What to use for drawing home layout

[felixrosbergen]

Hi All

What have you all used to draw your home for your HA purpose (show door and windows sensors lights etc) and for which automation package did you use?

I am considering drawing it in Visio (I am not a Visio fan but am more familiar with it than anything else).

Do i leave the windows are doors out so that i can put the animated/controlled images (i.e' green/red) within the automation package?

I was planning on using CQC for HA package, but am taking a look at Elve as well.

Some previous tests i did resulted in 'not so crisp' images. Something about the way the image is make transparent i guess.

Any input would be greatly appreciated since i only want to do this once.

 

[DavidL]

Any home CAD program (Punch or Broderbund's 3D Home Architect are examples) or free app like SketchUp will work.

 

[mrshanes]

Try Gliffy for a simple 2D floor plan layout. It's free and is accessed online, so you can use it anywhere you have an internet connection.

 

[wuench]

I used Visio for mine, they were drawings I made for all of my wiring and electrical layout to scale. It makes a great reference for when I need to find which breaker a particular switch is on. There are Visio templates for building layout that I used, they are a little funky to use. I then exported these off as a PNG at a reasonable resolution. Then imported them into the image repository. I use a static image widget, shrink to aspect. Then I place small red/green led mapped image widgets over the windows and doors to indicate sensors. And I use gray/yellow check box widgets for lights.

It may not be the most attractive option, but it works and it doesn't look too bad. Using a little transparency on the widgets also helps to hide the imperfections. I really like the 3d-ish floor plans I have seen out there based on the home CAD products DavidL referred to. I may attempt that direction in the future.

 

[Neurorad]

Cross-posted, fleetz's SW HA documentation thread

Visio had a 30 or 60 day trial period, last time I checked. Try it for a single room.

Several couple companies offer stencil packages, to professionals, at a steep price. I think it was around an $800 buy-in. I'd love to see a cocoontech sponsored price, for end-users/consumers. The companies that I researched included NetZoom from Altima.

HAI offers Visio stencils for their equipment, for registered installers, for free. Search their Dealer Support website (NOT the Knowledge Base), or login and go to Support -> Planning Tools. The HAI site takes you to NetZoom, for a download from there. I'm impressed with HAI's support of this.

 

[mustangcoupe]

I used Visio, and put in the windows, and doors, and just added but I like the idea of leaving them off and using the HA package to show a different image for each action. I currently do that for lights (different colors for on/fan/off)

 

[mcascio]

Hi Mavric,

We've found many DIYers and Dealers encounter this same issue. They try to make them look good, but they never seem to translate properly.

So we, Cinemar, came up with a Floorplan Design Service that's been hugely successful and created by professional designers:
http://www.cinemarsolutions.com/services.floorplans.php

We actually break up each room as individual objects so they can be utilized as clickable areas in MainLobby. Some like to show the room in yellow if any light is on in that room.

Our pricing is based on making a custom library of your floorplan for seamless integration into MainLobby. For users of other automation packages that don't need this high level of customization, we may be able to offer price breaks based on your provided plan and needs.

Floorplans are great since you can utilize them in many aspects of automation (security, lighting, thermostats, whole house audio/video, etc.)

Our standard library that comes with Mainlobby includes objects that fit nicely onto your floorplan too. You'll find Nuvo & Russound keypads, spinning ceiling fans, door swing left/right, garage doors, motion sensor animations and much more. This allows you to spend less time doing design work and more time on customizing your automation system.

Let me know if you any questions and I'd be happy to answer them.