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Great info Glenn… Many thanks!
When working within a team/consultants environment… how do you manage site plan/building footprint revisions… can you xref dwg. like in Autocad?

Michael —
Get some hard sciences under your belt if you wander into LARCH — your designs will actually be viable versus strictly conceptual. It’s a tough career, you have to have a passion for it.
 

I’ve had a few 42″ 800ps working simultaneously an we worked them HARD. (affectionately referred to as “spock’s coffins) and more recently I used a Z6200 which has better photo quality. Both were pretty much bullet proof machines. Though with the 800’s, we often did direct prints rather than using the print server. For some reason, the onboard…[Read more]

Thanks, Andrew and Dave! Others suggested the HP design jet 800, too, Dave. I think it’s a popular one among architectural firms. We ended up purchasing the HP T790 44″. We are anxious to plot, so we went with the most cost-effective one that could be delivered ASAP. This one plots color–good for both CAD drawings and GIS color maps. The HP T790…[Read more]

99% of what we do is for residential pools and we use Pool Studio.  They have a landscape program called Viz Terra that is similar, but I don’t have any real experience with it.  Pool Studio is flat out the best way we’ve found to communicate our ideas to the clients (and that equates to more sold projects).  Being able to see in 3D what they ar…[Read more]

we use an HP designjet 800ps 42″.  got it refurbished from a place online called Minnesota Computers several years ago.  can’t remember the cost but I think around 1K give or take a couple hundred.  Great service from them, enough to buy from them again when the need arises.  Ink use is great.  Doesn’t scan, but we don’t have a huge need for over…[Read more]

Hi Cara,
Great question!  I have used the KIP 3100 in the past and have liked how it performed for the most part.  It is a scanner/plotter combo with slim dimensions that work well in a small space because you can stand it up against a wall.  The only two problems that I encountered were the scan quality and the paper feed.  
The scan quality is n…[Read more]

The hard thing is that the drafter is extremely limited without the input of the person in charge.
 
It is oftened assumed that you can grab a trained person or one with several years of experience, throw him or her into a chair and they will produce the plans in the absence of the principal. That can work for existing conditions plans and cookie…[Read more]

sorry yes I meant ‘why it has not’ or ‘when it would..’ Congrats.

Thanks a lot nca777.Why? You meant when, ha ha?

I think if you are working late and the amount of extra hours that you are working above 40 hours adds up to at least a part time job, then why not hire somebody?

I remember going to a presentation at one of the ASLA Expos where the presenter noted that when principals spend time doing labor that can best be delegated for hourly paid workers, the…[Read more]

not even Berberis would do the job, but a good club from an Oak tree might do the job.

FYI– I did own a cintiq 12wx and hated it for myriad reasons, one of which was the lag between pen and screen when doing things like hatching, the small amount of offset between pen and graphic due to glass thickness, the dull colors on the cintiq vs screen and just the small screen size/resolution. Also it was a pain because I often switch…[Read more]

Hi Laurent ,  
We have been using Vectorworks for 7 years .  Currently have Vectorworks Designer 2011 which includes Landmark /Architect /Machinery/ Theatre and Renderworks .   Our company cuts across 3 areas as we do Product Design, Landscape Design and we also need to work on incoming  Architectural Files , so Vectorworks is a good solution for…[Read more]

The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun  is a shrub

Oh very nice.

The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun  is a shrub.

Nick,
First off congrats on all the work. I am sure it feels good and I know you work hard for it.

Beyond that maybe you should higher someone that can do everything but what is reserved for your hands only.

Meaning what about an assistant that handles all the day to day of the business and frees up your time to just work?

I used it for years and was pleased. But increasingly ran into compatibility issues when collaborating with architects and engineers who were using AutoCAD

Nick – we’re at exactly the same point as you (and sounds like several of us who were forced to start our own shops because of the economy are). We are both working full time and often into nights and weekends, just starting to get ahead, thinking we could sure use some help – and WANT to help new landscape architects enter the profession, but its…[Read more]

BricsCAD?
http://www.bricsys.com

I recall my classmates using it in school in lieu of AutoCAD (basic version is $450); drawings looked great and it looked easier to use than the Vectorworks/AutoCAD.  I hear it has moderate popularity among smaller building architecture outfits.