I need to draw the blueprints for my future house, and I want to do the plans on computer, and not on paper.
What are some user friendly and relatively easy to use blueprint program? I need to draw down a simple blueprint with accurate representation of the house dimensions (like how many meters are X amount of pixels and things alike), which will help me guess how many materials I will need and will need to purchase.
Paint helped at laying down what I vaguely want for a house, but now that I need to get to nitty gritty and the more technical stuff, it does not help anymore.
Any recommendations?
what do you want? recommendations from a pro whose company pays a $85k/yr license? some stupid shit stuck in 1024x768 that's easy to steal from walmart?
just go look for a torrent like everyone else you fricking mong.
Torrent of what, dipshit?
maybe start with all the search terms you've already used in your op that would seem to apply to what it is you're looking for.
that you have the nerve to call anybody stupid when sincerely asking such a banal question is reason enough to not help you, let alone to perform your task for you.
choke on a dick, queer.
Chief architect
>what do you want?
A simple program to draw a simple yet accurate blueprint so I can start figuring out how much shit I need to get.
>recommendations from a pro whose company pays a $85k/yr license?
What?
>some stupid shit stuck in 1024x768 that's easy to steal from walmart?
What?
>just go look for a torrent
That does not help at all.
>you fricking mong.
Rude.
Fpwp, frick off you Black person. OP asked a question and actually provided details on what he was looking for. Google searching "best floorplan planning softwares" gets you adspace bullshit.
I have used the paid version of Livehome 3D in a class and it's pretty intuitive. Easy to work with, but I'm sure there are better alternatives.
Absolutely worthless post
So I am looking also. I do not want a monthly subscription or an on-line solution. I want software loaded onto my desktop.
It needs to include all dimensions as the plan is created. It needs 2D and 3D views.
There are lots of programs out there. The two seemingly best programs I have found – and I have spent some considerable time researching this – are:
http://www.sweethome3d.com
https://www.livehome3d.com/
Sweethome 3D is free. But after looking at several youtube tutorials – it seems a bit tedious to master. I don’t really want to spend lots of time learning the software – just want to load and go.
Livehome 3D has a free version – but it’s stripped of most features. The paid full featured PRO version is $49.99. If you are a student or educator, they have discounts. But look at the youtube tutorials for this software – and it just seems more intuitive and easy to master.
Both have the ability to “trace” an existing floorplan – which is want I intend to do – since my project is a remodel of an existing home – for which I have old paper floorplans that I can take a picture of and convert from a jpeg file.
Hope that helps.
Thanks, I will check those out
>It needs 2D and 3D views.
Personally I'm just looking for 2D, too dumb and lazy to try 3D, besides it will be a simple regular square concrete house so there's nothing really worth 3D'ing anyways.
>tedious to master
Designing homes is hard. You can half-ass the planning and make up for it with skill and experience, or you can work hard at planning it right if you don't know how to build.
Don't scale your house dimensions to pixels. Scale it to smaller dimensions.
If you're building a house, design should really be a part of the budget. So hire a local designer (unlicensed architect, or equivalent in whatever 3rd world country you're in) to help you, or learn autocad.
why not FreeCAD?
It's not easy to learn and so ive been told harder than other CAD programs BUT it's a skill you'll have for the long haul and it is very useful for many other things
It's like getting a rotary tool,once you have it you realize you needed it
just saying "so ive been told" because FreeCAD is the only CAD package I personally learned btw
Props for this, and props to OP. Exactly what I'm looking for.
I've had the same question that OP had. I'm using Fusion360 for now, but it seems like there should be a better alternative. Livehome 3D looks decent. I may test it out and see if it's worth the pro version.
LibreCAD is my favorite. It has basic CAD functionalities, great documentation and it is free.
Microsoft Visio is decent for floor plans, just draft & drop shapes etc. Might have a free version on office.com
Just torrent Sketchup Pro and go wild with the possibilities.
Roblox Studio is unironically fricking overpowered if you're willing to learn how to use it. Keep in mind you can export models as OBJs for use in other programs.
I have been curious about this but for actual structural engineering purposes. I am looking to timber frame a shed and want to make sure my math, studwork, and frames will work before then going on to making a foundation, roof, entries, etc.
i did an architectural drafting course years ago
we used archicad, which is free for students but you can probably find a torrent for it
archicad is nowhere near as popular as autocad and revit, though i haven't used those two programs before
This thread made me curious, how many of you actually designed and built your own house?
I'm a builder and design all the homes I build.
I use chief architect, it's easily the best program.
Of course the best tool doesn't mean shit if you don't have a design sense. A year or two ago a bunch of folks were posting their home ideas on here and I was helping to fix them. Most people here have no common sense for home design.
>Most people here have no common sense for home design
I'm curious to hear those stories, what obvious things people lack at drawing home plans?
Here's one of the threads:
https://warosu.org/diy/thread/2031995
Do you have any suggestions/links for _good_ house plans? I'm completely in the dark here and would love to just use one that's already well thought out. I have no intention of reinventing the wheel.
BTW great advice on the old thread
> Do you have any suggestions/links for _good_ house plans?
I learned long ago not to just go in blindly suggesting. I typically cater to what the person wants and then use my expertise to design around their requirements.
There are so many things I look for in general:
No natural sound barriers.
Bedroom against living room wall
Toilets / toilet rooms on communal walls
Not giving at least 18" from center of toilet to walls.
No pantry
Lack of windows (when in doubt... add one)
Not using a 2x6 wall on back edge of shower (lets you put in nook instead of shelving. see pic)
Walking straight into living room, always give a short foyer with mud bench / coat closet.
Not thinking of 'bed space', especially in smaller rooms. Think of where the bed will go and how that will effect walking / door space.
Design the laundry so the dryer can direct vent outdoors (helps a ton in the future if there is an issue).
2 car Garage should never be 18', always a minimum of 20' so you can actually get out of cars inside garage.
Not giving a space for a towel rack near shower wall.
Those are some of the basics, but there are a ton of little things that I can't think of off the top of my head.
>Most people here have no common sense for home design.
what kind of things go through your mind when designing a home? what big features do you try to incorporate? what sort of things are popular but terrible?
I highly recommend sweet home 3D, used it to design my house.
>I highly recommend sweet home 3D, used it to design my house.
Do you live in the house now? Anything you like/dislike about it that can be attributed to Sweet Home 3D?
how did you all decide on what home layout and architectural style you were going to use? Was there something in a book or a building that you visited that inspired you?
I went on houseplans, found one I liked and stole it
what did you like about it?
Colonial style, big and open inside, and I liked the way it integrated the garage.
I’m not in the US so not an issue
Watch out. People have legitimately been sued for using copyrighted house plans.
does a house plan enter the public domain after a certain amount of time? Where is the catalog of public house plans
while this thread is up i would like to share with you guys, this software ! ! !
https://pcon-planner.com/en/download/
its guide/tutorial
http://help.pcon-planner.com/en/help/
its free and centered around detailing interiors,
but it cant print stuff to scale on paper, which is one of the limitations
you laydown a 2d floorplan with your mouse and you can change the view to look at it in 3d immediately
making a floor plan is easy, you can add plain doors and windows, but creating every detail is time consuming
also its got a, simulated lighting options, accepts textures with normal and rough maps, and a renderer thats kinda quick but not to great
there is a paid version but its like $500 each year
the free versions doesnt have assets like chairs or rugs, i go here, but you'll have to make an account which is annoying
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/my_3d_warehouse
although if i knew how to torrent i would really like to try Chief Architect
or if you become clever enough with the program you can make your own objects like furniture from the shapes it provides
revit
(1) 99% of professional firms use AutoCAD or Revit to produce construction drawings
(2) A good architect will be able to turn your shitty ass napkin drawing into a building.
Freecad BIM work bench
>MS paint
OP are you trying to get someone to do all your shit for you ?
If you think a program will solve your issues you already failed.
>t. Did my plans with pen and paper, used 3-d program of my choosing.
>Used proper costs and real life materials
>used 3-d program of my choosing.
That's the thing, I'm NOT using 3D, merely using a 2D simple drawing so I can figure exact material costs and shit, pretty sure I will even show it to an architect after I'm done drawing a 2D blueprint with a program
See my earlier post and you'll find the program you are looking for to do 2D
This
one?
Me=>
and now see pic for 2D
Top down, given I'm a second floor pointless to draw the front/side, besides I already got all my doors and half the windows, so I already know how it will look like, just need to figure out the amount of materials I will need
for layout shit, use sweethome3d. For actual drawings, hire someone, don't be stupid.
same here
I'm looking to build a couple of houses using containers, any blueprints or ideas for this?
I decided to recreate my new condo flat plan in sweet home 3d and getting everything to align is pure pain. You draw a wall, add a dimension to look for place to add another one, draw it and then after zooming in you are off by 0.1 cm or some other bullshit value. It feels like the "Magnetism" option didn't work at all and googling tells me there's no 'snap to grid' feature always use in eagle and other CADs.
here's a list: https://foyr.com/learn/best-free-home-design-software/
i use Home Designer 2020 but i hate it.
in fact. i've hated all the similar apps i've tried.
next time i'm using paper and pencil.
just draw it on paper