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ideally free, no need for bells and whistles want to be able to map out where I want plugs etc... would be even better if I could do to accurate scale and then play with furniture layouts. ideally copes with not all parallel rooms / doors as have some on diagonals
When I planned out the barn I used Sketchup to do the plan outline and then dropped that into powerpoint to annotate and mark up. I always found it easier to draw objects and text boxes in PP.
There was a thread about this for kitchen planning a few days ago. Sketchup will do what you want, and there are lots of pre built models for fittings and furniture that you can drop in to your model.
great cheers will take a lpok
If you want it accurate then sketch up isn't ideal. You might be better off with more AutoCAD-like program such as Cadmium or Draftsight. Tougher to learn but way more powerful once you get the measure of it.
Deraft site I believe is the free 2d cad of choice.
Or download an AutoCAD free trial.
If you have the dimensions I can Chuck the layout down in cad and you can play with it in SketchUp.
Would only take me a minute or two.
Sketchup works a bit differently from a traditional CAD programme, but you can still construct drawings accurately, using datum points and working to specific dimensions. It's worth doing some of the tutorials to get the basics of entering accurate dimensions and working with intersections, lines and surfaces. I found some of this tricky to start with because they just use a different approach, but once you get your head round it, it's quite nifty.
For a free programme, I was very impressed with it, and ended up modelling most of the house and a lot of internal stuff I was building, down to the level of drawers in fitted cupboards.
If you want it accurate then sketch up isn't ideal.
Why not? How fraction-of-a-mm accurate does 'play with furniture layouts' need to be?
Deraft site I believe is the free 2d cad of choice.
Draftsite and Sketchup are both free - download both and see which you like. Sketchup is more intuitive [b]if[/b] you're not already in the habit of using CAD programs. People who are more CAD savvy find that 'intuitiveness' counterintuitive (in the same way that PC users find OSX confusing but novices don't) though and if thats the case you might prefer Draftsite.
Its a sketching tool. Designed for for dragging elements around and freehand sketching. Yes you [i]can[/i] input accurate dimensions but its quite a faff. Don't get me wrong, its great at what it does, its just that there are better tools availableWhy not?
Yes you can input accurate dimensions but its quite a faff
Draw line in direction you want it to go > type number > done.
Its a sketching tool.
Thats what the OP is asking for 🙂
Sweethome3d
You start dragging a line from a point in the direction you want (automatic orthographic alignment) and type the dimension to as many decimal places as you want. That's not really a faff.
It's a lot more than a freehand sketching tool.
...if you are only working on an orthographic gridThat's not really a faff.
Of course, but for the sort of work the OP was talking about (home improvements) 90% of it will be orthographic! Sketchup also handles polar coordinate dimensional input.
I said in the other thread too.
I'd be doing it by hand.
Maybe model it after but would have some idea about what I wanted on paper.
Sketchup is too steep a learning curve for that kind of use in my opinion. I've used roomarranger, which is much simpler and has a load of standard size furniture objects which helps, and still lets you do walk through models etc. Proper idiot proof drag and drop stuff but accurate enough to let you plan house layouts etc
Yes, first port of call should be paper and then the most user friendly software tools like IKEA, etc. You'll quickly find out if that gives you the results you need, or if you need to invest a bit more time into something like Sketchup.