Sometimes we want to change or redesign our apartment’s interior, or maybe we bought a house and want to decorate it. Some people just want to play, try to design their ideal home and see how it might look.
In these cases, it might be very helpful to have a software tool that can help us create 3D maps of the changes in our home and what we could make better. Here are the best four tools which can help you in that.
1) SketchUp
Google SketchUp is a great tool for 3-D modeling. It is much more intuitive and easier to use than traditional CAD programs, and has been very popular.
In recent years, mainly thanks to the impetus given by Google to this fantastic tool, millions of people, professionals and amateurs, study, design and present their ideas in 3D. Designing with Sketchup is fun and dynamic. There are lots of free and editable objects that are available to use in our own projects and that can save us a tremendous amount of time.
Whether you’re an architect, game designer, decorator, renovator, or simply want to simulate redecoration of your home with Sketchup, you will enjoy it.
2) SweetHome 3D
SweetHome 3D is an open-source software. It is for people who want to redesign their own homes. Users can arrange furniture in the house and see a 3-D version of how everything looks. There are additional 3D models to use, and one can create pretty realistic images of the house and all its parts.
3D Home Design has a free version of its powerful software which enables users to create 2D/3D professional plans for indoor and outdoor views. Graphics are pretty realistic and make working with this software very enjoyable.
This 3d model software has a very clean interface so it is easy to use. You can include different materials for the floors, walls and other parts of your home. There is an option to categorize objects, add phases and names. This tool is a good choice if you don’t have much experience because it doesn’t take so much effort.
This tool looks like a game for building homes. You can select standard room sizes and then add and move the furniture around, changing colours. This tool gives you an option to modify the home’s exterior and garden. You can also take a virtual tour and change the furnishings and color schemes.
This is software developed by AutoCAD and it is made for architect students and educators. You will need an educational license to use this software. It can be installed on a student’s or educator’s desktop.
7) FreeCAD Arch
You can produce 2D floor plans, structural elements, but you can also use it to create objects that have been created in other workbenches. The BIM workflow is very user friendly.
8) Dynamo
Dynamo is an open source software, and its community contributes to it by making it better. What is useful about this tool is that it automatically generated a lot of different geometries you can work on.
9) TAD: The Architect’s Desktop
With this tool you can preview your design, zoom in anytime, control objects, make screenshots. Very accurate view results.
10) Planner 5D
Both 2D and 3D available, use custom materials and surfaces, snapshot feature available so you can take a capture of your design to look like realistic photo. Modify pattern, colors of the walls, floors.
11) Room Styler
A very simple SD room planner. Drag and drop room shapes, manage lights, furnish your room, decorate the wall and more.
If you like to shop in Ikea, you probably know that you can use their home planner to test different furniture pieces or to see how the new kitchen would fit into your home. Furthermore, you will get a full list of products with the prices.
13) HomeStyler
2D and 3D design, real furniture products with 1:1 , walk-through experience , furniture library. They have online software and mobile apps so you can design your home on the go.
14) SmartDraw
This tools works similar to others. Once you finish your design you can export it to PDF, share it with others online or open it in MS Office. There are a lot of templates to choose from to save some time.
15) Home By Me
You can have 3 different projects for free. What is more, you can explore other people’s projects to get some inspiration.
16) Blender
Another open source software for 3D modelling, rigging, redendering, simulation and even video editing and motion tracking.
17) Libre CAD
LibreCAD is a free Open Source CAD application that works on Windows, Apple and Linux. This software has a big community that provides you with support and documentation.
18) OpenSCAD
And the last but not the least, OpenSCAD tool that makes solid 3D objects, worth a try. It is free to use and you can install it on any operating system.
