Here is a link to a series of tutorial movies that illustrate the use of SketchUp to produce landscape models. There are tons of videos and online resources that you can use to learn and help yourself! It just takes time and practice to master the program but the models created can give a client a very good idea of what the design will look like when implemented. We suggest that you get the free version, or use a free trial and play around with it. The figure below created with the free version of SketchUp shows one of our designs It begins with a 30-day trial of SketchUp Pro. The non-expiring license costs $695, but there is a free version you can try. SketchUp Pro is the desktop version of the tool it’s more powerful, customizable, and shareable. Unfortunately, it is no longer available however SketchUp is now available as a free, web-based 3D modeling tool to help visualize your landscape design ideas. The desktop standalone free version was called SketchUp Make and was used by many designers to build 3D landscape models. There are commercial and free versions of SketchUp. SketchUp is a 3d CAD modeling software published by a company called Trimble. If you are a landscape design student at a recognized college, write to us and request an activation code for a free copy of GardenCAD. Read more about GardenCAD here.Ĭlick here to download a free booklet about using CAD for landscape design.ĭesign Cad is a group of software developers who have created a range of tools for professional landscape designers. Many professionally drawn symbols are included.ĭownload GardenCAD from this page, install, and test it out. The figure below shows a garden design plan created using GardenCAD. GardenCAD (aka Garden CAD) is a powerful, easy-to-use, entry-level landscape design software tool for landscapers. Those marked with a * have been more comprehensively tested and are recommended. Here we provide some information and feedback about those we have been able to find and briefly evaluate. You’re now ready to go back to the scale diagram and incorporate these final measurements, thus transforming the scale diagram into the final landscape design plan.From time to time, we field inquiries from designers who have a limited budget want access to free landscape design software applications. When you’ve finished, take the final measurements for these spaces. When you change your mind on any of the spaces, adjust the stakes and string accordingly. Does your layout of the spaces still make sense? Have you used the spaces as effectively as possible? Do you find one of the paths meandering too much, when it should instead be making a beeline from point A to point B? Now walk in between these spaces, noting the flow of traffic patterns. Repeat the process for the other “bubble” spaces. Pound stakes into the ground around one of the spaces you’ve tentatively defined in the bubble diagram. Here’s where stakes and string may come in handy. No problem: Just get another piece of tracing paper and revise your initial drawing.īefore settling on a final bubble diagram, concretize the project in any way you can, to see what will work and what won’t. You’ll find yourself rejecting some of the bubbles as you go along, for whatever reason (e.g., insufficient space, conflict with utility lines). The result is an accurate measurement, in scale, of the curved planting bed.ĭon’t expect to complete the finalized version of the bubble diagram immediately. When you’re done, you record all the points you just measured on the graph paper, maintaining the same scale. Repeat the process to measure the far side of the bed. Repeat every 3 feet, until you reach the other end of the bed, jotting down all your measurements. Beginning at one end of the bed, on the side nearest the string, run the tape measure from the string to the outer edge of the bed.Now you have a straight line to use as a point of reference, and it’s located just off the near edge of the curved planting bed. Measure out 99 feet from one corner of the house on that side, and drive a stake into the ground at that point then do the same from the other corner.If the planting bed is located at a great distance-say, about 100 feet-from the house, you can make your task easier as follows: For instance, use the side of the house facing the curved planting bed as a point of reference. Again, build on the calculations you’ve already made in this project. To measure a curved area, you need a straight line as a point of reference. Perhaps you have a curved garden around one part of your home. The Spruce Home Improvement Review Board.
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