LandFX

[Justin W. Lee]

I just wanted to see if landfx was worth buying for mostly residential work in the $10000-$30000 range.  I’ve heard great things about this program.  What does the lounge think?

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

I just domo’d it for the last month. I’ve been drawing 2d landscape plans in various forms of Autocad for a dozen years and there was not much in there to compel me to buy it. That does not mean that it does not have a lot to offer, if you will benefit from what is there. It depends what you need.

 

I really don’t like Bricscad, don’t want to buy full Acad, and the F/X version that has a built in Acad Lt engine can only be used in one computer (Acad lets you run one other copy in a laptop as long as it is the same user). I would have bought F/X with the Lt engine had they let me run it on two machines as it is reasonably priced – I could not find it on the web page, but the sales rep gave me a link. If you don’t do 3d, you might want to ask about it. F/X will not run on Acad Lt, but they have a special combined version that they seem to be hiding from general viewing.

 

I upgraded Autocad Lt instead because it works for me.

[Robert Anderson]

Justin,

Have you considered Vectoworks Landmark. I suggest you look into it in place of landfx. It has a great interface for windows or mac and can do so much more that just planting plans.

[Andrew Spiering]

Hi Justin,

I use Land FX and especially like the planting module.  It cut the time spent on planting plans by 1/2 at least.  Check out some of the other threads here.

Also, consider Dynascape and Vectorworks.  If I were starting from scratch and wasn’t already setup using AutoCAD, I would strongly consider these two solutions.  Both are reliable and affordable all-in-one solutions. 

I hope this helps!

[Ellis Cucksey]

The planting plan component of LFX is very nice. For large projects I feel it’s worth the price just for that part alone. I also use the detail manager quite a bit, and the callout association is awesome for projects with multiple sheets in the construction set (though ACAD’s sheet set manager can do pretty much the same thing natively).

 

For residential stuff, I imagine the irrigation component would be very usefull too.

 

It can be a little tricky at first… the UI design isn’t the most intuitive to me. But one you get the basic processes doen, I think it’s a very valuable tool. Try the free trial and see if it’s helpful for the stuff you do.

[Dennis J. Jarrard, PLA, CLARB]

At work (the real job) I use LandFX with Autocad 2011. Of course someone else is paying for the licences so that makes it so much more desirable to me. I actually love working with LandFX and I would use it at home if it was more affordable. At home (the place where I am able to be most creative) I have Vectorworks Landmark. It’s a more affordable option for me although the learning curve has been very steep. With LandFX I was able to start producing work quickly and efficiently right from the start. I found it to be quite intuitive. Landmark has been a slow road, but it just seems to have a lot of capabilities I desire. Good luck with your decision.

[Jason T. Radice]

It all depends on what your market it, and what you need your software to do. For most residential applications, AutoCAD/LandFX or Vectorworks would be like trying to use a sledgehammer to fix your glasses. Too much tool..too much software. There are other packages that are better suited and developed specifically for the residential landscape market such as Earthscapes, Dynascape, or Drafix PROlandscape. This software focuses on quick lalndscape plans that are visually appealing, allow quick plant lists and care sheets, estimating, and quick photo-simulation based graphic output to increase sales with lower overhead. One even has an iPad app that lets you take a photo with the iPad and drag and drop plant materials and hardscape onto the photo for on-site design. This is the type of software the landscape designer at a nursery or garden center or a strictly small scale (site wise) LA would use.

 

AutoCAD/LandFX and Vectorworks will do much of the same types of functions, but are geared more for larger and more complex projects, primarily commercial and institutional, and do not offer all of the product integration these packages do. They offer different integration tools such as GIS or better 3D interoperability. I use ACAD primarily because my clients (mostly architects) use that in their workflow and the other packages other than Vectorworks just wouldn’t be able to efficiently handle the type of work I need it to perform to the level of accuracy and detail I demand.   

You need to ask yourself exactly what you need your software to do, what you don’t need it to do. How does it help the productivity of your type of practice and what features can you use to sell jobs? How much you are you willing to spend not just on software, but on the hardware to run it, and the upgrades on the software every so often?  

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