Instant Home Design (4 CD-ROM)

The concept behind Instant Home Design is a simple one. Users evaluate a planned renovation to a home by scanning in a photograph of the house. Once uploaded, the photo can then be altered and expanded upon. You can change the exterior of a home from wood to brick, add a skylight, or build an additional bathroom. Viewing the altered photograph, you can then make informed decisions about whether a contemplated change is worth the expense.

Unfortunately, a host of minor glitches will probably leave eager renovators frustrated with Instant Home Design and still in the dark about the merit of their design scheme. The most fundamental of these problems is the interface, which is non-intuitive to the extreme and makes the process of using the program hard to learn. True, clicking on almost any screen object will trigger a lengthy video, one which purportedly explains how to use the features of the package. However, instructions on the basics--how to draw a house or room from scratch, for example, or how to single out part of the roof for alteration--are all but lost amid cheerful video chatter about more esoteric options.

Instant Home Design is also prone to system crashes, and though it works in partnership with a Web page that allows users to download interior and exterior wall patterns and other home decor elements, the site tends to have errors and it loads very slowly. The program also lacks features that add to the appeal of its competitors. In particular, users cannot get automatic price estimates for their renovations, or move easily from room to room in a simulated 3-D tour. Finally, drawing a new home from scratch with this program is an intensely slow process.

To some extent, Instant Home Design suffers from a flaw common to most current home design software. It is extraordinarily difficult to take a flat picture of a home and then provide information about its three-dimensional features. In this respect, Instant Home Design merely reflects the weakness of similar programs. However, Instant Home Design has been less successful than others in combining the techniques available for merging digital photographs with images of home furnishings and finishes. --Alyx Dellamonica

Amazon.com Product Description
The four CD-ROMs that comprise Instant Home Design make designing andremodeling your home fun and easy. You can scan in a photo of your own hometo design and build on instead of tediously re-creating your existinglayout. Simply follow the enclosed instructions on how to put a photographof your house onto a disk (or use a scanner or digital camera). In lessthan 30 minutes you'll be able to start designing both the interior andexterior of your home.

• Instant Remodeling lets you visualize renovations to your homebefore you spend any money. Start with an existing photograph of your home,and simply explore the various functions and possibilities with a click ofthe mouse: see how remodeling your kitchen will look, or what your bedroomwould be like with a new paint job before actually starting such projects.
• Instant Interior Design has over 10,000 photographic images of realproducts from popular brand names and designers. Experiment with differentwallpaper styles and paint colors, and bookmark your favorite selections. Asearch function is included for fast reference and to locate objectseasily. Or start from scratch and design a new, empty room with thedimensions you supply. Discover how easy and fun it is to design theinterior of your home, without having to move furniture around or buysamples of paint.
• The Instant Dream Home CD-ROM lets you navigate through thousands ofreal-life products like garage doors, window treatments, paint colors, androofing varieties, and test out features you might not have considered.Bring your elevation plans to life, and see how easy it is to constructyour dream home with a click of the mouse.
• Instant Deck, Pool, & Hot Tub helps you identify and solve difficulties prior to construction. You can experiment with different poolshapes and see how they will look with your home. This is an idealsoftware program for anyone thinking of adding a deck, pool, or hot tub totheir home, and helps with all the planning that needs to be done beforedigging up the backyard. The 30 tutorial videos also make navigating andusing this CD easy and fun to work with.