Chief Architect Architectural Home Designer 9.0 (PC DVD) at Shop Ireland

Chief Architect Architectural Home Designer 9.0 (PC DVD)

List Price: €149.76 (£119.55)
Our Price: €82.64 (£65.97 / £67.94 inc. Irish VAT)
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Rating:
18 reviews

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Publisher: Chief Architect
Platform: Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows Vista
Release date: 7th August, 2009
Media: DVD-ROM

Format

DVD-ROM

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Average rating - (more reviews)

Rating: - A great bit of software

I was initially sceptical of this software due it being a TV series spin off but my reservations were unfounded. I was able to familiarise myself quickly with the software and was soon navigating my way around it. However despite thinking my PC was a decent spec, i did find that my computer did occasionally struggle and the program caused my PC to hang a couple of times for reasons that were not obvious to me. I loaded it onto a laptop so upgrading of the graphics card is not really possible, so i would say yes this a good bit of software but load onto a machine that can handle the graphics.

Rating: - Good product

I was looking for a product just take a look at a few different designs for my own home i was thinking of. I found this easy to use and pretty intuitive. The help section is good and you are able to add decorations and different ideas pretty easily and quickly. With any software it will take a while to create something like whats on the front picture of the CD sleeve but with practice you can create some nice ideas for an architect to bring further.

Rating: - Expensive for an amateur but extensive package

Now I reviewed this through the Amazon Vine program so I am fortunate to be able to review a piece of software I probably wouldn't have sprung the cash for personally. I've tried to review it with that in mind so hopefully this review proves usefiul.

First of all, this is an American product. I know many people have pointed out that a fair bit of this program works to American specs and has some quirks because of that. Until you get used to it some of the terms and measurements can throw you a bit.

On a functional level it is fairly easy to get to grips with. I recently bought a new flat and I wanted to get the layout down so I can start picturing a few changes I might make. Quite probably this package is OTT for a 2 bedroom flat design but you have to work with what you have! It was reasonably straightforward getting the measurements in. My rooms aren't straight walls most of the time and it handled adding in things like built in wardrobes with reasonable ease. The libraries in the package of pre-built items are pretty extensive too so it does help make the process a bit simpler.

The 3d viewing can be a lot of fun. I liked walking through my flat in virtual space and moving things around. Certainly saves on heavy lifting etc! It also performs quite well. I put this on a Dell Studio 15 laptop and that managed fine with the 3d rendering.

So to the crunch. If I were looking for something to have a simple look at a new or existing propery and move things around a bit I probably wouldn't spend this amount of money on it. It is too powerful for just playing with. However if I were going for a full renovation project then this package would be extremely useful. It has enough bells and whistles to really help you imagine and review major changes. It also has a lot of advanced features I didn't use but from reading the manual and having a quick look at them it sounds like this package would ease the process of working with a professional architect. At the very least it would mean you could show someone in the know what you have imagined and cut down on confusion.

Overall a powerful and high featured package that does a good job (if you can ignore a few american-isms).

Rating: - A good piece of software with grand potential

The Chief Architectural Home Designer software is easy to install, has great in-depth support functions (such as helpful How-To videos), templates to help the beginner get started, and all manner of tools for dimensions, layouts, interiors, exteriors and landscapes. The instruction manual makes understanding things so much more easier as well, which is a relief.

However, for beginners like myself, this is quite an advanced piece of software and will take time to master properly. It runs smoothly though, and the visualisations of your `dream home' is quite remarkable. I do agree with other reviewers' criticisms in that some of the settings were distracting and that the software was incapable at times of fulfilling certain designs I wanted, and at £95 it is rather expensive.

But on the whole, Chief Architectural Home Designer 9.0 is rather good. Even though I consider the Grand Designs software packages to be superior, this is still good enough for people looking to make their dream home.

Rating: - Excellent software all-round.

This is part of the Chief Architect series, and covers every aspect of home design. TDespite it's wide focus it still has a huge amount of detail, with over 2500 sample plans to choose from, and literally thousands of different configurations of installation and furniture. Many of the complex functions can be automated to save time any to allow you the ease to experiment without worrying about messing up your design.

The main comparison I can offer is to the Grand Designs software which I've also used. Although grand designs has slightly more features and is a more 'professional' product, it is also much harder to learn and use and far more expensive. A design program is only really worth buying if you are actually going to make use of it, after all, and being simple to use helps in this regard.

For the relatively low price, ease of use and huge versatility, I would give this four out of five stars - but close to five.

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