Looking for a photorealistic 3D house planner program

Since I have already read several times here that I confuse or incorrectly define planning and visualization, I would like to synchronize with you. By a pure planning tool, I understand putting walls, ceilings, roofs, windows, rooms with doors, etc., together on a surface. However, I would also like to equip this with current interior furnishings such as cabinets, shelves, pictures, lamps, etc., design the walls, lay tiles and laminate flooring, and at least somewhat design the outdoor area ... things like that. I consider this interior design, which to me also belongs to planning. It would also be desirable for me to insert or delete objects easily and change textures at the push of a button. The planning result should ideally be able to be run through to get a spatial feeling.

The supreme discipline then begins with rendering the surfaces in such a way that everything looks real. That is what I understand by 3D visualization. My dream would also be to fly around the whole thing as a video with a drone.

At least for part 1 of my wishes, i.e., planning + furnishing, there must be a good software solution today in 2017. I hardly want to believe anything else.

As far as 3D reality is concerned ... after your comments, I can already imagine that this cannot be done with a software solution.

To outline myself and my distress a little better: If I had to buy a car – I actually have to :-( – then I can only say that I don’t like any car completely. However, I really like the Land Rover Evoque. Only, I find the interior design absolutely ugly. I would like to (just imagined) install the dashboard from an Audi in it. Or to put it another way, it is very rare that I really like something. But if I don’t like something, I often can’t say what bothers me. It may be that the thing would suddenly be perfect for me if it were a bit wider or in a different color. I hope you understand me. And thank you for your brainpower so far

And that is exactly why I ask in which price ranges you want to move. In one of your posts, 2000 euros/year already seems too much to you.

What do you think it costs to create modern furniture and all that in a scalable way for various CAD programs? You don't get such libraries for free.

To bypass these hurdles, I would like to take on the topic myself and design something evening after evening, virtually go through the draft and "sniff around," recognize the need for changes, then adjust until everything fits.

And, I repeat once more, before you go into the actual design, you should first deal with the plan itself. And you will find that the more you do that, the more realistic the room layout becomes, the more you can then imagine the rooms even without state-of-the-art furniture etc. Or the exterior views.

At least for part 1 of my wishes, i.e. planning + furnishing, there must be a good software solution nowadays in 2017.

I think so too, however you also say

Or in other words, it very rarely happens that I really like something. But if something doesn't appeal to me, unfortunately I often can't say what bothers me.

and therefore I think the appropriate advice has already been given: choose an almost arbitrary inexpensive one from the many products already mentioned; then make your first attempts with it, afterwards it will become clearer in which areas you feel you need to get closer to perfection. Only then invest in a better software for that. You can hardly get to the dream house in a single run. Three hundred posts for one main house thread, another hundred together for kitchen and bathroom, are worth enduring in a forum like this. And after that comes the garden. Prepare yourself that the path by software will not be shorter.

Have you always been the problem child, a brooder, introverted and living without making decisions? A control freak and always weighing options? A fearful person, afraid of making the wrong decision?

: True, you are right! Both 3ds Max and Blender belong to the family of sketchup programs.

3D Studio Max, Blender and Sketchup are all 3D modelers, whereas Blender can do a bit more, namely rendering - and it’s damn good at it. With Sketchup you still need a renderer (raytracer) on top, with 3ds I'm not sure if it has one built-in. But it doesn’t matter, you don’t like it anyway...

@rupson: YPG said in post #08 "More 3D just doesn’t work, unless you buy a professional piece of equipment for a five-figure sum." and you answered with "NOPE". I wanted to ask you which more affordable solution you would then suggest. And by the way, I would also be interested in YPG’s expensive solution [emoji4]

I’ll answer for rupson [emoji6]
I mentioned several in my first post, but you don’t like modelers - for whatever reason.

Otherwise you could take a look at PaletteCAD... it’s expensive and probably fairly easy to use. But I’m not sure if it only does interior design.

Overall, I don’t think you will find what you’re looking for with your requirements. In a modified form: Cheap, Easy to use, Photorealistic Rendering - Pick two [emoji6]

Otherwise, gladly repeated, my current choice: cadvilla Prof. – cost me just over a hundred bucks and can do stuff like this:




Or something like this with SweetHome3D:


Is that enough for you? No idea. In any case, you have to invest TIME for it (and not a little), no matter what you start with, and you will have to experiment to build certain things. Every software has its quirks, and you only find out through intensive use filled with many dead ends. Doors, windows, stairs are highly individual; hardly ANY program has them all available. If nothing suitable is there, build it yourself. For that you need knowledge of the quirks.

Regarding scalable furniture. Sketchup’s 3D Warehouse offers countless free models that of course are freely scalable – why shouldn’t they be, they’re vector-based and not pixel-based. Anyway. At least in CadVilla you can import loads of 3D formats, including Sketchup (skp), 3D Studio Max, AutoCAD (dfx, dwg) and several others. In SweetHome3D you can also import Sketchup models.

Many sanitary manufacturers (Laufen, Duravit, Keramag) and good lamp manufacturers (e.g. BEGA, Occhio, SML) offer 3D models that you can import directly (dxf, 3ds). You’ll find many Ikea furniture items in Sketchup.

But start first with a floor plan; once that’s done, then furnish, texture, light...