home designer 7 and what it doesn't do

[retiredmike]

I live in UK. I bought HD 7 just less than a year ago (from Amazon) as it seemed the appropriate level of the (then) current version for what I wanted, and I have been through all the training videos and tinkered occasionally, learning how to use it. Now I come to use it for some serious kitchen design I discover features missing that it didn't "say on the tin". For example there are no objects in the architectural block library - I could do with the pre-built kitchen islands. More significantly there are no terrain tools that allow me to have anything other than a flat site - I'm going to have to remodel the back garden after the extension is added. The training videos are sneakily for the HD Deluxe version - I am guessing that terrain features are part of deluxe as some buttons on the menu bar are missing compared with what's on the training video.

I'd upgrade, however deluxe 7 is no longer available. What is my best course for upgrade, given that (a) I'm in Europe (b) I'm not prepared to upgrade a £25 program to a £500 semi-professional version. And it's very hard discovering EXACTLY what features are supported in which package.

Or I try to buy HD 7 Deluxe cheaply on ebay . . .

[doright]

It appears that there are two programs in between yours and Pro called Home Designer Suite 8.0 and Architectural Home Designer.

I had Architectural Home Designer ($200 US) for a few months, but, upgraded to Pro quickly because there was a great rebate.

Right now Designer Suite 8.0 is only about $90 US. I've seen some great designs done out of it on this site.

Hopefully, someone experienced with Designer Suite 8.0 and AHD will answer the question.

Maybe the product comparison chart from the site would help you decide:
http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/...ts/matrix.html

[Katalyst777]

I live in UK. I bought HD 7 just less than a year ago (from Amazon) as it seemed the appropriate level of the (then) current version for what I wanted, and I have been through all the training videos and tinkered occasionally, learning how to use it. Now I come to use it for some serious kitchen design I discover features missing that it didn't "say on the tin". For example there are no objects in the architectural block library - I could do with the pre-built kitchen islands. More significantly there are no terrain tools that allow me to have anything other than a flat site - I'm going to have to remodel the back garden after the extension is added. The training videos are sneakily for the HD Deluxe version - I am guessing that terrain features are part of deluxe as some buttons on the menu bar are missing compared with what's on the training video.

I'd upgrade, however deluxe 7 is no longer available. What is my best course for upgrade, given that (a) I'm in Europe (b) I'm not prepared to upgrade a £25 program to a £500 semi-professional version. And it's very hard discovering EXACTLY what features are supported in which package.

Or I try to buy HD 7 Deluxe cheaply on ebay . . .

Contact the Home Designer Sales department directly, it's been posted here before that they can assist with non-US upgrade discount pricing.

[Kbird]

HD8 Suite has the things you mentioned in the 1st post (blocks,terrain slopes,video tutorials etc) ,not sure about the plain Home Designer 8,so I would also think Arch.HD8 has those things too.Might be cheaper just to buy a newer version at your local software bigbox store?
I dont see an upgrade rebate for HD7 > HDS8 though ,the rebates were only for USA residents as of Xmas ,though they did say they would work something out for me if i wanted to upgrade when i emailed them about it.

Mick.