Customer Reviews

Total 3D Home Deluxe 3.0

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

I used this product to try to help me redesign my current house. A bit of background: I've used many 3d editing packages in the past, so I know what I'm doing. The user interface isn't the best, but it's workable. The problem is that the software is so unstable as to be useless: Imagine working on a design for a couple of hours and have the program crash. What's that I hear? I should have saved it? I did save it. Frequently. Unfortunately, the save file was corrupted in some way that once I load it, the program crashes almost immediately. If you must use this product, save frequently and to new file names.

And even when this product worked, it didn't work well. I tried several roof lines for a very basic house layout and most failed profoundly. Modifications I did in one view would be lost after switching to another view and back again. I can't adequately commuicate the frustration of using this poorly written software.

By the way, the system I was running on was a very fast (1.1Ghz) system with 512Mb of RAM, so there shouldn't have been a memory or speed problem.

Don't buy this program. It's an embarassment to Broderbund.

I would not advise anyone to buy this product. While it is easy to use and has good graphics, I have had countless problems with the software. It now won't allow me to make any changes unless I start completely over, and it causes an illegal operation error to occur each time I run it. I have tried numerous times to get software support. In addition to the worst on-line help system I've seen, the email support has been less than adequate. They have failed to solve a single one of my many problems. I've never written an on-line review for Amazon, but I felt compelled to do so in this instance in case anyone is considering wasting their money.

After having used another piece of home design software, I found this product to be much more user-friendly. Simply put, it is a fun program to play around with, to get some rough ideas. After all, look at the price. This is not intended to be professional calibre software. But for dabbling in home design, it would be difficult to find an program that is easier to use. If the day ever comes that I want a house built, I will be using this software to "sketch" my ideas to take to an architect.

I don't know why some people are having problems. I installed this version and had a blast designing the layout of our new house and placing the furniture/appliances throughout the it. Then you can see it in 3D and that really makes the program worthwhile. I give it a four star because version 4.0 is out and I'll try that one too. I have a PIII 500 with 256ram, ATIragePro video card, running windows 2000. No problem with the program. One thing, remember to click "open above" over the staircase area to connect the second floor. I had a lot of trouble with that until customer service helped me out.

I read the reviews for this product and almost didn't purchase it. I'm really glad I finally did! I tried the other ones that were recommended, but they were just way too complicated. I like this product, it's a piece of cake to use, it does pretty much everything I ask of it, and it's fun. You don't have to be a designer or computer wiz to use it. It's great for someone like me without a lot of computer experience! If you want to design homes for a living, get the other programs. If you want to have fun dreaming, buy this one!

I wish I had read the reviews before purchasing this product. Oh, it worked great for the first couple of times I designed uncomplicated floorplans. I'm not designing a new home, I'm trying to fit my furniture into floorplans that I'm considering for purchase. All I want to do is put up walls, enter doors, windows and furniture and see what works. If you make one single error in putting furniture or walls outside the parameters of the program, you kill the entire floor plan and, ultimately, the software.

I've been on e-mail with their support (???) people for the past week and still no fixes. If they read the previous contents of my e-mails, it's not apparent because they keep telling me to do the same thing the previous tech tried. I've finally given up and will toss the software in the trash before it brings my system down.

I'll try the Sierra product ...and perhaps that will work for me. I hate to spend the money, but my time wasted in trying to get this trashy software to work is valuable, too. Hope you read my review and DON'T try the software.

By the way, I have a 733Mh, 384MB RAM, Up-to-date video card Dell Pentium III system. So, the hardware's NOT the problem.

I am really glad I listened to the 1 positive review and tried this software package. This program is about as easy as it could be made, and still have the flexibility to design something intricate, particularly in the kitchen and bath. It also tries to estimate costs based on materials used, but I have found this feature to be a little bit inaccurate.

The 3D engine is incredibly useful for figuring out how different ideas will look. Based on reviews of other programs it appears that this one is fairly speedy as it works in REAL TIME. The speed is fairly good on my PII 400 MHz with a decent (2 year old) video card TNT Nvidia. High quality renders with ray tracing and light shadows are pretty cool.

Well worth the [money], I don't think I would want a more simplified interface and lack flexibility, and I don't think I would benefit from any of the features in more [spendy]packages.

The software locked up when rendering 3D views. I tried everything that the readme file said and it still couldn't draw it 3D. I had used 3D Home Architect before which is a much better product.

I have tried numerous times to get this software to work but have found that it consistently freezes up with even simple house designs. I have repeatedly contacted the on-line support service and have been advised to decrease the video performance, get new video drivers and shut down all other programs on my computer. None of this has helped. I bought a new 3D video card that supports 32MB SDRAM and still had no success. This is the first time I have bought software that just did not work. Mattell would do well to take this off the market, do a bit more research, and try again. I wasted dollars on the software as well as on a new video card.

I was almost relieved to read the other reviews of this program, it used to crash alot on my older computer but I thought all the problems would be fixed when I brought home my new laptop last weekend. I was trying to redesign my 1100 sq foot house and everytime I start the program it will only run for 10 minutes or 2-3 changes. And every other time I try to save any changes, the software crashes without saving,which is extemely frustrating. Oh well, at least I know it's not my computer, back to the store for a decent piece of software.