Pool Studio or hire a landscape architect?

[Titan7]

appears PBs will provide a rendering or 2 that don't match what we want, even when I provide a drawing. Anybody paid the $95.00 monthly fee to use Pool Studio for design their pool or paid a designer to do it? Is PS user friendly?

thanks!

 

[cba6777]

I have tinkered around with it, but only the demo mode, where you can't save what you're doing, and found out later that you are limited in how many items you can use from their "library." I thought perhaps I could buy the one month and then cancel, but there is also a $95 setup fee on top of the $95 monthly. That was said nowhere on the website until you try to sign up, which annoyed me to no end and I told the rep who had been calling my house at 8am to try to get me to sign up just how happy that made me, along with his early phone calls. I may go back and try it anyway, figuring it's better to spend $200 than $2000 if I can do the same thing as the landscape architects.

I personally thought it was easy to use, but I also do graphic design and know photoshop. I thought it was fun to use, too! A little frustrating a first, but they have a lot of free tutorials.

I will post a few pics of the screenshots it allowed me to take (it also allowed video, but both with a watermark all over the place), but I need to get coffee first...

 

[Titan7]

Thanks!! Can you save screenshots and print? I may go this way, I figure once you enter size of your yard you can just build it? I found a landscape company that will do drawings for the pool and landscaping for $500, that's for a couple design changes. Who would have thought it would be so difficult to build a pool.

 

[SuzfromTexas]

I don't know California, but are you near a college or university? Maybe there are students in landscape design/architecture who would be eager to do your project for a nominal fee. Good luck! Suz.

 

[cba6777]

This is what our backyard looks like now. We have a spa and a grill area, and are ditching the gazebo that was torn apart in the "snowstorm" on Dec 30th. Trying to keep costs down by keeping the spa and grill area, although I'm not totally in love with the way they look. We want a covered patio, like what we had in FL, so we can hang a tv/ceiling fan/heaters. The Pool Studio experiment was based off one PB's 2d drawing, in an attempt to see what it would really look like. I didn't quite do it exactly like his plan, and hadn't finished the planter areas behind the pool, on the side, etc. Trying to recreate our existing spa and walls using the rocks from their library was what ate up all my pic allotment, and I got frustrated.

 

[cba6777]

Oh - before I forget - Pool Studio has MASSIVE computer requirements. I had to do this on one of my husband's laptops, as it is not Mac friendly unless you use Bootcamp with Windows. They have a large video card requirement. It took awhile for screen redraw on this program. If you look on Pool Studio's message boards, they basically just tell people you have to get a computer capable of handling the 3d video load. Yes, it's meant for pool companies to use, not the everyday consumer, but even at that, many people were complaining that they pretty much had to go out and buy a new computer.

These were jpgs that I saved (I think there were other options) and while I have not printed it out, it works like any other jpg, so it would be printable.

 

[Titan7]

This is what our backyard looks like now. We have a spa and a grill area, and are ditching the gazebo that was torn apart in the "snowstorm" on Dec 30th. Trying to keep costs down by keeping the spa and grill area, although I'm not totally in love with the way they look. We want a covered patio, like what we had in FL, so we can hang a tv/ceiling fan/heaters. The Pool Studio experiment was based off one PB's 2d drawing, in an attempt to see what it would really look like. I didn't quite do it exactly like his plan, and hadn't finished the planter areas behind the pool, on the side, etc. Trying to recreate our existing spa and walls using the rocks from their library was what ate up all my pic allotment, and I got frustrated.

Thank you! I may take a shot at this, I assume you only get so much time or number of renderings in the demo mode. Love your view, a pool would be nice there.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh - before I forget - Pool Studio has MASSIVE computer requirements. I had to do this on one of my husband's laptops, as it is not Mac friendly unless you use Bootcamp with Windows. They have a large video card requirement. It took awhile for screen redraw on this program. If you look on Pool Studio's message boards, they basically just tell people you have to get a computer capable of handling the 3d video load. Yes, it's meant for pool companies to use, not the everyday consumer, but even at that, many people were complaining that they pretty much had to go out and buy a new computer.

These were jpgs that I saved (I think there were other options) and while I have not printed it out, it works like any other jpg, so it would be printable.

Thanks, that's the other thing I was afraid of, I know my video card will not handle it as it's intergrated on the board.

 

[ummgood]

I would say in addition that if you are wanting to pay monthly you might want to go back and make changes to the design while your pool is being built. Things come up during the build that make changes sometimes necessary so you might end up needing the software more than a month. A possible way around this is to find a pool builder that already has the software. You make your design first and save it in their file format and then during the build have the pool builder make the changes using his software.

I know in the case of my build after I got to pin/paint stage I wanted some things changed and in that case you'll have to either buy the software again (because it was a month later after permitting) or figure out a way to update your plans without the software. I see it all the time on here where people change benches etc... after they are well into the pool build process.

 

[cba6777]

Thanks, we love it here. Our backyard overlooks the golf course down below. We have no chance of being hit by flying golf balls up here!

The things like trees, house windows/doors, firepit, waterfall - those were all elements from the library. If you bring in one tree and duplicate it, that's now two. So it limits you to 100. For me I didn't think it would be a problem until I started duplicating various rocks to create the waterfall and existing rock planters, which we would be keeping in this scenario. That ate up the 100 limit very quickly. I don't remember if the finishes/textures (like the quartzite on the deck) are considered to be part of their library as well.

If I were you I would check to see if your computer can handle their requirements and download the demo. Be prepared to get a sales call, as they ask for a phone number. It took FOREVER to download the program, but it was well worth going through this process to try it out for no charge.

- - - Updated - - -

I would say in addition that if you are wanting to pay monthly you might want to go back and make changes to the design while your pool is being built. Things come up during the build that make changes sometimes necessary so you might end up needing the software more than a month. A possible way around this is to find a pool builder that already has the software. You make your design first and save it in their file format and then during the build have the pool builder make the changes using his software.

I know in the case of my build after I got to pin/paint stage I wanted some things changed and in that case you'll have to either buy the software again (because it was a month later after permitting) or figure out a way to update your plans without the software. I see it all the time on here where people change benches etc... after they are well into the pool build process.

That is an EXCELLENT point, one of which I had not thought of....

 

[Titan7]

thanks

 

[Titan7]

My "potential" PB does not seem to communicate well with the design we are looking for, will get another bid from California Pools, another builder in the industry for 50 years.