Broderbund 3D Home Architect 5 5.0 Deluxe For PC

Comments:
This product is a very good software, however the program is a bit slow and it is not up to standards. I would recomend this to beggining ARCHITECTS but if they want to get more they should get Auto Cad.

Comments:
The key to this product is the ability to produce high quality models with little to no experience.

Comments:
I may be stupid but I could not find a solid precision tool when drawing walls, I didn't get the distance measuring method between the walls. Impossible to create an exact dimensions even when the snap setting is set to 0. When the walls autoconnect you can't figure out the real distance between them. Impossible to connect the walls exactly as needed. This is a real pain in the ass.
I tried this software to save my time when designing floor plans with 3D Studio Max 5.0 but I had to revert to the latter. The 3DHA is a complete mistake in 3D modelling.
Waste of money, indeed.

Comments:
I had used a previous version of 3D Home Architect back in the mid 90's. It was slow, cumbersome, difficult to use, but I was able to labor through U/I to create sketches to give to a professional Architect. It did the job, but was a bit frustrating.

When it came time to do an addition on our house, I decided to give 3D Home Architect another try. It's been several years, and most software has evolved tremendously over the last few years. Well, guess what? Version 5 is still slow, cumbersome, and difficult to use. Even though my computer hardware has MUCH more horsepower and memory than I had in 1994, this program is still as slow as snail. Redrawing takes forever. Sometimes it takes several seconds for the program to show you that you have clicked on an object.

Some of the most basic concepts in drawing software are missing from this program. Or if they are available, they are well hidden, or non-intuitive to make them work. Things like Copy/Paste don't exist. Grouping elements together, so that you can move them together doesn't exist. Freehand drawing doesn't exist. The U/I actions (click/righ-click/double-click) don't work like most other Windows programs. The Help is nearly worthless. I still haven't figured out the 3D parts, and I don't think I'll invest the time to do so.

I confess that I haven't used any other Home CAD programs, so this might be par for the course. Still, I'm on my way to go purchase something else, with the hope that it will work better.