CONTACTS: Tiffany West, (425) 649-9800, ext. 5618 tiffany.west@sierra.com Janelle Watts, (425) 649-9800, ext. 5205 janelle.watts@sierra.com TRANSFORM YOUR DESKTOP INTO AN INTERIOR DESIGN CENTER: SIERRAHOME ANNOUNCES CUSTOM HOME 3D DESIGN 4.0 Software Suite Helps Home Decorating Enthusiasts Visualize Improvements on the Home PC BELLEVUE, Wash. – SierraHome(tm) today announced the release of Custom Home 3D Design 4.0, an innovative suite of five software programs, designed to empower and inspire with fresh ideas for the home. Whether a bold remodel or softening touches are in the plans, Custom Home 3D Design 4.0 includes all the tools to design, budget, visualize and share home decorating plans from the desktop. Custom Home 3D Design 4.0 users will learn professional design techniques from the all-new Home Design Guide, glean ideas from thousands of show-quality homes and designer rooms, modify photos of their homes with new décor ideas, and actually design photo-realistic 3D renderings of their dream living space. In addition, users can share 3D home plans and a take a real-time photo-realistic walkthrough with friends and family over the Internet. Custom Home 3D Design 4.0 includes: * All-new Home Design Guide – The ultimate resource for home design and decorating questions. * All-new Designer Rooms Library – 300+ showcase designs of 3D sample rooms, created to inspire. * Sierra Home Architect 4.0 – Award-winning 3D home design and remodeling program. * The Interior Design Collection – 2,000+ photos of inspirational show homes from The Street of Dreams(r) Collection. * Photo Home Interiors – Users can visualize new décor by modifying an actual home photo on screen. * Powerful Internet Functionality -Home plans can be shared with contractors or friends over the Internet using the Design Sharing feature. Expert advice and homeowner hints are available on SierraHome’s Web site, www.HomeCentral.com. Home Design Guide Getting started on a home project is simple with the all-new Home Design Guide, the ultimate reference for home design and decorating advice. Professional designers instruct on how best to choose and apply color, enhance small or dimly lit spaces with creative lighting techniques, maximize space and rearrange furniture for a fabulous new look, and much more. Expert content is organized in a handy HTML format that can be referenced throughout the design process. Designer Rooms Library Why reinvent the wheel? Save time by choosing from hundreds of professionally designed rooms and floorplans, then customize your design with 2 million winning combinations of furnishings, fixtures, brand name appliances, textures, materials, and more. Sierra Home Architect 4.0 Sierra Home Architect 4.0 includes an all-new tutorial that walks beginners through the design process from start to finish. More than 250 professional floor plans and designer rooms are available to begin with, or users can replicate rooms from their own home inch-by-inch and remodel on screen. The improved interface guides users through the process of planning the layout in 2D, while a split screen displays the 3D rendering simultaneously. Every detail of the home can be customized to try out new looks, with enhanced 3D imaging and more than 4,000 3D objects, including furnishings, brand name appliances, and home accessories. Users can even change the lighting in their computer-designed dream home to visualize the look in morning, afternoon and night, with lights on or off. In addition, more than 1,000 paint, wood, wallpaper and stone textures are available with tile, wallpaper, carpet and textiles to help users visualize flooring, upholstery, window treatments, and more. Users can walk or fly through their design in photo-realistic 3D or take a snapshot to share with friends, architects, contractors or designers, over the Internet. Itemized shopping lists can also be created to monitor costs and ensure the design plans are consistent with the budget. Sierra Home Architect has export capability to professional Computer Aided Design (CAD) software programs in DFX format, and can be shared with professional designers or architects in this format. Interior Design Collection More than 2,000 photos of stunning, show-quality homes are available through this visually appealing digital picture collection. The easy-to-browse showcase of Street of Dreams(tm) home photos is organized by style, so users can find exactly what they have in mind – from traditional, French country, contemporary, and more. Users can peruse some of the most beautiful homes in America from the comfort of their own homes for inspiration and endless decorating ideas. Photo Home Interiors Homeowners can preview how a project will impact the look of their home by using Photo Home Interiors for a sneak peek. Users start by scanning in a photo of their home’s interior or inserting a photo disc, and then simply rearrange furniture, add accessories, and give the room a virtual face-lift onscreen with the click of the mouse. With Photo Home Interiors, users can experiment with different types of floor covering and vivid shades of paint, as well as choosing from over a thousand accessories, textures and other décor items to add to their photo and liven up any room. Internet Functionality The SierraHome Network’s HomeCentral.com caters to today’s handy homeowners (and those who are just getting started) by offering free advice and reliable guidance on hundreds of home improvement projects. Featuring the most comprehensive home improvement encyclopedia, over a dozen easy-to-use calculators and estimators, a fully-stocked Tool Dictionary, and message boards for sharing home design and decorating tips and questions, HomeCentral.com is an essential online reference for do-it-yourself home projects. In addition, Sierra Home Architect users can chat and exchange ideas using the Design Sharing feature. All that’s required by both users is Sierra Home Architect software and an Internet connection. Pricing, Availability and System Requirements Custom Home 3D Design 4.0 is available on CD-ROM for an estimated street price of $49.99. Custom Home 3D Design 4.0 is available at most software retailers, online at www.sierrahome.com, or by calling (800) 757-7707. System requirements include: Windows(r) 98/95/NT/2000, Pentium(r) 133 or better with 16 MB RAM and 50 MB HD space. About Sierra SierraHome publishes top-selling software in categories including: home publishing, family heritage, cooking, gardening, home design, personal improvement, and digital imaging. Visit www.sierrahome.com for free clip art, recipes, gardening tips, genealogy search tools, contests, message boards and other revolving content. Sierra On-Line, Inc. http://www.sierra.com is one of the original developers and largest worldwide publishers of interactive entertainment and productivity software. Sierra is a division of Havas Interactive, a global leader in interactive content, and is one of the world’s largest publishers of education, entertainment and home productivity software. Its divisions, Blizzard Entertainment(r), Coktel, Knowledge Adventure(r), Sierra(tm) and Flipside.com(tm) are famous for releasing critically acclaimed and award winning titles. Havas has operations in the US and in Europe and is a subsidiary of the French publishing house Havas, part of Vivendi Communications. ### |