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Difficult to use, but worth learning anyway--saved me $80,000December 17, 2009 S. Harris(Vicksburg, MS) 6 out of 8 found this review helpful
I have been using Punch! products for 9 years now. I see a lot of these reviews complaining about how difficult the software is to use. Have you ever tried to use AutoCAD? When a program is very capable, there are a ton of features and a ridiculously steep learning curve. Much like MS Excel, there are simple, intuitive, out-of-the-box features that you can open up and use right away like the 60-second home builder and auto roof. But, just like in Excel, if you want a function that doesn't exist you have to write custom VBA code to create it. In Punch!, if you want it to not draw a roof, click just outside of any wall and select options on the right side. Uncheck the "Auto-generate roof" feature and there you go! The walls that are created in the 60-second home builder tool are problematic and I just skip over it now. But when I'm trying to design a new house from scratch or plan a renovation, fooling around with the space planner is useful and time-saving.
I have created my own work arounds for many of the tool's faults. For example, since you can't split a wall at different heights, I'll join two walls together at differing heights. But if you click and drag, one wall will take on the height characteristic of the other wall. If instead, you select the end of the wall and nudge it using the arrow keys until it butts up against the first wall, that will do the trick. Same thing for ceiling heights in rooms with varying wall height. Click the room itself, and uncheck display ceiling. Then use the draw floor feature to draw a floor at the elevation of the ceiling. There are a hundred little tricks that aren't documented anywhere that I can find, but you tend to learn them over time.
One of the features that is unparalleled in this market is the 3D custom workshop. Unlike all the other functionality, there is no manual, no video, nothing on how to use this tool. It took me a couple months straight of banging my head on the computer screen trying to figure out how to make it work. But now I am creating my own furniture! No other program lets you do that. Creating your own furniture is useful for 3D rendering too because the furniture out-of-the-box is very complex (often a single chair is 1.2MB when your entire house is only 700KB). By building my own furniture, I can create chairs that are more like 20KB thereby DRASTICALLY (by orders of magnitude) reducing my rendering time.
But why should you suffer through months of agony to master this software? Simple. If you are not an experienced builder or architect, you will learn a lot about construction, design, and planning. I bought a 130yr old house and started with my renovation plan. I took the drawings to contractors and got quotes. The price was out of my budget, so I literally "went back to the drawing board." After dozens of iterations of virtually building spaces and working through ideas, I was able to come up with an alternative renovation plan that cost $80,000 less than my original plan, but still met all of our requirements. You simply can't do that with a napkin.
Great ProgramOctober 27, 2008 D. Lahrman(Indiana) 14 out of 20 found this review helpful
Although I'm unable to compare this with other titles in the same category, I think Punch! Home & Landscape Design Suite is a great program. If you're interested in home improvement or construction, this is a great tool! Getting started is quick and easy but all the possibilities will keep you involved with this program for a long time. I created a model of our current house and the 3D walk-through is an uncanny experience. The ability to visualize improvement ideas is of great assistance. Much better than heading out to the store and looking at samples and trying to picture it in your head.
Punch Home And Landscape Design Suite RocksOctober 29, 2009 jojo(Texas) 1 out of 3 found this review helpful
For the other reviews that had issues with the auto generated roof. How about turning it off, this way you can draw it on manually.
RE: Install Issues
UAC in Vista keeps other software titles from installing also.
This isn't a Punch thing but a Windows (Bill Gates) thing.
I think the software is great for the price. I does floor plans and elevations to scale.
It also does the framing. It allows you to change stud walls to steel stud, Concrete or concrete block.
It will also do the electrical, plumbing, landscaping, decks. It also gives a material list/ count.
I use autocad but the Punch software is much faster and cheaper. It allows for the 3d walk thru, adding materials and is a full landscaping software. SOunds like the bad reviewer's need to read the manual or spend more than 15 minites with the software.
Punch also offers a 90 Day money back refund. How can you go wrong.
Worth the CostNovember 26, 2009 Donna D. Lussier(Massachusetts) 3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Hi All, I've been a Punch! user for over a decade, that in itself should say how much I like this program. Punch! has completely rehauled their program with their NextGen versions to be faster, lighter and easier to use although I always found it easy to use from the very beginning. I've read the reveiws and feel that most of the issues users are experiencing are due to not understanding how the program works. Like driving a car, once you know it, it becomes automatic. Users can't expect to hop into a program and wha-la know how to use it without any guidance; although, that's kind of what I did way back when and still do it today with every upgrade. It's a basic program not a full blown architectural program which by the way can cost you $$thousands in comparison to the low cost of punch which offers you much more for your buck!
I've "tried" other programs in the past and none of them come close to the 3D virtual reality world it produces in it's LiveView window. Immediate results are produced in a realistic scene. You draw a wall, BANG! it's there in 3D. You can throw textures into the window onto the walls, the ground, the sky, just about everything you see in the window and unlike other home design programs with their cartoonish appearance, Punch by far looks more realistic than anything I've ever seen. Add to that a lengthy library of Sherwin Williams color pallettes to dress up your design and guess what, the name of the paint and color number are provided for you should you want to run down to the hardware store and buy it.
There are also many automatic features, such as automatic roofing, snapping, dimensioning, and more. Each that can be turned on or off. Best of all is their Quick Start feature whereby you are presented with a screen of starter rooms that can later be modified to your liking.
Each user of course is looking to buy something with an idea in mind. In all fairness, a user should not post a reveiw unless they have taken the effort to do their homework and understand the program .... Read The Manual guys!!
*A member of the Punch! Online Community posted this review. The Punch! Online Community allows people to collaborate on features, techniques, and uses. It also assist each other to maximize the software capabilities. This member was not compensated in any form for this review, if you would like more information on the Punch! Online Community please visit the Punch! Software website.
Excellent optionNovember 9, 2009 Patricia G. 3 out of 6 found this review helpful
I read the above comments and, as a Punch user in general and as user of this version in particular, I'd like to add my review
Many users talked about "other CAD programs". A CAD program and a Home Design Program mean 2 different concepts. The focus of the CAD packages is on drawing and precision, the Home Design programs (like Punch) are focused on design. This means that if you draw a rectangle in CAD, this can be a wall, a machine, or just a rectangle. In Punch, a wall means only a wall, it will have all the properties of a wall and you'll see a wall in 3D. The main feature is the program's capability to understand your design and interact with the design elements. For this reason, Punch needs the specs of all the elements (thickness, elevation, etc) in order to show all the parameters
In this version, Punch introduced the "Quick Start" tool, a fast way to enter into the Punch world. Using this feature, you can play with the different rooms, dimensions and layouts to get your floorplan. Then, you can add windows, doors, furniture, customize colors and materials, etc.
Punch has an extensive library of furniture and objects, but if you like to design your own furniture, this is not a problem! You have the 3D Workshop Tool (I don't know other Home Design program with a tool like this!) In addition, most of the manufacturers have 3D furniture or fixtures in 3DS format or Skecthup format: Punch imports both
When you are done, you can customize the framing / structural setting and estimate the materials of your project
Perhaps, it will be a good idea for future versions, the return to the old menus / interfaces; they were more explicit for the first time user
Granted, the program has a learning curve (as with any program or new tool), but it is time well invested because you will be able to see in 3D how you house will look like before the real construction begins, avoiding unpleasant design surprises. I definitely recommend this product
A member of the Punch! Online Community posted this review. The Punch! Online Community allows people to collaborate on features, techniques, and uses. It also assists each other to maximize the software capabilities. This member was not compensated in any form for this review, if you would like more information on the Punch! Online Community, please visit the Punch! Software website.
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