![]() Then I picked up a ruler, my sons coloured Derwent pencils, an eraser, a compass, and got down to business. I then photocopied this a number of times to act as the "base plan" that I could build upon. I traced the house plan onto a piece of paper just showing the house walls, doors, windows, as well as the borders surrounding the block and any existing landscape I was going to retain. What did I do? I went back to "old school". Finally in my opinion, if you are just doing this for your own backyard there are easier ways. Keep your money in your pocket.It's worth investing the time to learn the product and "wow" your customers. If you're intending on running a landscape design business this will be "a cracker" for you, a formidable tool in your tool belt to help realise a customer's vision.If you're 100% "geek", then dive right in and learn it inside and out.The interior modelling is a lot easier than the exterior landscaping, probably because you are dealing with right angles and furniture rather than hills, grass and plants!. ![]() Although a 2D plan is pretty straightforward, 3D modelling is a challenge getting all the objects lined up ![]() This is tricky stuff using custom interfaces where things aren't that intuitive and are buried under levels of sub-menus. I personally found it quite difficult, and as I said I have been working in IT for a long time and would consider myself an "expert" user when it comes to PC's and software. "Easy to use" is easy to say, and it doesn't always translate that way. and exploring the app and its capabilities. I mucked about for a number of weeks drawing up the block, the house, placing them together etc. Then commenced the great self education process of learning the package. Luckily for me my house plans came with contour lines already marked on the block so it was a case of transposing those into the software. I have read various posts from people who have run around with a string and a level to figure it out. If you have never had your block surveyed that in itself is going to be a challenge. Now if you're going to use the product properly (or any of these products) the first step is going to be figuring out your block and the gradient or slope, so contour lines can be put in to give you a 3D representation of what you are dealing with. The Home and Landscape Design by Punch was more focussed on landscaping, but like HDS it also has tools for home and interior.Īfter the trials, I ended up purchasing the Punch software as I felt they were better suited to landscaping, and they had a special on at the time where if you purchased Home and Landscape Design off the shelf at the time, it came bundled with the Deck and Patio Designer and HDS was comparatively pretty expensive. The Home Designer Suite I found really was focussed around the house and designing or styling the house and interior, and just happens to also have landscaping tools for deck building and terrain. They all do pretty much the same thing, allowing you to specify the block, terraform it, design and place the house, then add things around like paving, decking, plants etc. ![]() I tried out a couple of different offerings and online tools, as most have free trial downloads available, before specifically narrowing it down to two Home and Landscape Design by Punch Software, and Home Designer Suite from Chief Architect, which were then the highest rated. Landscape software is supposed to allow you to map out your backyard and / or house and plant virtual plants, build virtual walls, decks, pools and paths, and see what it will all look like as the seasons and years roll by, without having to touch a shovel! Sounds like a great concept! Doing the same today comes up with pretty much the same list as was available then, so the market obviously hasn't changed that much, but there are a number of new ones available now such as Realtime Landscaping Plus which I have never tried. Back then I went through extensive research into what was available (also known as Googling 'landscape design software') and came up with a short-list of products to try. Having spent all of my years working in IT (and the back garden!) I jumped at the chance to be a geek and have the ability to draw and design the yard on the computer! The results shown by the software companies are certainly spectacular.Īdmittedly it's been a while since I did the initial design and it's also been a while since I looked at landscape software, so my opinions are based on what was available a number of years back now. I thought I'd take the time to talk about the large and ever increasing area of landscaping design software that you can utilise for home gardening. ![]()
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