Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #184 in Software
• Brand: Eleco
• Released on: 2008-11-15
• Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows XP
• Format: Closed-captioned

Manufacturer's Description
Bring dreams to life

GRAND DESIGNS 3D gives you design tools to create your dream home. Self Build & Development edition allows you to design a complete project including multiple buildings and exterior spaces. Plan in 2D then add furniture and materials to create a dream living space. Finally, visualise your designs in 3D, create photorealistic images and produce architectural drawings.

Customer Reviews

No substitute for an architect!
I had previously tried Grand Designs 3D Bathroom and Kitchen software and although I found it great fun to use I would not have used it to seriously help to design either type of room. However, having had that experience I was quite interested to see what this major project package from the same team would offer.

Well, it is a great big block of a package which costs something like ten times as much as the Bathroom and Kitchen offering. Unlike the cheaper software it has a lot of reading matter provided; a 450 page manual - a bit like a phone book, and a 50+ page booklet for a "quick start"! There is a lot of work needed to get the best out of what is provided for you here - maybe a bit too much for the average user.

So who is this software aimed at? Well, professional architects would certainly be using proper CAD programmes and would find very little to help them here. The serious amateur may enjoy having a look at this but the price makes it a bit expensive to be an impulse purchase. A lot of people may just find that paying an architect for a full professional service, for what is likely to be a fairly costly project, would be worth the expense.

However, if you decide to give Grand Designs 3D Self Build & Develop a go this is what you can expect. The chunky pack of reading matter as mentioned, the software CD-ROM which is only valid for one user on one computer - be sure on a multi-user machines to load for the main user of the programme! The CD has a lot on it and takes a long time to load, but was trouble-free. Once you get started there is a lot you can do with it - Amazon has a reasonable Product Description which outlines most of the main features and is worth reading.

Whether this software will do all you want is debatable - you will need some building knowledge yourself or have the patience to work through the information provided to get the best results - and building regulations can be a minefield for the unwary! There is little provided linking to the TV series which may disappoint some fans of the show. There is a cost reduced version called 3D Renovations & Interiors, which has a number of similar features, which may be worth considering if you just want to have a bit of a play with some building software.

This is not a substitute for professional help with your building project, and shouldn't be considered as such, but some practically-minded people with some building experience may find this programme can help generate some useful ideas.

Great product but do you really need it?
This won't replace an architect's CAD software but probably comes about as close as possible while remaining usable by untrained self-builders. Well, as untrained as anyone could reasonably expect. I speak as someone who has completed three self-builds and tried many home design packages.

You can design a house (or houses) in 2D, add objects like furniture (from a library or create your own), then view and walk through and around your design in 3D, trying it in different lighting conditions as you go.

It will create high-quality images and architectural drawings including, they claim, drawings suitable for planning applications. It certainly produces drawings that are more than adequate for briefing professionals such as architects and planners.

It is UK software, hence at home with metric bricks, windows, kitchen units, etc. (A lot of US-based software allows use of metric measurements but simply converts inches to millimetres while producing designs based on imperial products, so kitchen cupboards have to be 610mm instead of 600mm, for example). It also lets you create gabled roofs that US software often won't, as well as some really quite complex roof structures.

The software installed and ran without serious problems. First time through, it opened into a helpful Start-up Guide and pushed me well up the learning curve. There are lots of clever touches to provide pleasant surprises that make it fun and satisfying to use. It deserves a lot of praise for the comprehensive printed manuals.

Don't expect to be able to dive in and come up with you own grand design in half an hour though, any more than you would expect to master Word or Photoshop in half an hour. Take no notice of those who complain that they couldn't produce their first house within minutes. If you don't have time to invest in learning how to use this productively, go for something much simpler such as Google Sketchup.

Having praised the software, I have to add that it could easily be a lot better. The graphics are weak in places, some things just don't work properly, the tutorials and general usability could be further improved, and so on. There doesn't seem to be a way of customising supplied objects. And I really do object to the activation process that could give you big problems if you had to re-install it or move it to another machine; it's evil, even when compared to Microsoft's worst anti-piracy efforts, and that alone might stop you buying it.

Is it worth best part of £200? Perhaps, but only if you are likely to embark on a major building project and want to get heavily involved in the design process. Even then, are you really up to the job? Everyone thinks they can design a house, but few succeed unless happy with a very simple box. When you start trying to take into account factors such as a sloping site, adjacent properties and perhaps eyesores, direction of light, and so on, suddenly it doesn't seem quite so easy. A fancy camera doesn't make you a photographer, and fancy software doesn't make you an architect. Me? I'll continue to rely on the professionals.

time consuming
I love books full of house plans, of which I have about a dozen, as well as books about modern houses, of which I have many more. I thought it would be interesting to design a few of my own.

However, I don't have much expertise with technical tools and software plus I HATE reading instructions. Surely they can create more intuitive software that doesn't need so many instructions? It's not that I don't have the patience: last year I spent hours and hours over many days with graph paper and pencil designing my new bathroom as well as visiting many plumbing websites and even going to a number of bathroom showrooms. Then I used paper cut outs and laid it all out within an area exactly the planned size of the new bathroom - over and over, many times. It's that most instructions are dumb and also this stuff was probably created by a bunch of men who never actually tried to design their own bathroom or kitchen without any professional support.

I think it should be made illegal for any male to be the sole architect or designer of a home or any part of a home - or of software relating to homes. At least one female, preferably with a family, should be involved and be given a BIG voice in the project, especially a veto. That would virtually guarantee no more homes built without storage or adequate sound insulation.

Finally, as several other reviewers have pointed out, it doesn't help with wiring, plumbing or structural planning and it certainly doesn't allow for the Grand Design flythrus that are practically the only reason I watch those shows (also those last 15 minutes when Kevin visits the proud new owners). As I find the middle bits of that show so frustrating - all about inadequate/no planning, poor time and money control, as well as (mostly) architects who really haven't a clue about the practical aspects - I think that is a strong indicator that I would actually hate to build my own. Perhaps this wasn't the right type of purchase for me...