Anyone use HGTV Ultimate Home Design?

[HappyOne]

Neighbor has it - still unopened even. Said it's mine for $20 as someone offered that to him yesterday.
Any good ? And can I use it to modify Johns plans if so ?
Or do y'all recommend something else?

[ChugiakTinkerer]

Not familiar with it, but it looks very similar to the Punch! home design products of a decade or two ago.  Looking at the reviews on Amazon it doesn't make me think it's even worth the $20.  But I'm a bit of a open source software purist.  I downloaded SweetHome3D for free and used it to do floor layout for my cabin.  From there I started using Sketchup for the detailed 3D renderings.

If I was to pay money I'd step up to Chief Architect, it's the leader in this particular software market.  That or pay $15 on Amazon for the premium version of SweetHome3D, which includes a printed manual.

I could be wrong, and it certainly isn't much of an investment to try it out.  But have a look at the Amazon reviews:

https://www.amazon.com/HGTV-Home-Landscape-Platinum-Suite/dp/B0042X78Z6/ref=pd_day0_65_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EP50BZ702ANF6TPP1826#customerReviews

[HappyOne]

The CA comes in a couple of flavors - doesn't seem that the $99.00 rates as high as the $59 Essentials version.
Being a rookie to this software thing - does one have a preference for any reason?

[hpinson]

Hi.  I tried it once, and it's good for sketching ideas quickly.  It's not suitable for developing actual plans that could be submitted for approval, but very fun to play with and try things out.  $20 yes I'd take the chance for that amount so long as you recognize its limitations.  If it is based on Punch! there may be an upgrade path to the much more costly pro version, but I really don't know.

Trimble Sketchup Pro seems to be preferred around here for making actual plans. The learning curve is much higher, but there are lots of good tutorials.  Also Chief Architect Home Designer Professional is wonderful, and can output drawings suitable for submission.  It is costly. MUCH easier to use than Sketchup, and you can get your feet wet with the much less costly non-pro version.

John's plans cannot be opened with HGTV Home & Landscape Platinum Suite 3.0. I believe they were developed originally in 3D Home Architect Version 3.  I was able to open the files in Home Designer 10  a few years ago, but a lot was lost. Some have purchased that original 3D Home Architect Version 3. software on Ebay/ Amazon and run used it in on an older Windows XP machine.  Plans then probably could be saved as DXF and imported into more modern software. Again, a lot would be lost. It probably would make more sense to try and recreate them in Sketchup or a draw program like Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw - or import into Chief Architect and try to fix.

[HappyOne]

Thanks sooooo much for all the info. 

In a perfect world we'd have the ability to import, change and play within all these programs but that's be to simple of course. lol
Thanks again!

[ChugiakTinkerer]

...
Some have purchased that original 3D Home Architect Version 3. software on Ebay/ Amazon and run used it in on an older Windows XP machine.  Plans then probably could be saved as DXF and imported into more modern software. Again, a lot would be lost. It probably would make more sense to try and recreate them in Sketchup or a draw program like Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw - or import into Chief Architect and try to fix.

I run Windows XP in a virtual machine on my Linux system.  You can also install Virtual Box on Mac and Windows systems and set up a separate operating system like Windows XP.  It's a little technical but not too messy to set it up.  That way I can boot up stuff that runs well in WinXP without having to have a separate computer.  It's not an elegant solution and probably not worth paying money for, but if you have an old Windows XP license key it doesn't take much to make it work.