Best intuitive software for theater CAD planning?

Google Sketch-up: free and CAD compliant

I can't really argue with Sketch-Up because it's probably your only option. Any other CAD program is going to cost $$$. However, I will say it is far from intuitive. I've used several CAD programs for my job, and Sketch-Up sucks. I would like to ask, if you have a layout you like that is dimensioned, what do you have to gain from going into such detail as exact stud locations? I'd just start building.

While I agree that Sketchup would not be my first choice or even my second, "just start building" is a bad approach when it comes to theaters. Those stud locations can be extremely important. This is why we say quite often, that standard contractors or architects cannot do what a dedicated designer does due to a lack of understanding in the specific subject of acoustics. Designing a theater to perform is not something you learn from a book, a website or overnight. Best wishes!

This one is intuitive. Can design a room and see it in 3D in 10 minutes.

See an AVS example here.

In my opinion, 3D is completely unnecessary and much harder to work with when working out exactly placement of speakers, seats, etc. I would suggest Microsoft Visio. Whilst I mocked up a few designs with sketchup, all my plans were done in visio and as I added detail I would just add another layer to the design. The layers have proven to be an invaluable resource when I want to retrace the exact location of a stub or wiring.

Here's an example of my Visio plans

Cheers.

+1

As much as I love Sketchup (being free helps!) One thing I would say about it, is that it is not intuitive right off the bat. It has a pretty good learning curve.

I use Visio for most of my layouts. I did all the plans for my shed (ended up being a small house) in Visio and it helped out a lot. Based on the Visio diagrams I was able to figure out what I needed for lumber and see how it was going to be put together.

Visio is pretty easy to get started.

Available pretty cheaply, if you know someone at an academic institution.