Charles Moore Reviews BeLight Live Interior 3D v1.1 Interior Design Software

June, 2007

By: Charles W. Moore

I had never really done any work with CAD software, although the concept has intrigued me since I first read about it in a column by Automobile Magazine's Robert Cumberford back in the early '80s. In particular, the possibility of conceptualizing houses and buildings on the computer has appeal to me since I have designed several modest structures on paper and built them in the past.

However, somehow over the past 17 years on the Mac, I had never gotten around to checking out CAD software until last month, when Belight Software's Helen Nersesova asked if I would like to review their new Live Interior 3D application.

There is a lot to learn in Live Interior, although scaling the learning curve is an enjoyable exercise. This program is a lot of fun to use and experiment with.

In a nutshell, Live Interior 3D is a program for designing the interior of a house, apartment office or store. It helps visualize your ideas and see your future interior environment. Using the program, you can find optimal design and locations for your furniture, determine how they will fit in the interior and relate to one another. The program lets you design different kinds of interiors: offices, living rooms, dining rooms, etc.

The Live Interior user interface workspace consists of four main elements: the Library panel on the left, the 2D and 3D View windows (which you toggle back and forth between or use in split window mode), and the floating Inspector palette which supports multi-functions, including Object Properties (eg: size adjustment), materials and texture selection, 2D and 3D Properties, and a Lights List.

One of the Library Panel modes is Project Tree, which lists all objects and elements of the current Live Interior project. Items are grouped by object type and receive a default name when added to the project, such as “Wall.” However, I found this less than useful since all walls are generically named “Wall” by default, and it is advisable to apply distinctive naming of elements in the Project Tree as you add them if you want it to be a really useful reference. It's a tedious chore once you have a dozen or more objects all called "Wall." A pop-up naming dialog when applying a new object would be a useful refinement.

I decided that for my own tutorial phase, it would make sense to start with a design I was already familiar with - an annex I added to our house back in the late '80s that I designed using pencil and paper, and that my wife and I built ourselves, save for the excavation for the foundation footings and the electrical wiring. This may seem like a sort-of backwards way to approach working with Live Interior, but since it would be impractical to design a building from scratch and then build it for this review, I was interested to see how the analogous CAD process would unfold, and thought it would be fun to see this building that I know intimately take shape on the computer screen.

It was.

But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

Live Interior 3D is available in several versions as either a download or shrinkwrap software, at prices starting from $79.95. Of the two downloadable versions, Live Interior 3D v1.0.3 with limited content is 63 MB and with full content is a whopping 186MB. Given the realities of my woefully slow rural dialup connection, I opted for the limited content version, which took about eight hours to come down.

Once I got it downloaded, the program installed nicely.

As its name suggests, Live Interior 3D is intended to facilitate computer-aided interior design, and does not support building exteriors other than a basic shell to define walls, which is fine with me as the externals tend to be pretty straightforward, and it's the interior configurations that can really benefit from the flexibility and 3D conceptualization that computerization provides. Using the program, you can find the ideal and locations for your furniture and built-ins, vet out how they fit and relate to other elements of the interior. The ability to experiment with design elements virtually and non-destructively should quickly amortize the $80 cost of this program when applied to any actual building or major renovation project.

If you've ever done design work in hard copy, you know that one of the most important drafting tools is the eraser, and the ease of experimenting and changing stuff on the computer screen is just a delight by comparison. The program supports unlimited undo/redo.

Once you have your basic design roughed out, you can change room or house layouts, add new items or move your furniture around, see how a new window or door works in your interior, even resize your rooms by adding or removing walls.

Live Interior 3D includes (full version) a 1000+ Object Library, with brand name content. The latter didn't really appeal to me as I wasn't familiar with the brands (European?), 50+ editable templates and plans, plus Google 3D Warehouse integration. You can view objects in the 3D Preview window and Drag & Drop objects to the 2D/3D window.

Both metric and (blessedly) Imperial/US feet and inches measurement units are supported. In 2D mode, you can create plans in any scale, with automatic/custom floor and ceiling creation, and the option to fill walls/slabs with color or one of 96 patterns. You can also export 2D plans to PDF, TIFF, JPEG, and PNG.

2D mode is neat, but the real fun starts when you switch to 3D Mode once you have your plan provisionally configured in 2D. Live Interior 3D's "killer feature" is its realistic "walk through" mode that allows you to explore your creation in virtual reality, viewing it from any angle. You can even adjust lighting on the fly, with light and shadows rendering, setting time of day or night and with geographic orientation (North, East, South, West) and collision detection.

Multiple adjustable user "cameras" can be dropped and oriented to display virtually any aspect, inside or outside the structure, and take screenshots of interior 3D views. You can also edit objects in 3D mode, with advanced options to customize doors,windows, columns, furniture. and wall moldings.

When you start Live Interior 3D for the first time, it opens the Assistant, which allows you to choose which project you want to to open, such as a template from the built-in collection, a custom template (ie: your own project saved as a template), any other project on your computer, or a new blank project. I went with the latter for my project.

Most of the basic design work is done with Live Interior 3D in the 2D view, while the 3D view is usually used for adding the finishing touches - choosing materials, matching colors, adjusting light and, finally, taking pictures of your design.

Live Interior 3D designs are made up of individual, editable objects: walls, floors, ceilings, openings, furniture, lighting sources, etc. You can draw simple objects, like walls, floor and ceilings, using the program's drawing tools, while more complicated objects can be selected and applied from the built-in library. You can add, delete, move, resize objects and apply materials (textures) to them.

You can even align your project with accurate geographical coordinates using the Geo-Orientation panel in the Project Setup dialog (File Menu), including geographic latitude which will be reflected in your time of day and sun/moonlight/time-of-day lighting and shadows effects. I'm almost precisely half way between the North Pole and the Equator here. A compass rose will show in the 2D view if you select that option, but awkwardly, you have to adjust the compass orientation from the Geo-Orientation panel.

If you already have a floor plan drawn on paper or in other design software, you can import it to Live Interior. Scan the design if it if it is on paper, and save it as a PDF (preferred) or GIF and JPEG are also supported. Instructions for importing such images are included in the program documentation.

Once you have your basic building dimensions, you can add interior partitions to make rooms, windows and doors, closets, and install furnishings, lights, decorations, and textures which in the case of objects can be positioned moved, and resized using the "inspector" palette.

Adding or changing colors and textures to walls, ceilings, floors, and furniture objects, etc., is slick and fun using the Inspector panel selections and invites endless experimentation. Unfortunately the exterior backdrop elements (blue sky, green grass) are not editable.

During the process, you can instantly toggle back and forth between 2D and 3D views to preview how things are shaping up. When you have things as you like them, you can use the navigation controls in 3D view to virtually "walk around" your building, inside and out, to view it from all angles.

This function is enhanced and facilitated by the use of "cameras" that can be applied and positioned in any number and at any angle. Any camera can be employed in 3D virtual “Walk Mode” by clicking the walk button in the 3D toolbar and then using the semi-transparent arrows that appear on the 3D view by holding the left mouse button down. It takes some orientation at first, but is really cool once you get on to it. It's a lot of fun, and you will probably spend some time "exploring."

It would be nice if you could save a "walkabout" path to use as an animated presentation when showing off your design, and also a zoom feature for the cameras from a fixed point would be a nifty addition as well.

You can also take “photographs” (screenshots) of the preview views as you wish.

You can adjust and configure lights and shadows, and "time of day" make your 3D picture more realistic. The program has three options:
• Without Lights and Shadows (the lowest quality, the highest speed)
• Lights Only
• Lights and Shadows (the highest quality, the lowest speed)

If a project has a lot of objects, rendering may take some time. In this case, you can increase the speed by changing the quality of the picture. Use the "Decrease Quality when Moving" option to change the rendering quality automatically: when you move, the quality is set to low; when you stand still, the quality is high.

Now, how did my project go? Here are some shots of the actual building, which was built in the late 1980s. The following series of views show a recent photograph, followed by a screenshot from my Live Interior project in 3D view.

I confess that love this program, and I look forward to using it on a house renovation/addition project we have in the early conceptual stages right now. However, that's not to say I didn't encounter some shortcomings.

For one thing, the documentation could be easier to follow. While (most of) the controls and configuration tools work well once you figure out how to use them, the figuring can be a challenge, and the program's operation is not especially intuitive. There are, however, a decent Help online resource, and a more comprehensive, downloadable PDF manual. I recommend the latter.

Then there are the objects. The object libraries are good as far as they go, but there are some missing elements; bedside and table lamps for example, chests of drawers and open bookcases, or inexplicably no kitchen sinks. While you can visit Google 3D from within Live Interior and find a cornucopia of objects to import, I found this less than satisfactory on my poky dialup Internet connection, although I expect it would be fine on broadband. There is simply so much there that it takes forever just to sort through the likely-looking categories on dialup.

Another category missing is floor rugs, at least as far as I could fathom (there are carpet textures in the Materials library for covering entire floors), and there was no way I could discern to alter the direction of "wood grain" on floors and d=ceilings, so they appear in my 3D views of this project running opposite to the real thing.

Also note that I tested the reduced content version of Live Interior, and I would expect that the objects selection in the full (downloadable or shrinkwrapped) versions (over 1,000 3D objects) would be more extensive and comprehensive.

Selecting objects to move or resize them can be tricky, especially if they're tightly juxtaposed, such as curtains over windows in walls. I found that moving objects using mouse click and drag was often less than satisfactory, and resorting to the arrow navigation keys produced better results and less frustration.

The multiple locks on sizing dimension parameters seems like tedious overkill. One single lock button for the entire object would suffice I think. Another thing that I found frustrating is that the Materials library, which is one of the slower-responding controls, returns to default when you switch to another Inspector pane momentarily, which means you have to wait for your selected category to load again and scroll down to the desired color or texture.

Which brings us to the topic of performance, which on my not exactly cutting-edge PowerBook G4 1.33 MHz with 1.5 GB of RAM and a RADEON 9200 with 64 MB of VRAM was quite acceptable in 2D mode, although not especially lively in 3D modes with more complex lighting options enabled. However, as noted, stuff like loading the Materials library to the Inspector takes forever, and switching between Materials categories is sluggish. These tasks presumably would be much more sprightly on an Intel Mac with more memory and a more powerful GPU. I'm wondering about the Intel GMA 950 graphics system in the MacBook though, because gamers say performance in 3D games is awful on that machine. However, the program is definitely usable on my old 'Book without being aggravating and involving a lot of spinning beach ball spectatorship.

Those criticisms notwithstanding, this is an excellent program for anyone who is doing home or office construction, renovation, or decoration planning. I expect I'll be spending a lot of time with it.

The program, which was released as a public beta in January, is under active development, with the final version (1.0.3) released in late April, and another upgrade to version 1.1 out this week with the following changes:
- Import of Google SketchUp objects via drag&drop added
- Now imported objects are placed to the center of the visible part of 2D (except imported via drag&drop)
- Auto-measurements are displayed when moving doors/windows within the wall - Option to lock object elevation added
- Show/Hide guidelines option added (Menu View/Show Guidelines)
- Other improvements and bug fixes.

You can read the complete list of changes here: http://www.belightsoft.com/products/liveinterior/versch/versions.php

Fortunately for me, it was not necessary to download the entire program again in order to apply the version upgrade - an 8.5 MB updater is an option.

System requirements:
CPU: PPC G4 or higher (G5 is recommended)
Intel Core Solo or higher
(Intel Core 2 Duo recommended)
Memory: 512 Mb or more (1GB is recommended)
Video: OpenGL compatible video card
Video Memory: 32 MB or more (128 MB is recommended)
OS: Mac OS X 10.3 or higher
HD: 1GB available
Display: 1024x768 (or higher) with 32 bit color
Peripherals: mouse

Fully functional Live Interior 3D trial is available at: http://www.belightsoft.com/download/

Boxed and download editions starting from $79.95

For more information, visit:
http://www.belightsoft.com/liveinterior/

Appendix

Live Interior 3D features in summary

1000+ Object Library
1000+ 3D Object Library with 3D preview is supplied with the program. Later on you will easily change furniture dimensions to fit your needs.

1000+ Materials
1000+ Material Library gives you enough freedom to achieve perfection. Easily repaint any object with new material.

Unique Material Editor
The advanced feature for modifying the existing materials to unimaginable extent and creating new ones.

Google 3D Warehouse™ Integration
Direct integration with Google 3D Warehouse provides an access to online database of 3D objects.

Import Capabilities
You can use your own 3D objects, which are either in Google SketchUp™, Ogre XML or 3DS formats.

Advanced Light Modifications
Advanced Light parameters allow you to adjust luminosity, select the color of your light and even switch on/off bulbs if a lamp has several of them.

3 Levels of Rendering
The program offers 3 levels of rendering, which adds flexibility while working in 3D.

Emulation of Geo Orientation and Daytime
Set the geographic orientation of the apartment and the daytime. And even control sunlight and moonlight, which influences the external lighting.

Diverse 2D Editing tools
Various 2D editing tools will let you draw walls, floor, ceiling, add text annotations, dimensions and much more.

Just Drag & Drop!
Drag & Drop functionality is used for adding objects and applying materials to 3D objects.

Virtual Walk Through
Welcome to the 3D world to feel yourself inside the interior and realize what needs to be changed to achieve the perfection.

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