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Instant Architect is a basic home design application. This software features many of the tools you need to create a beautiful house plan, but unfortunately, it lacks several advanced tools that would make the process a little easier, such as kitchen wizards and deck designers. Instant Architect offers a large object library and has excellent viewing options. This home design software is so basic that people with little experience should be able to use Instant Architect with few problems.
This 3D home design software provides all of the basic features that we look for in this type of software. You can switch your design view from 2D to 3D. There is a cost estimator that allows you to see an estimate of the cost to build your project. However, one large drawback to Instant Architect is the lack of sample floor plans. This application does not provide any floor plans that you can use as templates to modify your design from or to use for inspiration.
There are several viewing options available with this house design software. You can generate a 3D model to look at using aerial and dollhouse views. You can also walk through the home design model and set specific camera angles from which to view it. Instant Architect provides lighting simulation options so that you can set the lighting for both the interior and exterior of the home while you view it.
Instant Architect provides a house builder wizard that guides you through the process of setting up a basic floor plan from the foundation up. When you use this wizard, it takes just minutes to build a home that you can continue to edit and customize to your liking.
There are several additional wizards in this house design software. Instant Architect makes it easy to apply a roof to your home, along with a fireplace and stairs. We are disappointed there is no kitchen-building wizard, which would save much time when designing the perfect kitchen. We would have liked to see wizards for the landscaping and designing the exterior of the home, such as a deck designer, a topography designer and even a fence designer.
This application offers an object library with a fairly large selection. Instant Architect has more than 800 objects in its library, which is not nearly the largest library we saw, but for a basic application, it is excellent. There are more than 225 cabinet options available as well, which is one of the largest cabinet selections we saw in any home design application that we tested.
There are several help and support resources for Instant Architect. Email, telephone and live chat support are available for speaking with a customer support representative directly. However, we were disappointed in the support provided, particularly in regards to email and live chat. We sent several emails before we finally received any response. Also, the live chat support is very slow, and the representative could not answer any of our questions.
Luckily, there are a few self-help resources available. FAQs and articles with specific tips and tricks are available on the Instant Architect website.
Instant Architect is a basic home design application that still provides enough tools and features to help you design your dream home. We would like to have seen more design and construction tools available and the company's help and support has several drawbacks. However, if you are looking for home design software that will help you design your own home and you do not care whether it has many advanced features and tools, Instant Architect is an ideal choice.
