Home design software - includes shopping guide

Sunset, Nov, 1993 by Bill Crosby, Kimberly Chrisman

OUR UNSCIENTIFIC SHOPPING GUIDE

We test-drove 16 commonly available programs by eight software manufacturers; here are our impressions. Although we list retail prices, you should be able to find any of these products for less at most computer stores. Also, check the specs of the software carefully to make sure it will run on your machine. Particularly With the 3-D programs, power and speed work in inverse proportion to frustration.

Title: Design Your Own Home (Architecture, Interiors, Landscape)

Manufacturer: Abracadata Box 2440 Eugene, Ore. 97402 (800) 451-4871

Compatibility: Apple, DOS, Macintosh, Windows

Price: $60 to $100 each

The series consists of three programs, one each for architecture, interior design, and landscape design. In all but the architecture program, you can draw a floor plan, then view it in elevation. This isn't particularly helpful or impressive, however, since the drawing loses much in the transformation.

PROS: Tree ages can be edited so that you can watch your yard grow.

CONS: No drag-and-drop. Templates are few, elevations are crudely rendered.

Title: The Home Series Release 2 (Deck, Home, Kitchen & Bath, Landscape)

Manufacturer: Autodesk 11911 North Creek Pkwy S. Bothell, Wash. 98011 (800) 228-3601

Compatibility: DOS

Price: $70 each (upgrades are $25)

The newly upgraded Home Series is the best DOS product on the market--which isn't saying much. Its 3-D graphics are pretty good, as is its selection of 550 templates (although these are spread over four programs--no small investment). The programs are compatible not only with each other but with several professional drawing programs, including AutoCAD, Autodesk's to-the-trade supersoftware.

PROS: Good graphics. Plenty of templates (except in landscape program).

CONS: It's difficult to change template size. There are too many menus.

Title: Design & Build Your Deck

Manufacturer: Books That Work Sunset Books 80 Willow Rd. Menlo Park, Calif. 94025 (800) 321-0372 in California, 227-7346 elsewhere

Compatibility: Windows

Price: $80

This program covers everything you need to know to build a simple deck--from design to budgeting to construction techniques to tricks of the trade. For what it does, it's the most complete program on the market, although it is not without its limitations. Still, if you are building a rectangular or L-shaped single-level deck between 2 and 10 feet off the ground on a flat lot, this is the program for you.

PROS: 3-D effects are actually useful. Draw the deck in plan, and it shows you in 3-D how to frame it.

Program generates materials and expense list, even board-cutting diagrams, all of which change as you change your design.

CONS: The program can't accommodate multilevel decks, sloping lots, cutouts for trees, or angles other than 45 |degrees~ or 90 |degrees~.

Title: Floorplan Plus Family

Manufacturer: ComputerEasy 414 E. Southern Ave. Tempe, Ariz. 85282 (800) 522-3279

Compatibility: Macintosh, Windows

Price: $70 to $100

This basic, 2-D floor-planning program should be easy to use and fun to look at given its friendly Windows format. Inexplicably, though, the background on the Windows program defaults to a somber black, although you can change the color to suit your taste. Both programs offer limited palettes, and the furniture in both--consisting solely of line drawings--is also rather DOS-esque.