Self Build House Design Software

ARCON 3D Architect
Pro Packages

Back in the early 1980s, a familiarity with graph paper and a class in technical drawing were prerequisites to be able to design your own home. The truth was almost no one bothered - apart from architects, obviously - because it was just too darn complicated and difficult. Fast forward 25 years and, of course, there are computer design packages to make your creative life easier and more rewarding. Well, that's the theory. What's the truth, and what house design and planning packages are out there awaiting you?

By Gordon Miller

ARCON 3D Architect

First up is ARCON 3D Architect. Available in PC DVD-ROM, priced £249.99. System requirements: Windows XP (SP2)/Vista; 1.32GB RAM; DVD-ROM drive.

The sales pitch claims: ARCON 3D Architect lets you plan, design and visualise your creative ideas in photorealistic 3D. In 2D construction mode, simply place your elements like walls, doors, windows and roofs, and see these come to life in an interactive 3D environment. Generate rendered images to see the effects of texturing, lighting and shading and save high quality images of any 2D/3D view for planning applications.

Fortunately, the experts back up the claims. PC Advisor says: 'ARCON's 3D Architect package is very user-friendly, allowing the beginner and casual-user to articulate standard aspects of architectural concepts, with useful construction templates included.' PC Advisor gives ARCON 3D Architect an overall score of 4/5.

Midlothian Grand Design by Andrew Pearson

Amazon reviewers, who are ordinary punters who have bought the software and used it, give it the thumbs up with an average score of 4.5/5, based on two reviews.

One reviewer said: 'Having had no experience of CAD based drawing programmes I found this a doddle to pick up and get to grips with. The comprehensive manuals and tutorials give all the information you need to get started.' The second said: 'ARCON has no steep learning curve and allows for non-qualified CAD users like myself to very quickly produce instant results.'

Is there a drawback? Unfortunately, the programmes are not compatible with Macs as yet, though the company says it's working on changing that. Is it a substitute for an architect? PC advisor claims not, saying: '... [it's] clearly no substitute for the full AutoCAD/VectorWorks "precision-engineering" experience, and as such it probably won't find itself installed in the offices of large architectural practices.'