3D Home Interiors Deluxe 2 (Jewel Case)

Rating:
Summary: Too Limited to be Useful
Review: 3D Home Interiors is supposed to allow the user to "Imagine and Create Beautiful Interiors," but unfortunately, there isn't enough here to allow would-be decorators to use much imagination, and the whole thing is rather complicated to use.

I found it easy enough to get started, drawing a floor plan for my living room, but adding objects was a sometimes painful process. For example, in trying to place a lamp on a small table--several times I moved my cursor too far from the table and the lamp fell to the floor. I could not figure out how to get the lamp off the floor and back onto the table. Simply moving it up onto the table wouldn't work. I'd have to delete the lamp and retry until I got it positioned correctly.

The decorating choices available (furniture, cabinets, carpet, etc.) are mostly American Traditional, so if you're hoping to try out more exotic options, like a South American rec room or an Asian dining room, you won't find enough here to be able experiment with different looks. The software is also buggy. Several times, while trying to pick out the finish I wanted on a piece of wood furniture, I was given dozens of inappropriate choices, including pictures of Charlie Chaplin and clock faces. I was also dismayed that I was unable to add crown moulding or any other type of woodwork or architectural detail to a room, nor was I able to add bed curtains or a canopy mist to any of the beds.

There are several "Designer Rooms" available to view, which are supposed to provide the user with inspiration, but which are so bland and uninteresting that it's embarrassing.

The biggest lack by far though is the inability to add your own custom colors, finishes, window treatments, fabrics, and so on. If you're wanting to see how a particular color of paint or wallpaper will look in your room and it isn't available in the "catalog", you're out of luck. I saw a gorgeous window treatment in a decorating magazine and was unable to recreate it here, since it used unusual fabrics and more than one valance. I fail to understand why a game like "The Sims" allows users to create or download thousands of custom objects, but a program like this, which is supposed to be for decorating purposes only, does not.

Rating:
Summary: Too Limited to be Useful
Review: 3D Home Interiors is supposed to allow the user to "Imagine and Create Beautiful Interiors," but unfortunately, there isn't enough here to allow would-be decorators to use much imagination, and the whole thing is rather complicated to use.

I found it easy enough to get started, drawing a floor plan for my living room, but adding objects was a sometimes painful process. For example, in trying to place a lamp on a small table--several times I moved my cursor too far from the table and the lamp fell to the floor. I could not figure out how to get the lamp off the floor and back onto the table. Simply moving it up onto the table wouldn't work. I'd have to delete the lamp and retry until I got it positioned correctly.

The decorating choices available (furniture, cabinets, carpet, etc.) are mostly American Traditional, so if you're hoping to try out more exotic options, like a South American rec room or an Asian dining room, you won't find enough here to be able experiment with different looks. The software is also buggy. Several times, while trying to pick out the finish I wanted on a piece of wood furniture, I was given dozens of inappropriate choices, including pictures of Charlie Chaplin and clock faces. I was also dismayed that I was unable to add crown moulding or any other type of woodwork or architectural detail to a room, nor was I able to add bed curtains or a canopy mist to any of the beds.

There are several "Designer Rooms" available to view, which are supposed to provide the user with inspiration, but which are so bland and uninteresting that it's embarrassing.

The biggest lack by far though is the inability to add your own custom colors, finishes, window treatments, fabrics, and so on. If you're wanting to see how a particular color of paint or wallpaper will look in your room and it isn't available in the "catalog", you're out of luck. I saw a gorgeous window treatment in a decorating magazine and was unable to recreate it here, since it used unusual fabrics and more than one valance. I fail to understand why a game like "The Sims" allows users to create or download thousands of custom objects, but a program like this, which is supposed to be for decorating purposes only, does not.

Rating:
Summary: Love this software
Review: A powerful design software is by definition complicated and difficult to use...However, the tutorial is magnificent----Kudos to the writer of this tutorial....I've never used a CAD before in my life and felt like an expert not soon after.
The catalogue is detailed and the item display is beautiful. I can fine toothcomb the designer rooms and see how the expert did it and print out a list of all their materials and even design it my way.