3D Home Interior Design Mac SW?

[cau]

We are working on a kitchen remodel for an older house. I have measured exact dimensions of the interior walls (corner to corner). I am looking for an application that lets us:

• Draw the walls for 4 adjoining rooms, measured to inches. The walls are 5 inches thick and stick out in some places to form boundaries. There are openings, doors, and windows.
• Place cabinets, counters, cooktop, oven, microwave, washer, dryer, etc. to scale.
• View the results in 3D.
• Make revisions EASILY to look at many different possible options and arrangements. That includes wall changes without starting over.

I have an older version of Punch! Home Design Studio. I am not afraid of a learning curve, but this product enforces many rules about how walls join up, how to edit, etc. The user interface is challenging and presents a true obstacle to getting the real work done. This may be new user frustration, but the Punch Home Design Studio (2009 version) user interface is one of the worst I have seen, requiring many steps to perform simple tasks, and it appears that some wall sizing edits require the user to start over, which is not acceptable.

We do not need to draw the entire house. We do not need a roof, foundation, wiring, etc. We need the walls, cabinets, appliances, etc. for the four rooms. That's all.

I would appreciate any advice you can offer. Should we upgrade to the latest Punch! software? Is it remarkably better? Is there another program you can suggest?

 

[satcomer]

Did you try the FREE Sweet Home 3D?

 

[cau]

Thank you for your suggestion.

No, I have not tried Sweet Home 3D. I am reluctant because I do not want to install Java. I will give it a try on a virtual machine to see how it works. I am also looking at:

* Punch Software: Home Design Studio v17.5 - Is it better / easier to use than my old copy (v14)?
* Chief Architect: Home Designer Architectural (or one of several other related products)
* Belight Software: Live Interior 3D

(* IMSI/Design: Turbo Floor Plan 3D - This appears to be the same product as Punch's Home Design Studio)

If anyone has experience with any of the above products, especially in the context of what I am trying to do, or can suggest products that I should try, your help would be most appreciated!

 

[koobcamuk]

Thank you for your suggestion.

No, I have not tried Sweet Home 3D. I am reluctant because I do not want to install Java. I will give it a try on a virtual machine to see how it works. I am also looking at:

* Punch Software: Home Design Studio v17.5 - Is it better / easier to use than my old copy (v14)?
* Chief Architect: Home Designer Architectural (or one of several other related products)
* Belight Software: Live Interior 3D

(* IMSI/Design: Turbo Floor Plan 3D - This appears to be the same product as Punch's Home Design Studio)

If anyone has experience with any of the above products, especially in the context of what I am trying to do, or can suggest products that I should try, your help would be most appreciated!

What did you use in the end?

 

[cau]

What did you use in the end?

I bought the latest Punch software at the time (version 17.5). I got much further than the previous effort, but I still struggle with wall sizing and thickness. In the end, I ran out of time and we are coping with the design that the kitchen cabinet company did. We are about to embark on the remodeling project with their design. I note that their expert offered a terrific suggestion on appliance placement that we had not considered. Had I done the design myself, we might have missed that great idea. We know what we want, but experience counts, too.

According to reports from an expert user, the new Punch version 19 (recently released) is much easier to use than the previous version 17.5. I don't know whether it will make my wall sizing and thickness issues easier.

Punch has an active user community forums which give good support, and the company also has phone support, although they get impatient if you are asking stupid, basic-use questions and have not tried the community first.

The various kitchen remodel companies that we visited all use software called 2020. I called, and they do not make a consumer version. The retail cost is approximately $1000 plus a ~$650 annual fee for maintenance/updates/support. The product does not suddenly stop working if you cancel subsequent annual fees. This is way out of our budget, of course.

I hope this helps!