Activity

I would agree that more design ideas (doesn’t matter what discipline) started out on the back of a bar napkin than most people realize.

🙂

s.

From my perspective, if you’re spending your time perfecting a 3D tree, you are not “DESIGNING“. My concept of landscape architecture is based in understanding and designing spacial experiences. I don’t think there is anything on the LARE about 3D trees… if you’re geeking-out on 3D trees that’s cool but I don’t feel that it will enhance your…[Read more]

“Some people really enjoy making the perfect 3d tree. I might argue that those people are probably not landscape architects, that they are probably digital illustrators. If you want to spend days making a tree that’s fine. You should work for Pixar or some other digital imagery studio but I don’t know of any LA firms that are willing to pay people…[Read more]

Hi David,

I think you hit the nail on the head. All is well right up in pencil land right up until you are faced with several significant changes one right after the other. Then you will will be reaching for the digital aspirin bottle. The fact is more and more projects are becoming a collaborative effort. If your surveyor is submitting a digital…[Read more]

AGREED! 1 million %

Even Luxembourg is doing better than the US?!

Need a new Junior Designer…? 🙂 I can be there by Monday

Don’t get me wrong, I love CAD. It’s an essential tool. I love it’s precision and the ability to easily update drawings and exchange information with other people. Nothing beats it for production. But it’s not where I like to start.

If I’m going to design anything, whether it be a park or a bench, I start with pencil and paper. How can you take a…[Read more]

If you draw using CAD forty hours a week for years, it becomes very second nature and not at all awkward. A pencil is more awkward to me now.
I remember when I first started doing plans in CAD. It made me crazy (yes, that is what did it) because I had no “feeling” of scale. I could not tell if I was looking at two inches or two hundred feet. But I…[Read more]

Hand drawing is irreplaceable. You cannot think or design as quickly on a computer because it is too rigid. With a computer, you have to think, “how can I get the computer to perform this function in order to illustrate this idea?” With hand rendering, there is an immediate connection. If you can see it in your minds eye, you can draw it on paper.…[Read more]

For smaller projects (residential) I hand-draw – its fast and the clients think its magic.
For larger projects, particularly with lots of trees or complicated landscapes that would not be represented accurately by hand, I use photoshop with effects. Its fast and the clients think its magic!

In hand drawing I often go back and forth with acad…[Read more]

I do draw to work things out for myself, but it is not as constant as it is with many other LAs or as much as I was told was absolutely necessary while going through school. It is like a Smart Phone, if you have a good one you use it all of the time, but if you don’t, you find a way to stay productive. …. but you still need a phone!

You sound very organized, Henry! But I agree – the ‘ show me’ problem – also exists when out walking around talking to clients – if you can sketch up an idea right there, they like it..sometimes..

I like this New Yorker thing – every week the guy draws some kind of painting, using his finger, on his iphone..Perhaps the computer oriented could use…[Read more]

Looking at all of the recent discussions, technology is well represented but not overwhelming other topics. Obviously it plays an extremely important role in our profession, particularly to young professionals on the job market, but I don’t agree that it’s dominating us or that we’re losing what’s important. We’re simply acclimating to the…[Read more]

One of the advantages of technology is that it is infinitely repeatable. So yes, right now I could draw a few hand perspectives of the work that, as you put it, doesn’t exist for me right now, or I can perfect a model of a 3D tree. then, when it comes time to make a model for a paying client, I am able to give them a 3D universe that they can not…[Read more]

yeah – Andrew, you have a point… I work with other guys now who are thrilled by the computers ability to get around their lack of drawing ability..

but how do you work out your plans? Do you sketch in the computer?

It depends what you are working on and it also depends on your own physical abilities to draw as well. The result that we are actually after is what is built on the ground. How we get there does not matter outside of communicating those ideas prior to the fact, marketing, and being competitive with others.

Do you truly need to draw well to be a…[Read more]

You have to draw to think..Even with the prevalence of computers, reallly for everything,( one still uses sketching, drawing, plan and section, to think..IMHO..

I think that AchiCAD is a very good software for landscape architecs. The plans of 2D looks very well, it has many 3D objects including plants, peoples etc. and you can make render with 4 different engines. Also,you can export for ARTlantis for rendering.
Another important software is Vectorworks. I didn’t work in it by now, but I saw projects…[Read more]

I would call/email LandFX and tell them you are having a problem. It will give you a chance to test their tech support department. Tell Jerimiah in tech support I said Hi!

Telephone: 800-219-2365
email: support@landfx.com

s.