Customer Reviews

3D Home Architect Home & Landscape Design [Old Version]

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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I had an older Version 2.1 of 3D Home Architect from 1997 and liked it but since we're looking at purchasing a home to fix up, we thought it would be nice to have the updated version. Although the layout it produces is nice, it's painfully slow even with plenty of memory and space on a fairly new computer and with a 3D graphics card installed. In 2D mode (black/white line drawings for layout) which should be faster than 3D, 90% of all entry clicks take 10+ seconds before the hour-glass wait goes away and you're able to do the next task. Building walls isn't too slow but inserting furniture, changing colors/materials is very slow. It does have an extensive selection of 3D items sorted by location that includes outdoor items, plants, decking, etc.

My main problem is the wait between each little click. Rendering the 3D version takes 10-15 minutes and the program does crash (on my PC) if you decide to switch to internet while building the 3D look so you have to just get up and leave it to finish while on that screen. I've turned off the sunlight, made the lighting lower, removed "cast shadow" on as much as I can per the PDF guide that says this will speed up the process, but I'm having trouble believing it can be much slower even after tweaking these things.

It's amazing what they can do with 3D. The final product looks nice but, overall, even knowing that graphic programs take a lot of calculation effort on the PC, I think this program takes way too long to get where you're going with it. Maybe an older version isn't this bad since my Ver. 2.1 is old but functionally easier.

No way to put in your own photo. The program was just the most basic throw together so they could collect your and my cash.

I purchased this from a local Office store & I am very unhappy with it. It is not user-friendly and I agree with the slowness of the 3D rendering.

I bought this as an upgrade to Version 6. What a disappointment. It's worse and most of all it cannot open or import drawings from previous versions. It is simply incompatible.

I just bought this thing and I hate it. As a non-architect I designed a wonderful half million dollar home with one of the first versions of Home Architect. I cannot even use Version 9. The documentation is as terrible as the software. AH does not even have bathroom fittings that one can paste in. This program may be great for landscape, I don't know or care. I want to build a house and I need to buy another program.

To be fair, I haven't read the entire software manual yet, but right out of the box, I can't figure this out! What I have read of the manual has not been helpful, like, What is the difference between lot size and property line? I have had experience with MSDraw and other computer art programs, but this I can't figure out. I'm disappointed that it isn't easier. Maybe someone can recommend a good resource to learn how to use this.

The product came without a written "how to" Book. Difficult to utilize, and no clear idea as to how the landscape would look at any given time. But for $8 what do you expect?

I had a 3D architect a few years ago that I was happy with, but cannot find it anymore. this program tends to lead to landscapeing which I thougt would be a plus or a add on, but it is more of a landscape program not an architect program. I am not happy with it.

older cad layout planner for your backyard. I used this to make my backyard and move things around to see how I can get more room out of the backyard and it worked. I would suggest this for those who are not computer savvy since its super easy to use and you can do many tings with it. It also has a feature where you can make a list of items you need and the price you make it (i like shopping online at lowes or a garden center for the prices to punch in) this makes it more realistic in pricing.

Given that the other product reviews are so old, you can figure that the software was developed for earlier operating systems. What you probably didn't know was that the software appears to have been esigned in 1983. I had better graphics on my first black & white Mac, lat alone in 2007 when this software was first sold. Don't bother with this- spring for the $40 program.