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home design software

The Home Design Software Resource Center is designed to help you select the right software tool for your home design, remodeling, landscaping or decking projects. You will find reviews on home design software, information on the latest home design software tools, and related home design software articles to assist you on your next project. If you have an article or review you would like to share with others, please .

See the Home Design Software Comparison and Review Matrix.

MSRP: $59 - $495	Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Product Line The Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer product line is based on Chief Architect – a professional 3D architectural home design software CAD program. Combining the leading-edge professional home design software with the consumer design editorial expertise of Better Homes and Gardens, Chief Architect, Inc. produced the best 3D design tools for home design software, remodeling software, landscaping software, deck design software, interior design software, and cost estimating. You will find a variety of products available including: (4) Home Designer titles, a Landscaping and Deck Designer title and an Interior Designer title. Since the product line’s release in 2004, it reached #1 in market share in 2006 (according to NPD that tracks point-of-sale data). The Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer products are compatible with the Chief Architect products – a great upward mobility option for those users that start out with a more affordable product.  www.HomeDesginerSoftware.com
MSRP: $19.95	Picture Painter Wonder what your house would look like with a new color? With the Better Homes and Gardens Picture Painter, you can take a picture and quickly change colors, textures, trim and more. Simply take a picture of your house and start changing – windows, doors, roofing, and sidewalks or change the siding and stone style. This software title is a great simple photo editing title for home visualization. Anyone can use it to make changes to a photo of their room or exterior – and the great thing about it is all the materials – paints, tiles, carpet, countertops, etc. are all brand-name items that you can purchase. It’s much better than the one-brand versions you find a Lowe’s or Home Depot because it has multiple brands to choose from and the tools to make the editing of your own photos very easy.  www.homedesignersoftware.com/picturepainter.html
MSRP: $2,195	Chief Architect Professional 3D Architectural Home Design Software for Professional Designers Chief Architect was created in 1992 for the professional market – Architects, Builders, Remodelers, Interior Designers and Draftsmen. The product was the first object based CAD system with parametric design principles, and thus has been able to become the leading home design software product for the professional design market. Many CAD programs design in 2D and let you visualize in 3D – that’s why they were called "CAD". With Chief Architect, you can actually design in 3D – while you may not think this an important option, once you design in 3D it clearly is a great feature. When you design a kitchen and can place cabinets in 3D making modifications by clicking and dragging the mouse with sizes, placement and configuration of the cabinet – it’s pretty easy. Other structural design works the same way with roofs, foundations, framing etc.  www.ChiefArchitect.com
Discontinued	3D Home Architect Chief Architect, Inc. created the popular 3D Home Architect home design software product line in 1993 and released the software up through version 4.0. Unfortunately Chief Architect, Inc. did not own the name "3D Home Architect" which became the identity of the program and confused several users in future releases due to quality and compatibility issues. Chief Architect, Inc. (actually called ART, Inc. at the time) discontinued its relationship with Broderbund around 2003 and released the upgrade and new consumer home design software with Better Homes and Gardens, a true expert in the home design market. In the end, it turned out to be a win-win situation for the users and the company since publishers like Broderbund have so many titles, the quality and feature set isn’t a priority to them. The Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer products are compatible with the Chief Architect products – a great upward mobility option for those users that start out with a more affordable product.