1 of 1 customers found the following review helpful:
 Good product, needs work, 2006-11-27
This program is cool to design a house with, but i found it has a lot of things u can't do, but overall it isn't bad. One of my major peeves of the program is that when u put in say a table or a piece of furniture, the main color is always a horrible woodgrain, even the cars, and sometimes it is hard to change. The terrain is another problem it is square, no hills, u are basically left to build a structure on a perfectly flat surface, which is rarely true. But the program is incredibly easy to use, even for a high schooler like me. I would recomend this product for anyone who just wants an idea of how there new house would look, and i would not go into great detail in your plan, this is just a general program.
1 of 1 customers found the following review helpful:
 This one is good!, 2004-09-26
I have used this extensively and find it intuitive with enough features to render your concept in "rough". This is NOT for a finished architectural plan. But you can bring up enough to show the concept to a professional and talk through the rest.
This is also a "fun" program to use, but it's best to read the user guide which is short and gets you through things nicely.
Don't expect the super artistic or serious CAD features of the expensive programs. Do expect this one to be easy to use. It is forgiving and lets you do quite a bit for the money.
I read reviews of 5.0, and understand it is not the same product, using a different engine. Too bad too as they say this one is discontinued. Because this is the best one it appears. Drats. I was hoping for an upgrade.
3 of 3 customers found the following review helpful:
great program but won't run on XP, 2004-02-26
I love the 3D Home Architect 4.0 . I have purchased 2 Punch programs also, they are impossible to use. the 3D Home Architect 4.0 is simple and beautiful. the only problem I have run into is: I just purchaed a new computer with WindowsXP and the 3D Home Architect 4.0 will not install. I have heard that the upgrade to 3D Home Architect 4.0 is not good. any suggestions?
6 of 6 customers found the following review helpful:
For the money it is unbeatable, 2004-01-27
For the money this 3D Home Architect 4.0 can't be beat. You can easily build walls, install windows, cabinets, fixtures, doorways, etc. The impressive thing is that if you want to resize something, like a wall, it displays in a revolving manner the actual wall dimension. The full camera enables you to click on a spot and get a full view of what your design looks like in its completion. The amount of detail, like being able to put paintings on the wall, or custom effect painting is not an option. As you go up the chain of Broderbund software you gain a lot more in the way of small details. That gives you a more finished look, rather than a comic book level of realization. If you are a design professional, and need to show customers a print out of what their new design for the kitchen will look like, this is great for that. Placing cabinets, refrigerator, windows and doors, tables and chairs, windows etc, are easy to place and move around. As far as minute accuracies of wall and cabinet sizes, you gain more precision as you move up the versions. In Better Homes and Gardens version, which is a spin off of the same people who give us Chief Architect, you get more specifics.
Starting with Home Architect 4.0, then up to Better Homes and Gardens Designer Suite 6 for twice the money, and Designer Pro 6 for ten times the money, and finally Chief Architect 9.5 for twenty times the money. (These prices can vary during the life of this review, so check the product pages for current prices) Each of these programs give you more and more details. They are all usable in the upgraded program. Since they are all made by the same people, you can open a cheaper versions creation and embellish it with the additional tools. Their is some confusion over 3D Home Architect 5.0 not being compatible with 4.0 even though it is a Broderbund Product and therefore uses different tools, and is not usable for existing works in the Broderbund family. If you go to the listing on Architect 5.0 you can read a review explaining that further.
If you buy Chief Architect Deluxe 9.5 from Broderbund you get very exacting software. In Chief you can size a wall as specifically as you want, and do the same with cabinets windows etc. By double clicking on a wall for example, up comes a window and you can type in a very specific dimension like 17' 8 3/16", and it will automatically size the wall to that dimension. In 4.0 you can only resize the wall in 1" increments, and cabinets in 3" increments.
These versions come with a library of different styles of furniture, windows etc. The Chief Architect even carries specific models of some popular manufacturers with their specific dimensions. Jeld Wen windows are an example of that. (Andersen and Pella are not included??)
In Chief you getter higher quality 3D models....
With Chief you get full CAD editing and too many features than would be advisable to list in a review of 4.0. If you would like to try a free demo version of Chief Architect Deluxe 9.5, you can do so by downloading it from the Chief Architect site. It is 17 megabytes so if you are using 56K it will take quite some time. The demo version is a full version with certain limitations, not the least of which is being able to save your work or print it. In addition the libraries are limited.
Overall I like the program, the learning curve is enjoyable due to being able to just click on build, choose a wall, a cabinet, window etc, and lay it out on the screen.
All in all I highly recommend the program.. For the money, 4.0 is unbeatable.
1 of 1 customers found the following review helpful:
 Least of all evils I guess, 2004-01-11
Has some powerful features, but not a very quality product. Don't expect the quality that is in most microsoft products we use every day. For instance:
- a help index that had all the necessary key words
- an index in the manual that is worthwhile
- Nonspecific error codes that persistently appear leaving you to guess what is causing them
- no keyboard shortcuts (esp for critical items like zoom, etc.)
- all kinds of little bugs here & there
- no implementation of mouse wheel, etc.For floor planning only I'd recommend Visio 2003 - a realy quality product with all the dimensioning you really need. It's a pity to see them put this much effort into a product, and then shoot themselves in the foot with sooo many little shortcomings.
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