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Choosing Software for Landscape Professionals |
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If you are planning to make a career in the field of landscape design, garden design, landscape design and construction, arboriculture, landscape architecture, horticulture etc., we believe that you need to learn to use computers and computer software effectively. This module provides guidance on making informed choices about the software tools that you will need to master if you decide to go down the 'digital presentation pathway' in the practice of your profession.
Why learn to use computer software if you work in land development? In many different disciplines, the advent of computers has radically changed the way professionals work. Many clients now expect that you would use computer applications (software) to do your work. They may even deliver base plans to you in digital form and expect you to deal with them without the need to re-survey the site. This change in attitude has major implications for many of us. If you are working, or intend to work, in the landscape, garden design or horticultural field, you need to be able to select and use appropriate software. Increasingly this will not be an option. You might well be expected to use one or more of the applications listed the categories below:
Here we will briefly describe the function of each category of tools and provide some advice on which tool landscapers might select from each group to gain productivity. At the conclusion of our survey, we will provide advice on how to set up a suitable training program to develop your software skills. Please note that our advice is that this training should take place over a considerable period of time and not be rushed. Let's begin. CAD software This group of software applications is used to create 2D plans dictating what should be built to your design by the construction team. These straightforward 2D plans are the designers 'bread and butter' and are the main way your design ideas are conveyed to clients.
The figure below shows a typical 2D CAD design. It is a plan for a new remembrance garden in a cemetery. Here CAD software (IntelliCAD in this case) is used not only to show the planting plan, but since the designer builds a full size model of the design in the computer using their CAD software, dimensions were taken directly (automatically) from the model. These dimensions can greatly assist the landscape contractor lay out the job.
IntelliCAD was used to create the design above, but it is not the only tool used by landscape professionals to produce 2D plans. It is relatively inexpensive ($AUD350.00) when compared to the CAD tool used by many architects - software called AutoCAD which costs $AUD6,500.00. The figure below shows a landscape plan developed in AutoCAD.
Here is another plan made using AutoCAD. On this occasion, we have changed the background colour to a light grey.
The same sort of result can be achieved using other CAD tools. The figure below shows another 2D plan - created this time using GardenCAD, a free download from the Internet. Here is a link to GadenCAD's web site (http://www.gardencad.net).
The design above is of a much smaller space than the AutoCAD design, but GardenCAD can handle spaces which are just as large. See the figure below:
In this instance, we have set the background to the design to white, a feature common to all these software applications. Details It is possible to utilise a library of details to speed up your design work with these tools. The figure below shows a detail from the symbol library in GardenCAD.
An aside - CAD drawings are often criticised for lacking personality This criticism is unfounded and does not have to be the case. The figure below shows a sheet of plant symbols which we have developed using AutoCAD. Here we have been able to create a unique set of symbols to indicate planting in our designs. We have also used a hand lettered font to give some sense of individuality to our design work. In fact, it is not too difficult to turn your own hand lettering into a Windows True Type font, thus replicating what you presently produce by hand.
Although as shown above, GardenCAD software comes with more than 85 pre-drawn plant symbols, it also allows you to create your own symbols to create designs with your own look and feel. A free GardenCAD Lite version of the software can be downloaded from http://www.gardencad.net. Adobe Illustrator also falls into this category although it certainly does have other uses.
A cautionary note Thus far we have discussed IntelliCAD, AutoCAD and GardenCAD, and recommend that you concentrate on those tools in the first instance. This is because they are the most commonly used CAD tools for generating 2D plans and their command set (instructions for doing things) are common. However, there are many other (different) CAD programs on the market – Caddsman, Design Cad 3D, TurboCAD, Qikdraw, Catia, Solidworks, IronCAD, MicroStation, MiniCAD, Foresight, LisCAD, WESCOM, TiCAD and SketchUp to name but a few. They all have various strengths and weaknesses, but we emphasize that the one we have mentioned dominate the market. If you choose another, you will out on a limb when it comes to swapping information with others and getting support. Perhaps the most important thing to note is that they mostly save their drawing file in different file formats, variously called .DWG, .DGN, .CTA, .VEC etc. Because the file formats differ, moving data from one CAD program to another is not necessarily a trivial task, so you need to 'get it right' when making the choice of software for you, especially if you need to accept work from others and pass your work on to associates. The section below attempts to provide some guidance on this. Selecting your tool - where does your organisation sit in the scheme of things? In selecting CAD software, our advice is to first define where you or your organization sits in the ‘flow of information’ for the design work that you carry out on a regular basis. This will be different for each business or designer. A firm of engineers who manufacture (say) their own water feature components which have been designed and developed ‘in-house’, can choose any CAD program that suits their needs; they don’t care what others are using as long as the software they choose suits their staff and the job is done efficiently. Likewise, many a garden designer works independently of others and can use whatever tool suits them; or in fact stay with hand drawing. On the other hand, Landscape Architects and others who work with land development professionals, by the very nature of their profession, invariably deal with drawing files that come from other design professionals (surveyors, civil engineers, architects etc). Thus there is a need to consider not only your own requirements, but it is critical to be aware of the CAD software that others in your 'supply chain' are using. You will need to exchange digital drawing files with others and this needs to be a seamless process. There are a number of ways to exchange information. DXF file exchange Vendors of most CAD software will tell you that they have included in their software, an export function to create a file in what is called Drawing Exchange Format (DXF). This (supposedly) makes drawing translation a simple task. Be wary of these claims. Experience has shown us that the translators providing for the generation (and importation) of DXF files are not perfect, and do not always deliver seamless translation. As an example, most non-AutoCAD CAD programs listed above do not understand entities called polylines used by IntelliCAD, GardenCAD and AutoCAD. In many other CAD programs, these get converted into short line segments as the DXF file is generated. Flexibility of editing in a subsequent drawing session in the 'receiving' environment is then compromised. This drawing file incompatibility issue is not a trivial concern. We have experience of designs where profitability was severely compromised because (as we discovered at a very late stage) the survey software used for the base drawing (WESCOM) used AutoCAD text shape files to place symbols representing the location of existing trees. In this case, text letters appeared in the AutoCAD drawings where we expected to see existing trees. Many hours were lost trying to track down the source of the problem.
Making the choice There may be tension between your needs and those of the supply chain. On the one hand, you may want the ability to implement 3D rendering, to output rendered images in a format suitable for a commercial printer, the capability to paste aerial photographs as a backdrop to your drawings and the ability to smoothly work with multiple views of drawing files which are greater than 10 Mb in size (in a design for a very large wetland for instance). In our opinion, MicroStation software, from Bentley Systems, certainly meets these criteria far better than does Autodesk's AutoCAD or IntelliCAD. However, in many states of Australia, MicroStation has less than 10% of the market share (in Western Australia MicroStation holds >50% of the market) so you would have to eliminate MicroStation from your list of potential CAD programs, because it is unlikely to be used in your supply chain. Again, we are biased, but why not start by experimenting with some free software? You can download the lite version of GardenCAD from its web site - http://www.GardenCAD.net and learn how to use it using learning materials on that site. GardenCAD is command compatible with AutoCAD and IntelliCAD essentially works in the same way as AutoCAD so you can train yourself to use CAD software to quite a high level before 'putting your money down.' Databases: Microsoft Access and FileMaker Pro are perhaps the two most widely used database tools by landscape professionals. It is possible to use these tools to create databases which handle plant knowledge (photos and descriptions of plant species), work schedules, client billing including GST obligations, etc. Again, like CAD software, they are not easy to use and it takes a degree of discipline to learn to use them and create workable databases. We would advise you to start by developing a simple database such as that shown in the figure below. We populate the database with plants with we are familiar and the application enables us to retrieve lists of plants for particular applications. For example, you can ask it to generate a list of all small trees, suitable for frost prone areas which have pink flowers in winter. It is difficult to quickly recall this type of information from your own 'memory' bank, even though you may know the plants well. Since the database holds information on many plants and allows you to set up queries and forms which allow many different lists to be generated and reports to be run.
The above database was built using Microsoft Access. If you want to learn to build databases such as this, visit http://www.softwaretutor.net. FileMaker Pro, a database originally developed for Macintosh computers but now available for windows computers is especially good for creating a plant database based on photographs you have taken. The metaphor is is that of a book. You simply turn the pages.
3D Visualization software: If you need to show a client a 3D view of your design work, programs such as SketchUp are rapidly becoming the tool of choice. The figure below shows a design for a courtyard. This design was created initially in GardenCAD and then moved into SketchUp for rendering. Other software such as AutoCAD and IntelliCAD can be used to generate 3D views, but in our opinion, SketchUp is in a class of its own.
Image editors Photoshop, Gimp and Paint Shop Pro are all excellent tools for editing images. For most landscape professionals, these will be images taken with your digital camera or obtained by scanning photographs and hand drawn material. The figure below shows an image exported as a 2D graphic from SketchUp and 'rendered' using tools in Gimp, a free image editor.
Vector drawing tools: There is often a need to create logos and other illustrative diagrams to 'dress' up the presentations you make to clients. Visio and Adobe Illustrator are able to do this and in addition, can be used to create unique vector art work for logos etc.
DTP presentation software In the modern business world, the 'presentation bar' is being constantly raised. There is a continuing call for the production of better quality documents - be they newsletters, brochures, annual reports, charts, diagrams, location maps, presentations etc. Desktop publishing software such as Microsoft Publisher and the Adobe Creative Suite enables the preparation of these high quality materials, both in printed form and on the web. The figure below shows Adobe's InDesign being used to prepare some marketing material for an architectural firm.
Spreadsheet software: Spreadsheets are software tools which assist in the performance of both mathematical operations and for manipulations of textual information. For example, spreadsheets can be used to calculate margins in a job, to quickly sorting a list of clients ready to send marketing letters via a mail merge and preparing a planting schedule ready to import to a CAD drawing.
Project management software Microsoft Project helps you manage big projects.
Setting up a software training program: We are of course biased, but once you have chosen your software, we believe that you need to learn to use each tool correctly. This site (and a companion site http://www.sotwaretutor.net) provides comprehensive online training in the use of tools mentioned above. What's in this particular landscapetutor.net site? This site provides eLearning courses covering the use most of the tools discussed above - general purpose 2D CAD drafting software, customized 2D CAD drafting software, 3D CAD modelling software, image editing software, 3D visualization software, relational databases, desk top publishing software for presentation graphics and more. All can be used by landscape professionals and this site (http://www.landscaptutor.net and its companion http://www.softwaretutor.net) provide detailed instruction in them. There is a particular focus on the issues set out in the diagram below. The options in the column on the left are arranged in a loose order of importance to a landscape professional. We believe that you should start by learning to use CAD software to create 2D plans (with several levels of complexity), then learn to produce 3D plans, then master rendering 3D CAD models and generating 'walk throughs' of your design. Each step along the way will require you to master a different software tool.
We would suggest that any training program leading to the logical development of computer competency in terms of work in the landscape field would:
eLearning - http://www.landscapetutor.net
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Typically the same drawing
is used to present several sheets - the plan to the client,
perhaps a simplified construction plan and (say) and irrigation plan
are generated from the same file without the need for redrawing the
plan.
