estimates. Sharing those estimates with the contractor showed him I knew what the house would cost to build except for labor and helped us settle on a fixed price up front. In fact, my estimate turned out to be better than his.
Early in my designing, the materials list showed I couldn't afford the house I wanted so I scaled it down to what I could afford without losing anything important or incurring thousands in loan costs. I took the plans to an architect who basically charged me $400 to re-draw and print out my plans on his plotter. I built the house and the only problem the contractor had was where the architect didn't follow my computerized plan. Next time I'll do it with just this software! It really works. [and now does roof designs] I've enjoyed my home for seven years now and it suits me well because I designed it carefully to meet my needs, my lot and the FL climate. Try several sw packages including this one. Its more intuitive to use than the others and loaded with nice features. Don't settle for a cookie cutter home.

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....

This is the first 3d cad software I've ever bought. I bought the program to wet my toes in home design software and discover what features I needed for a later, more serious purchase.
To test the program I had two projects in mind. The first project was a remodeling project for our church's sound booth and the second was to create a 3d model of the whole church building.
Within minutes of starting the program I had the walls, stairs, doors, and a raised platform for the sound booth layed out in the program. A little while latter I was taking a 3d walk through of my design. The program was very easy to learn and had a very intuitive user interface. However, the selection of objects (doors, stairs, furnishings, etc) are quite limited in this version of the program. Also the 3d walk through viewing angles and controls seem a bit too restrictive.
Later I tried my hand at the exterior of the church building. Again the program prooved easy to use and learn. I had no trouble adding a roof and other exterior components to my design. However, as before, the selection of components (roof types textures etc...) is very limited in this version.
All in all, I recomend this program for users wanting to get a feel for home modeling software or users with small projects using standard components. This is not a professional program, but is very useful in its own right. I did not have any trouble with the program (no crashes or strange behavior) on my system (Athalon 700MHz, W2000, 320Mb) during the two weeks I was using it.

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!

This is a fast, fun, and reliable program. I first heard about it from school. In Applied Technology, I was doing a module on Architecture that used this software. Well, let's just say what began as an assignment turned into an extravaganza! I bought the software, and use it all the time. It's great to be able to design your own houses, use great and easy-to-use tools to add some pizazz, and finally see your finished product! 3D Home Design Suite is very rewarding. You won't regret buying it!!!

This is a really fun and addicting software to use. My daughter and I have been "constructing" our dream houses on it. There are only two things that are somewhat weak - The "automatic roof builder" doesn't have a lot of options, so it's difficult to design the roof in any detail. Also, it's only somewhat user friendly -- although this version, 3, is not the latest version. For the price, it's a great product and a lot of fun. If you are serious about drawing up your home plans in great detail, then I'd definitely upgrade. I'm thinking of buying the 5.0 version to see if they improved the roof option.

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.

Outstanding product for the price. Its old but its as good as most of the more expensive "junk" for sale at home improvement and software stores.

Versions: 3d home 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 are from the same company 5.0 is NOT the same and is incompatible. The newest version is Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Suite 6.0 (much more expensive but has materials application options)

About 3.0
------------

3d. Its stable (3d modeling works but is not "realistic"). It is good enough to get a 3d feel though. 3.0 allows 3d object manipulation (drag or "resize" windows, doors, cabinets in 3d) and its done in 2d simultaneously).

Design is Straightforward. You should read the manual though if you want slip hip roofs with gable ends (roofs are trickier than walls). The stair tools are fairly straightforward but do not allow curves.

It would give it six stars ;-) if it had:
>> more than the basic snap on angles forces standard variance (45, 90 and 22.5 and such)
>> more objects in its library (very limited)
>> better rendering (its rudimentary compared to cool tools available today).
>> round or curved walls or stairs (you can approximate curved walls with short wall sections but oh what a pain)

Summary:
Overall even though it's a few years old and has a few problems I rate it 5 stars because its: DIRT CHEAP, fast, easy to use, good enough 3d rendering for space planning, allows 3d view object manipulation. It gets you up to speed with home design concepts very quickly and will get you diagrams you can build from faster than any other product I have seen. + does some good basic materials planning.

Definitely 5 "value" stars, you should be able to get it for under $10.

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.

I spent most of this evening trying to do a simple bathroom layout that I could have drawn on graph paper in an hour. I'm very frustrated and about ready to throw this software onto Marketplace or Ebay and let some other poor schmuck mess around with it. I use Win2kPro and haven't had any crashes in more than a year (last time it was thanks to some cheesy shareware)... but I had three in as many hours this evening running this software.

This software cannot seem to understand placing a medicine cabinet above a sink, a wall cabinet over a toilet, or a tv on top of a dresser - constant error messages saying (essentially) "you can't put something on top of something else" - even when the combination is completely normal and expected. The interface is not at all intuitive, especially the dialog boxes (which were sloppily done from a simple design point of view, for instance the buttons didn't line up neatly) and compounding the problem the help files are garbage: they do not explain what things appearing on the screen mean and only explain the barest rudiments of how to use the features. The 3D views are incomprehensible, even if you situate the "camera" between what you want to look at and the things "behind you", often it layers on the stuff "behind you" so your elevation becomes a useless muddle. I spent almost 45 minutes just trying to get a stupid mirror to show up properly on the elevation (it was correctly placed on the plan view) because it kept appearing fragmented across a couple of other elements in the view. I'm not a stupid person, I'm reasonably well educated and have a good bit of common sense, but this software did a great job of making me feel like a fumbling idiot. I'm glad I only wasted ten bucks on this.

Be prepared for an insane amount of spam from Broderbund, as well; I've removed myself from their mailing list as per the instructions at the bottom of the emails multiple times, but still more fills up my junk-mail folder. Unacceptable. I don't intend to purchase another Broderbund product again.