Home Design software

[slow2run]

What type should I get  that's  easy to live with ?--( also what is software,He He.

[Amanda_931]

It all depends!

(that's a motto here)

But "what is software" isn't that silly a question, if you add "for designing a house."

The computer on top of your neck may be the best one to use--with reading, talking, looking at land as the software--if you want to feed in information and have it come out with a house.

If you've pretty well got that in mind, then--uhhhh.  The old 3dhd version 3?? that John thinks is one of the easiest to learn is getting a bit harder to find--although somebody--John?--mentioned something more modern that worked pretty much like it.  Some of the professional ones seem almost to require a series of classes for you to "get it."

The Google free version of Sketch-Up does a lot of nice things pretty well--and the price is right.  But it won't tell you how long to cut your rafters.  It will allow you to see how your design looks from a lot of directions.

A couple of people here can make Paint turn cartwheels as far as drawing out a design goes.  With a few more limitations than sketch-up.  But for those who've worked with it for a while, it's FAST.  And maybe easier to share than all the others.

[glenn kangiser]

Software is just a generic name for a computer program - when you add a new program to your computer to make it do something else you programmed it with software  -- as opposed to hardware  - solid things that the software operates such as speakers - hard drives -- dvd drives - a sound card -- a screen or monitor -a keyboard or mouse- all solid things --hardware -- things that you can throw at someone and do some damage.

[bartholomew]

For design as opposed to drafting plans, I'd really recommend Google Sketchup. It's easy to learn, especially if you watch the videos on the Sketchup site.

http://sketchup.google.com/

http://sketchup.google.com/tutorials.html

[mikeschn]

For design I also like IMSI FloorPlan. Especially the photo-realistic previews...  

Mike...

[tibadoe]

If you would like a copy of 3DHA v3 I found it for sale here: http://www.superhomecenter.com/software/3d_home_architect_dlx3.htm  I ordered a copy for me and got it in a few days.  This is the version that works with the files from PlanHelp.com

Joe