However there was one thing we found particularly annoying: by default, every time you click on a tool, whether for the first time or the hundredth, a ‘Tutor’ window would open up offering you help and advice. Virtual Architect comes with a handful of good tutorials to help you get started, as well as a help tab that contains multiple online resources. Why couldn’t you use the mouse to navigate like pretty much all other similar apps do? Help Somehow it reminded us of those little red buttons some laptops used to have in the middle of the keyboard, designed to replace a mouse or trackpad…although to be fair, it wasn’t actually as bad as those abominations, but it really removed the joy out of exploring our creations. It has various uses, but the large central knob’s purpose is to help you move around a 3D landscape, and maybe it’s us, but it felt very frustrating attempting to use it. Yes you have the arrow keys which you can use for all views, but to properly wander around in three dimensions, you need to make use of the large dial lower right of the interface. The only issue we had was difficulty navigating in 3D.

Navigate in 3D with the big (and frustrating) navigation button, lower right of the interface (Image credit: Nova Development)

Chief architect home designer suite 10