Punch! home design software uses cutting edge 3D technology to create incredibly photorealistic renderings and 3D scale models of your home design.

Frequently Asked Questions
Punch! Super Home Suite

Important System Settings

Set your Display Settings to 800x600 pixels and High Color (16 Bit). Go to your “Start” menu, select Settings>Control Panels> Display>Settings.
If you notice that the 3D display is not clear, set back the Graphics Acceleration. Go to your “Start” menu, select Settings>Control Panels> System>Performance>Graphics, then set the acceleration back one notch.

Do you offer a Demo Program or a downloadable version of your software?

We offer a demo download that is hosted at C|Net download.com.

When I am installing my program I receive an out of memory message when the program is approximately 91-92% completed. Why?

A common cause of this error message is a fragmented hard drive. It is recommended to defragment your hard drive before installing Punch! Super Home Suite.

Another cause is insufficient system resources. The recommended installation requirements for Punch! Super Home Suite version 3.5.1 are:

Pentium Processor
Windows 95 or 98
16 MB of RAM
100 MB of storage space free on the Hard Drive
175 MB free during the installation
CD-ROM
Mouse or other pointing device
VGA Video Card set to 800 x 600 and 16 bit color

Will it work with Windows NT?

The current version (v3.5.1) is totally NT compatible. Previous versions of Punch! Super Home Suite were compatible with the core Microsoft NT; however, they utilized Microsoft’s DirectX as an operating system component and those versions were not recommended for the NT environment.

To update your previous version for free, download the file now.

How do I zoom in & out of a design?

Select the magnifying glass on the Standard toolbar (located on the left-hand side of the application window), click in the design window. While holding the mouse button down, move the pointer up to zoom in and move the pointer down to zoom out.

How do I change the viewing speed?

To change the viewing speed, use the speed control in the lower, left-hand corner of the LiveView window. To slow the speed down, click the arrow under the word "Slow" and to speed it up, click the arrow under the word "Fast".

How do I print the 3D LiveView?

With Punch! LiveView open within the program, go to File>Export>BMP. The default directory to save the BMP image in is the ‘My Documents Folder,’ but you can save it to another directory if you prefer.

After saving the BMP file. Open the MS Paint program, by going to Start>Programs>Accessories>Paint.

Once in Paint, go to File>Open and point to the ‘My Documents’ folder, or if saved to a different location look there.

Open the Punch BMP file. This will open the 3D View of the home design in Paint.Go to File>Print.

How do I change the height of walls?

After drawing a wall, select it (you will know it is selected when the orange tabs can be seen at each end). Go to Design>Floor Heights>First Floor (or Second or Third, whichever is appropriate). Input the desired height (in inches). Note: This will alter the height of all the walls on this floor.

-OR-

To change the height of a single wall, right click on the wall, select Custom Wall Segment from the drop down menu and enter desired height.

How do I add a second or third floor?

The Quick Access User’s Guide, the On-line PDF User's Manual, and On-line Help cover, in detail, how to draw walls and drag-and-drop rooms to create the first floor. These directions assume you know how to draw walls and create a basic first floor footprint.

Select all of the objects in the current active project (Edit>Select All).

Copy all the selected items to a new floor by choosing Edit>Copy to Floor>Upper Floor. You may also choose to move the items to a Lower Floor.

This menu selection enables you to select an object or objects and copy them to another Floor. This selection acts like the standard Copy command in that it leaves the selected objects in place and simply places a copy or copies of them on the selected floor. Punch! Super Home Suite automatically identifies the floors that are available to receive the copied objects and will gray out the unavailable floors.

Next, set the second floor active using the Active Floor(s) tool this allows you to set any or all of the three floors available to you as viewable and/or editable. To set a floor as active/viewable or as inactive/hidden select the Active Floor button. The Active Floor submenu is displayed. If an item is checked it is selected. Left click to select items.

Next add a roof, windows, doors, etc. The various methods for this are demonstrated in the Quick Access User’s Guide, the On-line PDF User's Manual, and in the On-line Help file.

How do I create a basement?

First, you must switch to the second floor (set the second floor as the working floor), then choose the “Floor/Ground Covering” tool. This tool allows you to define a polygon region (click the mouse once to set the first point, then click once to set each additional point on the region, after placing the last point, click the right mouse button to close the region). The polygon region will appear on the second floor and you can Drag & Drop any texture (including grass) onto the region in 3D.

This will simulate a ground surface on the second floor.

TIP: To avoid replacing your second floor flooring materials with grass, be sure to define the polygon region around the “outside” perimeter of the second floor walls. And, you may want to set the texture of the original ground material (below the first floor) from grass to dirt (drag the dirt texture onto the first floor ground surface in 3D) to indicate it is below the basement.

I'm having trouble printing with my Epson printer. What can I do?

For Epson printers to print with Punch! software products, you must use the Epson Stylus COLOR ESC/P 2 driver which is included with Windows 95/98.

My Help Files don't appear in 3D Furniture Workshop.

Super v3.5.1 users can have access to the Help File when using 3D Furniture Workshop by installing a file named P!3DFWs.hlp. You can download this file by clicking here. Unzip the file into your Super directory. If you are asked if you wish to replace an existing file ... you do not need to install this file.

My AGP Voodoo3 video card causes a "GPF in Module OpenGL32.dll" error. What is wrong?

Punch! Super uses software-dependent 3D rendering; video cards render
through hardware and this creates a conflict. To use the program with the
AGP Voodoo3 or other high-performance video card you will need to contact
the manufacturer for information on disabling the 3D rendering or
"shadowing" within your system bios. Due to so many system configurations,
contacting your oem or video card manufacturer is the most efficient way to
resolve this conflict.