Home Designer Suite

[AndrewinNC]

I bought this program a while ago and left it on the shelf for a while but recently I started using it and I'm impressed and let down at the same time. It's incredibly easy but lacks some key features and options that I had in a 40$ program called 3D Home Architect. Anyway it's a gateway program for Chief Architect and all in all is a good one and reliable for someone who just wants to be able to put their ideas down and visualize them.
http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp253/AndrewinNC/fullplan.jpg
http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp253/AndrewinNC/viewtoentry.jpg
http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp253/AndrewinNC/viewoffrontporch.jpg
http://i417.photobucket.com/albums/pp253/AndrewinNC/floorplan2.jpg

[Rich]

I purchased Chief Arch a little over a year ago.. great program. I'm still learning some of it's capabilities. The cad capability (lines) isn't near as polished as Autocad so I still used Acad quite a bit for details and stuff - it's just faster.

[AndrewinNC]

I'm disappointed in the lack of options that you have with the roof design in Home Designer Suite but I will probably just build a real model for that part.

[3DPV]

Hi Andrew,
Great job using Home Designer. It was so much better and easier to use than the other software I had purchased, but I wanted more options and flexibility. I use Chief Architect's X1 now. With it, I can build any custom detail an architect or draftsman can think up, and they can get pretty creative! I do 3D renders for individuals building their dream homes, Realtors, draftsmen and architects. The only down side to X1 is the lack of really good walk-through animation tools. Some folks are not happy with the POVray tool, but I think it works pretty well. This was done for a customer with Chief Architect X1 and POVray.
http://www.3dplanview.com/BobShofnerReady/BS%20Master%20BR%20Demo%20Final%20Images/BS%20Master%20Suite%20Images%20w%20LOGO%20800s/Skew%20C%20Toward%20TV%20and%20Window%20LOGO.jpg
Please visit 3DPlanView (http://www.3dplanview.com) for more examples!
Kay

[Rich]

3DPV - you should look into Kerkythea at www.kerkythea.net (http://www.kerkythea.net) for rendering. Much faster with better options than POV... and it's free.

[3DPV]

Hi Rich,
I have heard great things about Kerkythea. The renderings look very real. Do you use it?
Kay

[Rich]

I've just begun to learn how to use it. My initial renderings have been very fast compared to POV. I have a long way to go to learning what it can and can't do though. It would be much better if CA would come up with a direct exporter.

[Rich]

Here is an example of a kitchen remodel I did in CA X1 w/ Kerkythea as the rendering engine.

[3DPV]

Nice kitchen and lighting, David. Putting tons of lights is a real time killer in a POVray rendering. It is also very hard to get the brightness looking right. I generally have to limit the number and type of lights I use in a scene.

[Rich]

Here is an updated version of the one above with better lighting - although it looks like my lights are off (still haven't figured that one out).

[tommyboy]

wow this is very cool. Do you need a state of the art computer to run this stuff?