3D Home Architect Design 6.0 Special Edition (Jewel Case)

by Riverdeep

Product Features

• Design, edit, and plan out a dream home, addition, or remodel
• Extensive collection of colors, textures, and architectural elements
• Print plans to scale; virtual walkthrough to view from any angle
• Change the appearance of any element with a single mouse click
• Insert, move, and modify all the elements in both 2D and 3D views

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001IQNBG
• Item model number: 383207
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 12, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 1.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,545 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #58 in Software > Home & Hobbies > Home Design
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

3D Home Architect Special Edition 6 makes it easy for you to design your dream home, addition, or remodel. Get started in minutes and build to your specifications. Choose from an extensive collection of colors, textures, and architectural elements that will bring your vision to life!

• Complete selection of tools to help easily design, edit, and plan every element of your home-design project
• Print plans to scale to bring your vision to life
• Materials include carpet, flooring, marble, wood, siding, stucco, stone, fabric, and wall coverings
• Materials Paintbrush allows you to change the appearance of any element with a single click of a mouse
• Virtual walkthrough let you view from any angle
• Insert, move, and modify all the elements in both 2D and 3D views

Product Description

3D Home Architect Home Design 6 Special Edition

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Huge disappointment - missing the features I really wanted., November 15, 2004

By 

WebGoddess NH "barbiegirl10" (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 3D Home Architect Design 6.0 Special Edition (Jewel Case) (CD-ROM)

I have had several $9.99 "home design" programs in the past and they actually saved me money when working on remodeling projects. Yes, for $9.99 they weren't "architect" or "professional" level, but they worked quite well for my needs. Unfortunately, they didn't work on Windows XP. In my search for an inexpensive home design program, I researched several and, after visiting Broderbund's own site, decided to try 3D Home Architect Design 6.0 Special Edition.

To my great disappointment -- and only after breaking the seal of the box, unwrapping the jewel case, and installing/running the program -- did I find out that this edition has NO ability to place cabinets, appliances or furniture in the design. No where on the Broderbund site did I find that these features are missing from the "Special Edition" version. In fact, they didn't specify clearly what set this off from the other version, so I figured it was probably due to lack of written documentation (manual) and "extras" like landscaping and deck design. WRONG.

Only after searching for an hour trying to figure out this program did I get into the "Help" file and find the notations that cabinets, furniture, etc aren't available in this edition. Very frustrating considering Broderbund's site touts this version as being able to assist with interior design... I don't know how that can be. Of course, you can change the wall colors and texture, but you just can't place anything in the rooms.

Amazon's return policy prevents me from returning "jewel case only" items, so I guess I just "donated" $9.99 plus shipping to Amazon.com

I wasn't expecting a top of the line program, but this thing is lousy in comparison to the many inexpensive programs I've had in the past, especially from Sierra, that did a very sufficient job in designing and decorating.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Misleading, February 23, 2005

By 

SC (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 3D Home Architect Design 6.0 Special Edition (Jewel Case) (CD-ROM)

Add me to the list of people who were disappointed by the lack of kitchen, bathroom, and furniture symbols in this version--after wasting hours trying to figure out how to get them to show up. No where on the packaging does it indicate that these items are absent. In fact, it mentions its "complete selection of tools" several times on the box. What a waste.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hey; it's 10 bucks! What it's good for; what it's not, March 26, 2005

By 

R. RANDOLPH (Wilson, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 3D Home Architect Design 6.0 Special Edition (Jewel Case) (CD-ROM)

This program is useful if you have an idea for a building and want to do a floor plan to get an idea of what it might look like. That's what it's good for: walls, windows, doors, etc, simply a layout. Forget furniture or fixtures. Forget landscaping. Want construction details? Forget it. This program is strictly layout for idea purposes. The 3D rendering is cartoonish as people say, but it's fast. There's no five minute rendering process. 2D to 3D takes a second or two because it's low resolution, but if you make a change and want a quick 3D look then poof! It's done. Why one would want photo quality rendering is beyond me, and for 10 bucks how could you expect that? My program never crashed once. I found placing walls down and having them snap together was easy. There are easy handles on walls and such so that you can move a wall and all attached walls move as well. Very easy. Definitely turn off the auto-save feature -- it won't work; use SAVE or SAVEAS on the menu for different versions of your project. The only big gripe I have is that there is no furniture/fixtures at all, not even generic ones ... like a toilet or a bed or a generic cabinet. When designing a bathroom, say, it's nice to know how much room is left after basic fixtures are introduced. Another smaller gripe is that the default roof style is not a gable -- the type that almost ALL simple structures use. You can change the offered roof style into a gable but it does take a few steps; read the help carefully; it's there. Overall this is not a bad product for 10 dollars.