Instant Deck Design

by IMSI Design

Product Features

• The Planning and Designing Deck Software Product Information By the makers of the award-winning DesignCAD software series.  InstantDeck Design gives you the ability to design your own deck with ease. It’s easyto start with a basic design and modify it to fit your needs. Your design isprecisely created to scale and can be customized with pre-drawn deck furnishingsto make sure every

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006JJOY
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 21, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 1.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,888 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Simple to learn, easy to use, powerful features.

DesignCAD Instant Deck Design gives you the ability to design your own deck with ease. It’s easy to start with a basic design and modify it to fit your needs.

Your design is precisely created to scale and can be customized with pre-drawn deck furnishings to make sure everything fits your design.

3D Deck Wizard

Choose from 30 of the most popular deck designs scaled for use on your own home! Add or remove deck features easily with our large variety of editing tools. Automatic Decks

Just plug in numbers for depth, height and width and the program generates your 3D deck right before your eyes!

2D Deck Designs

Use the simple tools to create any shape and style for your deck. The quick edit box makes it easy to change dimensions and specifications. Select the type of line you want to draw plus use double line mode to add depth to 2D layouts.

Check The Angles

Observe your layout view from top or side elevation.

Customize Your Deck

Drag and Drop any of our pre-drawn deck furnishings.

Product Description

The Planning and Designing Deck SoftwareProduct InformationBy the makers of the award-winning DesignCAD software series.  InstantDeck Design gives you the ability to design your own deck with ease. It’s easyto start with a basic design and modify it to fit your needs. Your design isprecisely created to scale and can be customized with pre-drawn deck furnishingsto make sure everything fits your design.It includes over 30 detailed deck drawings 2D and 3D drawing wizards allowsyou to export material lists and provides you with a full selection of CADtools. Works great with Instant Estimator.  Export material lists intoInstant Estimator and get an accurate cost of the job. Add BonusIncluded FREE with Instant Deck Design are Over 30 Pre-Drawn DeckFurnishings.  Product Features3D Deck WizardChoose from 30 of the most popular deck designs scaled for use on your own home!Add or remove deck features easily with our large variety of editing tools.Automatic DecksJust plug in numbers for depth height and width and the program generates your3D deck right before your eyes!2D Deck DesignsUse the simple tools to create any shape and style for your deck. The quick editbox makes it easy to change dimensions and specifications. Select the type ofline you want to draw plus use double line mode to add depth to 2D layouts.Check The AnglesObserve your layout view from top or side elevation.Customize Your DeckDrag and Drop any of our pre-drawn deck furnishings.System Requirements Windows 95 98 Me NT 4.0 or above 2000 XP Vista Pentium (or equivalent) processor 16MB of RAM CD-ROM Drive SuperVGA monitor capable of at least 800x600 resolution SuperVGA graphics card capable of 256 or more colors

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of time, April 25, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Instant Deck Design (CD-ROM)

I bought this at CompUSA last year. The program tinks. It has very few pre-drawn deck layouts which are not really editable. There is nothing in the program that helps you draw a deck from scratch any better than pencil and paper. Basically, unless one of the pitiful few decks shown included perfectly matches what you want to build, it's useless. It's a sham to call this "deck design". Completely false advertising. Junk junk junk. Download a free 30 day demo of smartdraw and at least you'll have a decent and easy to use drawing program to use. Need something for a longer timeframe, then pay for smartdraw or some other actually useful program vs. throwing away your ... bucks.

66 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Simple CAD program, March 12, 2003

By 

Digital Dad (Crystal Lake, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Instant Deck Design (CD-ROM)

I'm not sure why this is called "Instant Deck Design". There are a few canned deck designs in here. If you want to make your own deck design, you are basically given a standard CAD package that allows you to do 2D or 3D packages - there aren't even any canned deck accessories.

I did find the program useful, and I did draw my deck using their 2D tool. I was hoping it would help with structural calculations, etc., but it doesn't. So don't expect any help in pier locations, beam sizes, lumber selection, etc. If you select a canned deck it does provide a material list, but not if you draw your own.

Summary: Inexpensive, allows you to draw your deck, but really not much help other then a drawing tool.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worthless, December 21, 2004

By 

Mike/DD4 (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Instant Deck Design (CD-ROM)

I downloaded Version 15 of this program from the IMSI website-now I see why they don't offer a trial version. The description on the website is manifestly untruthful. The deck wizard only offers a few options: deck dimensions; corner chamfer; and stair position. In order to change anything, you have to reconfigure the pre-drawn deck one board at a time using a very limited set of editing tools. The wizard only allows you to position the stairs coming straight out of one of the sides-forget about having a landing halfway down. There are no options for any of the materials used or railings, etc.

The Help file is for DesignCAD, the words "deck, " stair," and "rail" are not even included.

It doesn't even create a materials list. This seems to be a blatant flaw, it just lists two words: "Count" and "Attribute" and the number "0."

This software performs no useful function for anyone who intends to build a deck. I wish I could get my money back.