Estimating and 3D Rendering Programs??? - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Two Brothers · 03-27-2008, 08:35 PM

Hi Guys,
I'm thinking about buying an Estimating Program and a 3D Rendering Program. The Estimating Program is so I can have a better caculation of the jobs I'm bidding on. The break down by things that are going to be done. Painting, Mouldings, etc., and it would calculate the prices quickly for me.
Somebody told me the come with prices already in the program by state, Is that true? Also I would like to buy on that is easy to use and not that expense. One for beginners I guess.
The 3D Program is so I can show my customers a rendering of what I am going to do for them in the Kitchen or Bathroom, Kinda' like the program in Home Depot and Lowes that you plug in the cabinets and it designs the layout for you.

Can anyone guide me in the right direction?

Thanks Guys!

**framerman** · 03-27-2008, 09:17 PM

That one is not cheap. You sound like you are looking for something along the line of SketchUp or Rhino. Blender is a great, free open source 3d modeling and rendering program.

J F · 03-28-2008, 08:30 AM

We use Chief Architect, here's a few shots:

http://www.contractortalk.com/f82/design-software-do-you-use-35741/

You may be able to get by with ecabinets (free). Just do a google search on them.

J

Two Brothers · 03-28-2008, 01:25 PM

Yes! something like was what i was thinking. I can load it on my Laptop and show customers what its going to look like. Thanks JF

Is it expensive? and is it user friendly? I don't want some to complicated.

Also do you know of an Estimating Program that would be good for me.

MattCoops · 03-28-2008, 02:04 PM

For 3d models you can use Google's Sketchup program.
And for realistic rendering, use Kerkythea.

Both are free and have forums sites for tutorials and support.

J F · 03-29-2008, 07:07 AM

Yeah, Chief is a little expensive, about $2,200 or so for the full package I believe.

As far as simple, no, but not overly complicated if you're willing to put the time into it. But that will be the case with any new software.

As far as estimating I just use excel.

J

J F · 03-29-2008, 07:08 AM

Here's the link for Chief:

http://www.chiefarchitect.com/

J

You can download a trial version and play around with it.

olligator · 04-06-2008, 11:46 AM

If you don't have the cash for Chief Architect, you can get the breakdown version, Architectural Studio 4000 or whatever for about $220. You can still do some decent renderings for clients with that. Regardless of what you pick, you're going to need to spend some time to learn how to use it. The only reason I use AS4000 is because 1) I'm cheap, and 2) any object/texture/etc. that doesn't exist in AS4000 I can create in AutoCAD or Pro-E Wildfire, which I already have. Anything that Chief Architect does, you can do with the AS4000, but you have to be crafty and create solutions as opposed to just clicking some wizard in CA. You might also want to make sure you have a serious horsepower computer/vid-card if you're going to do the high-rez, high detail renderings, as the punch software doesn't seem to be as memory-efficient as other CAD programs.

My attitude is this: punch is for putting big blocks together, AutoCAD or Pro-E is for creating the blocks punch doesn't have in its library.