Good evening everyone,
My problem in brief:
I am looking for “THE” 3D home design software that allows creating as photo-realistic house plans as possible. The program should also enable realistic furnishing of interior spaces and the design of the outdoor area. If possible, I want to be able to virtually fly around and through the design with virtual cameras, similar to a drone.
Ultimately, I want designs comparable to those published by various home builders in their catalogs. Unfortunately, it’s probably not allowed to mention names here.
The reason why (for those interested):
I would like to build a house, or rather my wife and daughter have been pushing me for a long time.
However, I have zero visual imagination when looking at drawings. The architects I met during initial contacts with building companies either did not understand or did not have the (financial) motivation to create a custom design with me. It was basically just house designs A through X from a drawer. They might generously move a wall or a window... “Try design No. 3, it’s very fashionable and popular…” That was all I was offered. A proper architect, if I could even find one, would cost me a large five-digit sum, because I’d have to engage them full-time for months.
To overcome these hurdles, I want to take on this task myself, working on the design evening by evening, virtually walking through and exploring the design, identifying needed changes, and adjusting until everything fits perfectly. Many years ago, I had the chance to create designs with the program Arcon, which worked reasonably well. But this program did not offer the current possibilities for photo-realistic rendering of designs.
What I don’t need...:
are pessimistic comments about how I wouldn’t be able to do it anyway. I’m not aiming to win an architecture award, and my lack of experience, feasibility, structural engineering, etc. is a different matter. I also don’t need any CAD or structural analysis modules, etc.
Let’s say others build model railways as a hobby, and my wife and I would like to design our tailor-made dream house.
Many thanks in advance for all serious advice!
Best regards,
MiHoe
My problem in brief:
I am looking for “THE” 3D home design software that allows creating as photo-realistic house plans as possible. The program should also enable realistic furnishing of interior spaces and the design of the outdoor area. If possible, I want to be able to virtually fly around and through the design with virtual cameras, similar to a drone.
Ultimately, I want designs comparable to those published by various home builders in their catalogs. Unfortunately, it’s probably not allowed to mention names here.
The reason why (for those interested):
I would like to build a house, or rather my wife and daughter have been pushing me for a long time.
However, I have zero visual imagination when looking at drawings. The architects I met during initial contacts with building companies either did not understand or did not have the (financial) motivation to create a custom design with me. It was basically just house designs A through X from a drawer. They might generously move a wall or a window... “Try design No. 3, it’s very fashionable and popular…” That was all I was offered. A proper architect, if I could even find one, would cost me a large five-digit sum, because I’d have to engage them full-time for months.
To overcome these hurdles, I want to take on this task myself, working on the design evening by evening, virtually walking through and exploring the design, identifying needed changes, and adjusting until everything fits perfectly. Many years ago, I had the chance to create designs with the program Arcon, which worked reasonably well. But this program did not offer the current possibilities for photo-realistic rendering of designs.
What I don’t need...:
are pessimistic comments about how I wouldn’t be able to do it anyway. I’m not aiming to win an architecture award, and my lack of experience, feasibility, structural engineering, etc. is a different matter. I also don’t need any CAD or structural analysis modules, etc.
Let’s say others build model railways as a hobby, and my wife and I would like to design our tailor-made dream house.
Many thanks in advance for all serious advice!
Best regards,
MiHoe
Since I have read several times here that planning and visualization are often confused or incorrectly defined, I would like to clarify our understanding.
By a pure planning tool, I mean arranging walls, ceilings, roofs, windows, rooms with doors, etc., on a flat surface. However, I also want to furnish it with current interior items such as cabinets, shelves, pictures, lamps, and so on, decorate the walls, lay tiles and laminate flooring, as well as design the outdoor area to some extent ... things like that. I consider this interior design, which to me is also part of planning. It would also be desirable for me to easily add or remove objects and change textures at the push of a button. Ideally, the planning result should be navigable to get a spatial feeling.
The highest level then begins with rendering surfaces to appear completely realistic. That is what I understand as 3D visualization. My dream would also be to create a video flying around the entire project with a drone.
At least for the first part of my wishes, namely planning plus furnishing, there must be a good software solution available nowadays in 2017. Otherwise, I would find it hard to believe.
Regarding 3D realism, based on your comments, I can already imagine that this might not be achievable with just a software solution.
By a pure planning tool, I mean arranging walls, ceilings, roofs, windows, rooms with doors, etc., on a flat surface. However, I also want to furnish it with current interior items such as cabinets, shelves, pictures, lamps, and so on, decorate the walls, lay tiles and laminate flooring, as well as design the outdoor area to some extent ... things like that. I consider this interior design, which to me is also part of planning. It would also be desirable for me to easily add or remove objects and change textures at the push of a button. Ideally, the planning result should be navigable to get a spatial feeling.
The highest level then begins with rendering surfaces to appear completely realistic. That is what I understand as 3D visualization. My dream would also be to create a video flying around the entire project with a drone.
At least for the first part of my wishes, namely planning plus furnishing, there must be a good software solution available nowadays in 2017. Otherwise, I would find it hard to believe.
Regarding 3D realism, based on your comments, I can already imagine that this might not be achievable with just a software solution.
To give you a better idea of my situation and frustration: If I had to buy a car—which I actually do have to :'-( —I find that I don’t really like any car completely. However, I do like the Land Rover Evoque a lot. The only problem is that I find the interior design absolutely unattractive. I would like to (just imagining) install the dashboard from an Audi in it. In other words, it’s very rare that I really like something. But when I don’t like something, I often can’t pinpoint exactly what bothers me. Maybe the issue could be solved if it were a bit wider or a different color; then it might suddenly be perfect for me. I hope you understand me. And thank you for all your thoughtful input so far.
And that is why I am specifically asking about the price range you are aiming for. In one of your posts, you already consider 2000 euros per year as too much.
What do you think it costs to create modern furniture and similar scalable content for various CAD programs? Such libraries are not available for free.
And, I will repeat this once more, before you move on to the actual design, you should first focus on the plan itself. You will find that the more you work on it and the more realistic the room layout becomes, the better you will be able to imagine the rooms — or the exterior views — even without the latest furniture or similar details.
What do you think it costs to create modern furniture and similar scalable content for various CAD programs? Such libraries are not available for free.
Mihoe schrieb:
To bypass these hurdles, I would like to take on the topic myself and spend each evening designing something, virtually walking through the draft, “getting a feel” for it, identifying the need for changes, and then adjusting until everything fits.
And, I will repeat this once more, before you move on to the actual design, you should first focus on the plan itself. You will find that the more you work on it and the more realistic the room layout becomes, the better you will be able to imagine the rooms — or the exterior views — even without the latest furniture or similar details.
Mihoe schrieb:
At least for the first part of my wishes—planning and furnishing—there must be a good software solution available nowadays in 2017. I think so too, but you also say
Mihoe schrieb:
Or in other words, it’s very rare that I really like something. But if I don’t like something, I often can’t say exactly what bothers me. and so, I believe the right advice has already been given: choose an affordable software almost at random from the many products already mentioned; then try it out for yourself. After that, it will become clearer where you feel you need to get closer to perfection. Only then should you invest in a more advanced program.
You won’t reach your dream house in a single attempt. Three hundred posts in a main house-building thread, plus another hundred or so for kitchen and bathroom, are worth going through in a forum like this. And after that, there’s the garden. Be prepared that using software won’t necessarily make the process any shorter.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Mihoe schrieb:
@jansens: You’re right! Both 3ds Max and Blender belong to the SketchUp-family of programs. 3D Studio Max, Blender, and SketchUp are all 3D modeling software, though Blender offers more functionality, including rendering – and it’s very good at it. With SketchUp, you usually need to add a renderer (raytracer) on top, and I’m not sure if 3ds Max includes one internally. But it doesn’t matter, since you don’t want it anyway…
@rupson: YPG said in post #08, “More 3D just doesn’t work unless you buy a professional tool costing five figures,” and you responded with “NOPE.” I wanted to ask which more affordable solution you would then recommend. And by the way, I’m also interested in YPG’s expensive solution [emoji4] I’ll answer for rupson [emoji6]
I mentioned a few options in my first post, but you don’t seem to like modelers – for some reason.
Otherwise, you could check out PaletteCAD… it’s expensive and apparently fairly easy to use. But I’m not sure if it’s limited to interior design only.
Overall, though, I don’t think you’ll find what you’re looking for given your requirements. To put it differently: Cheap, Easy to Use, Photorealistic Rendering – Pick two [emoji6]
Anyway, to repeat myself, my current choice is cadvilla Prof. – it cost me just over a hundred (currency) and can do stuff like this:
Or with SweetHome3D something like this:
Will that be enough for you? I don’t know. In any case, you must invest TIME (a lot) regardless of which software you start with, and you’ll have to experiment to build certain things. Every program has its quirks, and you discover them only through intensive use with many dead ends. Doors, windows, stairs are highly individual – hardly any single program offers them all. If nothing suitable is available, you’ll have to build things yourself, which requires knowing those tricks.
Regarding scalable furniture: SketchUp’s 3D Warehouse offers countless free models that are naturally scalable – why wouldn’t they be, since they’re vector-based, not pixel-based. Anyway, at least in cadvilla you can import many 3D formats, including SketchUp (skp), 3D Studio Max, AutoCAD (dxf, dwg), and several others. SweetHome3D also supports importing SketchUp models.
Many sanitaryware manufacturers (Laufen, Duravit, Keramag) and quality lighting manufacturers (for example, BEGA, Occhio, SML) provide 3D models you can import directly (dxf, 3ds). You’ll find many IKEA furniture models on SketchUp as well.
But start with a floor plan first; once it’s done, then furnish, texture, and light…
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