Punch! Master Landscape & Home Design
Amazon.com Product Description
Master Landscape & Home Design offers nine programs οn one easy-tο-υѕе interface tο hеlр уου design home exterior аnd landscape projects. Thе suite includes аn extensive, sortable plantings library organized bу nursery-standard zones. Deck, home exterior, topography, аnd οthеr options add realism. Nеw technology allows уου tο integrate уουr οwn photos οf уουr home, allowing уου tο walk οr flу through уουr creation іn 3-D.
Uѕе thе 3-D Exterior Home Design program tο view уουr home wіth thousands οf subtle paint color choices, οr design walk-out basements аnd split-level designs wіth thе slope tool. Thе ClearView tool renders уουr design wіth a glass-house effect, giving уου a wire-frame perspective οf уουr topography without уουr landscape plantings. A user-definable database helps уου find thе rіght plantings fοr уουr planting zone based οn уουr search criteria. More thаn 2,000 selections οf flowers, shrubs, trees, ornamental grasses, ground cover, аnd more аrе featured. Aѕ уου design, thе Landscape Estimator compiles planting information, producing a report іn аn editable, printable, exportable spreadsheet format.
Design thе perfect deck fοr уουr home рlаn wіth Ultimate Deck. Multilevel οr multistory decks wіth 3-D photorealistic textures, stairs, railings, object placement, аnd color capabilities give уου thе ability tο design exactly thе deck уου want. Deck Wizards walk уου through railings, baluster options, аnd more. Users саn аlѕο сrеаtе objects frοm scratch οr modify existing selections frοm a library. Change colors, fabrics, patterns, textures, аnd more, thеn υѕе уουr creations tο furnish уουr home рlаn.
Posted in design a garden | 
Tags: Amazon, Change Colors, Color Capabilities, Color Choices, design, Exterior Home Design, Glass House, ground cover, Home, Landscape, Landscape Plantings, Landscape Projects, Master, Ornamental Grasses, Paint Color, Photorealistic Textures, Punch, Railings, Realism, Sortable, Split Level, Spreadsheet Format, Topography, Walk Out Basements, Wire Frame
5 Responses to “Punch! Master Landscape & Home Design”
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I have read the other reviews on this product and have been wondering why this product received such bad ratings. The only constant is that none of the reviewers seem to be happy with any home design programs. That’s probably because these programs require lots of hard work and tedious hours to get the results you are looking for. I too have used many other home design programs. And if you are looking for one that is simple, you will certainly not get the results you are looking for.
With that said, let me state that this program is the ONLY home design program that allowed me to build my existing house to almost perfect specification. The rendering is excellent and the features are undeniably some of the best on the market. It comes with many pre-defined objects, but those that are not included can be custom-built using the included 3D workshop tool. Again, this is not easy to use, but it is very powerful. It took me many hours to recreate my home, some of them frustrating. But, in the end, I was able to recreate my house perfectly, and landscape around it with ease. No other program (Broderbund, Sierra, etc.) has yet allowed me to do that.
For those of you who do decide to buy this package, you may find the following tips useful:
-This package does not do interior design. Check out the Punch! website for information on exactly what this and their other packages include.
-To my surprise, chainlink fences are not included. This is a drawback.
-Snap features are not great if you are drawing your house on an angle. It is best to draw your home vertically or horizontally and rotate the entire design once it is complete.
-Download the latest update from the Punch! website. It adds a plant finder by name, a wall break tool, and a few other nifty add-ons.
-Plants are difficult to find. Keep a nature guide handy so you can better identify your landscape objects.
-Be sure your monitor is set to 24-bit color or higher. Rendering problems will occur at lower color depths (this probably explains some of the negative reviews).
-Objects are difficult to select if they are stacked on top of one another. Try moving objects (temporarily) to other plans (roofing, landscape, etc.) and then moving them back once you have selected the item below it.
-Designing the exterior of your home is the hardest part of the process. Be patient and take your time with this step. Once it is complete, the landscaping is a breeze.
-Above all, HAVE FUN!
Rating: 5 / 5
This program looks like it does alot but once you start drawing with it you quickly see limitations. I am a Photoshop, powerpoint, excel user and am comfortable with toolbars and functions. This program will not group and move an object. Each line drawn must be adjusted individually. I gave up after 2 hours of trying to draw an odd shaped house angled on an odd shaped lot. For straight lots it will probably work fine. Also, the arial views were extremely difficult to control. I was flying all over the place but couldn’t get around the corner of the house.
Rating: 2 / 5
I read the reviews and saw that while most reviews were negative, a few loved it. How could that be? So I bought it thinking it might just take some effort and should be ok. My gamble paid off, it really is very nice!
Be sure to go to the product website at ….. and pick up the latest patch, it fixes problems and adds features. Some complained about not being able to search for a plant by name, the patch includes “search by plant name” to address it. That website also contains an online user forum with plenty of good information. Next check out the Punch! Alternatives website. It contains great user objects, resources and information to make the most of the product.
I’ve been using a floorplan trace and have reproduced my home exactly. The walk around is beautiful. There’s a Photoview feature that some may find useful. I thought I’d use it before I bought it, but it proved unecessary because the regular design looked good enough.
If you expect to load it on your computer and have a design in an hour or two, you’ll be disapointed. If you go in willing to invest some time, you’ll love it.
Rating: 5 / 5
I do not recommend this program for garden design. It has a vast number of plants to choose from and although they are broken down into catagories you will not be able to search for a specific plant and the pictures are small and hard to recognize. I spent 3 hours looking through the perenials hoping to find that I wanted for my bed only to have the program lock-up on me. Oh well…I do like the home design and floorplan trace.
Rating: 2 / 5
I purchased this product last week in order to complete a garden design for a client who wished to see various 3D views. In my previous job I used AutoCAD and TurboCAD, so am no novice when it comes to computer-aided design.
I feel that this product is slickly packaged fluff – I would be very surprised indeed if a qualified horticulturalist or garden designer was in any way involved in the design.
Firstly, the site layout tool is fairly easy to use, allowing you to get the basic plot onto your plan. From there on though, things begin to go awry. There is a very poor selction of fence styles etc, but to custom draw your own is extremely cumbersome, using a clumsily designed and rather archaic 3D-Custom builder, which you must swap into and out of. In addition, the selection of styles for hard-landscaping surfaces is very limited, meaning you can only render a vague idea of the actual finish you are looking for. Finally, on the hard-landscaping front, the photo-importing tool (one of the main features that swung me in favour of this product) is terribly difficult to use.
On the plant side, it goes from bad to worse. The plants that are in the selection are badly drawn to a large extent, and one feature that is absolute fluff with no basis in reality is the plant ager. This feature ages all trees almost identically up to the age of 20 years, which is pointless. Even the most extreme novice is surely aware that a black oak will be considerably larger than an English Hawthorn as time progresses? More importantly though, the plants have no Latin names – which is quite shocking in any garden design programme. The English names are Americann-English, which varies wildly from real English (yes, I know it’s an American product, but to launch it in the UK or Europe without taking account of this is lazy, money-grabbing marketing) It is for this very reason that Latin nomenclature is used!!!! The English list is not even alphabetical! In addition, the ‘artists renditions’ of many of tha plants are quite inaccurate.
I have read a few good reviews of this item on this page, and can only assume thay have been paid to write them. This is most definitely the worst piece of software I have ever purchased, and I will take it back to the shop I bought it from as soon as I can to try and argue for a refund. DON’T BUY IT!!!!!
Rating: 1 / 5