Customer Reviews

Punch! Home & Landscape Design with NexGen Technology [Old Version]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

This is the first CAD related software that I have ever used so I don't really have anything to compare it to. Also, I've only been using this product for just a few weeks. So from a novice perspective, I will try to describe the pros and cons.

Pros: This product is integrated very well. As you design, it builds the big picture. When you start a project, it allows you to pick (point and drag) the rooms that you want to incorporate into the design. Once you have a basic layout, you move to the next step of doing the more detailed design work - adding/modifying walls, kitchen cabinets, etc.

It has a 2D and 3d rendering so that you can get an immediate visual of what your design will actually look like. It has a good library of objects suchas as floor coverings, wood stains, paint colors, masonry, furniture and basic kitchen cabinet components. It has 2 navigation options while in 3D mode - walk through for walking through the structure and fly over for, well, you get it.

There is a landscape component which I have not used yet.

Cons: I really only have one problem with the software. Some of the functionality is not that intuitive. The product comes with a thick user guide which for the most part I did not find very helpful. There is also an online help guide which is basically what is in the user guide and again, not very helpful. What I did find most helpful, was the online video tutorials. It allows you to watch how to do something from start to finish in detail. You can pause, rewind and watch again until you pick up on how to do it.

Some of the controls are over sensitive. For instance, inserting cabinets, sinks or doors from the objects library. It is sometimes difficult to get objects placed just the way you want them. As an example, in the kitchen, on a wall, you may have an overhead cabinet, a base cabinet, a sink and a dishwasher all grouped together on a wall. It is difficult to select the one you need to manipulate.

I learned through trial and error how to work through these issues. Again, these problems are not addressed in the user guide. Nor, was I able to find any blogs for this product.

Summary: I would recommend this product for it's intended purpose. A quick and (barring the problems I've described) easy way to design a house.

This is an excellent product. When you first start the program, it presents "Quick Start". This is an ingenious approach to getting your design into the program quickly. What you do is drag a room type onto the screen and then re-size it with your mouse to the correct dimensions. You then "snap" these rooms together to form your floor plan. Clicking "Continue" and you end up in the main program where you can easily add your doors and windows and view a 3D view of your design. The 3D rendering is FAST! The "Fly Around" and "Walk Through" are fast and smooth. Very impressive rendering on my older computer. The product that I tried previously couldn't keep up with my mouse and presented a slow series of jerky screen redraws. Also, I was able to construct some complicated roofs with the free-hand roof tool. I was even able to apply a completely flat recessed roof with ease, something I couldn't do with the product I used previously. Items that need height adjustment, like beams, walls, lamps, ceilings, etc., can be positioned by moving a slider control up and down. There is also a great range of selections for paint color, surface materials, furniture, etc. The landscaping portion of the program even had a large collection of cacti and other Southwest plants. I didn't expect that. Beside the ability to "grow" the plants to compensate for age, you are presented with a description of each selected plant's growing characteristics and required care. The product also has a CAD program "3D Custom Workshop" for modifying and/or designing your own items (furniture, fireplaces, etc.) which I haven't tried yet. There are helpful videos and, rare these days, Home & Landscape Design actually comes with a printed manual (which is about an inch thick) that guides you through all of the house design steps. About a third of the manual covers the CAD program. There are many other features that I haven't tried yet. I don't understand some of the poor reviews for the suite version of this product. I was VERY impressed! I can see why this program is such a good seller.

I purchased Punch Home and Landscape Design and tried to do a very simple project; design a free-standing garage. The screen interface was not very user friendly. It seemed to have a lot of wonderful features, but I have no idea how to make them work. I tried to change the size of the windows, but the program kept defaulting back to the same size. I tried to place a custom-sized door, but the program insisted on defaulting back to a 32 inch door. I tried to choose a simple gabled roof, but it kept insisting on a hip roof.

The two-inch thick manual that came with the software was no help in solving any of these problems. It was not very user friendly, and did not address any of the problems that I was encountering. I turned to the in-context video help. The pictures played fine, but the sound came out as a distorted growl. No help there!

I called Punch technical support to see if they could assist me in getting the video help to work correctly. I was using Windows Vista and my video sound worked great in Windows Media Player or in Real Player. Unfortunately, Puch uses some off-brand video player to render the AVI files. The raw files would play perfectly on my machine using Media Player but not using the internal player Punch supplied.

Technical help was no help. They kept insisting it was a Windows Problem, or that I lacked the proper codex for my Media Player. Clearly, they did not know how to fix the issue.

I am returning the software and looking for another home design program. I think I will avoid Punch products.

This software is really hard to figure out, unless you know CAD software or read the gigantic manual that comes with it. And seriously - who wants to read a several hundred page manual? That's why we bought supposedly "easy to use" software in the first place! The quick start function is pretty nifty, and very easy to use. But that's where the ease of functionality stops. Drawing rooms by hand is tedious, moving between screens or resizing your plan is nonsensical, and the fly around/3D function is nearly impossible to navigate. Finding the materials list menu is equally confusing, so although the entire program seems like a good idea, it's not easy for a layman to use. We purchased this to explore options for a home addition, but have found paper & pen drawings to be easier, faster, and less aggravating, especially when doing multiple plans. Perhaps when we've determined a final design we'll go back to the Punch software, but in the meantime, it's more trouble than it's been worth.

I should have read more of the 1 star reviews. This may be fine for someone fooling around but if you try to model an existing room or set of rooms, called remodeling, it is impossible. The app "snaps" to nearby walls, sizes dimensions to wall centers rather than any thing that can be actually measured, my walls have different thicknesses due the pluming vents etc. This is with the snap to features turned off and the dimensioning tool set on surfaces. I can't believe that I have spent 9 hours over 4 days with this app. There appears no way to simply enter a dimension the mouse must be used which requires lots of zooming in and out and then because the room is labeled in the center of the room it is very difficult to see the dimension you are trying to adjust with the mouse. I could go on but:

Simply do not buy this unless you want a game.

I finally broke down and bought this software. I've been wanting a good home design software and have yet to find one. I've recently tried HGTV's Home Design and Remodeling Software and was disappointed so I decided to try this one. The 3D walk-though is a joke. The screen is black and I have to hold down my left mouse button to get it to show. The quality of the rendering is a joke. It cartoonish at best. It is also not easy. When I put the bathroom features in such as the tub, sink and toilet, they were floating on the ceiling. To get a piece of funiture to reposition at an angle, you have to know measurements and enter it into a field instead of simply grabbing a corner handle and moving it (i.e. 360 degrees, 120 degrees, etc.) I hated this software. It is a JOKE!!

Just got this product. It sucks. PERIOD. Definitely written by a programmer who doesn't understand the user community. That YAGER review. DEFINITELY written by someone who works at PUNCH because no one in their right mind would like this product out of the box. I tried to do a simple import picture and add plants and furniture and after a day of trying, couldn't get it to work properly. I suppose if you do CAD for a living, you might benefit from this product, otherwise... for the lay user trying to do some basic Home and Landscape design... go elsewhere.

I really wanted this type of software. However, it would not even start to install on my PC. I have a new PC with Windows 7 Ultimate. I sent it back for a refund.

This software was not very usar friendly, and once we finally got it downloaded onto the computer it would freeze up several times, even the the computer had the listed system requirements. Then it mainly had the ability to decorate a house, but not to design the overall structure (Old English Tutor, or Cottage, or put in a fireplace, etc.) We ended up returning it after a lot of frustration.

I was very excited to get my new software. I installed it with no problems whatsoever....however almost immediately after installing it my computer ran extremely slow. It didn't matter if I had the program running or not. I have more than enough space and speed on my system....but it bogged me down so much so that i UNinstalled the program. My computer is back to running like normal again. I didn't even have a chance to really play around to see what I could do with it. I'm pretty disappointed.