One of the things I like to do as I sit on the deck, is to design houses in my head. It would be nice if I could ‘put it on paper’, as it were. I’ve tried a couple of free online design tools, but you have to pay if you want to, say, put in a kitchen cabinet.
Can anyone suggest some software I can buy (preferably not too expensive) that will let me design a house without having to pay for everything I want to include?
FWIW, I want to start with the kitchen, putting in place all of the appliances, sink, island (with the sink), etc. So the software will have to include appliances, sinks, etc. The design I have in my head at the moment is laid out like a tic-tac-toe grid. The kitchen is in the middle ‘square’. Below it on the grid is the foyer, and above it is the dining room. The lower-right square is the living room, the lower-left is the master bedroom, the upper-left is a guest bedroom, and the upper-right is a ‘master-ish’ bedroom. The middle-side squares are bathrooms, and there is a laundry room between the left bathroom and the guest bedroom. The right-side bathroom may have a/some storage closet/closet, and part of the space may be a walk-in closet for the upper-right bedroom. Lots of windows all around. A second storey would be the size of the middle column of the grid, with stairs on the right side of the kitchen. A lanai surrounds the house, four feet on the sides, eight feet for the front porch, and 16 to 20 feet for the back deck. It all looks really nice in my head, but I’d like to actually see a model.
Try SketchUp. It’s free and is especially good at 3-D modeling. It used to be owned by Google, but I think they sold it years ago. The free version does everything the pro version does except print to scale (or at least that was the situation when I started using it quite a few years ago).
Unreal Engine 4 might be worthwhile if you want a computer model that looks good and takes lighting into account. Models of appliances might be freely available with some searching or purchasable on the UE market. UE4 itself is free.
Using a video game engine makes it easy to walk around in the environment you create and to make it interactive. You don’t even need to learn to program to do so. Or at least, you only have to learn the kiddie version of programming: visual scripting.
Is there a product, not too expensive (say, $30-$50 range) that will do what I want? I’d rather purchase the software from Amazon or someplace, not have to buy anything else, and not have a trial period (because of the procrastination thing – hence wanting to purchase).
I don’t know. I downloaded the free version years ago and there was no trial period. But I’ve been using the pro version for a long time, as I need to be able to print to scale.
Sketch-Up is good – and free is always nice! It took me a little while to get over the learning curve, which was a teense steep at first. But now, I can do fantasy castles, sci-fi spaceships, and ordinary conventional room layouts too!
Chief Architect Home Designer Architectural 2018 is a bit more expensive ($200). I’ve used it to design a mudroom entryway complete with cabinets. It’ll do your framing layout as well. Lots of 3D too.
Yeah, the learning curve is pretty steep, but that has a certain amount to do with the plethora of features. I don’t know how the learning curve compares to other, similar programs.
You aren’t getting many good answers because they don’t exist, sadly.
Fifteen years ago I’d have recommended a program called Home Design 3D, which retailed for about $30. It worked really well and was really flexible–for a long time it was my favorite piece of software, and I designed houses like other kids were playing video games.
A new version was then released that had so many bugs, it was unusable. The original version became more and more expensive, because it was out of print. And then Windows did an update that wasn’t compatible with it. Alas.
I asked the same question on the Dope a few years ago, and got the same answers–lots of 3D rendering programs that aren’t specifically for architecture. Phooey.
I work with architects a lot, and you gotta do 3-D these days. Complaining about there being no good non-3-D software is like complaining that there aren’t any good B&W TVs on the market these days.
As an architectural student I am fortunate enough to receive a Student License to all AutoDesk products. The one I use most and prefer to use for all modelling and drafting is Revit, but it’s not something I would recommend investing in if you’re not in the industry, due to the expense.
I personally found Sketchup quite frustrating when it comes to most linear constraints etc; you can probably fix this to some extent using the right settings but I suspect that would be its own set of hassles.
It may be worthwhile just to get Sketchup Pro; unlike other modelling software you own it permanently, so the expense would have greater returns if you ever want to try more modelling in the future. I don’t own it myself, though, so maybe it doesn’t effectively address the issues of the free version as I have heard.
In any case I don’t think there is a free(or even cheap) software that makes modelling buildings particularly intuitive; they’re either quite manual or require a significant investment.
Unless you just want to screw around using something like The Sims, lol. :dubious:
Don’t Laugh! We actually had a customer who did just that. It was infuriating trying to work with what he sent us. I tried to get him to learn a free 2D CAD package such as LibreCAD but he was an old-timer and unwilling to put in the effort to change.
FTR, I provide drafting and design services to structural engineers, architects and contractors. I use AutoCAD Architecture and am teaching myself Revit. I prefer ACAD for straight drafting but Revit is better for modelling. Of course, neither of these tools are cheap or appropriate for a beginner who just wants to dabble.
If you’re willing to pay a few hundred, then I agree with those who recommended Chief Architect. It’s (relatively) easy to learn the basics and has more tools dedicated to building design than are available in Sketch-up which, IIRC, is more general purpose. I have an architectural technologist friend who actually uses Chief Architect for his house designs and he finds it more than adequate for professional use.
One free option you might try is Sweet Home 3D. I downloaded it out of curiosity a few years ago and it didn’t seem too bad. It’s way too limited for me but I think it might provide some utility for a more general audience.
Grin! The building supervisor at my old workplace did that to create the floor plans and evacuation route maps. It’s clunky, but it does actually work!