Students of the faculty of Architecture of the TU Delft can obtain software from various sources. Some software is available for ‘free’, while other software is available at reduced rates.

A typical BK installation

A typical software installation for architecture students should contain:

For installation guides for various software, please take a look on our manuals page.

If you are looking for tutorials to learn different types of software, we recommend you to take a look at the TOI-Pedia of TU Delft.

Overview of the software available for architecture students

You can find an overview of the free and reduced priced software available for architecture students here: https://adhok.bk.tudelft.nl/resources/software-for-architecture-students/

In times of trouble…

When specific types of software are temporarily not available for you, take a look at the weblogin service of TU Delft. Or find a desktop computer on your faculty, it might just have the programs installed you need.

TU Delft Software

Software: e.g. McNeel Rhinoceros, CES Edupack, IBM SPSS Statistics (free)

Software.tudelft.nl – Login with your NetID. After login, you will see a list of software which are made available for you. Some software has versions for multiple operating systems (Windows, macOS and Linux). Click on the desired version and follow the download and installation instructions.

Microsoft Office

Software: Office 365 ProPlus (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.)

Portal.office.com – Login with your NetID followed by @tudelft.nl (e.g. mynetid@tudelft.nl). After entering your NetID, you will be redirected to a TU Delft login page to enter your password. Click on Install Office apps to download the installer for Office. As long as you are a student of the TU Delft, you will be able to use Office for free. After that Office will cease to work, and you will need to buy a license.

Autodesk student community

Software: various Autodesk products (free)

Students.autodesk.com – Sign up using your TU Delft e-mail address and fill in ‘Technische Universteit Delft’ as the University. As a student, you can obtain free licenses through the Autodesk Educational Community for programs such as Revit, Mudbox, (these allow non-commercial use only). See our manual for Autodesk Educational access.

NonicaTAB for Revit

NonicaTab FREE creates a new Revit toolbar with 12 buttons easy to customize with ready-to-use tools (or your own Dynamo scripts) and animated icons. Don´t waste your time downloading a bunch of different Revit tools! Create your custom toolbar in two clicks with the Revit buttons you need. No need to be a programmer/coder! The plugin is available through software.tudelft.nl.
Check out their YouTube channel with tutorials on how to use the tools.

Surfspot

Software: Adobe Creative Cloud, Sketchup Pro, Parallels Desktop for Mac, anti-virus and various other software (non-free)

surfspot.nl – Login with your NetID. Surfspot offers various software with discount for academic use.

Academic Software

academicsoftware.com – Login with your NetID followed by @tudelft.nl (e.g. mynetid@tudelft.nl). Academic Software offers certain Microsoft software like Visio and Project and solutions from MSDNAA (Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance).

Microsoft Azure

Software: various Microsoft products (free)

aka.ms/type3 – Login with your NetID followed by @tudelft.nl (e.g. mynetid@tudelft.nl). Microsoft Azure allows you to download various Microsoft products for free for educational or research use.

Adobe Creative Cloud

Software: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.

Creative Cloud is the most recent version of the Adobe software. The subscription allows you to use (almost) all Adobe applications on demand.

Architecture and Industrial Design Engineering bachelor students receive an automated mail from Adobe.

surfspot.nl – Offers to all other students a license for € 129,50 for one year for two devices.

adobe.com – Alternatively, students can subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud for Students directly at an academic discount. You pay a monthly fee of € 19,66 per month or € 235,95 for one year. You have to subscribe for at least one year and after a year subscription you pay € 30,24 per month or € 362,75 per year.

Free online software

Some tips for interesting/useful free software that is available online:

  • 7Zip – archive/zip utility
  • Chrome / Firefox / Opera – web browser
  • Adobe Reader – PDF viewer
  • XnView – Image viewer and basic processing (resizing, cropping, conversion, etc.)
  • Gimp – image editor for bitmap raster images (Photoshop alternative)
  • Inkscape – graphics editor for vector graphics (Illustrator alternative)
  • VLC Media Player – video and music player supporting a wide variety of formats
  • Notepad++ – text/script/code editor
  • Launchy – launch your applications by a few keystrokes

Excellent service is offered by the following website: http://ninite.com. This website allows you to select a large number of popular applications that can be installed using a single, convenient installer.

Using Adobe Creative cloud

Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign are very useful. Still, they are only available through an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription or one year license if you want to use it on your own laptop. See the information above.

Alternatively, this software is available at the faculty desktop computers or computers in the main library, where you can use it for free. Note that the number of desktop computers is limited and you need to take building opening hours into consideration.

Applications such as GIMP (free Photoshop alternative), Inkscape (free Illustrator alternative), Scribus (free InDesign alternative) or Corel (through SURFspot) may provide a sound alternative, and you can use the faculty computers when you need the Adobe applications. Power users may choose to invest in a Creative Cloud subscription, so they have all Adobe applications available on their laptop.

Didn’t you find the information you need here? Please check our manuals page or contact us: SID-Adhok@tudelft.nl