Re: Landscape design programs?

**"* T* <m*@hort.net>**

> From: Tom Ogren <tloallergyfree@earthlink.net>
> I'm wondering if anyone on this list has used any landscape design
computer
> programs that they especially like. Would appreciate any and all
> recommendations.
----------

I've been using Pro Landscape for the past year or so.  Tried
Earthscape and it was impossible - just really clunky and the results
were pretty awful IMO - sent the software back after many calls with
their tech people - on my dime -  and while they'd advertised a 30 or
60 day trial (forget which), they were pretty nasty about accepting
the return; also tried a 'try out' version of another, whose name
escapes me, and it was worse.  

Pro Landscape is less impossible but still not fantastic because of
what I can only assume is buggy software or basically poor
programming.  I can get the job done, but it takes way more time than
it should for the money.  Depends on what you're trying to accomplish
with the software.  None of it 'designs' for you...it's only a tool
for putting what you're thinking on paper.  

Pro Landscape consists of 3 parts; The first is an image editor
which, other than having access to the images in the database, I find
really clunky.  I can make a better image in Photoshop - it is
designed to enable you to take an image of the client's property and
add the plants you're proposing so they can see what it would look
like.  It's a great tool; clients love it but the images the program
generates are not as good as those I can make in Photoshop....the
only plus is the ability to add a fill, like paving or mulch, easier
than you can in Photoshop.  Its shadowing tools are primitive
compared to those in SketchUP (a 3-D program I highly recommend to
anyone wanting to do anything in 3-D- now owned by Google with a free
version for download).

The second part is a CAD program which is more useful than the Image
Editor, tho' it makes me so mad I could throw it out the
window...however, it will number all plants and generate a plant list
with key number, symbol, quantity, size and an image if you want it
and it does have options for rendering.  

If you are not familiar with CAD, you'll have a goodly learning curve
although they do try to make it easier in some respects than
architectural CAD programs...'try' is the operative word here.  IMO,
it is still pretty unintuitive despite their adding features that
supposedly draw walls, mulched areas, etc. for you.   It does, on a
simplistic level, which has not worked for me on my jobs.

>From my point of view, as someone who loathes drafting, it has the
advantage of allowing one to make changes much more quickly than
re-drafting by hand - once you get the plan drawn in the first place,
which like all CAD, takes longer than hand drafting it unless you're
a CAD whiz.  You can copy and paste; you can export the file as a
.dwg file or a .jpg.  You can import standard CAD files, site plans
from engineers, etc. to use as a base plan.  You can use fills and if
you work hard enough at it, end up with a semi-decent rendered plan -
not as good as a  good hand rendered one, but if you can't render,
it's a whole lot better than nothing:-)  You can print to scale (in
color) on any size paper you can manage or send the file off to a
printer for large format if you want to.

The third part is a proposal or report generator.  Since I don't
install or sell plants, the proposal is useless; the reports are
marginal because of buggy software and really limited formats, but if
they worked properly, they'd be a time saver instead of a timesink.  
 You can generate a 'report' containing the data on the plant, its
care and image and export it into Word or Excel to edit it - which is
what I have done - basically have to rewrite it, but it's a start as
the formatting is there....still more work to come up with something
you'd want to present to a client than it ought to be.  However,
clients really like the 'care and data' sheets on each plant you're
proposing, especially those who are new to gardening and don't know
plants.

All three are based on the same database which, for reasons I cannot
fathom, they decided to create based on plant common names.  This
simply blows my mind and I have told everyone I've talked to at
Drafix my views on it.  Imagine the interesting entries this
engenders; the duplication of  plants, etc....well...anyway, at least
all parts are based on the same software, unlike Earthscape, which
consisted of 3 entirely separate pieces of software they'd obviously
bought rights to and stitched together more or less.

All of them tout their wonderful plant databases.  Ha!  Earthscape's
is tied to Horticopia and only comes with part of that - you can get
the rest for considerably more money.  Horticopia's images are
better, for the most part, than Pro Landscape's but you still have to
cut out any you'd want to use that are not in their database (lots of
them) and all are not that great. Cutting out plant images is VERY
time-consuming.  I do it in Photoshop because I can work in greater
detail and faster than in the landscaping software; save the files as
.pngs to the appropriate Pro Landscape folder and then change the
file suffix to their proprietary formats.  Not the way they want it
to happen, but it's better than using their image editing tools:-)

 Pro Landscape's images are of highly varying quality and their
database contains only the most common plants.  I end up having to
cut out and add images for and data for just about every plant I want
to use.  Data is not always accurate when there is a plant I want in
the database, so I end up having to edit that.  You can, with time
and effort, create a database that eventually would be useful in most
situations, but it does not come with the software, believe me!  

Can't say great things about the program as I am currently steaming
over several issues I had to deal with getting a job out of here last
Friday, but, of what's out there on a 'professional' level, it's
about the best one.   Customer support has been pleasant to deal with
if not able to solve the issues.  They've got a new version just out;
might be an improvement; I am not, at this point, willing to sink yet
more money into it to find out.

Probably more than you wanted to know:-)

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
Shadyside Garden Designs

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