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Full Version, Standard License, For 1 User/s, CD-ROM, MPN: 696065 |  |
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| Product Reviews from Amazon.com (Rating System 1 to 5) |
| Review | Rating | Last Updated | Hard to use, do not but from Hermanstreet
I am used to the Broderbund 3D 3.0. It is simple to use but even they have become more dificult to use in the latter versions. It is hard to do one section of a house at a time, and make adjustment to rooms. It's is a program for someone who knows what they want for a floor plan in the beginning. I would like to work backwards. start with the one room, with furniture, add the next room. then if I like the plan, then work on the roof and foundation. unfortunately the Broderbund 3.0 version does not work on Vista, or the campatibility mode. | 1 | Today | Has anyone at Punch ever built a house!?
This program is adequate for designing dog houses, but not for the real deal. The most fustrating thing with this program is adding floors (the type you walk on, not a story). Punch seems to think that the second story walls of a building are built directly on top of the first story walls - no Punch, they are built on top of the floor that sits on top of the walls below it. That throws your elevations off by about a foot for each story (assuming 10" joists and 5/8" plywood).
When you look at the detailed framing view, you can see they have no clue how a house is framed. | 1 | Today | More cons than pros
I bought the suite to draw a set of working plans for a home I'm building hoping it would be an improvement over the plans I've roughed out on graph paper. I've used AutoCad in my work as an engineer, and had my own contracting business for several years - so I'm familiar with both building and drafting trades. I didn't expect the full features of a CAD program, but frankly hoped for better. The program strength is the 3-D rendering, but the 2-D design features are primitive. Basic drawing features such as midpoint, offset, group/ungroup are not supported. The program has a frustrating way of putting objects such as electrical fixtures on top of others with no way to edit the lower object(s). Other quirks abound - when you undo an edit the program displays hidden layers, trying to change print settings is futile - the default view is all you get. There may be some tricks and work-arounds, but after almost a week of working with it I've concluded this isn't worth further effort. Oh, and if there is tech support on this product it isn't easy to access. | 2 | Today | Punch AS18 Home Architecht
I wouldn't recommend this software to anyone. Have had it for about 2 years now and still unable to properly draft a project. Very user unfriendly. After purchasing the program I tried to put a plan together just for my home to have for future upgrades to the structure. I had 90 day support they advertised and called to try to get the system down so I was familiar with working with it. I had read the book that came with it but was not very clear or structured as to how to begin and how to follow through the planning processes. After contacting the support folks they were very reluctant to provide answers to my questions always referring back to reading the book again that came with the program. I was expecting a much larger library of windows, doors, lights, electrical, etc and all fell very short of expectations of advertisements. Pictures represent all custom drawn windows lights etc. Save you money on this one your money could be better spent. | 1 | Today | Good software
This is a highly rates software for home design. I was never really able to use it because it seems to require some AutoCAD training. | 3 | Today | Slick, but missing something.
Nice program, easy to get started in if you have some CAD experience. I wish it had a way to make prints that were acceptable to our county building office for construction, but you can export/import .DWG and or .DXF files for a real CAD program. Some of the controls are a little clunky, but from the other software of similar styles that I have used, this one is pretty good. | 3 | Today | Difficult t ouse
A couple of years ago I bought home design software from Punch software and gave up on it after a few days of trying to figure out how to use it. (And I'm very technical and generally good with new software). I would not recommend this software unless you really have the time to spend figuring it out.
Google recently released a FREE home design software. Much like other Google products, this one is very easy to use - although not as powerful as one you might purchase. Before buying, I strongly recommend you check out Google's offering. Visit sketchup.google.com to take a look. | 2 | Today | difficult to use
I was really looking forward to using this project. I am a designer without CAD experience. I thought that the guide was difficult to use and confusing. I thought that the program was likewise difficult. I am sure that someone with CAD experience would have no problem using it, but if you knew how to use CAD why would you need a new program? I really would have liked it if they could offer a training course - even an online training tutorial or CD. I have basically given up on using it for any professional application. | 3 | Today | Jack of All Trades, Master of None
Strengths: Support for nearly every aspect of home design, from foundation to landscaping
Weaknesses: Sometimes quirky interface; less functional in some areas than others
Overall, Punch! Home Design Architectural Series 18 (HDAS18 hereafter) is a pretty solid product for the price. It's big draw is that it is a home design suite. That is, it claims to provide the user with the ability to control every aspect of home design, from plotting the topography of your lot, to constructing your floor plan, to landscaping and adding furnishings to your new virtual home. For the most part, HDAS18 delivers on its promises.
Unlike other comparable software packages, which are actually composed of several different stand-alone applications, HDAS18 is an integrated package. While there are different applets within the program to work on, say, the framing of your virtual home, all of these applets are launched fairly seamlessly from within the program itself. These applets, which Punch! calls PowerTools, run the gamut from the quite useful to the impossibly difficult to master. Topo designer, for instance, allows you to precisely edit the topography of your site, adding slopes and gullies to your lot which the program takes into account when you lay your virtual foundation. Other PowerTools, such as 3D Custom Workshop, are more frustrating to use. The idea of creating custom 3D objects such as furniture, decor, etc. to add to your design is appealing, but users without extensive CAD (computer-aided design) software experience will find this feature virtually unusable.
I purchased this product primarily for its landscaping function. I want to add some landscaping to my existing home, and I wanted to be able to visualize my ideas in 3D before committing the time and money to creating a lawn that I would ultimately be unsatisfied with. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed with the landscaping features of HDAS18. Like most of the other features in the program, it's fairly comprehensive. The software includes a fairly large library of different plants, which can be searched using criteria such as name, hardiness zones, and recommended sunlight exposure. However, I found that adding the plants I wanted to my landscape was frequently hindered by inaccurate information. HDAS18's plant database contains information on the size of plants, from seedling to mature, and it uses this information to determine how large the plant's 3D model should be. Many plants I attempted to use, however, were mis-sized at one point or another. For instance, I could only plant a sago palm that was 6' in diameter, even though I can buy a 12" plant at my local nursery. This can be worked around by substituting other plants, but it was a bit of a disappointment.
Generally, the program's other features work a little better than the landscaping tool, but laying out the walls, floors, and roof of home plans could be simpler and more streamlined. There's a great roofing wizard, for example, that can create a hip roof for your design in just a matter of seconds. This didn't prove helpful to me, however, as I wanted to add a gable roof with a 10:12 pitch covering a living area with a ceiling having a 4:12 pitch. Ultimately, I was able to achieve the desired look by adding several roofs at different heights to my home, but there should be an easier way to do something like this. Likewise, soffits can only be added by awkwardly using the flooring tool and adding a virtual top floor to your design; this should be integrated into the roofing tool.
Although it falls short of the ideal home design program, Home Design Architectural Series 18 is a well-rounded product for its price. It's stronger in some areas than in others, and none of its tools are perfect, but you could very easily create plans for an entire homesite, including topography, blueprints, electrical, HVAC, and landscaping using only this program--after overcoming the moderately steep learning curve, of course. Most other programs that offer this much functionality are probably out of the league (in both performance and price) of HDAS18, placing this program in the sweet spot of price vs. performance. If you want a home design program that will do everything but don't have several hundred (or thousand) dollars to spend on professional-grade software, then this is the home design suite for you. | 4 | Today | Punch Home Design 18
A step above Etch-A-Sketch. Fell way below my needs. Full of bugs. OK product for first time homeowner wanting to tinker around with thier plans. | 2 | Today |
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