Scope of software

[LTInteriors]

Im an interior decorator (not a designer) and I'm looking for software that will enable me to do room planning. I'm not building a house or designing kitchens or bathrooms. I just need to outline dimensions of a room or adjacent rooms and place furniture within the room, add colors, floor types. It would be really great if I could place the dimensions of actual furniture thats being sold retail and use actual benjamin moore colors etc. I downloaded the free trial version it seems very complicated and detailed for my purposes.  I couldn't even figure out how to draw a room from watching the videos. Does the Home designer software that is meant to be used by interior designers meet my needs? Or should I purchase the room planner app? I don't need to sketch a room on a mobile device as I travel to clients homes with my laptop. 

[DavidJPotter]

All the professional interior decorators I work with use Chief Premier Interiors due to its additional tools and choices. Chief Premier Interiors supports high resolution Ray Traced renderings for client presentation, Home Designer titles all have a lower resolution rendering capability. All Home Designer and Chief Premier have libraries of editable as to dimensions furniture and fixtures. If you need something beyond what ships with these titles (the more expensive, the more choices and tools) you can augment those selections using imports of symbols and constructs from "3D Warehouse" and other on line resources. Free trial versions of all Home Designer and Chief Premier can be downloaded and tried out before purchase.

 

DJP

[solver]

I'd email, or call and talk with sales at Chief Architect.

 

Room Planner is intended mostly as a way of collecting dimensions from a site visit, then transferring them into Home Designer or Chief for further development.

[katalyst777]

You're a professional wanting to use the software for a job, so anything less than Home Designer Pro probably isn't going to cut it long-term.

I would agree with David's suggestion about looking in to the Chief Architect Interiors version due to its ray trace capabilities, as well as all the extra manufacturer catalogs that aren't offered for Home Designer programs.

However, you could always start out with a Home Designer program and choose to upgrade to a more advanced version if you just get too frustrated by its limitations and really need the tools the more advanced program offers.

For learning, since you've already got a trial version installed, go through the User's Guide (under the program's Help menu).  It takes you start to finish through creating a basic project.  Yes, you might be doing some things in the tutorials you won't need in the long run for your limited usage, but it's good to know how things work and where the tools are if you do need them in the future.