Autodesk Homestyler: Design your interiors online… for Free!

These days we can see many web based applications available. Some of them are free (with or without limitation) and some are premium paid services. I saw that Autodesk now also has several web based applications. I have to admit that I’m impressed what we can do with web based applications today.

I tried Homestyler, and quite impressed with the functionality and the available interior products with the application. I can imagine the opportunities for the manufacturer to promote their products here, and we can see how they fit in our room.

Try the application here:

http://www.homestyler.com/

This web based application is available for free at the current time. I’m not sure whether Autodesk will continue providing this application for free or not. It still has ‘beta’ label in it’s logo. However, if Autodesk provide it for free, Autodesk can still get advantages from the manufacturers who provides the content library.

The interface is quite simple and using it is pretty straight forward. Just build the rooms by using tools in build tab. Then decorate and add more components from other tabs. Simply drag and drop!

The most interesting thing to me, you can show off your design by embedding it to your website, blogs, as long as they support iframe. Try this sample design from the gallery. Have fun!

You can also share your design through social media like facebook or twitter. Autodesk has become very social these days :)

There is also available option to export to jpeg, AutoCAD, or Revit. I was curious to see how the export result would look like in Revit. If I can get the libraries from Homestyler, then that would be super cool! Imagine to see the Homestyler libraries as Revit families!

Unfortunately, the export result is not as expected. It looks like Homestyler try to find similar/closest replacements for the libraries. These families look like available families in from Revit standard installation.

However, this is still a cool free service (we all free services, aren’t we?). I wonder how the application would looks like after they remove beta from the logo.

More web based applications available from Autodesk

Just in case you you don’t know yet, Autodesk has more web based applications.

Autodesk Project Butterfly

We have covered this before in CAD Notes. This is can be considered as ‘free simple AutoCAD’ online. We can draw and do simple drawing modification online. But I figure that the most powerful feature of this web based application is as a collaboration tool. You can work on a drawing along with your colleague! It also has a chat feature so you can discuss about the changes.

http://butterfly.autodesk.com/

Autodesk Green Building Studio

I’m not really familiar with this area. This web based application is not free, but I believe Autodesk offers free access if you have active subscription (only for some products). This web based application can be used to analyze whole-building energy analysis.

http://www.autodesk.com/greenbuildingstudio

More Web Based Applications

Do you know other cool web based applications related to CAD? Please share here. It doesn’t have to from Autodesk, and can be free/paid service. I really curious about the development in web based applications. Google has Google Docs that allows you to create documents without having any application installed. But still I was quite surprised to see there are web based CAD applications.

About Edwin Prakoso

I work as a Sr. Consultant in PT Cipta Satria Informatika. I've been using AutoCAD since R14 and Revit since Revit Building 9. I occasionally write for AUGIWorld magazine and I am also active in Autodesk discussion forum. I'm a member of Autodesk Expert Elite, an appreciation for individuals who give contributions to the Autodesk community.
Connect with me on twitter or LinkedIn.