3D CAD 7 Professional - Plan & design buildings from initial rough sketches to the finished blueprints - CAD and architecture software

GARBAGE!! No volume on videos

I installed this on my workstation to work on building my dream home. I have started building this home in multiple softwares but havent found one that does EVERYTHING yet. Most of them only allow sketches or only let you put in finishing touches.

This professional architectures software should have been left exactly to those pros. I ordered this software expecting to use it to help me in a project to remodel my home. It turned out to be far too complex for an amateur like me. A professional well versed in architectural design and other program used in that field could probably get great benefit from this software, but I found the program confusing and not intuitive for a beginner. Id didnt make too much headway after some video tutorials I found, though I can say that these tutorials did show that this software has many features. I hope that the producers of this program give consideration to putting out tutorials and guides targeted more toward the non-specialist, if only to generate a wider market for what they must have put considerable resources into developing.

This software has a bit of a learning curve to it, but once you put in the time to figure it out, it makes sense. There is a lot it can do when it comes to designing your home. If you are willing to sit and figure it out, its a great choice.

Reading the box, I was excited that it mentioned that it could use things saved in .dae files. This sparked my interest since I am making mesh objects for use in a virtual world. Other reviews mentioned the program being difficult to use for those not experienced in other DAD programs. I felt confident since I have used CAD programs for a long time. The program installed easily from the CD. Then I went to the file menu expecting to see import as one of the options. It wasn’t there. I did a help search for import and found a reference to importing DXF files in which it indicated that I should go to the file menu and select the import DXF option. No mention of other formats and that option wasn’t on the file menu anyway. I did find over in the 3D drop down a place where I could pick up objects that I had with the .dae format and that did work as I could see the object I was expecting. It could be that if one is very persistent this program may have benefits over other solutions.

You need to already be expert level with this software prior to ordering. My husband has experience with three other builder type programs and we wanted a better one to finalize building plans on our planned gut/remodel of our home. Neither of us can get this thing to work... and what instructions there are do not match this program. Do not order this unless you already are using it at work and know how to run it.

The program has the potential to be incredible. But there is ZERO support for the program. The only documents you can find from the manufacture are not in English, they are Russian I think. Makes it incredibly difficult to work through. I spent the better part of 5 hours attempting to create a simple shed structure with no luck. Even following along with their videos online in a different language yielded no results as the videos are of a different version of this program.

When I first used AutoCAD 2.5 on a 80286, I lacked an 80287 or Weitek. I also had no idea what I was doing. Sure enough, I was a kid armed with 1.2MB disks, but no real understanding of 2D CAD software. A few years later I actually was pretty proficient with AutoCAD 10 (having a mouse definitely helped). Since then, Ive used a number of CAD packages for Windows and Unix, and use FreeCAD for my personal use. While FreeCAD is fine (as was SketchUp when Google still owned it), I was curious what Ashampoos 3D CAD 7 Professional would bring to the table, as its a commercial product.

Once i took the time to go through all the help i was able to use this tool. I will say once you get the hand of it works great. They have lots of resources to help you.

If you have any interest in architecture or designing buildings, this is the way to go. The program is simple and easy to use, yet detailed and full of lots of awesome features. The 3D objects and the ability to export models to Maxon Cinema 4D put this program above its competitors.