Rating: 
Summary: Awful, Awful, Awful!
Review: 3D Home Design is simply horrendous...no other gentle way to put it. One bumps into flaws everywhere one turns. This software really brought me back to the early Broderbund Apple IIe and PC/XT offerings...it's that primitive! First problem is the non-standard user interface that Broderbund insists on using that unnecessarily complicates the learning curve. Then there are the countless display glitches, the worst of which erratically redraws your work just when you are trying to make a crucial modification or measurement. Perhaps worst of all is the limited and error prone output, which makes it virtually impossible to produce a quality print approaching anything like that on the screen. I tried to use the export function to get my 2d plan into a "well behaved" format, but the resolution is so limited that the resultant jaggy image is next to useless. Whereas the program itself properly uses vector graphics for most of the drawing (this makes the drawing appear nice and crisp no matter the zoom or maginification), apparently the output simply bitmaps the display, sort of like a crude screen copy function. Last, but not least, this program is virtually unsupported, especially if you bought this retail. The best that the makers can do is refer you to a chat room, in which multiple agonized users seem to confirm that most of the flaws have no easy remedy (or indeed no fix at all).
On the positive side, I found the 3D rendering capabilities quite useful, and the preparation of straightforward designs is relative simple. In addition, it's instructive to use the building materials catalog....it gives one a good idea of the possibilities for color and design.
However, I suspect that most users are like me in that they wish to produce a quality 2D plan that will pass muster for permits at the local building department. In this application, 3D Home Architect is certain to reduce users most to a sweaty, swearing lump.
Rating:
Summary: WARNING: This product does NOT work
Review: Actually, my rating for this product isn't one star, it is ZERO. My husband is an engineer: after many exasperating days of having the program either "go nuts" or simply crash, he has had enough. If an engineer can't make it work...well, you get the idea.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent software
Review: First, your not an architect. You use this software to get an idea of how your new house will look, and thats about all it is good for. Anyone thinking this is a good tool to generate house plans or even good costing estimates is sorely mislead.People complaing about the UI, but given that the target audience is not those technically inclined, it is difficult to design good, idiot proof controls and still offer power features. I think the controls could be tweaked better (some annoyances), but I was able to generate a house plan quickly enough about 20 minutes out of the box without cracking the manual or launching the tutorial, which is always good. I think some people wanted ultimate control over where to place objects and rendering options, but come on, this isn't AutoCad. Placing mirrors and clocks on walls is not what this software is about, it is about laying out a floorplan to get some idea of your new house will look like, and to generate decent enough plans to give to an architect to do the real task of designing your house. In that respect, I think this is excellent software if your looking to design a home from scratch.
Rating:
Summary: Impressive
Review: I am a long time user of 3D Home Architect and I have to say this version really impresses me. The new layout is much easier to work in and the tools available allowed me to redraw a house I had originally started in version 4, in mere minutes. I wish I could post the rendering that I did with the software- so photo realistic that my wife had to look twice at it to realize I did it with the software. Broderbund listened to everything I wanted improved in this product and I must say I am definetly a loyal user now!
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT BUY
Review: I got this program as a Christmas gift last year and I read through the manual and I looked at the box. Brodurbund advertises it as having a great 3D engine. After installing it on two, not one, but two computers, I created a design, and tried to look at it in the 3D wizard. Both times the wizard was:
1. Slow
2. Undetailed
All this product is good for is the floorplans, which limit you to space. I was trying to create a large floorplan, and I could not because I was limited. I would not recommend this product to anyone. Stick with Better Homes And Gardens, which, after reading up on it, seems like an excellent product.
Rating:
Summary: Save your money.
Review: I had Punch software already but the finished graphics and walkthrough were fairly poor so I went for 3D Home Architect. What a waste of money. All of the actual design interface and capabilities are primitive compared to Punch. I could list the specific issues I ran into but there are just too many. I still went through the entire exercise. Read the manual and did my best to get around the lack of capabilities and aggravating issues. At the end I finally created the image. It was gorgeous. I realized I spent $100 to make a picture of my house and yard but that it did not help me much to actually deliver the projecct. 3D Home Architect Dlx 6 is much like a Yugo with leather seats and a supercharger. You get the flashy extras but what's the point? Go buy Punch. Even Visio is better at doing real design work over this and that is truly sad...
Rating: 
Summary: Only got to the roof
Review: I had purchased "Punch! Professional Home Design" and found it too indepth for what I needed. "3D Home Architect Design Suite 6" seemed a bit more for the lay designer. I built the outside layout of my tri-level easy enough and was impressed by the ease of setting the different levels of floor height for different areas of my home. I found colors and textures for my home's exterior that closely matched my actual home. All was well until I tried to put a roof on. It wasn't the different levels that threw off the software but the fact my home isn't rectangular. My home has a bit of character. The software has an auto 'roof by perimeter' option and a manual 'roof by picking points' option. Do not be fooled, there is no manual option. As soon as the edges of your roofs get close enough together the software merges them as it pleases. It resets angles and/or creates new and/or deletes existing edges as it sees fit, no matter how many times you reset them using the 'custom' option. Another undocumented feature is somtimes when you change the settings on a wall another wall on the other side of your project will disappear or may elongate through the boundaries of your project and off the screen. When drawing internal walls if one wall intersects a second it divides the existing wall into two and resets the both wall behavior values (i.e. 'elevation' or 'extend to roof') to defaults forcing you to go back through and redo all your settings. I run an AthlonXP 2200 1.8 GHz machine w/ 512 ram and a GeForce4 Ti 4600 w/128mb ram, well above the system requirements listed on Broderbund's website. The program crashes about every hour and a half which, by the way, is covered in the t-shooting guide. It says turn off hardware acceleration. This will then slow down 3D rendering to a painfully slow pace. Maybe this is because NVidia is such a small-time chipset manufactuer. If something happens often enough to be covered in the user-guide maybe it should be fixed? I rated two stars vice one because there are features in the software I didn't get to see and can't judge because the disc now protects my coffee table (along with a plethora of discs from AOL) from water rings and no longer is in use on my PC. I am disappointed in this Broderbund title and it will be some time before I purchase another. If you want to design a square house, this software has all you need. If your home has any character at all, do not buy this software.
Rating:
Summary: Only got to the roof
Review: I had purchased "Punch! Professional Home Design" and found it too indepth for what I needed. "3D Home Architect Design Suite 6" seemed a bit more for the lay designer. I built the outside layout of my tri-level easy enough and was impressed by the ease of setting the different levels of floor height for different areas of my home. I found colors and textures for my home's exterior that closely matched my actual home. All was well until I tried to put a roof on. It wasn't the different levels that threw off the software but the fact my home isn't rectangular. My home has a bit of character. The software has an auto 'roof by perimeter' option and a manual 'roof by picking points' option. Do not be fooled, there is no manual option. As soon as the edges of your roofs get close enough together the software merges them as it pleases. It resets angles and/or creates new and/or deletes existing edges as it sees fit, no matter how many times you reset them using the 'custom' option. Another undocumented feature is somtimes when you change the settings on a wall another wall on the other side of your project will disappear or may elongate through the boundaries of your project and off the screen. When drawing internal walls if one wall intersects a second it divides the existing wall into two and resets the both wall behavior values (i.e. 'elevation' or 'extend to roof') to defaults forcing you to go back through and redo all your settings. I run an AthlonXP 2200 1.8 GHz machine w/ 512 ram and a GeForce4 Ti 4600 w/128mb ram, well above the system requirements listed on Broderbund's website. The program crashes about every hour and a half which, by the way, is covered in the t-shooting guide. It says turn off hardware acceleration. This will then slow down 3D rendering to a painfully slow pace. Maybe this is because NVidia is such a small-time chipset manufactuer. If something happens often enough to be covered in the user-guide maybe it should be fixed? I rated two stars vice one because there are features in the software I didn't get to see and can't judge because the disc now protects my coffee table (along with a plethora of discs from AOL) from water rings and no longer is in use on my PC. I am disappointed in this Broderbund title and it will be some time before I purchase another. If you want to design a square house, this software has all you need. If your home has any character at all, do not buy this software.
Rating:
Summary: So much promise, so much frustration
Review: I have come so very close to getting this program to work for me, and have even gotten exploratory value out of it, but you should know that the database is often corrupted by the tool, and requires program re-installation and design recreation.
In the words of the help file (on line at ...):
MBuilder Has Encountered a Problem...
When using the program, the following message appears:
"MBuilder has encountered problem." There are several possible causes for
this issue. The remainder of this note describes how to proceed.
Determine If the Plan Is Corrupt
1. Launch 3D Home Architect® and create a new plan.
2. Add a basic structure to the plan.
3. Save the plan and close 3D Home Architect®.
4. Launch 3D Home Architect® and open the plan created in Steps 1 & 2 above.
5. Choose from the following:
* If the error message does not reoccur when working with the new plan,
the previous plan is most likely corrupt. Recreate the plan or restore
a backup copy of the plan.
* If the same error reoccurs, continue with the following procedures.
These suggestions will help to prevent corruption in future plans
-- Further instructions tell you to turn off large displays, accelerations, etc.
As long as you have separate backups every 15 minutes or so (not just saving the file, but saving to a set of many different files) then you may be able to recover some of your work.
The problem is, you may work for a long time with the program working, but with save files written by the program that are corrupt. Once written out, it can't be read back in.
I have worked with their on-line help system, and have been referred to the instructions: just reinstall and recreate what you did.
My question to them was, "How do I know what to avoid?"
Part of the problem is that the design may be OK in memory, but when it gets written out, it is corrupt. There is a "repair database" command that sometimes works, but only if the file is still in memory, and not always then.
Identifying what caused the problem has eluded me so far (50+ hours of use, design not finished)
A hint for you if you do use the program: you should know that small pieces of walls can be left behind as remnants. When walls start to act funny, expand the area, pull all of the walls back out of the intersections, and delete the little pieces that are left. You can then rejoin the wall segments and continue. (you will need to redo roofs ceilings and floors, but you will be used to that by then.
Try it, many parts work extremely well, but make all your decisions up front, because changing is tedious.
Just a few things would enhance the utility of the program tremendously: a copy/paste that works between files, a robust database, and a format painter that can work on trim.
Good luck.
Rating:
Summary: Welcome to Frustration
Review: I have spent the better part of the day trying to download this program from Broderbund's site, only to have their server reset itself, twice. The second time, I had almost 25% downloaded before I was kicked off, and it only took nine hours! Gee, at that rate, I can only imagine how long it would take to actually use the software if I were able to download it! And this was for the "free" trial. Needless to say, I certainly won't be wasting any money towards the purchase, especially after reading all the other reviews. Trust me, I have been staring at the computer screen for hours, and have read every review of every software type for this sort of application. I am convinced that I would be better off spending less and buying an older version prior to 5, or trying the latest Chief Architect software, since it seems they designed the prior versions of 3DHA. Even some of the other programs, such as IMSI's Floor Plan 3D, or the Punch programs are looking better than this, which has been an aggravation, to say the least. What good is it to offer a free trial if it can't be downloaded and viewed? Had it worked, they may have gotten a sale. I guess I should be thankful that it did't; I believe their failure to deliver saved me money and even more irritation.
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