Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed with product!
Review: I was very disappointed with the capabilities of this software. If you seriously want to design or remodel your home, I suggest purchasing something else.
Rating:
Summary: One Star May Be Too Much! ! !
Review: I wish I had read the reviews before purchasing this product. Oh, it worked great for the first couple of times I designed uncomplicated floorplans. I'm not designing a new home, I'm trying to fit my furniture into floorplans that I'm considering for purchase. All I want to do is put up walls, enter doors, windows and furniture and see what works. If you make one single error in putting furniture or walls outside the parameters of the program, you kill the entire floor plan and, ultimately, the software.I've been on e-mail with their support (???) people for the past week and still no fixes. If they read the previous contents of my e-mails, it's not apparent because they keep telling me to do the same thing the previous tech tried. I've finally given up and will toss the software in the trash before it brings my system down. I'll try the Sierra product ...and perhaps that will work for me. I hate to spend the money, but my time wasted in trying to get this trashy software to work is valuable, too. Hope you read my review and DON'T try the software. By the way, I have a 733Mh, 384MB RAM, Up-to-date video card Dell Pentium III system. So, the hardware's NOT the problem.
Rating:
Summary: The worst software I've ever purchased
Review: I would not advise anyone to buy this product. While it is easy to use and has good graphics, I have had countless problems with the software. It now won't allow me to make any changes unless I start completely over, and it causes an illegal operation error to occur each time I run it. I have tried numerous times to get software support. In addition to the worst on-line help system I've seen, the email support has been less than adequate. They have failed to solve a single one of my many problems. I've never written an on-line review for Amazon, but I felt compelled to do so in this instance in case anyone is considering wasting their money.
Rating:
Summary: Bad Program
Review: I've had this product for a few years now and used it on several different computers ranging from an NEC 166 mhz computer to an Ahtlon 2400 xp. It seems to reason that it works better on a faster computer with more memory and the 'bigger' your project gets the more speed and memory you need to operate the program. But overall, I've created some awesome floor plans with this product and the rendering feature is incredible for a novice designer. No, you won't be able to reproduce a buildable model of your future house and give it to your contractor, but that's not what this product is for. I'm not sure why so many people have trouble navigating the software either. It's pretty much self explanatory even without reading the instructions. There are several features I like about the program. One is the ability to see your house from every different direction. Not only that but it's awesome to be inside a room, drag and drop a window and instantly see to the 'outside'. Another feature I particularly like is being able to open a space on the 2nd floor to see the room below and the ability to make multilevel designs and then, if your computer is fast enough, furnish it room by room. There are also an infinate number of wallpapers, floor coverings and furnishings. But the most amazing thing to me is the lighting effects when rendering a specific view. Even the kitchen cabinets have an option to show lighting effects beneath each cabinet. The only thing I don't like about the program is the snapping feature. Sometimes objects snap to walls and other objects placed to close to them. On slower computers the program can just close out creating a program error, so the best advice is to periodically save whatever your working in the event this happens. The last thing I don't' like is when installing the program, it also installs an AOL icon on my desktop. If I wanted AOL, I'd send for their cd. All in all, it's a good buy for what you get. And no, I'm not an employee at Broderbund...
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome Graphics & Easy To Use
Review: I've had this product for a few years now and used it on several different computers ranging from an NEC 166 mhz computer to an Ahtlon 2400 xp. It seems to reason that it works better on a faster computer with more memory and the 'bigger' your project gets the more speed and memory you need to operate the program. But overall, I've created some awesome floor plans with this product and the rendering feature is incredible for a novice designer. No, you won't be able to reproduce a buildable model of your future house and give it to your contractor, but that's not what this product is for. I'm not sure why so many people have trouble navigating the software either. It's pretty much self explanatory even without reading the instructions. There are several features I like about the program. One is the ability to see your house from every different direction. Not only that but it's awesome to be inside a room, drag and drop a window and instantly see to the 'outside'. Another feature I particularly like is being able to open a space on the 2nd floor to see the room below and the ability to make multilevel designs and then, if your computer is fast enough, furnish it room by room. There are also an infinate number of wallpapers, floor coverings and furnishings. But the most amazing thing to me is the lighting effects when rendering a specific view. Even the kitchen cabinets have an option to show lighting effects beneath each cabinet. The only thing I don't like about the program is the snapping feature. Sometimes objects snap to walls and other objects placed to close to them. On slower computers the program can just close out creating a program error, so the best advice is to periodically save whatever your working in the event this happens. The last thing I don't' like is when installing the program, it also installs an AOL icon on my desktop. If I wanted AOL, I'd send for their cd. All in all, it's a good buy for what you get. And no, I'm not an employee at Broderbund...
Rating:
Summary: Bad Program
Review: I've tried to use this program on a PC running Windows 98SE. The system has 384 Mb of RAM, 12Gig Hard Drive, 500 Mhrtz and each time I've loaded this program and built a plan, I was either unable to save it or, after saving it, was unable to reaccess it. Support is on-line only, no telephone or email so I was unable to solve the Error messages. I wouldn't recommend this program.
Rating:
Summary: 100% Complete waste of money and time!
Review: My actual rating would be 0 stars or avoid! Without repeating the problems stated in the other reviews, I experienced them all. I tried installing this software on two desktop computers and a laptop, all extreamly high end hardware. The program behaved the same on all - TERRIBLY. There are most likely no perfect programs, but this one from Broderbund sould not be on the market.
Rating:
Summary: Broderbund Home Suite Design Warning
Review: Reviewing Total 3D Home Suite which seems to bundle most everything they offer. Very frustrating, counter-intuitive, difficult to work with, no tutorial, help not very helpful. Unless you are experiences with their products and have figured out some magic way to make them helpful, I could not recommend them.
Rating:
Summary: Broderbund Home Suite Design Warning
Review: Reviewing Total 3D Home Suite which seems to bundle most everything they offer. Very frustrating, counter-intuitive, difficult to work with, no tutorial, help not very helpful. Unless you are experiences with their products and have figured out some magic way to make them helpful, I could not recommend them.
Rating:
Summary: Not Worth Anything
Review: The software locked up when rendering 3D views. I tried everything that the readme file said and it still couldn't draw it 3D. I had used 3D Home Architect before which is a much better product.
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