With SmartDraw you can create your architecture design on your desktop Windows ® computer, your Mac, or even a mobile device. Whether you're in the office or on the go, you'll enjoy the full set of features, symbols, and high-quality output you get only with SmartDraw.
- FreeCAD is a great tool for both professionals and hobbyists, and can be used in design, architecture, construction, mechanical engineering, and other fields. LibreCAD is a free 2D-CAD multiplatform solution for Windows, Mac and Linux. It is essentially a community version of QCAD.
- Browse and download a wide variety of award-winning video, audio, business, utility, or graphics software programs for both PC and Mac.
Sometimes we need free Architecture or CAD software to redesign our own apartment’s interior or want to decorate. Or just for learning purpose, here are some free and open source software for interior or house Architecture designers.
Archimedes: An architecture open CAD
Archimedes is a free and open source CAD (Computer Aided Design) software built Eclipse’s Rich Client Platform. It works on Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows but before installing it, you have need to install Java Virtual Machine. The software and its plugins are under the Eclipse Public License which means anyone can modify its source code to develop its own application without the permission of Archimedes team. It develops as an alternate option to AutoCAD.
SweetHome 3D
SweetHome 3D is an open-source software. It helps people to design the interior of their home in a very intuitive way. You can redesign your home and can see a 3-D version of how everything looks. It allows you to draw walls, rooms, windows, furniture, etc. You can create photorealistic images and videos with various light sources.
Blueprint Software Mac
ArchiFacile
ArchiFacile is a free floor or house planner software which allows you to design them in two dimensional. This tool is very beneficial for architects as it allows to export design in PDF format. It can be used to plan floor, house, garage, wooden house, a garden shed or pool.
3D Home Design
3D Home Design has a free version of its powerful software which enables users to create 2D/3D professional plans for indoor and outdoor views. Graphics are pretty realistic and make working with this software very enjoyable.
Google SketchUp Make
Google SketchUp is a free software which allows you to create 3D models in just a few minutes. There are lots of video tutorials available online which helps newbies. You can build your own house sketch design. Also, the sketch of your living room, a piece of furniture, model your city for Google Earth and more.
BRL-CAD
BRL-CAD is an open source modeling system and cross-platform CAD software. It has ray-tracing for rendering and geometric analysis, interactive geometry editor, analysis benchmark suite, image & signal processing tools, libraries for robust geometric representation, network distributed framebuffer support and more.
LibreCAD
Libre CAD is 2D CAD application that can read DWG files. It writes DXF files and can export files to other formats also such as PNG, JPG etc. It available in 20 languages and supports all major operating systems. (Windows, Linux, Mac OSX and others). It provides you layers, blocks, splines, polylines, ellipse tools, advanced tangent line & circle tools, transformation tools, an advanced snapping system and more.
FreeCAD
FreeCAD is a powerful parametric 3D modeler for CAD, CAD, MCAD, CAx, CAE, and PLM. It extremely modular Architecture software that allows customization and use of extensions. It features Open Inventor-compliant 3D scene representation model provided by the Coin 3D library and a broad Python API. It uses the interface which built with Qt. It supports Windows, MAC OSX, and Linux platforms.
nanoCAD
It is a free a Computer Aided Design (CAD) tool for Architectures. It has a user-friendly interface, drafting and design tools, native DWG compatibility, and an open API.
Blender
Blender is the free open source 3D suite for beautiful content creation. It supports all major OS platform. It supports the entirety of the 3D pipeline—modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, even video editing and game creation. The built-in Cycles rendering engine offers GPU & CPU rendering, Real-time viewport preview, HDR lighting support and Permissive License for linking with external software.
GenoCAD
GenoCAD is a CAD software for synthetic biology. This application provides a web-based tool to design plasmids, artificial gene networks, and other synthetic genetic systems composed of standard genetic parts. It includes a parts management system, a rule-based design tool, and a simulation engine.
TinkerCell -CAD for Synthetic Biology
TinkerCell is a software for synthetic biology. The visual interface allows users to design networks using various biological “parts”. Models can include modules and multiple cells. Users can program new functions using C or Python.
Sailcut CAD
It is a sail design and plotting software for Architectures. It allows you to design and visualize your own sail and compute the accurate development of all panels in flat sheets.
QCAD – 2D
It is easy to use, complete 2D CAD system for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It offers a complete set of general purpose CAD tools and uses the DXF format as its native file format. Additional power-user tools including DWG support and enhanced DXF support are available as QCAD Professional for Architecture through proprietary add-ons.
Also See:
School of ArchitectureFaculty of Architecture and Planning
This page provides tips on which software to use for a particular purpose and how to get started. Except as noted, software is available for both Mac and PC. In-house support for software is available from our Design Software Tutorials page and from the Computer Help Desk assistants.
Access to Lab Software in 2020-21
During the pandemic, you can access design software remotely. This includes Adobe Creative Cloud (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, etc.), ArcGIS Pro, AutoCAD, Rhino, Grasshopper, Ladybug, Honeybee, SketchUp Pro, VectorWorks, and V-Ray.
- For general information, refer to Dalhousie's Computer Labs and Software Access page.
- Dalhousie has three platforms for accessing software remotely: Software Download, RLab (Remote Lab), and VLab (Virtual Lab). To view a list of software on all three platforms, go to the Lab Software page.
- To download software, start at the Software Download page.
- For RLab: For Mac and Windows instructions, go to Remote Lab Access Tutorial. To save your files before you log out of an RLab session, upload them to your OneDrive account, which provides 1TB of free cloud storage. These instructions are also available in separate videos for Mac and Windows: RLab video for Mac and OneDrive video for Mac; and RLab video for Windows and OneDrive video for Windows.
- For VLab: Go to the Virtual Lab page and follow the instructions to access software on VLab1 or VLab2.
- For support, e-mail the university's help desk: support@dal.ca.
Dalhousie University also provides Microsoft applications in Office 365: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, etc. Go to my.dal.ca, log in, and click on the 9-square grid at the top left.
For video conferencing, refer to the Remote Communication page.
1. Graphic Design
Adobe Illustrator CC
Useful for: making drawings and graphic art; laser cutting
Available from Adobe; also on Arch-Plan lab computers (see above)
Tutorials: Adobe; Lynda (free access to Lynda with a Halifax library card)
2. Image Processing
Adobe Photoshop CC
Useful for: editing photos and images
Available from Adobe; also on Arch-Plan lab computers (see above)
Tutorials: Adobe; Lynda
3. Page Layout and Compositing
Adobe InDesign CC
Useful for: producing documents with images and text; process portfolios
Available from Adobe; also on Arch-Plan lab computers (see above)
Tutorials: Adobe; Lynda
Conceptboard (web-based)
Useful for: design process, desk crits, and online collaboration (with Zoom)
Available from: Conceptboard (Fall 2020 students have been enrolled in Conceptboard accounts for particular courses)
Tutorials: Conceptboard
4. 2D Drafting
AutoCAD
Useful for: 2D drafting, laser cutting
Available from: Autodesk (free)
Tutorials: Lynda
(For 2D drafting, see also Rhinoceros and VectorWorks below.)
Architectural Design Software Free Mac
5. 3D Modeling and Rendering
SketchUp
Useful for: 3D modeling, terrain mapping, site analysis, rendering, solar studies, rapid prototyping
Available from: SketchUp
Tutorials: SketchUp
Rhinoceros
Useful for: 2D drafting, 3D modeling, complex geometry, digital fabrication, rendering, solar studies, rapid prototyping
Available from: Rhino3D
Tutorials: Rhino3D
VectorWorks
Useful for: 2D drafting, 3D modeling, building information modeling (BIM), rendering, presentation drawings, solar studies
Available from: VectorWorks
Tutorials: VectorWorks
Revit
Useful for: building information modeling (BIM), 3D modeling, parametric modeling, producing drawing sets
Available from: Autodesk
Tutorials: Autodesk
6. Visual Scripting
Grasshopper for Rhino
Useful for: parametric modeling, physics simulation, hosting plug-ins for BIM, site and energy analysis, augmented reality projection, structural analysis (note: Mac version is not fully functional)
Available from: Food4Rhino
Tutorials: Grasshopper 3D; Modelab
7. Rendering
Architecture Computer Programs Free For Mac Computer
V-Ray
Useful for: 3D visualization and presentation renderings from SketchUp, Rhino, and Revit
Available from: Chaos Group
Tutorials: for SketchUp; for Rhino; for Revit
8. Energy Calculation
Matchbox (web-based)
Useful for: energy modeling
Available from: Matchbox
Tutorials: n/a
9. Website Design
Adobe Portfolio CC
Useful for: web hosting and design
Available from Adobe; also on Arch-Plan lab computers (see above)
Tutorials: Adobe
10. Digital Presentations
Best Architectural Software Programs
Keynote
Useful for: making digital presentations
Available from: Apple (free)
Tutorials: Apple; Lynda
11. Video Production and Editing
iMovie
Useful for: editing videos
Available from: Apple (free)
Tutorials: Apple;Lynda
Adobe Premiere Pro
Useful for: producing and editing videos
Available from: Adobe
Tutorials: Adobe
12. GIS
Free Architecture Software
ArcGIS
Useful for: digital maps
Available on Arch-Plan lab computers (see above)