Hey all,I am a product designer and have a decent grasp of a few CAD packages, but have never really working with anything Architectural.I am doing a personal project where i am trying to plan out a houses on a complex and sloped piece of land, i am not an Architect and have done what i can in 2D. i have a topological survey which shows all the levels but was wondering which packages would be suggested in ordermake this into a 3D model, and then made start generating some ideas of layouts of a house.I eventually will need to hand this over to an Architect but like to get my ideas out there first.Any suggestions or directions would greatly be appreciated.This is also my first post - which is also pretty exciting. Hopfully i can help out on some of the other topicsThank youRick

3D topo could be done using AutoCAD Map 3D or Civil 3D.  The house could be done in 3D using plain AutoCAD.

Thank you for your comment John, i will have a play with the trial versions as both are pretty expensive for just generating ideas.Thanks again

For 3D you could always try SketchUp.  There is a free version available.  For 2D you can use Draftsight which is also free.