Landscape Deck & Patio Designer Reviewer's Comments
|
You may also be interested in these review sites...
|
Punch! Software's Landscape, Deck, & Patio Designer 12 is a very full-featured product for landscape design, and earns our “TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award” for its flexibility and power.
Ease of Use:
Due to its full suite of features, Landscape, Deck, & Patio Designer is a little daunting at first glance. That’s because it’s actually a landscape AND home design program all in one, and if you’ll excuse the pun, it packs a lot of punch.
Luckily for us Punch! has included step-by-step tutorials, both in walkthrough and video form, along with a large selection of deck, pool, and full home and landscape templates to get you started. Be not afraid, taking ten to twenty minutes to listen and learn is quick and painless, and will have you cranking out full designs in no time.
Features & Tools:
Where do we begin? There’s the professionally-designed home and landscape plans, the ability to import your own pictures and 3D objects, excavate pits and build earthen berms, and estimate the cost of it all to boot! There really are too many features to fit in this review, so we’ll note some of our favorites.
PowerTools: This is a set of design wizards, importing tools, and editors that are unrivalled in landscape design. With these PowerTools we easily designed our own topographical layouts, edited plant information and appearance, and designed unique fences, pools, and decks. We also imported new 3D objects like grills and fence gates.
The Object Library: It’s HUGE! If you asked what it has, we’d respond with “What doesn’t it have?” Again, this is landscape AND home design software, so it has everything from trellises, shrubs, and pools, to kitchen cabinets, interior furniture, and bathroom fixtures.
Support & Documentation:
The paper manual is gigantic, the application help is deep and detailed, and the video tutorials guide you through the deep interface steadily and succinctly. We really liked how each interface element was defined, then its function demonstrated. It clarifies a lot of questions for the beginning landscape and home designer. If you still have questions, Punch! has online forums where you can interact with other Punch! Software users and employees alike.
Summary:
Even if you discount the included home design features, Landscape, Deck, & Patio Designer is still the ultimate in landscape design features.
©2008 TopTenREVIEWS, Inc.
