Rating: 
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: I was rather disappointed that this program could not import my house design from 3D Home Architect 4.0. The tools it has for designing the exterior of homes are very rudimentary at best.
Rating: 
Summary: Toy, not a tool
Review: Not what you would expect, even for $$$. After many hours, I have a house model that still doesn't look like mine. You can't type in your house dimensions. Instead you have to rely on dragging the corners, a process which is way to coarse. The fence options look like something from Disneyland. They don't mention that amongst the 7000 plants, there are numerous varieties of carrots, melons, etc. Come on folks, that is just plain misleading. I have a 70 year old Douglas Fir tree in my front yard, which doesn't look like an overgrown Christmas tree, the only option offered by this program. There is no way to edit the models or introduce your own. Don't expect to do any serious work with this program. It is just a video game
Rating:
Summary: Toy, not a tool
Review: Not what you would expect, even for $$$. After many hours, I have a house model that still doesn't look like mine. You can't type in your house dimensions. Instead you have to rely on dragging the corners, a process which is way to coarse. The fence options look like something from Disneyland. They don't mention that amongst the 7000 plants, there are numerous varieties of carrots, melons, etc. Come on folks, that is just plain misleading. I have a 70 year old Douglas Fir tree in my front yard, which doesn't look like an overgrown Christmas tree, the only option offered by this program. There is no way to edit the models or introduce your own. Don't expect to do any serious work with this program. It is just a video game
Rating: 
Summary: Major Dissapointment.
Review: Simply put the home wizard is piece of junk unless your house is box. The plant database is somewhat useful. The objects are lacking, they should of included more textures and objects.
Definitely returning this sucker.
Rating:
Summary: Useless without 3D Home Architech
Review: The basis of landscape is to fit it to your house. Unfortunately, if you don't have 3D Home Architech already, you're hosed in having any chance of devolping anything useful that looks like your house. Buyer beware - you need the suite - and there's no warning that 3D Home Architect is needed. And once you've bought this software, you are destined to buy more outdated software to make it useable - so you might as well go for it all with the suite. It has been a long time since I have bought any Broderbund software, and it will be longer yet, as in never!
Rating:
Summary: Useless without 3D Home Architech
Review: The basis of landscape is to fit it to your house. Unfortunately, if you don't have 3D Home Architech already, you're hosed in having any chance of devolping anything useful that looks like your house. Buyer beware - you need the suite - and there's no warning that 3D Home Architect is needed. And once you've bought this software, you are destined to buy more outdated software to make it useable - so you might as well go for it all with the suite. It has been a long time since I have bought any Broderbund software, and it will be longer yet, as in never!
Rating:
Summary: Both thumbs down . . .
Review: The program has potential with a bit more refining, flexibility and power incorporated into it's structure. The plant database was a pleasant surprise though realize it would have to be much larger to accomodate all horticultural regions of the U.S. Basically, not a fully "baked" tool at this juncture unfortunately there are not many alternatives available.
Rating:
Summary: A huge disappointment
Review: This product had potential. It looked pretty easy to figure out and I was finding my way around it with ease, but any time I attempted to use ANY of the tools beyond basic surfaces it froze up and crashed my computer. In a 20 minute period I reopened the software at least 10 times. The only problem I saw with navigating around was finding the right plants. It is not readily apparent how to find specific plants and the names are screwy when you do find them. It's cheap for a reason.....you get what you pay for.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as I hoped...
Review: This software will work for you if have a simple landscape and moderate expectations. The multiple camera feature is great, and the walkthrough works well. If you have a flat lot and a simple plan, you should be able to put it together fairly quickly. I live in a quad-level on a grade with a walkout sliding glass door in the back of the house. I spent hours on the house and grading and they're only close to right. I'm still having difficulty adding beds and other surfaces (sidewalks, driveways, etc.) It takes a lot of trial and error work, and even then it doesn't look quite right. Also, you can't put plants in planters, raised beds or on any other structure. I spoke with product support, and they told me the software only supports placing plants on the ground. I agree with the previous reviewer who was disappointed with the variety of plants and objects available. I used to own another landscaping package that had much greater variety, but the 3D features didn't work well at all, so I replaced it. I'm hoping Broderbund will add objects I can download from their website to make my plan more realistic.
Rating:
Summary: Some good stuff, but where are the plants?
Review: To be fair, this software has some good stuff in it. The part dealing with design and layout of the landscape is all right. The 3D walk-through is not so bad either, although the plants could be a bit more realistic looking.
Two things bothered me though, Lack of common plant species, and home design.
I live in Colorado, and the software did not have any of the common trees and bushes in my backyard. Cleveland Select Pear, Purple-Leaf Sandcherry, Miss Kim Lilac. So I couldn't really do any sort of representation of what my yard already looks like. The software does let you enter new plants, but I want to design, not waste my time compensating for the software. To double-check this, I also entered the plants from Colorado State Universities Plant Select 2000 list. Nothing.
The house design was rudimentary, the grid was completely inaccurate, my house would have been 300 feet tall if I had been going by the grid. Also, the lack of window and door components was really depressing.
All in all, disappointing software.
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