Exterior House Design software

[MorrisWoodman12]

I'm updating the outside of the house bought a couple of years ago. Do we render or use cladding of some sort or what? But those tiles have to go!
I'm looking for a chunk of software (windows) that will allow me to mock up and visualise the outside of the house for the various finishes. Does anyone have any recommendations. Don't mind spending up to £50 or so for this one off task but the two or three hundred pound packages - well I'd rather spend it on the house.
I've got Affinity Photo but that's pretty cumbersome for this task.
TIA
Martin.

 

[Ollie78]

You can probably do it in fusion 360 (free to non commercial user ), I seem to remember there being a trace over photos with dimensions feature somewhere.
Or possibly sketchup for which there are various different versions but it is a subscription so you could just get a month maybe.
Also there are probably plugins for the above specifically for architectural rendering etc.

If you wanted to go more pro there is BIM (building information modelling ) software like Archicad or Revit, vectorworks etc. These are probably extremely expensive but you might be able to get a free trial for 30 days and be able to do your project in that time or something.

Dulux has an online thing for choosing colours where you upload your picture and can play with colours on the image.

Thats all i can think of, off the top of my head.

 

[J-G]

Or possibly sketchup for which there are various different versions but it is a subscription so you could just get a month maybe.

If you can't find a copy of SketchUP 2014 - the last that was completely free - on line, I could make a version available - PM me.

I have a drawing of my whole property done in SU complete with plumbing and electrics - I'm currently working on a kitchen re-furb and used this to detemine the best colour combination for the worktop & sink. I find is vastly easier to use than Fusion 360.

 

[BCS1980UK]

Hi Martin,
Is this a skill that you want to learn to use in the future or is it really just an one-off thing?
If it is the later, with your £50 budget I would consider hiring a freelancer on Fiverr to create the images for you.

 

[Deaconspike]

Hi Martin,

Depending on how long you think you’ll need to draft them, you can get an Autocad LT or full Autocad trial to play with for 30 days a piece for free. If you start with LT then you can be sure any drawings you do will open up hassle free in the trial of full Autocad.

Then if you’re really happy with Autocad, you can pick it up from a reseller site for a fraction of the cost of the full thing.

Good luck,

Ed

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. @Deaconspike you are sneaky sir --- just the sort of thing I would do.