4 ms·

Of course this title triggers me and I need to share/rant about my own programming struggles with CAD :) Sorry Coming at the problem from another end, I have h

Of course this title triggers me and I need to share/rant about my own programming struggles with CAD :) Sorry Coming at the problem from another end, I have have been designing dream houses as a hobby but have been struggling and frustrated by the current CAD and 3D editors. There are a lot of drawing-house-plans apps like SweetHome3D and Homestyler etc, and they are all really good at getting some wall lines down quickly, but quickly start to get hard to do anything advanced and all give up on real roofs and attics. From the other end there is Sketchup, which is both good and easy yet also difficult to control. The general advice for people wanting to see a house design in 3D is to draw the plan in some house plan software then save that as a jpg and import that into sketchup and then to build the walls on top of the drawing etc. Of course, being a programmer, I had some ideas... and have about a dozen abandoned starts on a house drawing program that actually understands that 'this is a wall, and this is how thick walls are' etc. The openscad approach is good and I have some routines that do sensible tricky roofing angles and things, but you can't really go and and parameterise whole houses. Its a nut that still hasn't cracked. I've watched and talked with a lot of architects and tbh they are sketching and treating their CAD as a bunch of lines rather than the CAD knowing what walls and beams really are.

WillAdams 2y ago
Actually, there was a start-up a while back which developed a system for just that --- parameterizing house designs completely so that end-users could customize designs to their heart's content. If you look up "Flood Editor" it should take you to information on it. Interestingly, the company founded by the guy who developed the nailing plate which arguably made McMansions possible was an early investor in CAD, spending ~$1 million for one of the first systems.
josiahpeters 2y ago
I used Home Designer - https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/home-designer-architectural/ https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/home-designer-... to draw a house we purchased (built in the 1970s) and the changes we intended to make during a remodel. The person reviewing my permit application was very impressed that I showed up with proper plans and not some kind of sketch done hastily on a napkin. It definitely tries to think about walls, rooms, windows, floors as they are meant to be modeled. You can even get a materials estimate based on the properties of the wall.
- Suppafly 2y ago
  I think a bigger problem with these DIY home design apps is that you have no idea which ones are worth using or not until you've already bought them and then run into a road block they couldn't fix.
Qqqwxs 2y ago
Is paid software OK? Have you looked at Revit?
- poulpy123 2y ago
  Revit is 3300€/yr... You have to be very rich to be OK with this kind of price for a hobby
an_aparallel 2y ago
You have a few options: Freecad with Architecture workbenches. Rhino (used by most architects for exploratory modelling) *BlenderBIM (its called something else now) If you're talking to architects and they're talking about Autocad, and lines...they may be of the old guard. Most large/modern projects are Revit based. TBH any engineering drafting in 2024 using autocad is ridiculous. Something which takes 1-2 hours in a parametric modeller can take a day! Co-ordinating architecture, project management, structural engineering, facade engineering, and MEP specialties is non existent in Autocad - Revit is built for this. Revit is built to "know" and "understand"...is more or less the de-facto standard for building information modelling. If your pockets are deep enough - i'd recommend it - they have an LT (light) version which is more affordable and may do everything you want - but it's still pretty expensive for a fun little side project.
- michaelt 2y ago
  > If you're talking to architects and they're talking about Autocad, and lines...they may be of the old guard. [...] any engineering drafting in 2024 using autocad is ridiculous. At least in my country, there are a lot of small-project architects. You're converting a loft into a bedroom? Building an extension to your house? You'll need to do the calculations to make sure the beam holding up the roof is strong enough, and some paperwork so the inspector can see the calculations have been performed, and enough plans that the builders know what to build. Basic requirements that AutoCAD can take care of just fine. And of course these small-project architects are the only architects 99% of people will ever work with - far fewer people will ever work with an architect on a 100+ person building.
  - an_aparallel 2y ago
    Indeed - Revit is overkill for smaller projects :)

WillAdams 2y ago

Actually, there was a start-up a while back which developed a system for just that --- parameterizing house designs completely so that end-users could customize designs to their heart's content. If you look up "Flood Editor" it should take you to information on it. Interestingly, the company founded by the guy who developed the nailing plate which arguably made McMansions possible was an early investor in CAD, spending ~$1 million for one of the first systems.

josiahpeters 2y ago

I used Home Designer - https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/home-designer-architectural/ https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/home-designer-... to draw a house we purchased (built in the 1970s) and the changes we intended to make during a remodel. The person reviewing my permit application was very impressed that I showed up with proper plans and not some kind of sketch done hastily on a napkin. It definitely tries to think about walls, rooms, windows, floors as they are meant to be modeled. You can even get a materials estimate based on the properties of the wall.

Suppafly 2y ago
I think a bigger problem with these DIY home design apps is that you have no idea which ones are worth using or not until you've already bought them and then run into a road block they couldn't fix.

Qqqwxs 2y ago

Is paid software OK? Have you looked at Revit?

poulpy123 2y ago
Revit is 3300€/yr... You have to be very rich to be OK with this kind of price for a hobby

an_aparallel 2y ago

You have a few options: Freecad with Architecture workbenches. Rhino (used by most architects for exploratory modelling) *BlenderBIM (its called something else now) If you're talking to architects and they're talking about Autocad, and lines...they may be of the old guard. Most large/modern projects are Revit based. TBH any engineering drafting in 2024 using autocad is ridiculous. Something which takes 1-2 hours in a parametric modeller can take a day! Co-ordinating architecture, project management, structural engineering, facade engineering, and MEP specialties is non existent in Autocad - Revit is built for this. Revit is built to "know" and "understand"...is more or less the de-facto standard for building information modelling. If your pockets are deep enough - i'd recommend it - they have an LT (light) version which is more affordable and may do everything you want - but it's still pretty expensive for a fun little side project.

michaelt 2y ago
> If you're talking to architects and they're talking about Autocad, and lines...they may be of the old guard. [...] any engineering drafting in 2024 using autocad is ridiculous. At least in my country, there are a lot of small-project architects. You're converting a loft into a bedroom? Building an extension to your house? You'll need to do the calculations to make sure the beam holding up the roof is strong enough, and some paperwork so the inspector can see the calculations have been performed, and enough plans that the builders know what to build. Basic requirements that AutoCAD can take care of just fine. And of course these small-project architects are the only architects 99% of people will ever work with - far fewer people will ever work with an architect on a 100+ person building.
- an_aparallel 2y ago
  Indeed - Revit is overkill for smaller projects :)