Several unique terms and phrases describe the features of software we review on this site, some easier to grasp than others. This list briefly defines terms relevant to Home Design Software.

Features

Imperial & Metric Measurements

Teaches software users about home design tools and other common features.

2D Design

Provides two separate, interactive 3-D viewing options: 3-D walk-through and fly-around. Using interactive viewing, you can vary the viewing level by adjusting the altitude and angle. Viewing speed and camera angle can also be adjusted to provide the best viewing capabilities possible.

3D Design

Customizes photorealistic images of real-world textures (paint, brickwork, carpet, draperies and so on) so you can tour a realistic rendering of your home plan.

Enter Precise Dimensions

Lets you place interior objects, such as beds, dressers, chairs, tables, appliances and more in your floor plan to get a feel for the size, layout and function of each room.

3D Walkthrough

Allows you to place exterior objects in your plan, such as outbuildings, patio furniture, playground equipment, pools, fences and so on.

3D Flyaround (aerial views)

Organizes interior and exterior objects by rooms (exterior, office, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and so on). Typically, when you click a specific room, relevant object choices appear in a thumbnail view. You can customize your rooms further by adding your own objects to the organizer database.

3D Cutaway Slider (dollhouse views)

Allows you to incorporate stairs and railings into your home design.

Set Camera View Angles

Allows you to design and create various plant areas.

Wireframe Views

Allows you to pick roof styles, windows and doors from a predefined list.

Create Custom Animations

Allows you to customize roof pitches, placement, shapes and so on.

Scan & Trace Pictures, Blueprints

Allows you to incorporate electrical, heating ventilation, air conditioning, foundation and plumbing plans into your design easily.

Add Voice & Sounds to the Design

Gives you control over lighting effects-from the type of lighting fixtures to the shadows the lighting creates-on any given object in your design.

Interior Lighting Simulation

Allows you to preview how your landscape will look as it matures from year to year; typically offers views from one to twenty years.

Exterior Lighting Simulation

Adds real-world topography (hills, valleys, ponds and such) to your building site.

Object Organizer Database

Allows you to determine how many sprinkler irrigation heads you need for your lot and helps you determine optimal locations for watering efficiency.

Cost Estimation

A "dollhouse view" that allows you to see 3-D elevation views (including all objects and furnishings) right through an exterior wall.

Automatic Updates

Allows you to use the type of measurement you're accustomed to using.

Automatic Floorplan Dimensioning

A collection of pre-designed home plans from which you can gleen ideas or adapt to fit your needs.

Hands-On Real Model

Allows you to choose from a collection of room templates, making designing your home easier.

Tools

Materials Paintbrush

Allows you to view your home in photo-realistic 3-D, allowing you to select exterior and interior wall colors, add realistic roofing materials and select from a variety of textures to make your home design completely unique.

Roofing Wizard

Import a digital photograph or a scanned image of your home and landscape around it with the software. Then you can add anything from window and door treatments to an entirly new facade.

Custom Material Wizard

Keeps track of building materials and calculates subtotals for each door, window, plant, roofing material and more, providing you with a grand total for the entire project, which can be edited, printed or exported to a spreadsheet.

House Builder Wizard

Lets you duplicate your lot exactly from a surveyor's report. This tool uses three methods to define points on your lot: Azimuth, which defines points in degrees, minutes and seconds clockwise from north; Bearing, which defines points in angles, minutes and seconds, using north, south, east and west as guides and Relative, which defines points in feet and inches using a previous point as a reference.

Kitchen Builder Wizard

Allows you to draw bay windows and curved walls, as well as a round house. After drawing walls, you can add windows, doors and so on to suit your taste.

Curved Walls

Incorporates information about your lot's contours into your design and then displays the information in 3-D. You can use complex curves or simple geometric shapes to represent your topography. You can even use existing topography drawings to trace the contours of your lot.

Custom Roofs & Pitch

Allows you to print a price list of your landscape items.

Window & Door Designer

Lets you import a scanned floor plan into the background of your design. Once scanned and loaded into your design file, you can trace the image to create a floor plan. You can even set the scale of the new drawing to the scale of the image.

Fireplace Designer

Allows you to view and edit the framing of your design. You can add beams, joists and other supports, plus control the lumber size used for a particular purpose.

Cabinet Designer

Takes the guesswork out of creating hip roofs for both simple and complex home designs.

Framing Editor

Allows you to add and modify doors and windows to your design while viewing it in 3-D.

Stair Generator

Contains cabinets, furniture and appliances, which you can drag and drop into your design; gives you the ability to create custom cabinet plans to fit virtually any design.

Topography Designer

Lets you create customized trim by editing a basic shape.

Deck Designer

Allows you to create customized fireplaces by choosing materials and colors.

Fence Designer

Allows you to create custom deck designs, from simple to elaborate.

3D Files

Allows you to export your design files in a variety of formats, including: PSD (Photoshop), PNG (Portable Network Graphics), TGA (Truevision Targa), WMF (Windows Meta File) and BMP (Windows Bitmap).

DXF (AutoCAD)

Lets you export your design files in DXF, which stands for Drawing Exchange File and is an industry-standard format for sharing drawing files. DXF is a two-dimensional graphic file format supported by almost all PC-based CAD programs.

DWG (AutoCAD)

By exporting your design to VRML (for viewing in 3D), you can view with a VRML viewer or web browser (provided an appropriate plug-in is installed). These helper applications and plug-ins are often available as free downloads on the Internet.

2D Files

Allows you to share files with your architect, builder and so on. Importing and exporting your detailed drawings to DXF or DWG format makes sharing your files with professionals simple.

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