Garden Design

[Alan]

I am moving to a new build property - can anyone recommend a garden Design
programme for the PC. The reviews i've seen so far are not good for any of
them!

Alan

[J Kolenovsky]

Must be true. I go to a Southern Garden landscape design school at Texas
A & M twice to keep my designers certificate current and they never talk
or say much about this subject even when quized at length. And the ones
that do use one, use expensive ones with other methodology thrown in to
boot. As one said one time, "To answer your question, there are none".

J. Kolenovsky
http://www.celestialhabitats.com

Alan wrote:
> =

> I am moving to a new build property - can anyone recommend a garden Des=
ign
> programme for the PC. The reviews i've seen so far are not good for any=
of
> them!
> =

> Alan

-- =

J. Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - business
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal

[Bill Oliver]

In article >,
J Kolenovsky > wrote:
>Must be true. I go to a Southern Garden landscape design school at Texas
>A & M twice to keep my designers certificate current and they never talk
>or say much about this subject even when quized at length. And the ones
>that do use one, use expensive ones with other methodology thrown in to
>boot. As one said one time, "To answer your question, there are none".
>

But, you know, there are lots of tools that will serve specific
functions. There are a bunch of generic CAD/Layout tools that
can be used to draw and play with placement, such as Visio,
Corel, etc. They won't give you a 3D view, but they can be
fun for doing what-ifs at the icon level.

In addition, there are a number of 3D packages that are generic which
can be used to generate 3D scenes -- for instance Maya, SoftImage,
etc. They are generic, and provide much greater functionality than
is usually needed, but they can do a great job.

I have not used Maya to plan a garden, but I did use it to recreate
a forest and wetland for a forensic animation. I generated a 3D topography
by downloading DEM files from USGS for the area, texture-mapped colorized
satellite imagery onto the 3D surface, and then populated the forest
with 3D trees, created hardscape, running water, etc. The result
compared very favorably with scene photographs, and allowed realistic
animation of clouds, fog, waving of grass and trees in the wind, etc.
The same could be done for landscape planning. While Maya and similar
products are not cheap, many, if not most people can manage significant
discounts through educational institutions, etc.


billo

[Frogleg]

On 8 Oct 2003 03:12:08 GMT, (Bill Oliver) wrote:

>I have not used Maya to plan a garden, but I did use it to recreate
>a forest and wetland for a forensic animation. I generated a 3D topography
>by downloading DEM files from USGS for the area, texture-mapped colorized
>satellite imagery onto the 3D surface, and then populated the forest
>with 3D trees, created hardscape, running water, etc. The result
>compared very favorably with scene photographs, and allowed realistic
>animation of clouds, fog, waving of grass and trees in the wind, etc.
>The same could be done for landscape planning. While Maya and similar
>products are not cheap, many, if not most people can manage significant
>discounts through educational institutions, etc.

Are your creations (or stills of same) posted on web anywhere? I'd
sure like to see something like that.

[Neil]

Call a designer, ask for a consultation and use pencils. This method adds
to your pleasure greatly and allows you to think more clearly;early than
having to navigate a poorly designed piece of software. Incidentally, some
designers will produce a plan from the same info you need to input for the
software for a lower price (me for instance). So call up some local guys
and get going.
Neil


"Alan" > wrote in message
...
> I am moving to a new build property - can anyone recommend a garden Design
> programme for the PC. The reviews i've seen so far are not good for any of
> them!
>
> Alan
>
>

[J Kolenovsky]

Bill, you're pretty slick with all the gear. Very impressive.
"downloading DEM files from USGS for the area, texture-mapped colorized =

satellite imagery onto the 3D surface, and then populated the forest =

with 3D trees, created hardscape, running water, etc." =

Most people who ask the question about landscape software are looking
for a prima donna application and won't get that involved nor seek
educational discounts. If it's not on the shelf at Comp-USA,
Micro-Center and the likes, they won't go for it.

The CAD apps are cool but again, I don't think most would spring for
that to do a design.
(I liked Neil's response - get a designer)

So, Alan, did you get anything out of this? Is this the kind of
information you were looking for?
Enlightened by this?

J. Kolenovsky

Bill Oliver wrote:
> =

> In article >,
> J Kolenovsky > wrote:
> >Must be true. I go to a Southern Garden landscape design school at Tex=
as
> >A & M twice to keep my designers certificate current and they never ta=
lk
> >or say much about this subject even when quized at length. And the one=
s
> >that do use one, use expensive ones with other methodology thrown in t=
o
> >boot. As one said one time, "To answer your question, there are none".=

> >
> =

> But, you know, there are lots of tools that will serve specific
> functions. There are a bunch of generic CAD/Layout tools that
> can be used to draw and play with placement, such as Visio,
> Corel, etc. They won't give you a 3D view, but they can be
> fun for doing what-ifs at the icon level.
> =

> In addition, there are a number of 3D packages that are generic which
> can be used to generate 3D scenes -- for instance Maya, SoftImage,
> etc. They are generic, and provide much greater functionality than
> is usually needed, but they can do a great job.
> =

> I have not used Maya to plan a garden, but I did use it to recreate
> a forest and wetland for a forensic animation. I generated a 3D topogr=
aphy
> by downloading DEM files from USGS for the area, texture-mapped coloriz=
ed
> satellite imagery onto the 3D surface, and then populated the forest
> with 3D trees, created hardscape, running water, etc. The result
> compared very favorably with scene photographs, and allowed realistic
> animation of clouds, fog, waving of grass and trees in the wind, etc.
> The same could be done for landscape planning. While Maya and similar
> products are not cheap, many, if not most people can manage significant=

> discounts through educational institutions, etc.
> =

> billo

-- =

J. Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - business
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal

[Bill Oliver]

In article >,
Frogleg > wrote:
>
>Are your creations (or stills of same) posted on web anywhere? I'd
>sure like to see something like that.

No, they are for forensic cases and used in court or investigation.

billo

[Bill Oliver]

In article >,
J Kolenovsky > wrote:
>Bill, you're pretty slick with all the gear. Very impressive.
>"downloading DEM files from USGS for the area, texture-mapped colorized
>satellite imagery onto the 3D surface, and then populated the forest
>with 3D trees, created hardscape, running water, etc."
>Most people who ask the question about landscape software are looking
>for a prima donna application and won't get that involved nor seek
>educational discounts. If it's not on the shelf at Comp-USA,
>Micro-Center and the likes, they won't go for it.


It may sound "slick" but it really isn't all that hard. And
that's an important point. DEM files are free. The satellite
imagery is free (one source is www.terraserver.microsoft.com).
Maya is expensive, but there are free alternatives such as
Blender (see www.blender.org) which may suffice for a specific
task. I just happen to like Maya a lot, personally, and I
have a copy where I work.

Sure, there is some overhead in learning how to do this stuff,
but there are learning curves for everything. The point is
that it *can* be done, and if one is willing to devote a little
effort, it can be done cheaply.

There are tutorials for Blender all over, and one of the UK
Linux mags runs a regular tutorial column. For each step in
doing this, one can Google up a bunch of tutorials.


>
>The CAD apps are cool but again, I don't think most would spring for
>that to do a design.
>(I liked Neil's response - get a designer)

There are some CAD apps out there which, for this kind of
stuff, are cheap or free. For instance QCad is open source
and runs on Linux, Windoze, and Mac OS X.

Take a look at www.ribbonsoft.com

(Note, I haven't used QCad myself, but I have some friends
who like it.)

[J Kolenovsky]

Thanks for the reply. I don't think people are going to do even "easy
stuff" that just to get a design. A litle effort is probably too much.
You have an edge on the average John Doe and I don't think they'd buy
the apps. "I just happen to like Maya a lot, personally, and I
have a copy where I work." No one said it couln't be done, just probably
wouldn't, ia all likelihood.

Peace and love to you and keep enjoying your profession using Maya.
We'll go back to pencils and paper por get a designer.

JK
-- =

J. Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - business
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal

[Alan]

Thanks for all your inputs - I'll start off with pencil and paper I think -
and maybe just try the results on a cheap designer package - I have about 5
months and dont have the exact dimensions of the plot yet. Again thanks

Alan
"J Kolenovsky" > wrote in message
...
Must be true. I go to a Southern Garden landscape design school at Texas
A & M twice to keep my designers certificate current and they never talk
or say much about this subject even when quized at length. And the ones
that do use one, use expensive ones with other methodology thrown in to
boot. As one said one time, "To answer your question, there are none".

J. Kolenovsky
http://www.celestialhabitats.com

Alan wrote:
>
> I am moving to a new build property - can anyone recommend a garden Design
> programme for the PC. The reviews i've seen so far are not good for any of
> them!
>
> Alan

--
J. Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP
ô¿ô - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - business
ô¿ô - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal