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GardenCAD is a
tool for rapidly produce CAD garden plans with a
professional look.
It has
been designed to work
in an intuitive way, mimicking the manner in which landscapers and garden designers
often work on paper
plans.
The software
produces true, accurate Computer Aided Design (CAD) plans which
accurately reflect what will be built when your design is implemented.
 In
developing this software, we have taken account of lots of feedback from garden design students.
You will see some of their work in the modules which follow.
GardenCAD
has its own web site [http://www.gardencad.net] where you can get additional help and leave
comments about your use of the software. We welcome
any feedback that you may care to give us as you use the software because the development of
GardenCAD is driven by the users.
Due to its innovative design,
GardenCAD is easy to learn and operate. It helps you rapidly produce
plans
with much of the
look and feel of hand drawn examples. Because you are working
with true CAD models in the same way as other land management
professionals,
GardenCAD helps you adopt a more professional approach
to your work.
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A typical garden design plan produced using
GardenCAD. The image
retains some of the look and feel of hand drawn designs and was
produced in a very short space of time. The drawing is partly finished - we have
not yet added added text identifying individual plants although
because the in-built symbols are distinctive, many users simply
construct a plant legend, dispensing with a lot of text. |
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Click
here to play a
small movie which
shows GardenCAD in action. It is by no means
an exhaustive demonstration of the capability of the software and does
not show all of its features; we will show
you other aspects of GardenCAD later.
To play a movie, click on the word 'here' above (with the blue
underline). Note that after you click on the word 'here', a
new panel will appear (in Windows media Player) and a movie will load and subsequently
play within it. You do not have to do anything while
the movie plays; just watch the screen. You can click on the
play button when approx 25% of the movie has loaded. Controls are shown at
the bottom of the page. When you have watched the movie, click
the close button (or the red cross at the top right of the screen).
You will automatically be returned to this point in the notes.
Here
is a link to a YouTube version of the same movie. |
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Click
here to play a
small movie which
shows a later version of GardenCAD in action.
We look at a design for the rear space behind a house 13 meters by 10
meters in size. |
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Here is another movie
in a similar vein. We look at another design for the same space. You
might well do that; provide a couple of different designs for
the client to consider. Once the base plan has been drawn, it
can be used again to quickly provide another variation. |
The figure below shows another GardenCAD design; this time
for a more formal
courtyard associated with a so-called courtyard home. Unlike the very
first design above (the art deco design), which shows the print preview view, the figure below
and the one immediately above shows the actual GardenCAD drawing environment, with
various toolbars and other controlling devices showing.
In the
figure, we have not shown the
cross hair pointer which we use to place objects.
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The GardenCAD
drawing environment. |
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Click
here to play a
movie which
shows GardenCAD being used to apply
some colour to a water feature in the design shown in the figure above.
Here we have set the pointer to be a cross hair; this is one of the many
options in GardenCAD.
Here is a
link to a YouTube version of the same movie. |
Here is another (more complex)
GardenCAD design by Airedale landscapes, a GardenCAD user. Note the use
of photographs to indicate the type of species specified in the design.
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A more complex
GardenCAD design. |
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GardenCAD can accept images from other CAD
software such as SketchUp. Here we have created some 2-D
views from SketchUp and imported these into the GardenCAD
environment. |
We believe that GardenCAD offers some considerable advantages over other
garden design tools. We have listed some of these below.
A picture is worth a thousand words! GardenCAD enables
images from your photo library to be included in your design. This
saves much time and helps more effectively convey your design ideas to
others.
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Here photos from our image library are being
used to 'dress up' a design. Using the Insert>Image tool, we provide details of a water
feature (a fountain made from stainless steel), some planting and constructional
information. |
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Here an image taken from a 3-D rendering
program (SketchUp) which shows a proposed design for some
art work is incorporated into a GardenCAD plan.
Note that the plan can overlay the image - an ability which
opens up lots of graphic design possibilities. |
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Click
here to play a
movie which
shows GardenCAD being used to
attach an image to a plan. We attach an image of a more elaborate water
feature to the design for the courtyard home discussed
earlier.
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Here is a link to a YouTube version of the same
movie. |
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Here we use GardenCAD to create a
'storyboard' for a proposed design and incorporate a hand
drawn sketch. |
You can use GardenCAD to lay out designs for large sites
as well as conventional gardens. The example shown below comes from our
'public space' case study which will be covered in one of the course
modules.
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Click
here to play a
movie which
shows GardenCAD being used in
designing a layout for a site 200 by 80 meters - a large public space.
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Here is a link to a YouTube version of the same
movie. |
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GardenCAD
design for a large site. |
We supply a set of planting
symbols. There are more than 100 symbols, but of course you can
create additional symbols of your own. Those supplied in
GardenCAD will help
you initially 'hit the ground running'.
Note that we have published a
standard for making symbols on GardenCAD's web site. You are not required to follow that
standard, but if you do, you will be able to 'ring the changes' in
your design simply by using your new symbols and turning layers on or off.
The majority of GardenCAD plant symbols are drawn inside a 1000
unit (1
meter diameter) circle and each can be re-sized once they have been placed into
a drawing.
Visit
http://www.gardencad.net to check out the standard for creating
symbols.
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Click
here to play a
movie which
shows GardenCAD being used to
develop a planting symbol for a New Zealand flax - Phormium tenax.
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Here is a link to a YouTube version of this movie. |
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One of the symbols
from the plant library - we use it to represent not only a New Zealand flax
plant in our design work, but other similar plants such as
Libertias? |
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One
page of plant
symbols from the GardenCAD (block) library. |
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Using the
symbol (block) library. You select the symbol and drag it
into the drawing where it can be rotated, copied, moved, scaled
etc. |
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Click
here to play another movie which shows how to use the block library
(Plant Selector) to place
GardenCAD symbols. We activate the Tracking Tool and place
some edging plants in a line along a boundary. |
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In GardenCAD Pro, we have added a number of
extra symbols for
details such as how to plant a specimen, north
indicators, seating, wheelchairs, etc. |
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Placing the block (symbol) of the
wheelchair into a design. This helps create a sense of
scale. |
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Click
here to play another movie which shows how to use the
'hard elements' block library in GardenCAD. the paved area
is 3 meters square.
Here
is a link to a YouTube version of the same movie. |
As mentioned, you can create your
own plant symbols, create your own text styles and because GardenCAD allows such fine control over raster
(pixel based) images (and allows you to control the stacking order of
layers), it is possible to add your own individual style to your designs.
In the figure below, we have picked up a detail for the proposed water
feature and placed it on a watermark layer at the back of the design.
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Click
here to play a
movie which
shows GardenCAD being used to
attach a background image to a plan. |
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Combining images with design work in
GardenCAD. Click
here
to view a PDF print of this design. [The file is 11 Mb in size
so takes time to download. the resolution is super.] |
You can use GardenCAD to produce quite small detailed designs.
the figure below shows a complex paving design for an area 4 meters by 3
meters.
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Design for a tiled
paving area. the white lines a set out guides and not part of
the design. |
In many different disciplines, the advent of computers
has radically changed the way professionals work; this includes the
field of landscape development and garden design. Most construction managers and (increasingly)
clients, now expect that drawings describing design work will be created
using some type of CAD software. They also assume that the work
will be delivered in both printed and electronic format. In most
design professions, work on
paper drawings alone is no longer acceptable.
While we would accept that this reliance on CAD software
is not yet the case where all garden design and landscape use is concerned, you are
increasingly likely
to receive commissions from more sophisticated clients. These clients
might well have used other professionals such as engineers, planners and
architects to design for them. There may well be an expectation that you
should prepare garden plans based on base maps constructed using CAD
software. If you cannot use CAD, you may well find that these
commissions are denied to you if you cannot work with other
professionals in the digital world. GardenCAD
lets you work with others!
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Click
here to play a
movie which
shows GardenCAD being used to work
on a set of architectural plan.
Here is a YouTube version of the same movie. |
One of the more difficult things to
manage in garden design is your plant list. The symbols in
GardenCAD
enable you to store non graphic information such as species name and
common name with the symbol.
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Click
here to play a
movie which
shows how GardenCAD can be used to
store non-graphic information behind symbols used in your design.
Here is a link to a YouTube movie showing the
same information. |
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Much text information can be stored with
symbols. That information can be extracted. |
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Click
here to play a
movie which
shows GardenCAD being used for
other design work. You could (and should) use it to create a CAD version
of your logo.
Here is a link to a YouTube version of the same
movie. |
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An example of a
logo used in a GardenCAD drawing. |
The figure below shows
one example of the type of plan you can produce with
GardenCAD. This is a
relatively simple design, but the complexity of your designs is limited only
by your imagination.
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A simple design
for a courtyard generated using GardenCAD.
If you would like to see the plan as it may appear in the
hands of a client, click on the
image itself. The design will open in Adobe's Acrobat reader
- a free software tool commonly found installed on computers
in common use. We hope that this
showcases the capability of GardenCAD. Note that we have not yet
added text, nor a logo to the design. |
A GardenCAD design can
be printed to any size sheet and retain high resolution. Pixilation does
not occur as you increase the size of the print.
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Printing the design
from GardenCAD to PDF (Acrobat Reader) format. |
During this course, we will take you on a journey showing many
ways in which GardenCAD might be used. We install
the program, explain how the program works, examine the drawing
interface, the draw and edit commands, set up several sites ranging from
an outdoor class room to a rear garden for a courtyard home and a large
design for some public open space. We add some construction details, some planting
and finally print the design.
The series of modules which we will
work through is listed below.
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Module Title |
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Introduction (this module) |
About GardenCAD. Some simple designs showing
the accurate placement of lines using the software. Using plant symbols from the
GardenCAD library. Placing raster images
(digital photos) into GardenCAD designs
to help convey design ideas. Re-arranging
the layer stacking order to improve design layout.
Previewing and printing designs on different size presentation sheets. |
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Sample Designs |
Showcasing some sample
plans - GardenCAD designs produced by
some early users of
the program and incorporated into the program so that you can practice
on real jobs before building your own. |
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Tutorial |
Learn GardenCAD by example. We create a
complete garden design from scratch. It is a real job - we lay out a
design for the back garden of a house in Canberra, Australian Capital
Territory. |
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The GardenCAD interface |
Examining the way in
which GardenCAD works. The drawing
editor, drop down menus, the coordinate system used by GardenCAD. Drawing lines of defined
length using Cartesian coordinates. Using Polar coordinates. |
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Using drafting aids |
Setting and using a user
defined grid, applying polar tracking and adjusting entity snap
settings in GardenCAD drawings. |
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The draw commands |
A quick look at many of
GardenCAD's draw
commands. Using polar tracking. The LINE, ARC, CIRCLE, POLYLINE, POINT,
ELLIPSE, POLYGON, MULTI LINES, TEXT, RECTANGLE, HATCH, insert BLOCK,
insert RASTER. |
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Editing commands |
Editing in
GardenCAD -
using the Move, Copy, Explode, Mirror commands. |
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Using plant symbols |
Planting symbols have a
major influence over the
look and a feel to your designs. Here we examine the in-built plant symbols
available in
GardenCAD. In a later module, we show how to
create symbols of your own. Each symbol has been carefully built using
layers. We show how from one drawing, several different drawings can be generated,
simply by turning layers on or off. |
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Using layers |
From one drawing (model)
many drawings can be generated, one for the client, one for the
construction team, one for council submission etc. |
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Printing GardenCAD drawings |
An overview of printing
a GardenCAD design. Simple printing from model space,
choosing a suitable drawing sheet, installing a PDF writer, printing to
fit. Preparing pages for printing from paper space. Creating several
paper space pages. Preparing a page for printing at a defined scale e.g.
a 1-1000 plot on an Iso A1 sheet. |
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Case Study 1 |
Using
GardenCAD to
create a design for a courtyard home. |
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Case Study 2 |
Using
GardenCAD to
create a design for a school teaching garden. |
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Case Study 3 |
Using
GardenCAD to
create a design a public space. |
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Case Study 4 |
Using
GardenCAD to
create a design for some intricate paving. |
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Gallery of student
drawings |
Survey some drawings
created using GardenCAD. |
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Printing GardenCAD
drawings |
Installing a PDF writer,
printing a drawing to a plotter,
printing a drawing (GardenCAD file) to a PDF
writer, , Taking a PDF file to a copy centre. |
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Download Sample
Files |
Download
GardenCAD sample files. |
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Installing GardenCAD |
How to download and install GardenCAD. Configuring GardenCAD in your computer. |
Please review your knowledge of the material in this
module before progressing to the next stage.
Click the back button on your browser
to return to the menu of modules.
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