Review by Mark B

We just spent a few weeks designing a new home using Freestyle. It was fun and very easy. The new sketch overlay feature allowed us to add conceptual items, but then remove them to see the house layout. We also created a platte, complete with walkways, garden, septic, driveway, etc. Dimensions and measurements are always displayed and can actually be made to appear on the drawing. The precision of the grid system was sometimes a challenge to get just right (I could be a bit smoother and refined on my computer), but it is generally acceptable for a casual user. There is a whole host of m=home design oriented symbols, including electrical, appliances, furniture, lighting, fireplaces, plumbing fixtures, doors, windows, landscape, and decor. I suppose my main criticism is that Freestyle overall is geared toward house design. I would love more symbols and tools for designing more technical things. Some of this can be done with the lines, arcs, and drawing tools, but a more robust library of symbols would be helpful. After the design, we were able to send it to our architect as a dwg file. He was very surprised at what we had created! Overall, a fun program for design enthusiasts, with plenty of tools and sophistication to help you design your home, and possibly some hobby-level projects. Kudos to Autodesk for making an Autocad-compatible program accessible and affordable.