Instant Landscaping

by TOPICS Entertainment

Product Features

• The Instant Landscape CD shows you a new world of virtual gardens. Choose from thousands of renovation possibilities.
• Import a picture of your own garden, then begin choosing location for your hedges, ornaments, and more -- with a click of your mouse
• Detailed botanical reference guide helps you pick out plants & flowers for the perfect garden
• Add more additions to your dream home with the Instant Deck, Pool & Hot Tub
• 30 video tutorials help you deal with every facet of construction, from start to finish

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002060GQ
• Item model number: CS-441
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 1, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,636 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From hedges to hot tubs upgrading your domestic surroundings just got easier with Instant Landscaping software on 2 interactive CD-ROM'sSystem Requirements:Win 95 or higher Pentium processor or better 32 MB RAM 30 MB HD 2x CD-ROM Drive 640x480 256 colors Mouse sound cardOptional Requirements:Printer Internet AccessFormat: WIN 9598MENT2000XPVISTA Genre: REFERENCE / LIFESTYLE UPC: 781735804414 Manufacturer No: CS-441

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No More Than Poor Quality Clipart, January 17, 2009

By 

Eve Granger "Domesticated" (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Instant Landscaping (CD-ROM)

After attempting to landscape my house using a photo I'd taken and images from a google image search, I figured there had to be an easier way. So, I purchased Instant Landscaping. "From hedges to hot tubs," the packaging claims, it's "the perfect way to customize your lot before you reach for the tools!" It lies! You know what was a more perfect way to customize my lot than this waste of ten bucks? Using google image search. Because USING GOOGLE NETTED ME MORE AND BETTER QUALITY LANDSCAPING IMAGES THAN THIS SOFTWARE HAS. Seriously.

The images the software has are nothing more than cut-outs from other peoples' homes. For example, a rock wall with jagged edges where bushes have been edited out and a fence with, obviously, a HILL cut out of the bottom of it are included in the lousy image database. The images are not scaled relative to each other, so a tree an inch high complements a shrub five times larger. Scaling the tree does not result in a bigger version of the tree, just a pixelated mess because the image is so small. So, I uploaded a picture of my backyard and the tree in the software was about the size of my front steps while a shrub was normal-sized.

Then there are silly categories like pets and people. This way you can put your pet dolphin in your garden (there are only two dogs available--a sheep dog and a dachshund) to make it more realistic! Ridiculous. The people category includes a child playing with a puppy--a child that, relative to your tree, is going to be about forty feet tall when sitting. Oh, and don't forget the "shapes" category, for that fifty-foot tall "#1 Dad Wooden Picture Frame" I know we all aspire to have in our yards.

All in all, this software was a waste of money. I accomplished better results working with images found in a google image search--and those were better quality images to boot.

This software gets one star, and that's not because zero isn't available, but because it certainly is user-friendly. Someone unfamiliar with technology would be able to figure out how to drag and drop images...but they'd be able to figure out how to type in "large tree" into google image search a lot quicker.

Woooooooosh.

That's the sound of ten dollars blowing out the window. I heard it while I was buying this software but thought it was just a breeze. In retrospect, there was no wind that day and the door was closed.

Oh, well.