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I had a need for this kind of tool a while ago, and this was the ONLY decent option I found. I'm just wondering what alternatives are even available. I figured

I had a need for this kind of tool a while ago, and this was the ONLY decent option I found. I'm just wondering what alternatives are even available. I figured there must be some professional software for this, but if so, I don't know what it is. I was pretty happy with this for whatever project I was doing at the time. I recently started using inkscape, for a general purpose drawing of my house. I can also include layers with other kinds of information like a circuit map. I can also include exterior information, like landscape design, buried utility lines, or assorted raster maps. It just seems like a "whole-house visual diagram" software tool should exist.

wyldfire 4y ago
> this was the ONLY decent option I found Can SketchUp do any of this?
- dddddaviddddd 4y ago
  It can, but when I last looked, you needed the paid version to have similar features.
  - xupybd 4y ago
    Fusion 360 is free for personal use. It could probably do this
    - xupybd 4y ago
      Wow didn't expect down votes on that response.
  - jasonjamerson 4y ago
    I recommend modeling in Blender and importing to Unreal, which has a library of furnishings and real time rendering.
    - djhn 4y ago
      But only if you budget the time for learning those. Blender might take several hours of tutorials just to be able to create an empty room in the shape of a regular, rectangular box. Also Blender lacks support for exact measurements AFAIK. I tried this approach but gave up after barely achieving a rough floor plan after a day's of work.
      - jasonjamerson 4y ago
        It definitely takes some doing, and you're right about the measurements. I often draft the floorplan in AutoCAD first, bring that into Blender... But the results are amazing. I wonder if a powerful but easy interface could be built as a bridge /plugin for these tools.
  - jlv2 4y ago
    I kept the installer for the last free version of SketchUp around for exactly this reason.
smtpserver 4y ago
This is pretty neat https://home.by.me/en/ https://home.by.me/en/
- aweb 4y ago
  Agreed, I use it a lot for personal projects and it's quite straightforward to use while still pretty powerful. I'd just like to export the data somehow though
michaelmior 4y ago
I like magicplan[0]. It's not perfect, but I like that I can just point my phone around the room and tap on points to create a rough layout. You can add in precise measurements later if you choose to. [0] https://www.magicplan.app/ https://www.magicplan.app/
notJim 4y ago
I think "floor plan app" is the keyword you want to use, there are a bunch of these. You draw a floor plan and then most of them can give you a 3d render based on that. I used floorplanner.com, but there are several options.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
userbinator 4y ago
I figured there must be some professional software for this, but if so, I don't know what it is. There's a whole category of such software, it's called CAD. The professional products are notoriously expensive.
- alanbernstein 4y ago
  I'm quite familiar with CAD for the purpose of designing things from scratch. What I want to do is, essentially, create blueprints for an old, poorly designed and built house. The tools I have tried for this are not really well-suited to this task.
iorrus 4y ago
Floorplanner is pretty good imo but it’s an alternative with roughly the same features and functionality
jnrk 4y ago
> I figured there must be some professional software for this, but if so, I don't know what it is. As an architect I can confirm that there's indeed a lot of professional software for this. The ones I usually work in are Revit and ArchiCAD, which are tailored for architects. Our interior architects also use Sketchup a lot. There's also more general-purpose CAD software like AutoCAD and Vectorworks available.
ixs 4y ago
I‘ve been working with sweet home 3d a bit but then gave up on it after running into rendering issues. Found https://pcon-planner.com/en/?privat=530&page=126 https://pcon-planner.com/en/?privat=530&page=126 instead which is windows only and bon-open source but effectively free. Pretty impressive stuff. Been very happy so far.

wyldfire 4y ago

> this was the ONLY decent option I found Can SketchUp do any of this?

dddddaviddddd 4y ago
It can, but when I last looked, you needed the paid version to have similar features.
- xupybd 4y ago
  Fusion 360 is free for personal use. It could probably do this
  - xupybd 4y ago
    Wow didn't expect down votes on that response.
- jasonjamerson 4y ago
  I recommend modeling in Blender and importing to Unreal, which has a library of furnishings and real time rendering.
  - djhn 4y ago
    But only if you budget the time for learning those. Blender might take several hours of tutorials just to be able to create an empty room in the shape of a regular, rectangular box. Also Blender lacks support for exact measurements AFAIK. I tried this approach but gave up after barely achieving a rough floor plan after a day's of work.
    - jasonjamerson 4y ago
      It definitely takes some doing, and you're right about the measurements. I often draft the floorplan in AutoCAD first, bring that into Blender... But the results are amazing. I wonder if a powerful but easy interface could be built as a bridge /plugin for these tools.
- jlv2 4y ago
  I kept the installer for the last free version of SketchUp around for exactly this reason.

smtpserver 4y ago

This is pretty neat https://home.by.me/en/ https://home.by.me/en/

aweb 4y ago
Agreed, I use it a lot for personal projects and it's quite straightforward to use while still pretty powerful. I'd just like to export the data somehow though

michaelmior 4y ago

I like magicplan[0]. It's not perfect, but I like that I can just point my phone around the room and tap on points to create a rough layout. You can add in precise measurements later if you choose to. [0] https://www.magicplan.app/ https://www.magicplan.app/

notJim 4y ago

I think "floor plan app" is the keyword you want to use, there are a bunch of these. You draw a floor plan and then most of them can give you a 3d render based on that. I used floorplanner.com, but there are several options.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

userbinator 4y ago

I figured there must be some professional software for this, but if so, I don't know what it is. There's a whole category of such software, it's called CAD. The professional products are notoriously expensive.

alanbernstein 4y ago
I'm quite familiar with CAD for the purpose of designing things from scratch. What I want to do is, essentially, create blueprints for an old, poorly designed and built house. The tools I have tried for this are not really well-suited to this task.

iorrus 4y ago

Floorplanner is pretty good imo but it’s an alternative with roughly the same features and functionality

jnrk 4y ago

> I figured there must be some professional software for this, but if so, I don't know what it is. As an architect I can confirm that there's indeed a lot of professional software for this. The ones I usually work in are Revit and ArchiCAD, which are tailored for architects. Our interior architects also use Sketchup a lot. There's also more general-purpose CAD software like AutoCAD and Vectorworks available.

ixs 4y ago

I‘ve been working with sweet home 3d a bit but then gave up on it after running into rendering issues. Found https://pcon-planner.com/en/?privat=530&page=126 https://pcon-planner.com/en/?privat=530&page=126 instead which is windows only and bon-open source but effectively free. Pretty impressive stuff. Been very happy so far.