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Plan your garden with ease using this free program, although it helps if you have some knowledge of plants. Showoff Home Design lets you add trees, annuals, perennials, and even outdoor furniture to a picture of your house (or any image). All you need to do is select your image and start adding elements.
The program doesn't install until you provide registration information, but the setup process doesn't take long. Showoff Home Design automatically searches for a camera to locate your image, and defaults to a sample image if it doesn't find one. It's a simple process to locate a picture on your hard drive, camera, or even the Web, and the app helps walk you through each method to start a new project. The interface is dominated by the large editing screen with command buttons at the top to open and save projects, and buttons on the left to manipulate the items you place on your image. The catalog of images is found on the right and holds seven main categories, including Landscape Plants, Outdoor Furniture, Decks, and Patio Garden. Simply choose a category to see more options. Landscape Plants includes annuals, perennials, trees, hedges, edibles, and other plant types. Each of these subcategories includes a picture of every plant, and, once selected, you can easily place the plant of your choice on the picture of your house or yard. It's easy to rotate, flip, resize, and otherwise adjust pictures until they're placed just where you want them. We really liked the capability to add patio furniture and other nonplant elements to get a true sense of what the yard would look like when finished.
While this program proved easy to use, you'll have an easier time finding plants if you know whether it's an annual or biennial, or considered to be ground cover or an ornamental grass. That said, we recommend this simple program to anyone who'd like to do some planning on the front end before visiting a nursery or digging a single hole.
Publisher's Description
From Visual Applications:
A fun interactive Web site and home makeover software for Landscape and Outdoor Living projects. It lets you visualize, experiment, and custom design your landscaping. Your virtual designer displays a photograph of your home or model home, selected color landscape plants, which can be immediately arranged for a complete photo-realistic design. Drop the chosen landscape image right onto your photograph. Over 2,000 plant choices are available, select from annuals, perennials, shrubs, bulbs, cacti, trees, tropical foliage. Select your hardiness zone from the software and then choose plants that grow in your region. How will your landscape design look in one year, two years, or how about 5 years? Watch the plants grow as you water them for a fun interactive growth feature.
This version is the first release on CNET Download.com.
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All versions:
2.6 starsout of 26 votes
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Current version:
2.6 starsout of 18 votes
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My rating:
Write review
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"Cant review as it doesn't run (windows 2000)"
Version: Showoff Home Design 1.0
Pros
Nothing as it didnt load!
Cons
If you want to spend the next 10 years looking at a white screen with "Loading Please Wait 40%" then this is the program for you!
Summary
Like a number of programs I have downloaded from here, it fails to load succesfully even though my system meets all the system requirement.
For the sake of your wallet always download the trial versions. -
"OK for beginner"
Version: Showoff Home Design 1.0
Pros
easy to use. can add your own pic.
Cons
limited items. could not find any of the items I want to do my landscaping. you have to reshaoe items like mulch which is time consuming and tricky.
Summary
simple but limited.
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"Great Software"
Version: Showoff Home Design 1.0
Pros
Helped me a lot with what i needed it for.
And it is free ...Cons
Could not find any
Summary
Helped me a lot with what i needed it for.
And it is free ... -
"Software NOT FREE"
Version: Showoff Home Design 1.0
Pros
Importing your own photos.
Cons
This software is not totally free.
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"How well could it work- program wouldn't even open once"
Version: Showoff Home Design 1.0
Pros
The editors like it. Suggests that it has some nice features
Cons
Doesn't work. Just sits there and pretends to load/open, but doesn't. It offers the option to skip the Wizard, but clicking on that does nothing.
Summary
I dislike products that promise to work but don't This one doesn't.
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"grate software"
Version: Showoff Home Design 1.0
Pros
easy to use, rich templates, FREE, output effect is very beautiful, I like Go2Alum
Cons
less trail period
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"use less..."
Version: Showoff Home Design 1.0
Pros
totly useless
Cons
bad........
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"easy to use....BUT"
Version: Showoff Home Design 1.0
Pros
Easy to use
Cons
Lacking information on plants
Summary
This program is very easy to use, but lacks information to make it really useful.
Plant information has "zones" (climate that the plant withstand), but lacks information as to size (how large the plant will grow - width and height), as well as whether the plant can withstand full sun or not. Also should have soil conditions that are right for the plant.
Without this info, it's worthless -
"IT GREAT TOOL...."
Version: Showoff Home Design 1.0
Pros
FIRST ITS FREE, SECOND ITS GREAT...IT WORKS WELL...
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"DOES NOT WORK"
Version: Showoff Home Design 1.0
Cons
CATEGORIES DO NOT LOAD. I BELIEVE YOU MUST HAVE TO BUY THEM.
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