Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I have used three Punch products in the past 3 years: Suite, Platinum, and AS18. They all offer similar user interfaces, although as you pay more money, you get more features. In fact, the feature list in AS18 is too large to list here. While some of the newer features work (DXF and VRML export), I was unable to figure out why anyone would want to use them. The diversity of the features (for example, "showers" can be found both in the "objects" [or "furniture"] section, and in the "plumbing" section) will strike you either as confusing, or as providing rich alternatives, depending on how you view these things.
Punch offers free updates from their web site, but if history is any indicator, you can only expect one update per product. Older products, such as Suite and Platinum, are likely to remain exactly as they are, with no further enhancements or bug fixes. I believe that an AS18 upgrade is now available for download from Punch.
Program performance ranges from intolerably slow to quite acceptable, but not in a way that is easy to fathom. Calculations that took my old Dell 933 MHz Pentium system 20 seconds, take about 11 seconds on my new AMD 1.8 MHz Athalon, but for a different kind of calculation, the numbers are 4 and 40. Yes, that's right: the newer, faster machine is 10 times slower than the older machine. When I switched video boards on the newer machine (from an ATI 8500 Radeon to an nVidia 4200 card), this number dropped to below a second, an improvement of a factor of 50 or so. Thus, predicting program performance can be difficult, since simply getting new hardware is not a panacea. Punch tech support provided essentially no help in this area. Note that 3D values are recomputed at times when they need not be, which can be especially frustrating if you have a slower system, since long (20 second) delays can occur.
Punch has designed the software so that there are times when the blueprint is repositioned without your permission. This can lead to your having to pan back to the place you were working originally, which can be pretty annoying. Why they think that they should move the diagram when you did not ask them to is beyond me.
Some features only work well when using a mouse: if you use a graphics tablet, you may be further annoyed. The zoom feature is particulary awkward to use with a tablet.
The main difference between the older Suite and Platinum products and the AS18 product is the addition of "layers". You can inspect and work on any of the layers (including the floor plan, electrical, plumbing, roof, etc) separately, while seeing the other layers as needed. This is a great improvement over the older software.
The program is feature laden, and you can actually design a house with it, but I found it to be pretty annoying at times. On the other hand, I know of no other software in this price range that offers anywhere near the features that this package does.
Annoyances not already mentioned included the following:
The hourglass cursor is rarely used when program delays occur, resulting in user confusion and erroneous multiple clicks;
Some functions appear as active menu items but in fact cannot be used at all;
Even when you click on an object, and the context menu appears, the object may not be fully selected, and operations on that object may fail without warning or explanation;
Plumbing showerheads cannot be moved to arbitrary shower walls;
36"x36" showers will not fit on a 38" wall;
Invoking some tools results in no visible change to the screen, because the tool has performed an activity at a location that the user is not currently able to see;
The program always asks you whether you want to save your design, even when you have made no changes, and even when the design is empty;
The program does not remember printing preferences at all;
Some standard objects (such as queen sized beds) are not the
correct size;
Some objects cannot be easily manipulated because they are hidden "behind" other objects, and there are no facilities for moving objects to the front or back;
Data from designs made in older versions of Punch! software can be read in newer versions, but some data can be lost without warning.
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Punch Home Design Architectural Series 18From layout to landscaping, Home Design Architectural Series 18 from Punch! Software delivers a complete home-design solution. Flexible and easy to use, this software integrates 18 programs and adds more than 60 new features and enhancements. Explore easy-to-use wall tools, robust text and dimension tools, additional 2-D geometric creation tools, photo-realistic lighting, enhanced framing and estimating, and much more. Help text and video clips explain and demonstrate how each tool is used. Plus, you can join the Punch! Developers Network, download the free developer's kit, and get started customizing your own PowerTools plug-ins.
Click here for more information about Punch Home Design Architectural Series 18
