What is a good Windows based drawing program for drawing up house plans to give to a builder? I’m talking cheap cause it will only be used one time. Oh yeah, easy and intuitive to use.
I have Adobe Photoshop and it really sucks for house plans.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
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Replies
Sketchup from Google. The "personal use" version is free.
Here are some house models users posted at the Google 3D warehouse, of house designs they have done, using the software. You can get as detailed as you like, it can all be done to true scale, and drawings made with notes and dimensions.
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Thanks Gene, but I'm after 2D drawing software. For laying out the slab, plumbing, wall detail, electrical, heating/AC, etc.
I'm tempted to just draw up the initial copy by hand then have it duplicated several times with markups for each of the different trades.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)PlaneWood
plane... for a one-off.. you will be so far ahead of the game just drawing them by hand.. no matter how cheap the software..
you will never recover the time it takes to make the software do what you want
if you want to get serious about architectural design, you should by-pass sketchup and go straight to a 3-d CAD drawing program
but now you're into $2K - $3K and a long learning curveMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
SU can do more than I thought it could. I turned off every layer but the foundation, turned off "perspective," set rendering to "xray," and here is the plan view. I could add a whole bunch of dimensions, but am showing just the pic.
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gene .. you are doing great things with su.. but it is not object oriented so it can't do the same things VectorWorks, SoftPlan & Chief can do
lots of Chief users are using SU to build symbols to import into Chief.. and i'm going to start using it also.. but it is a drawing program
when i build a Chief plan
i draw a wall
i can select the wall, open it, and tell it to change it's qualities.. make it 2x4, change the C-C spacing of the studs, change the thickness, the number of layers, the exterior siding , the color, the texture...etc.
any wall i draw with that spec will be duplicated
i can then insert windows, doors, soffits, molding
i can build roofs . change their pitch.. blah, blah , blah..
from the first floor plan i can tell it to derive the 2d floor plan .. then change elements in it
from the first floor plan i can tell it to build the foundation
once i have spec'd the framing.. and i have my roof on i can tell it to "build framing" it will build every stick in the house
i can pull out a perspective camera and walk thru the house
i can open a render camera and do rendered drawings
like i said.. you are doing some pretty nice drawins with SU, but for another $1500 - $2000 bucks , and the same amount of learning time, you could be so much farther ahead yu would not believe it..
and you would still be using your SU for sketches, because that is what it excells at
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
You bringing SU to the Tipi for a demo?I spent 2-3 hours with my free download and never got my head around it. Seemed cumbersome caompared to Softplan.That is probably an example of the learning curve thing. Joe Stoddard keeps making the point that once you learn one CAD, you have to unle=arn it again to take up another, so you should never start out with a cheap one. It will handicap you for real programs
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paul.... i don't even know if i own SU.. i think i got as far as ordering it,
but i have so much on my plate right now i really don't know..
i do agree.. it's a handy tool, but i don't have time to commit to it right nowMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
"once you learn one CAD, you have to unlearn it again to take up another"It's like learning another language. The more you know, the easier it gets (supposedly).i've learned a couple heavy-duty arch programs (Archicad and Microstation), and learning them was miserable. i could fly once i had them down, but i hated the gearing up.one thing i've noticed with programs . . . there's usually about a half-dozen drawing tools you'll use all the time (i.e., lines, text, etc.). Once you identify those and get good with them, the other functions you can learn at your leisure.
True, there's a mental hump to climb over...
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Mike,
I'm not sure I agree with you about simple programs. As I told Gene in a recient post, I use BHG Home Designer to do quick conceptial plans. It lets HO's, who can't visualize, think about what you are suggesting. But then I go directly to full AutoCAD for serious plans to build from. I've tried Chief & Turbo & both seem like a poor compromise between accuracy & speed. When I get done with AUTOCAD I could stand on the ground & cut walls & rafters from the prints. For complicated projects I model in 3d & take my laptop to the job to get measurements for cutting hips, valleys & jacks right off the model. The 2x6 will have length face & seat measurements closer than I can cut.
Edited 8/14/2006 11:22 am ET by jimcco
FWIW BHG Home Designer is a stripped down version of Chief Arch.
Yah, I know so was the 3D home Designer from Broderbund. I think those lower end programs definatly have a place in scoping out projects for HO's That is really just a preliminary step to working Blueprints.
Hey, SU even has a version for Mac!! I'm downloading right now. Have gotten pretty good w/ VectorWorks, also tried Cadintosh (free), but found it pretty hard to grok.BIll
When you get the chance, let me know your thoughts on SU with, or versus, VW. VW/Mac is all I use, and all curved surfaces, so I gotta mess with the 3D Modeling tools and Lofting and nurbs more than the walls/roof tools.
if you want to work with nurbs and lofting, SU is not the program for you. I think the future of SU will include such but for now it is all vector planes. In my experience, VW is also vector plane based...closely resembles arch. desktop.
The easiest program I have used for Nurbs and Lofting is Rhinoceros by McNeel. I don't know if they make a mac version but you could run a PC emulator....or get a new mac that runs windows.
gk
>Rhinoceros by McNeel. I don't know if they make a mac version but you could run a PC emulator....or get a new mac that runs windows.3D modeling without the CAD elements and the ability to turn it all into the construction documents, is not very useful for me. Running on Win only is even less useful. VectorWorks does what I need fine. Haven't run into any house shapes I couldn't model.
I'm guessing the best bet for you is to do a pencil drawing (to scale, using a straight edge) then scan it in and use the pen tool in photoshop to clean up your drawing and add color tones, notes, titles, and symbols. scaling the drawing is the most important aspect a homeowner could provide; the use of scale introduces reality into the drawing...it allows objects to be compared to standards like sheets of plywood, 2x4's, cabinets, toilets, doors, and people.
Sketchup is a powerful and intuitive tool that is better suited to custom projects. I use sketchup and it works well...it is also remarkably easy to learn if you are willing to devote a single hour to going through some of the video tutorials. I have used other programs (autocad, arch. desktop, rhino, 3dmax, cheif, and softplan) all have much higher learning curves. Arch desktop, chief, and softplan are good for simple/standard building but run into problems when a custom touch is needed. Sketchup allows me to build virtually before building reality. it also works best in design/build situations where I don't need to hand off prints to a carpenter who is used to reading 2d autocad style drawings.
here are some examples of my current project:
gk
oops...sorry about that first one houseplan4.jpg, i had meant for it to be houseplan5.jpg