Rating: 
Summary: Definitely for amatures
Review: Having worked with a couple of design programs which work in 2D, I purchased Super Home Suite, hoping it would work essentially the same--only adding 3D capability. I immediately found the software essentially unusable for anyone who cares for precision. It is my opinion that presicion is highly important in building, architecture, and design, yet Super Home Suite's designers didn't seem to care. There is no way on the screen that I can tell exactly where my wall or window or door will be placed. After it is placed, measurements are given only to the center of objects--i.e. from the middle of a wall to the middle of the next wall, or from the middle of a wall to the middle of the window. I have done quite a bit of building, and everyone always works from edge to edge--never centers. This software took and incredible amount of mental work on my part to try to create a simple floorplan (subtracting & adding inches in my head from how I normally work and design). I skipped the interior wall layout, because I was exhausted, and tried to put a roof on. Even following the book and help files, I was unable to get the program to render my roof in a pitch other than 12:12. They say it can be done, but the computer disregarded my commands. Here I ran into another precision issue--I cannot tell exactly how my roof is sitting over my walls. Is the overhang 8" on one side and 12" on the other? I can get close if I squint really hard at the screen. Good thing they give a 90 day money back guarantee.
Rating:
Summary: Walls and Roofs very limited ... got my money back!
Review: I bought this hoping to do some remodeling renderings of my house. My house has all vaulted ceilings. There is not one roof in this program that would work on any part of my house. All of the roof lines are A-frame. There is no way to have a wall that is not a perfect rectangle. Almost all walls in my home are not. So this program was completely useless. Look at all the example plans in the program. None of them have any out of the ordinary roofs or walls. The update on the website has one roof that is called a 'shed'. It was a joke. No help at all. If are going to create a design that has anything that is unique or out of the ordinary, skip this program.
Rating:
Summary: Severely broken
Review: I bought this software 2 weeks ago, and I have yet to get it installed in a way that makes the "3D Furniture Workshop" part of it functional. When I launch that component (which is required in order to resize the stock furniture pieces or create new ones) it tells me the names of two DLLs that it is unable to load, even though they do exist in c:\windows and c:\windows\system, respectively. Since it cannot locate these DLLs, all 3D rendering is disabled, and in fact 2D viewing also displays only a blank screen. Punch's supoort e-mail takes 3 days to reply to e-mail, and the telephone support number is not open on week-ends or evening. I cannot return it to the store, because I had thrown out the
package before I realized the problem. Based on the information in the reviews here on Amazon, I will ask Punch for a refund.
Rating: 
Summary: Not so easy to use, but very powerful
Review: I downloaded the demo version and played with it for a couple of days. It can be very frustating to use this tool in the beginning but once you get a hang of it, it is very nice. I designed a couple of different plans and was very excited to see the 3D view. This too, with the limited version that I had. Many of the features were not available since I was just trying a demo. I also downloaded the 3D home design and tried it for a couple of weeks. Although 3D Home design is easy to use, I like Punch.
I just bought the copy on ebay and now eagerly waiting it to arrive.
Rating:
Summary: NT Users Beware
Review: I have a fairly high-speed NT system, and although the 3.51 product is advertised as being compatible with NT, it's not. The software completely hangs up my computer every time I do a 3-D viewing. Customer service was polite, but useless. I'm glad there's a money-back warrantee!
Rating: 
Summary: Just a toy; a broken toy
Review: I really hate to be so critical but the thing with Punch is they promised so much and just didn't deliver. One reviewer mentioned that they offer a nice variety of doors, windows, etc. Well, there were three deck shapes to choose from. Is that Variety? And while you could adjust the shapes somewhat, I couldn't get it to accept exact measurements. Now how can you build something without exact measurements? Oh, did I mention I live on a slope? Punch doesn't do decks on a slope. Everytime I tried to adjust the deck to the slope - it started to build a house with a basement. There were only a few stair types and only 1-2 places I could place the stairs. Forget about stairs with a landing that change direction. And all the stairs had fixed heights - which is really ridiculous. This software was time consuming and a waste of money. Let me add, I did not try the scanning feature - so I can't say how that works.
Rating: 
Summary: Punch Super Home Suite 3.0
Review: I recently fell in love with Punch Super Home Suite. I have tried other home design programs before, but spent most of my time frustrated by not being able to jump right in and time stakingly wading through pages of the manual. I want a way to be able to "virtually" create my dreamhouse and to be able to walk through it before we build it. Punch provided that! It was so easy to get started into the program. I was able to create the object of my dreams in about 45 minutes. After creating in the 2D, I walked around in the 3D only to be amazed by how closely it resembled what was only previously in my head. A fun part of the program is applying the brick in the 3D to see which sample I liked best. The color palatte is really nice to use allowing me to customize the colors for my walls. Outside I planted trees, shrubs, and flowers and was blown away by seeing what the yard will look like in 5,10,and 15 years.
Rating:
Summary: A very pleased customer
Review: I srongly recomend this to anyboby wanting to "design " their new house.It did take a few minutes to get familiar with but is very enjoyable and fun to use.I have a hard time with using my imagination to think about how things will look.With this program it allowed me to put in what I wanted and then see it .I have a 500 pentium processor with 128 memory and had no difficulity with the 3D walk through.With this program you are getting the most for your money.There is a reason why this is only 70.00 and professionals charge around 500.00.This is meant to design your home ,not build it for you.This is a great tool and I find that it works great with other programs, for that extra special custom look.I recommend this for any body who is going to build a house or just wants to have hours of fun.With the information that you will recieve when you are done designing, the estimator is really helpful and it does save alot of time and aggrevation when you go to the pro's to have your official blueprints drawn up.If you are lucky like in some areas around here you won't need to spend that extra money because towns around here will except the print out from this program. Buy with confidence that you are getting your moneys worth ,that it will do what it says ,and that you can happily and easily design your new home.Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: roofs and walls
Review: I was initially excited at how easy it is to create a structure, and indeed that is this program's strength. But as I used it more, I became more disappointed. Roofs are poorly done. You'll notice that all the samples have the same roof lines. You cannot create true gables. You cannot create anything pretty much out of the ordinary in fact. Try drawing a barn for example. And walls are a problem when you want anything that is not ordinary. Try drawing a knee wall. You cannot specify individual wall height. They have a good concept and an easy api, but ease of use is no substitute for basic features. I am disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Does NOT perform as the 'box' claims it will
Review: I was very disappointed with this product. Not only was it the most expensive home product, but it was the largest waste of money. Forget 'designing' the interior of your house! NO paneled doors, no arched windows, no french doors, only one type of shower, no washer or dryer to be placed in the house just to name a few things missing from their 'large selection.' The 'furniture design suite' is not easy to operate. The so-called instruction manual fails to give any instructions. My computer is a Pentium 500 and I have 64 megs ram-the program still would not let me do 3-D walkthrough-it was 3-D standstill. The paint,fabric,floor options were from 1960 (all 10 of them). This program is terrible! I will be purchasing something else for sure! A plus side: lets you scan in a plan and trace it. After you trace the plan, the fun is over. Forget doing anything but outlining you "dream home."
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