Home Designer Software is the top-rated 3D interior design, remodeling and home design software. Based on technology from Chief Architect's professional architectural software, Home Designer is made easy for DIY. Discover why Home Designer is the best home design app to visualize and design your next house project.
Advanced building tools for roofs, foundations and framing make the design process easy. As you draw walls, the program creates a 3D model. When you place a door or window, it is inserted into the wall and the program automatically updates the framing. When you move walls, the roof and foundation are also updated. Every item you add into the design is included in a list of materials so you can cost estimate and budget your home project.
Remodeling a kitchen or bath? Cabinets are smart objects that snap, bump and form to walls. You will find a large selection of cabinet types. Quickly change colors and styles with the Material Painter to visualize design options.
Design your projects in both 2D and 3D! 2D floor plans provide the details of room layout and dimensions, while 3D provides realistic visualization, including virtual tours so you can experience your design before it's built. See our Samples Gallery for a variety of 3D rendering examples completed in Home Designer.
Chief Architect provides the highest quality software, live customer support without charge and the very best resources for learning in the industry. The software runs on a Mac or PC. It can be deactivated, making it easy to switch between multiple computers. All Home Designer products are compatible with the Chief Architect professional architectural product line, and you can share your designs with friends and family using the 3D Viewer app.
I am a newbie to all kind of 3D-programs, but have become interested in designing/modelling houses and other buildings. I have downloaded the test version of Home Designer Pro and I liked it very much. It seems to be a great program for my needs (but as a beginner it is hard to know what the needs really are..).
I have compared different versions of the Home Designer and the more professional Chief Architect Premier X8. The Premier is to expensive and I don't need such a professional software to do what I want..I think. The Home Designer Suite packade seems on the other hand to be a little bit to simple. So..Pro or Architectural version!?
When I compare these two versions I can see that there are a lot of things missing in the Architectural version which can be find in the Pro version. But many of these things do I not know if I need or not. I don't know how essential they really are..
Some things would I have liked to see/do in the Architectural version: editing a couple of windows, doors etc at the same time, rotate the whole plan/house, set the north point and building the roof manually. But I think I can live whithout these things..at least for a while.
I think it is best to go for the Architectural version first..and if it is not enough it is allways possible to upgrade to the Pro version later. What is your opinion? Do you think I will miss some functions or tools if I go for the Architectural version instead of the Pro? My reason to go for the Architectural version in the first place is to save some money. But if I will miss some very important features with that version I will rather pay the double and get me a copy of the Pro version.
I have been through a similar process this year and ended up starting with Pro in January after considering Architectural. More recently I moved up to Premier X8 despite being a home user just working on my own renovation (I find it fun for some reason ).
Chief Architect give fair upgrade prices so you won't lose out starting with Architectural and moving up as required. However I can now say I would have regretted getting a lesser version than Pro to start with as the time to work around limitations is something you don't get back. Now on X8 I am finding myself reworking some areas with the superior features and wishing I had started with it (I never dreamt of spending that amount originally though!).
So my advice would be if you can afford/don't mind the cost of Pro and want to avoid possibly wasting some time then start there. It will give you a much better and less frustrating experience from the start and if you're doing it partly for interest then that's important.
The main reasons that pushed me from Pro to Premier X8 was the ray tracing which has helped with my interior design choices and the ability to build more custom items in CA rather than Sketchup etc. There is a lot more to Premier though than Pro but it still has some annoying limitations especially for European construction (door/window inset, truss design etc) but workarounds are possible. Sadly I found that almost all of the extra catalogs I purchased when using Pro are free with Premier.
I think I am going for the Pro version - it feels right,,and if I had bought the Architectural version I probably had upgraded to the Pro version after some weeks or months anyway. I'll play with the Pro trial version one or two days more before I decide completely, but right now the Pro version feels like the right choice I must say..
Whatever you end up buying, do yourself a favor and take the time to really learn how to use it. Read the "Users Guide" and then study-practice using the "Reference Manual" little by little until you understand what the software is designed to do, then armed with that knowledge, enjoy creating with it.
Neither version really. You'll adjust the Terrain Perimeter and its position relative to the house (the structure shouldn't be rotated, it can cause lots of problems if you try to do that with wall/roof/etc connections).
I have gained an insight into the program through the trial, but newly begun, there is much left to learn about all the opportunities available in the program. The Architectual version feels like a good version to start with, I think. The day I find that the tools in this version are not sufficient for me, I will upgrade to the Pro version. But right now I think I'm happy with my choice!
I used the Architectural version for many years before some of the houses I needed to model really required the more complex roof tools. If you run in to any roadblocks along the way, post here and we'll try to help!
I have a plan file that was created in Chief Architect version 9 that I want to edit in Home Designer Suite 2021. I contacted User Support for help and was provided the guidance below. I've already completed the first step to change the file type from *.pl1 to *.plan. Now I need help from a current Chief Architect user to change the file properties to make it editable in Home Designer 2021.
This is where I need your help - Once you have converted your file to a .plan file, we suggest using Chief Talk to post a request for someone to open the file in their Chief Architect software and make the necessary changes for the file to be editable in Home Designer. Here is an online article that describes the process the Chief Architect user will need to go through to do this for you: -00516/sharing-a-plan-file-with-a-home-designer-user.html
Version Number 9 was the last version to use the " .pl-.ca" file formats. the " .plan" started with version 11 or X1 long ago. It is true that once saved to " .plan" file format, one must also reprogram that file for use in "Home Designer titles", this must be done by a current Chief Premier user and the command is to be found in "General Plan Defaults".
That usually means that you attached the file while open in Home Designer which always results in a zero kilobytes product. What you need to do is to close Home Designer and then attach the file for uploading here or you can use the provided "File - Back up entire pan" tool and then upload that here or for attaching to an email to share with another user.
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