Punch! Home Design Architectural Series 3000

by Punch Software

Product Features

• Combines 22 integrated home design software programs into one easy-to-use interface
• Improvements include more robust editing interface, precise dimensions, better display options
• Get professional results regardless of expertise
• Video ToolTips tutorials teach you as you draw
• Drag and drop windows, doors, furniture, texture, color, and landscaping

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000CFY84
• Item model number: 52100
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 5, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,779 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Adding even more power to home design software, Punch! Home Design Architectural Series 3000 combines 22 integrated programs into one easy-to-use interface along with additional features, Punch! Home Design Architectural Series 3000 has a more robust interface for editing, specifying precise dimensions, displaying options and more. New enhancements for 3D photo-realistic lighting, wireframe views, organization of custom objects, and other program features add more flexibility and enjoyment to the design experience.

Regardless of your level of expertise, Punch! Home Design Architectural Series 3000 produces professional results! A single, easy-to-use interface puts powerful tools at your fingertips; you can use as many or as few as you choose and still get professional results. Beginners will appreciate the Video ToolTips tutorials that teach you as you draw and simple drag & drop functions for windows, doors, furniture, texture, color and landscaping. Professionals will appreciate the more complex features such as extensive framing and estimating, mechanical design and CAD functions to name a few. Architectural Series 3000 was designed to grow with you as you become more proficient with the program. Regardless of your expertise, Architectural Series 3000 makes home design an enjoyable experience.

Punch! Home Design Architectural Series 3000 integrates:

• 3D Home Exterior & Interior Design
• Fireplace Wizard
• Precision Lighting Controls
• Object Organizer
• .DWG Import/Export
• Animator
• PhotoView Editor
• Cabinet Wizard
• Texture Builder
• PlantFinder
• PhotoView
• Ultimate Deck
• Master Landscape
• 3D Furniture Workshop
• FloorPlan Trace
• Home Estimator
• AutoFraming
• 3D RealModel
• Foundation Planner
• HVAC Planner
• Electrical Planner
• Plumbing Planner
• Layout Manager
• Framing Editor
• Elevation Editor
• Enhanced Home Estimator
• Detail Creator
• Enhanced Home Design tools & features
• Video Tool Tips
• Precision lighting effects
• .dxf import/export
• PowerTool plug-in expandability from third-party developers

NEW enhancements to Punch! Home Design Architectural Series 3000

Over 75 NEW Enhancements and Features:

Edit multiple entities, more robust user interface, precision lighting controls for realistic multiple shadows, enhanced import/export, recordable avi walk or fly through videos, fireplace creation with auto chimney generator for multi-story floorplans and much, much more.

NEW! Animator

Lights, camera, action! Now you can show your family, friends, clients--even your builder--a video walk or fly through of your home design. Professional tools give you complete control of your production.

NEW! Fireplace Wizard

Simple interface lets you quickly design a fireplace for your design. Choose dimensions, hearth, firebox size, material, mantel, chimney and more. Automatic fireplace placement with chimney is useful for multi-story floorplans. A real timesaver!

NEW! Precision Lighting Controls

A powerful tool that helps you determine lighting design, interior decorating--even landscaping--with photo-realism. Just as in real-world lighting, precision controls cast multiple shadows on walls, floors or objects. Extensive palette of fixtures includes can, fixture, lamp, spotlight, outdoor lighting and more. You can also control light intensity, falloff, ambiance and radius for each light source. View an interior room in the evening with only room light and see the effect on painted walls, furniture and flooring. Or add outdoor lighting to your deck, landscape or walkways. Designing with light is fun and the result can add drama to your design.

NEW! PhotoView Editor

A powerful new feature to use in tandem with PhotoView technology, PhotoView Editor lets you add paint color, replicate, mask and add materials to your real-world photo. Experiment with a new paint color on your existing home image and see the photo-realistic result--PhotoView Editor retains all the shadows and textures in your photo so you get a realistic interpretation of your ideas. Then save your changes, add landscaping, lighting or other Punch! embellishments and view the result from virtually any perspective.

Video ToolTips

Now you can get an instant demonstration of how any tool works. Just click a tool, then read the tooltips or click video to watch and listen to a demonstration. Also access the videos from on-line help, read the text and watch the video for a demonstration of the tool's use. It's like having your own instructor.

Elevation Editor

Now you can edit in 3D. Modify your design from any elevation view, including front, back, side or custom elevation angle. Rotate, edit and/or add text and dimensions to your elevations. Look into the house by hiding a wall in the 3D view and edit walls, furniture, show/hide landscaping, textures and lighting for a final view and print for presentation.

Convert-2-3D

And if Punch! Software isn't flexible enough already, now you can draw simple objects like lines, arcs and circles, and convert them to Punch! intelligent objects with just a mouse click. Convert a line to a wall. Draw a circle and convert it to a round hole in the floor. Even create a curved shape and convert it to a custom excavated swimming pool with just a click; the possibilities are endless. Wish you could create a 3D Punch drawing from a DXF file? Import the DXF file and then use Convert-2-3D to make it 3D.

Enhanced file import/export support

The enhanced DXF file import combined with "Convert-2-3D" makes using DXF and DWG files easier than ever. Start by importing an AutoCAD DXF or DWG file. Convert simple lines to interior/exterior walls, fencing, railings, landscape edging, and much more. Just click on a line/arc/circle/curve/etc. and choose what Punch! object to change it to. Convert a simple curve to an excavated pool or pond, a free-form deck, landscape edging or topographical feature. The possibilities are endless. It all starts by using a DXF or DWG file to start, rather than a blank piece of paper.

Layout Manager

Finally an easy tool to create the perfect presentation printouts of your design. Add multiple 2D/3D views of your plan to customize the page or any combination to fit your project needs. Print a page with front/side/top views, or maybe a page with all of the custom bathrooms in your plan. Show 2D information and rendered images on the same page, then output to your printer or plotter.

Punch! PowerTools and the Punch! Developer Network

Architectural Series 3000 is enhanced with PowerTools technology. A Punch! PowerTool is an accessory application that integrates with Punch! Software to enhance/extend its capabilities. The Punch! Developer Network is a program for developers that wish to create PowerTools for you, our users. As Punch! PowerTools become available for Punch! Home Design Architectural Series 3000, they will be downloadable from here so check back with us. Click here to find out more about the Punch! Developer Network.

FREE Punch! Developer Kit

Just join the Punch Developer Network and download the free developers kit to get started building Punch! PowerTools. Build applications to enhance the latest Punch! Software and market them to Punch! users around the world.

Cabinet Wizard

Custom cabinet design with just a few simple mouse clicks. Select a style, enter the dimensions, decide on details such as backsplashes, drawers, kick panels, etc. and Cabinet Wizard automatically generates your custom cabinetry for baths, kitchens or any room you've designed.

Product Description

Home Design Architectural Series 3000

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Wish I'd Read The Reviews First!, July 17, 2004

By 

Robert Carlberg (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Punch! Home Design Architectural Series 3000 (CD-ROM)

Like a fool I purchased this software based on the cool pictures on the box and the long list of features. Unfortunately, the pictures turn out to be not actual screenshots, and the features are, as Bart pointed out, little more than limited templates. A couple cases in point -- there is apparently NO WAY to create dormers, although they're featured prominently on the cover. The palette of textures is nowhere near as extensive or impressive as those shown on the cover. The lighting effects displayed on the box are not possible with the basic software. To me this is deceptive advertising!

The MOST ANNOYING feature is the 3D fly-through. You have two choices: buzz around in dizzying circles like a drunken bee, unable to stop or slow down. Or zoom into the geographic center of your drawing, always ending up one inch off the floor. After hours and hours of tedious construction and experimentation, I never did figure out how to view the second floor interior....

In short what you get is about $15 worth of cartoonish rendering, and a really cool $100 box. My advice would be to AVOID all the Punch products (of which there are about six variants of the same product).

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect solution, November 30, 2004

By 

StuBQ - See all my reviews

This review is from: Punch! Home Design Architectural Series 3000 (CD-ROM)

Moving into a new house, I had so many projects to make it my own. This product made it all happen. It was easy to start and I had walls drawn and showing in 3D in a few minutes.

First, I drew the existing structure. The ability to draw the plan easily and see it in 3D every step of the way made it quite easy. And, I've tried all the competitors. The only product that lets you show the 3D view (with shadows from lights and sun) without grueling waiting and finger tapping is Punch.. its blazing fast.

Changing the plan was just as easy! You drag a wall and dimensions display showing you were you are. Move a window or door and you instantly see the results in the 3D view. When I wanted to knock down a dividing wall between the great room and kitchen, it was a couple of mouse clicks and poof, gone. This was huge in determining how open the plan would be and if this part of the remodeling was worth it.

When it comes time to landscape, this was way cool. You can customize your yard and its a blast. With a few mouse clicks you can add hills/berms to your yard, I even used the excavation tool and dug a hole for a swimming pool(now if I could just really have it :) The picket fence I added even conformed to the changed landscape. And.. then I added plants. Tons of plants and I even used their tool to select only plants in my area. Then.. to top it off..with a click of the mouse I could grow the entire landscape to see how it would look when the trees grew.

As for learning.. you'll love it. You can be drawing in minutes.. but if you need some help there are videos that walk you through how to use each tool. Very cool.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific program, April 14, 2006

By 

phoenix "phoenix" (Austin, Tx) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Punch! Home Design Architectural Series 3000 (CD-ROM)

I'm really surprised by some of the other reviewer's negative comments regarding this product. I was given the Punch! 5-in-1 program as a Christmas present and then purchased the Punch! 3000 program a couple of years later. When I got the Punch! 5-in-1 I had never used a CAD program before and really had very pretty limited experience with using computers in general. I have not run into any of the difficulties or limitations that the other reviewers complained about so I suspect that they just haven't learned to use the program.

Punch! 3000 is pretty complicated but that's because it has a LOT of tools. I'm actually glad I started with the much less "robust" 5-in-1 program because it didn't overwhelm me and 3000 might have.

I am not an architect but am nevertheless currently in the process of actually building my dream home exactly as I designed it using Punch!3000. It is a 2 story, 3 bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, with wraparound porch, backyard decks, and a complex roomline that includes dormers. I designed every piece of it down to the foundation, plumbing, HVAC, and sidewalks. Yes, I did take my Punch!3000 plans to a professional designer and engineer to prepare working blueprints because I wanted a professional to verify that what I had planned was actually buildable...that the "physics" would work.

But, it turned out that the only changes recommended to my design were slight variations (inches) in the lenths of a couple of room so as to take advantage of stock sizes of building materials and some changes to the electrical wiring scheme so as to balance the anticipated electrical loads better (i.e., get all the big appliances OFF the same circuit.) My designer said he'd seen a lot of stock house plans with a whole lot more problems than my design had.

I did get a bit frustrated with how slowly Punch 3000! prepared live view renditions when my design got complicated but I suspect that the slow rendition was more due to limitations in my computer's memory than anything inherent in the program. And, I didn't actually ever use the Animator tool (played around with it a little but didn't really feel the need to "make a movie" of my house plans.)

All in all, I think Punch!3000 is a great program and, while I'm glad to be finally building my dream home, I'm kind of sorry that I will no longer have any excuse for spending hours-on-end playing with this program and tweaking my design! Then again, I haven't done anything yet with the landscaping tools and I'll have almost 3 acres to landscape when we get moved in ... ;)