IMSI's FloorPlan 3D Deluxe delivers five powerful design programs for the home, office and garden, includes FloorPlan Plus 3D, 3D Design Plus, Garden Designer, Quick and Easy Estimator and 1,001 Homestyles Home Plans

Business Wire, May 28, 1997

SAN RAFAEL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 28, 1997--IMSI (NASDAQ:IMSI), a leading developer and publisher of premium productivity software for the business and home markets, announced today plans to ship FloorPlan(R) 3D Deluxe on June 9, 1997, at an estimated street price of $49.95.

FloorPlan 3D Deluxe includes a suite of five powerful programs that provides all the tools needed to easily layout home, office and garden designs as follows:

-- FloorPlan(R) Plus 3D: A CAD compatible home and office 3D design program.

-- 3D Design Plus(R): A full 3D Modeler for creating and editing symbols.

-- Garden Designer(TM): A complete garden design, layout and reference program.

-- Quick and Easy Estimator(TM): A cost estimator for project materials.

-- HomeStyles(R) Home Plans: A multimedia archive of America's favorite home plans, all completely editable.

"Too often, designers need to purchase several individual programs to address their planning and design needs," said Martin Sacks, president & CEO. "With FloorPlan 3D Deluxe we offer the most complete space planning solution available, delivering all of the key tools needed for developing architect-ready plans."

Design Tools

FloorPlan Plus 3D, the home and office layout program included in the suite, can design up to a 27 million square foot, 20 level structure. No other space planning program under $100.00 has this design capacity. The program comes with a complete set of CAD tools, allowing users to draw curved walls, insert spiral staircases, and customize doors, windows and walls.

Other features include on-the-fly switching between Metric and American drawing scales, ability to calculate areas and perimeters of rooms and reference point placing for precision drawing, dimensioning, and object placement. Additionally, users can "top" their dream home with a variety of roofs from FloorPlan Plus 3D's unique roof editor. The roof editor supports dormers, chimneys, and skylights.

With a click of an icon, FloorPlan Plus 3D allows users to render and explore their 2-dimensional design layouts in 3D. The 3D walk- through gives users a "real-life" perspective of their design. Additionally, FloorPlan is CAD compatible and "architect ready," allowing users to export 2D and 3D drawings to DXF and WMF formats for use with all TurboCAD(R) products, AutoCAD(R) and most other quality CAD programs.

Home Plans

FloorPlan 3D Deluxe includes over 1,000 fully editable home plans for use as quick-start templates, or to explore for remodeling ideas. Users can browse the home plans or focus searches by selecting special preferences such as square footage or number of bedrooms. The HomeStyles home plans can be seen as high resolution color photographs and many can even be viewed as multimedia walk-throughs.

Design and Edit 3D Symbols

FloorPlan 3D Deluxe includes over 1,500 3D symbols specifically for home and office design. The symbols include everything from furniture, appliances, and complete module cabinet sets to plumbing and electrical fixtures. Over 1,000 of the 3D symbols can be edited to custom specifications with the included symbol editor, 3D Design Plus. Additionally, 3D Design Plus can be used to create entirely new custom symbols to provide users with every possible symbol they need.

Project Material Lists and Cost Calculations

Once a design is completed, users can move to the next stage of home or office planning, and calculate materials costs using FloorPlan 3D Deluxe's Quick & Easy Estimator. The suite's home and office design program, FloorPlan Plus 3D, tabulates a list of required materials in a spreadsheet format for any project.

The list can then be imported into Quick & Easy Estimator which calculates the materials according to their corresponding part numbers, and assigns the appropriate average costs. Pricing can be done for any project, ranging from installing a new door to building a 20-story structure. Users can manually change the given average costs of building materials to keep up with industry trends and price changes.

Complete Garden Design Tools

FloorPlan 3D Deluxe is the only design and layout program that includes a full featured garden design program. Garden Designer serves as a reference guide of thousands of plants by providing detailed information about their ideal climates, soils, and regions.

The software provides all the tools necessary to design, layout, and preview detailed gardens in full color. Garden Designer includes 172 sample gardens, 1,500 different plant and tree species, and a seasonal color diagram that assists planning year round color schemes.

Integrated On-Line Resources

Another element unique to FloorPlan 3D Deluxe is the exclusive "On-Line Tool Shed." This Internet web site provides a wealth of on-line resources for users of FloorPlan 3D Deluxe who have Internet access. Hundreds of links to some of the most innovative tips in home construction, landscaping, and home repair are included as well as various other services.