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#1
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Landscape Design Software
I'm sure this topic has come up more than once and I apologize for any
duplication. I am looking to purchase lanscape design software for home use. I have done quite a bit of searching on the web and have found varying opinions. I thought this would be the forum to get the best opinions.Any recommendations? If so, could you please include the pros and cons to the product you are recommending. BTW I am running Windows XP. Many thanks, Eve |
#2
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Landscape Design Software
Barry and Evelyn Bruneau wrote:
: I'm sure this topic has come up more than once and I apologize for any : duplication. : I am looking to purchase lanscape design software for home use. I have done : quite a bit of searching on the web and have found varying opinions. I : thought this would be the forum to get the best opinions.Any : recommendations? If so, could you please include the pros and cons to the : product you are recommending. : BTW I am running Windows XP. I have worked with most consumer market programs out there over the years and unfortunately have yet to find one that is genuinely useful and doesn't crash regularly. The ones with 3D modes are particularly fickle and you risk a crash or data loss every time you run it in 3D mode (this based on my experience on a 1.8GHz Dell 8250 running Windows 2000 Pro). Sierra LandDesigner 3D is probably the most commonly available. But it has become increasingly bloated and unstable after years of 'upgrades'. Sierra acquired the original program from small company way back when LandDesigner was a nice, clean CAD-based program with a good plant database. To be fair, I gave up around version 5 and the latest is 7.0 or so. Some others: Burpee 3D Garden Designer and Encyclopedia and Broderbund 3D Home Architect. Frankly, I didn't consider either one a 'keeper'. The latter was particularly annoying with a user interface from hell. Flowerscape is a bit different, no 3D, but it uses actual photos of plants. Although it only offers a fairly limited plant library, it's fun and easy enough even for little kids to use. I'm sure I've forgotten some :? If you have ones that you were looking at, let me know and I'll dredge up the information from the grayware. You can find most of these program for cheap -- $10-$20 if you do some digging online -- so it may be worth checking them out and see if they work for you. Good starting point for product searches is: http://froogle.google.com/ For most people, I usually recommend the old technology. Spend some money on a good plant book, graph paper, colored pencils, and maybe some acetate for overlays. With most of these programs (except Flowerscape) you may find yourself spending frustrating hours puzzling out the mechanics of the program when you could be having fun looking up plants and sketching your plans. Cheers! -- Karen The Garden Gate http://garden-gate.prairienet.org ================================================== ================= "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." ^and cats -- Cicero ================================================== ================= On the Web since 1994 Forbes Best of Web 2002 |
#3
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Landscape Design Software
I gave up on software a few years ago having tried several (Sierra,
Broderbund and one other that I can't remember off hand). My old version of Sierra (93?) was the best, it was very basic but didn't crash all the time. Paper and colored pencils work the best IMO. -- Kristen Zone 6, SE NY "Barry and Evelyn Bruneau" wrote in message ... I'm sure this topic has come up more than once and I apologize for any duplication. I am looking to purchase lanscape design software for home use. I have done quite a bit of searching on the web and have found varying opinions. I thought this would be the forum to get the best opinions.Any recommendations? If so, could you please include the pros and cons to the product you are recommending. BTW I am running Windows XP. Many thanks, Eve |
#4
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Landscape Design Software
The aggies say to use topos, garden designs, sketches, photos and
observation. For those who have CAD, great. Consensus is there isn't any that really work well. Barry and Evelyn Bruneau wrote: = I'm sure this topic has come up more than once and I apologize for any duplication. = I am looking to purchase lanscape design software for home use. I have= done quite a bit of searching on the web and have found varying opinions. I thought this would be the forum to get the best opinions.Any recommendations? If so, could you please include the pros and cons to= the product you are recommending. = BTW I am running Windows XP. = Many thanks, Eve -- = J. Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP =F4=BF=F4 - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - commercial =F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html |
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