For those interested in a more formal qualification, we offer a series of courses which will bring you to a professional level in the use of the various software tools used in land development projects. Not only do the three diploma courses listed below provide a pathway to understanding the use of tools such as AutoCAD, IntelliCAD, Illustrator, GardenCAD etc., for one low fee, you will also be provided with a copy of GardenCAD Pro and access to all other courses on this site.
- Cost: $250.00
An Introduction to the use of CAD (Computer Aided Design) for Landscape & Garden Design - Diploma 1
This course (called Diploma 1) is part 1 in a three part series (Diploma 1, 2 and 3) leading to the award of a Design Cad diploma in landscape CAD drafting. The diploma is awarded on completion of assignments in all three Diploma courses and satisfactory assessment of your work which is audited by an independent CAD expert. This diploma in landscape drafting, is issued by our company (Design Cad Pty Ltd), and it is important to note that it does not carry official recognition; we do not have any formal affiliation with Universities or Colleges. Be that as it may, the three Diploma courses do serve as a basis for CAD training at a college of Technical and Further Education in Adelaide, South Australia.Each course, contains comprehensive instructional materials, many on-screen videos showing how things are done, links to other online courses, exercises, assignments, multiple choice tests etc. You also have access to a course tutor who is available online to answer questions. All course materials are designed to ensure that when you graduate, you are a competent landscape, GIS or environmental drafter.The object of this Diploma 1 series is to provide you with an opportunity to see how computer software can be used to present your landscape design ideas. We hope to show you that computer drawing should not supersede hand drawing, but rather complement it. You will see various commercial software tools such as AutoCAD and IntelliCAD in action. These are the most commonly used CAD landscape software tools in Australia, but we will also demonstrate the use of MicroStation, another vector based software CAD application.In adition to these commercial software applications, you will also download, install and gain some experience with GardenCAD - a CAD tool developed by us, specially for landscape and garden design students. This software operates in a similar manner to AutoCAD and IntelliCAD (it is largely command compatible) and so is an ideal introduction to the world of CAD as it is applied to landscape use.Note that GardenCAD has been developed specifically at the request of garden design students and its 'heads up' mode of operation takes into account many requests from students over more than four years. [You can learn more about GardenCAD by visiting its web site: http://www.gardencad.net].We will also introduce other landscape tools such as Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Visio and SketchUp, a 3-D design tool which can be used to present views of a proposed design which are sometimes easier for clients to interpret than straightforward 2-D plans.We will also provide courses in:- Plant knowledge,
- Basic photography with a special emphasis on photographing plants in the landscape,
- Using an image editor to adjust the photos you take and
- Collecting plant data and using an online database.
Tip: You can take these online distance courses at home or at any place where you have Internet access. Do not forget to take your iPod headphones with you when you visit a computer suite and use them while listening and watching our demonstration movies so that you do not disturb others.Remember that this site, http://www.landscapetutor.net, is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.This Diploma 1 course utilizes all the resources on this web site - [http://www.landscapetutor.net] and we often return to the home page to access other courses here. To help you understand the direction your learning will take, we have prepared a flow chart shown below.
Tip: In common with the other courses in the Diploma series, this course draws on more than one online course from this web site. You will need to leave and rejoin this course from time to time.Please start by completing the assignment below telling us a little about your expectations of the course and then take module 1 below - 'The present state of your computer knowledge'. Diploma 2 - produce Computer Assisted Drawings (B) [3-D Advanced] Part 2A
The object of this course (which is organised into a series of topics) is to give you an opportunity to build on the skills that you learned while taking the course 'Diploma 1 - Prepare Computer Assisted Drawings CAD 1' - which was the first in a three part series leading to the award of a Design CAD diploma in CAD drafting for landscape use. This present course is part two in a three part series.
Please note that as part of Diploma 2, you will be asked to 'jump out of' this course a number of times to take other online courses. Many of those courses will take considerable time. Just remember to come back here when you have finished.
Outcomes
On completion of this course (and the one which follows), you will be able to form an opinion as to whether or not you will use CAD software in your professional design work and if so, whether you will use it as a full or partial, replacement for traditional hand drawing techniques. We of course would hope that you do use Computer Aided Design software and that drawing with CAD becomes as second nature to you as drawing with a pencil.
In contrast to the earlier course ['Diploma 1 - Prepare Computer Assisted Drawings CAD 1'], where we provided an overview of CAD and other software tools as they are used in the landscape field, here (and in the Diploma 3 course which follows), we aim to make sure that you are able to confidently generate (and print) professional CAD drawings showing your design concepts. We will work in both 2-D and in part in 3-D format, but concentrate on showing how to present several views of a design on sheets of A1 size paper; just as you might do when presenting your ideas to a client if you were drawing by hand.
Major assignment
By the end of Diploma 3, you will be required to produce at least one fully professional CAD design. This will be submitted as a CAD file. However, you cannot jump straight into that; there is a considerable amount of preliminary work to do beforehand, just as there is when you prepare a proposal which is drafted by hand. This major project is to prepare a design for a client who owns a terrace house located in the southern hemisphere (in Melbourne, Australia). A design is required for the north facing rear of a two story terrace house. The site (rear garden) is 7 meters wide by 17.2 meters deep and conveniently has a slight slope to the back of the block.
After a site visit and discussions with the client, it was agreed that the following would be included in the design:
- A water feature,
- An adult entertaining area,
- Some type of garden sculpture,
- Treatment for the rather tired boundary fences,
- Lighting,
- Underground tank for water storage and the installation of an automatic sub-surface irrigation system incorporating some permaculture features,
- A design for some art work to hang on one of the boundary fences.
- An irrigation plan.
As you can see, this professional design is one that we specify rather tightly, but if you manage to work speedily through the materials here, we would encourage you to make subsequent submissions at least one of your own jobs. Your client can be you or a friend with a garden which needs a makeover.
To find out more about this professional CAD design project, please visit http://www.gardencad.net and select Case Studies>Terrace house. Here is the direct link: [http://gardencad.net/node/54]
Preliminaries
- Purchase a USB drive on which to store backup copies of the files needed for the project.
- Download, install and test a trial version of IntelliCAD. This software can be downloaded from www.siacad.com. An unlock code will be sent to you in a separate email.
- Download, install and test GardenCAD (from the www.gardencad.net web site).
This course
You first need to do some preparative work. You will do that by preparing some design ideas ready to apply to sheets in the professional CAD presentation. As far as the preparative and non CAD work, you need to:
Prepare a rough mud map (by hand) of your intended design for the terrace house site. This does not need to be to detailed, it is just the broad brush view of your intended design but there should be enough to enable you to complete point 2 below.
Prepare a 3-D hand sketch showing one view of your intended design. [This sketch needs to be scanned to digital form.]
Photograph some suitable plant species.
Photograph some garden art from a local sculpture or a water feature (or sketch a design for one).
Think about the design for a wall mounted piece of art work for one of the boundary fences.
Think about a design for a suitable logo for your landscape business.
Tip: The tasks above can be done before (or while) you start on your CAD training. We would encourage you to submit these pieces of work as you go.
The figure below shows the CAD layout for the design. It has beeen produced using GardenCAD. We have been able to print the design to a PDF file thus fulfilling our aim of complete digital delivery of our work.
The next step - complete the assignment below - 'Your aims'
Research and Experiment with Computer Techniques
The object of this series of classes is to give you an opportunity to build on the skills that you learned while completing the courses 'Prepare Computer Assisted Drawings CAD 1' and 'Produce Computer Assisted Drawings (B) - 3-D Advanced]'. In contrast to those earlier courses, where we aimed to give you the confidence to produce (mostly) 2-D plans to show to clients, here we aim to give you the opportunity of experimenting with a wide variety of software tools. We will give you some experince in including 3-D representations in your presentation to clients and designing and experience with different software presentation tools. We will cover:
- Using IntelliCAD and AutoCAD to extrude 2-D geometry to create 3-D geometry.
- Introducing methods for adding to and editing 3-D wire frame models. (3DCAD1)
- Solid modelling and rendering 3-D wire frame models.
- Using SketchUp to create designs entirely in a 3-D environment.
- Using Illustrator, Photoshop and Gimp to present complex design ideas drawn from a variety of CAD software tools.
We will use AutoCAD, MicroStation, Illustrator, IntelliCAD, Google SketchUp, VariCAD, Indigo, Podium,Gimp, Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel.
On completion of the course, you will have gained an appreciation of the various methods which can be used to convey design ideas to clients and be able to form an opinion as to those you wish to use. Further study modules on the tools discussed will be available on this site.