# Looking for Setup software.



## Van (Mar 12, 2009)

Needing some Facilities Help here!
Since I'm the drafter here at ART the Girls up front have asked me to come up with a lobby floor plan upon which they can arrange furniture in different setups for different functions. This is to aid rental customers in visualizing how that can utilize the space we have available for rent. 
Of course I can render the lobby in Sketchup, AutoCAD, Vectorworks, QuickCAD. I can Ray trace it with Podium, Kerkythea, TurboCAD. The question is; In what kind of software can I give them a floor plan where the architectuals are fixed and inviolate < sort of like locking them on their layers in ACAD> and provide them with something like a button bar interface so they could click on a button and have a "four top" table appear?

I really want to make this easy for them and our clients, but I don't want to have to teach the entire front of house staff how to do the basics of AutoCAD. 
Any suggestions? 
TIA


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## DaveySimps (Mar 12, 2009)

Could you just create templates in MS Word, or paint file? They could open a base file of the architectural ground plan (that is created by you or someone with the mad skills to do so), and just move the templates into place as needed? I have not tried it specifically; I am just shooting from the hip here.

~Dave


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## Eboy87 (Mar 12, 2009)

You mean something like this? Looks cool, but it's a bit pricy.


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## Footer (Mar 12, 2009)

You want Microsoft Visio. It is perfect for doing that type of thing. You have blocks on the left side that you can define and you just drag and drop. It can import from AutoCAD. Either that, or sketchup, but it does not have the resource browser. They do offer a free trial if it did not come with your office install.


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## Van (Mar 12, 2009)

Cool Guys ! 
I'm going to try all three and see what works best. Anybody else has ideas feel free to kick 'em my way.


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## cdub260 (Mar 13, 2009)

Van said:


> Cool Guys !
> I'm going to try all three and see what works best. Anybody else has ideas feel free to kick 'em my way.



How about a stack of napkins and a ball point pen?


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## jwl868 (Mar 13, 2009)

This may be too old school, but how about giving them several copies of the floor plan, then they can cut out scaled shapes of furniture (or whatever) from card stock. Arrange those, and trace them, and then give those back to you for final drafting.




Joe


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## erosing (Mar 13, 2009)

Like Footer said, you want Visio, though there was an open-source program like visio but I can't think of it's name off hand.


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## waynehoskins (Mar 13, 2009)

Photocopier and transparency film works too.


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## erosing (Mar 13, 2009)

Haha, talk about timing. Check this out, it might work exactly how you want it to. Autodesk Project Dragonfly


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## Van (Mar 13, 2009)

cdub260 said:


> How about a stack of napkins and a ball point pen?


 
Ok I should have said, " Anybody else has any *GOOD* ideas, kick 'em my way."

I like these ideas, and the hard copy things might work but we're trying go with an electronic solution with minimum learning curve. 
Now if I could just incorporate it into Tessitura.........


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## cdub260 (Mar 13, 2009)

Van said:


> Ok I should have said, " Anybody else has any *GOOD* ideas, kick 'em my way."



Yes, you really should have been more specific.


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## lieperjp (Mar 13, 2009)

cdub260 said:


> Yes, you really should have been more specific.



He wants help, he asks for help, you give help, he rejects help...

+1 for the Microsoft Office idea - Publisher or PowerPoint would work well. 

Create a drawing of the room, save it as a .pdf or a .jpg and set it as the back ground. Then add in little couches and tables and whatnot.


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## mixmaster (Mar 17, 2009)

Not free but PUNCH PRO could do what you want. It's actually design software for building, laying out house plans. You could render a basic floorplan, and they could drag and drop furniture from the list as the customer specifies. A 3d view is available and one can "walk through" the resulting design. I've also used it as set design.


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## pacman (Mar 26, 2009)

I've used SmartDraw for this purpose for several years. Although they still support floor plans (and calendars, forms, diagrams, maps & lots of other stuff), they seem to be putting more effort toward flowcharts & that type of diagramming in the newer releases. It does come with libraries of furniture & objects that can be resized, colored or textured, or you can create your own shapes. The calendar wizard has been particularly useful for me. All drawings can export to pdf, jpg & other usual graphic formats. There's also integration with MS Office. The tech support people have been very helpful too, the few times I've had to call to ask how to do something or solve a problem.


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## ruinexplorer (Apr 9, 2009)

Van, do you have a budget in mind? There are several software programs that are readily available for meeting planning. Some of them even allow for a free "reader" so that your clients are able to view the files that your house manager creates.

Here's one with a free CD: Room Layout Software for meeting planners to caterers to production

This is the one I was using when working at the Hyatt Regency: MeetingMatrix International


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