Our TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award winning Mac home design software, Live Interior 3D Pro will have you spinning circles in your chair with its realistic imagery. It is simple enough for the average in-home user, but also advanced enough for an avid contractor. After just minutes of using this software, you will be designing like a pro. This software is targeted to interior design. If you are looking for an all-around Mac home design software, then this product is not for you. It has minimal exterior features.
The realistic quality of the software is right up there with Punch! Home & Landscape Design Studio. A Unique tool superior to the other products we reviewed is the Light Source Manager. This tool gives you the ability to change the color and luminosity of any light fixture (imported or already in the program). You can even change the strength of the sun as it shines through the windows. This will be great when you testing the shadowing from the windows versus the interior lighting.
There are multiple views that you can work in as you design in 3D mode: shadows and lights, lights only or no lights or shadows. Most software that we reviewed had a special button to push if you wanted to see the lights and shadows or other realistic attributes through rendering final quality, but Live Interior Pro did these views automatically.
Live Interior 3D Pro is jam packed with interior design features. Designing floor plans is very fast and easy. If you are out of ideas and just want to see what this software is capable of, you can click on the many room templates that are already fully equipped, or you can choose a pre-made floor plan. All of the templates on the software are editable.
Live Interior 3D Pro takes materials to a whole new level. You have the option to create your very own, but chances aren’t you won’t need to with over 1,500 materials in the program.
The roofing wizard is very simple to use. You can change the pitch, angle, overhang or add skylights. You can choose between automatically adding the roof or do it yourself.
The software does not have too many features for the exterior of the house. If your main focus is the interior of the house, then this product will be perfect for you, but if you need landscaping tools, then you ought to consider another product.
In order to have access to hundreds of objects, you will need to have Google SketchUp 7. This lets you import and edit 3D objects.
As with most software, Live Interior 3D Pro is a little tricky at first. After a few minutes of testing the tools, we felt like professional designers. There are video tutorials and a detailed manual that come with the software if you need a little extra help. It is a great software to experiment with funky ideas. The image is real enough that you won’t need to make any risky guesses. You’ll be able to tell if your designs will be worth it by looking at it in the 3D view.
BeLight Software has done an excellent job at provide top quality real-time editing in the 3D view. You can drag and drop 3D items from the object library and place them in the 3D view. It recognizes when there is a table and objects will go to the top of these or attach to walls.
There are multiple options when it comes to getting the assistance you need. Through their website you have access to a FAQs page as well as multiple email addresses and phone numbers. You may also contact technical support manager through iChat/AIM. An online forum is available with comments and questions by users from around the globe. If you encounter repeated problems you may post suggestions on the forum as well.
When the software is downloaded onto your computer, you have access to an online manual and a help section in the program. It was easy to navigate through and find the solutions to our difficulties.
Live Interior 3D Pro is an excellent product. We found it to be extremely realistic and fun to use. The interior design options seem endless with the many editing tools. As far as a Mac Home Design Software, it did not have as many of the all-around features as the other products, but its interior design features seemed to be unlimited.
