I have experience with Microstation with:
Triforma and Bently Architecture, AutoCAD 2000 w/ Bricscad Architecturals,
Chief Architect 9.5, Home Plan Pro 4.5.x, Better Homes and Gardens Home
Design Suite 6.x, Punch and others.
1. I would say that Home Plan Pro offers some very simple blueprinting and
plan development features but w/o fancy 3D sup****t. But you can develop
professional floor plans and blueprints with Home Design Pro. Its
inexpensive.
2. CA/BHG/Punch/ArchiCAD. Better Homes & Gardens and Chief Architect are
for
the most part the same program. The BHG product is a consumer-grade
version
that is minus certain features. I am a fan of Chief Architect and would
recommend it. I tried BHG after I had tried BHG but the feature restraints
are a bit too limiting for I myself so didnt take long for me to ditch
BHG.
Honestly, I found Punch to have some great features that I would not want
to
be without. Alas, my budget isnt affording ArchiCAD at this time.
3. If you can get your hands on a used packaging of Vectorworks Pro (i.e.
version 9.5..aka MiniCAD) w/ Architect and w/ Landmark and w/ Renderworks
I'd say that you might have a great thing. Check out Ebay.
4. One program that few people acknowledge is a one called Cycas. There is
a
free version available (minus layering). Last I recall the price for the
pro
version was very good.
5. You might also consider Arcon.
If you disregard 3D capabilties as being a panacea (i.e. focus on and be
happy with 2D* blueprinting/floor planning and be ready to do some
figuring), you can certain do split levels, mezzanines and multiple floors
in across mulitple files. Simply label your work properly and
professionally. Sure might have to get creative and deal with multiple
files
and "lose contact" with some features, and perhaps you have to go through
the trouble to pull out a calculator or spreadsheet and add up material
schedules across different files but you can still get your layouts. Just
make sure your measurements are right. For example, you create a new file
with the boundaries of the foundation/plan and then create subsequent
files
based on those dimensions. You can create subsequent floors, respective
mezzanine floors and so forth. Just make sure that columns placed in the
right places (manually input the exact dimensions) on each plan and
everything is uniform. In any case you would still be able to create
blueprints and floor plans that a professional can comprehend, right?
Remember the programs are meant to be convenient not a total replacement
for
ingenuity.
"Ralph Kent" <ralphkent@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:48d8314c.0402081031.556dd44d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Hello
>
> I wonder if I can pick your collective brains. I am keen to draft up
> some plans of my ideas for my home redesign to give to an architect to
> save time explaining, redesigning etc. I've downloaded a few demos
> for different packages and compared the marketing materials and most
> of the consumer packages (Home Architect, Better Homes and Design)
> seem only to be able to deal with buildings of up to 3 floors, and no
> split levels, etc. The one that seems to be able to do all the things
> I need (4 floors, mezzanines, not all floors flat as a pancake) is
> Chief Architect, but clearly the price is pretty steep for a simple
> home user like me.
>
> Does anyone know of a consumer design product that's decent enough to
> use that can cope with split levels and 4+ floors which doesn't cost
> 1/2 the building budget? Many thanks
>
> Ralph
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