Background music is Copyright © 1996, 1997 by Michael D. Walthius. All Rights Reserved. Part 1: The Program: An Overview   nstallation was amazingly quick, taking all of 42 seconds on a P133 with an 8X CD ROM. Books That Work (BTW from now on) ( now distributed by Sierra)smartly leaves most of the large files on the CD and puts only a smattering of files on the harddisk. As to program requirements, they ask for a 486 computer with 8MB of RAM and 4MB of disk space, plus a CD ROM from which to install and run the program. My particular installation put just 46k of files in its new directory and the new deck is just 3 kilobytes, including all the trimming. Here is a main screen view which shows the two programs that are included on the CD. For an inexpensive program, 3D Deck amazingly seems to cover every single aspect of deckdom, starting with a view into Site and Design Considerations. Here's a screen view of the main How-To Guide headings. As you can see from the screenshots, there are quite a few headings, each covering a different aspect of deck building or peripheral construction. More on this in Part 2.   elow is the 2D screen from which you start your design, using their basic templates, then you modify or add things as you go. The program allows for multi-level platforms as noted by the button on the lower left side of the screen. These are particularly good on steep hillside installations or multi-layered yards, allowing a beautiful transition from level to level. There are buttons for most functions but the clear menu adds an extra access point to particular features while in either 2D or 3D mode.   elow, in 3D mode, the main control buttons start at the top left:     The "toggle switch" button for changing modes between 2D (Top) view and 3D modes. How-To Guide button to jump to the other program. View button, containing peripheral view buttons, such as railings. Global movement buttons, for changing view direction Animation buttons, displaying moving views: Build-It button, showing building steps from the ground up. 360 degree Tour button, for a walk-around view of the site.   Below is the Deck Editor dialog box where you can set various aspects of your deck, including size, height, overall style, base materials, etc. wo drawbacks in the 3D mode are that some of the objects, particularly trees, are not actually 3D. As you run through the views you notice that the trees seem to be getting thinner and thinner until you see them as paper thin/tree wide objects in the birdseye-like overhead view below. lso, the smaller plants are nearly invisible on the ground next to the deck in views which encompass the entire yard, as you would see from your fenceline. This is one program which absolutely DEMANDS to be viewed in 640x480 video mode so you can see what you are doing. BTW probably spent their time and development money on all the extra tidbits of information rather than in the VGA graphics area. I suppose that's a fair tradeoff given the accessible price. (The splash screens and the How-To Guide do have some nice higher-resolution pictures, though.) Key new features to version 3 are: The ability to design not only single but multi-level decks. You can now place patio furniture and other accessories. Create framed openings for hot tubs and landscaping. Now, into the Guide... Go to Part 2: The How-To Guide: Info & Tips From Pros   All pages copyright © Roger A. Moncrief, Indepth Reviews, 1996, 1997 Thanks to Larry Jaques of DIVERSIFY! Communications for this review.