3D Floor Plan Software

I like Ashlar Vellum Cobalt, but it might be an overkill.

I'd go with Ashlar Vellum Argon. This solid modeling program is SOO easy to use.

I used Punch! Home Design Architectural Series 18 to design a house, then turned the plans over to an architectural drafter. It will render in 3D and let you "walk" through the finished plan, providing reasonably accurate interior sight lines. A bit slow on rendering using standard PC hardware, I'd imagine a decent graphics card would help if you intend to live in it for a few weeks.

Worked well for the purpose... pretty inexpensive, about ~USD100.

Latest release: http://www.punchsoftware.com/products/platV10.htm

I agree with ED A, this software is simple but effective and it can import and export .dwg & .dxf file formats. Possibly .igs aswell. Not sure. Runs about $200 U.S.

If all fails try Blender 3d its a good all round 3d program

and it's free

www.blender3d.org.

I would suggest using Solid Works since you already have experiance with it. You can design almost anything with this incredible software. I have used it for architectural design, aircraft design, Industrial machine design, and to produce graphics for website design. There might be some more specialised software but you will be hard pressed to find more capable software.

I agree. If you know it and HAVE it, just use it. If you don't have it and it's going to be used a lot, even buying a copy would be worth it in the long run since you'd be saving a lot of time.

Does anyone know the USD price of SolidWorks software?

It starts at something like $2500 (CAD) for the basic program. Advanced stuff gets added as modules which can be up to $30,000 for the big stuff. The basic model is by far sufficient for housing. A module called "routing" is nice if you want to route electrical or plumbing into the models.

Sketchup is a program I use for quite a fiew projects, floor plans, design ideas, Ect. Easy to use w/ nice results!

Use TURBO Floor Plan 3D Home & Landscape ..