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3D Home Architect Home & Landscape Design Suite Version 8 | 
 enlarge | From: Encore Software
Category: Software
List Price: $89.99
Buy New: $16.88
You Save: $73.11 (81%)
New (3) from $16.88
Rating:  7 reviews
Format: Cd-rom
Platform: Windows Xp
Media: CD-ROM
Operating System: Windows XP
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.3 x 2.6
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: 10630
Model: 23029
UPC: 705381106302
EAN: 0705381106302
Release Date: April 4, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Powerful and easy-to-use home and landscape design software | | • | Browse 1500 home plans and 7500-plant encyclopedia for inspiration | | • | Create ready-to-build blueprint-style plans for home and landscape | | • | Add sound effects and voice-overs to virtually animated tours | | • | View project in realistic 3-D; convenient wizards and tutorials |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
3D Home Architect - Home and Landscape Design Deluxe 8 lets you create the perfect home. Packed with powerful design capabilities and extensive reference resources, it's everything you need to bring your home design & landscaping goals within reach. Experiment with structures - Incorporate decks and patios, plus decorative and functional objects for every room in the house, plus the garden. Select the right plant for your landscape with Plant Encyclopedia, a listing of 7,500 different plants. Create structurally sound, fully framed deck plans with the new deck tool Advanced terrain modeling tools create natural slopes and grades Take advantage of 3DTrueView photo realistic rendering technology to view your plans onscreen in vivid, lifelike detail Browse the catalog to incorporate gazebos, fountains, furniture, pools, even tennis courts, and more into your landscape plan
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Good and not so good features May 30, 2008
Janaya
I've been using this product and versions of it's predecessors for quite a few years now. One thing I will say right away is that learning this for a newbie can take a little time. It can be fun, but it is difficult to take a space that is already in existence and build it with the program. As a person with CAD and design experience, I can say this is something I would use just for fun.
My biggest problems are the limitations of what you can create. Often my houses end up looking too much alike. Not to say you can't make a good variety of home designs; its just difficult or impossible to take what is in my head and build it with this program. Some of this is just because the different finishes are nice, but don't fit the interior design schemes I would like to create. I also have problems with the program randomly freezing, causing me to loose my work. It seems to happen in spurts. I also could not get the program to work on my husband's computer at all, and his is newer than mine.
All that being said, I have spent many hours creating homes and their interiors. I do like using the kitchen builder and playing with the landscaping tools, though they have their limitations too.
 No past and no future... July 26, 2007
Renaissance man (New York, USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have used 3D Home Architect v3 somewhat painfully but successfully in designing extensions to my house 7 years ago. Now I need to redesign my kitchen, so I said to myself: why not reuse my old plans in the latest version of this software? Well after some research in the web I found out that this software has no past and no future. Starting with V5 all designs with prior versions are not compatible and cannot be opened with newer versions. And starting with V9, all designs with previous versions are incompatible once again! Why you ask? Well, it seems that this software package has changed hands several times (from Broderbund, to Cadsoft, to Punch and Encore), and everytime this happened the old name remained but the old customers were abandoned; so you see what I mean by no past and no future. It appears that Cadsoft now makes a product called "Envisioneer" that will open 3DHDv8 files; however, this product costs about 1k!
I am so disgusted with this history of crass disregard for the customer that I am going to try the Better Home and Gardens product.
 Love It! June 5, 2007
helenerz (Sunny California)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I'm not a designer by any stretch of the imagination, nor have I ever used fancy CAD programs. My fiance is an architect, and I've always watched in amazement while he conjures up plans from out of the blue but (let's face it) had no idea when they meant.
I used this program as a hobby to visualize my dream home - or really, homes. I have so many that it's hard to pick! It was a little difficult to use this program, mostly because it required so many details, but the final product was EXACTLY what I had envisioned!
I can't comment on the blueprints or anything outside of the computer, because I can't afford to build this home just yet.. or possibly ever :( .. so there was no need to print out blueprints or show them to my fiance, but it was a lot of fun to "build" my homes on this program!
Totally worthless January 2, 2007
Tom from Illinois (Lake Forest, IL United States)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I tried to use this program to visualize some proposed renovations to my home - and gave up in frustration before I could even enter the existing first floor. This program lives in some weird fantasy world where kitchen cabinets only come in a few allowable sizes, windows are all custom made, stairs decide their own rise rate, and pocket doors are never placed in walls with other intersecting walls (to name a few). I'll be starting from scratch with another software package... What a huge waste of time.
I'm going back to graph paper and a pencil December 31, 2006
Anton P. Ruesing (Orlando, FL USA - Earth)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I was hoping to use this product to help me remodel my 87 year old home. It looked great and had "lots of extras", but there is almost too much detail, for example you cannot just draw a wall, you have to choose what type of material it is made out of and how thick it is. There is so much detail that it seems more like a high end CAD program than something for a basic home design program. That would be good if it had some of the features of a high end CAD program... like blueprints, or output to a plotter, but it does not. The "cool" features that make this a "flashy" program are such a pain to try to get to work correctly they render themselves worthless, because they are so cumbersome to use. For the price I am very disappointed. It is like paying for a Mercedes Benz and ending up with a car that look good, but has a hamster for an engine and only drives forward and only turns to the left so you spend so much time trying to figure out how to get where you want to be, you end up walking. I'm going back to a pencil, a ruler and graph paper.
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