[Eric Gilbey]

Nick, Your post is intriguing and I say this after just last week thinking about the promotion of Bike to Work Day/Week. I was thinking about the idea of taking that same idea and promoting the idea of not only biking, but walking, bussing, light rail, car pooling, etc. And it came to mind the idea of telecommuting as a way to save resources…particularly when we are in a time with furloughs, 4 ten hour days and such to see the workplace save money on energy bills, etc. So there is another angle…besides the convenience of “working in your underwear”, it can be an energy saving alternative.

That said, I have worked for a small firm (just the owner and myself out of his home), a company with 20+ staff and now with a company of more than 90 coworkers and I would say that the ability to work with everyone you need access to, within the same building is essential…but on the days when you need no distraction, working from home is a great way to get work done.

[Eric Gilbey]

Wags, using an application like Vectorworks Landmark with Renderworks would enable you to work both in 2D and 3D at the same time, while using smart objects that know what they are and budget pricing can be included in what they know about themselves, so that as you compile your design, you can see your ideas come to life, analyze for sun/shade, cut/fill, slopes, etc and have them all report the materials you specify to worksheets for estimates and install lists. The aspect of Vectorworks I like the best is that it allows me to design more efficiently with landscape specific tools and I’m able to see my design come to life not only for my own studying, but that work is then ready for client presentations and when the client makes changes on the spot, I’m ready to re-present and know how those changes would effect the client’s budget.

[Eric Gilbey]

First, Congratulations, Jamie! The change from non registered to registered is significant, or there wouldn’t be such an issue with states having laws which protect our rights to call ourselves landscape architects or to practice landscape architecture. If your company has different opinions, it seems like something they should settle as a company standard. For example, what is their standard for the registered LAs that are already in the office. Does the Title and Practice Law in Florida already designate what licensed landscape architect can call him/herself? What seems to be most used are RLA or the term Landscape Architect in the title that would be seen under your name. Again, it really has to be consistent with what your company decides is to be their standard.

[Eric Gilbey]

Steve, You’re right…Vectorworks has been on a Mac since it started out as MiniCAD in 1985. AutoCAD did once have a Mac version then pulled out of the Mac world until just coming back in this year.

Irene, I have used AutoCAD for many years, but started using Vectorworks Landmark just over 3 years ago and absolutely love it. I believe Vectorworks has a user group in Maine, and you could contact them to gain their experiences in using it for residential and non-residential garden design.

[Eric Gilbey]

Macs have many advantages for us, the first that comes to mind is its speed with graphic management. A plan redraws faster so if you make a change and go to pan to another place in your drawing, the Mac makes it feel more instantaneous while the PC might have a longer regen first. Also, the Macs are less susceptible to virus issues. Many of the mainstream office tools have a Mac version (such as Office for Mac), so the switch may be easier than you’d expect…the price might be the first noticible hurdle…but well worth the jump. You may also consider Vectorworks, which has always been a Mac based CAD program, and has worked on the PC for many years as well. It imports and exports DWG files to support your collaboration with other AutoCAD users.

[Eric Gilbey]

Steve, I’m curious about your statement on Vectorworks being expensive. I would contend that compared to your setup of BricsCAD, LandF/X and SketchUp Pro, Vectorworks Landmark with Renderworks would cost much less and provide the us with actually more functionality. I no longer have to take vector based drawings into raster based enhancement software for rendering, nor do I need to see my 2D line drawings separated from my 3D modeling work… they are unified and simultaneous. With the current release of Vectorworks’ Renderworks, the rendering engine has been replaced with a Cinema 4D rendering engine, making the resulting presentations even better and faster. There are many firms who find that Vectorworks’ import and export of DWG files meets their needs in collaborating with other architects and engineers, and do so with knowing what DWG files do/do not support.

[Eric Gilbey]

Steve, I am using Vectorworks Landmark with Renderworks. Though the 2D rendering is very nice without Renderworks (solid and gradient fills with changeable opacities), as well as shadowed plants and massing outlines, if you want to see the 2D and 3D views become artistic or photorealistic, you would need Renderworks (it’s required for my solar animations, as well). -Eric

[Eric Gilbey]

William, I have used AutoCAD for many years in both design only and design-build companies, and about 3 years ago, I began using Vectorworks Landmark. It is a stand alone CAD application that is industry specific to landscape architecture/landscape design and gives you the ability to do site specific design in unified 2D and 3D. Your designs can be highly illustrative, including artistic and photorealistic renderings, and the smart objects and drawing environment allow you to analyze your site with features such as cut and fill calculations, slope analysis and solar animation, etc.. I particularly like the ability to take clients on a tour of their site with my design ideas in still 3D views and interactive walkthroughs. Vectorworks imports and exports DWG/DXF, image files, PDF, and also imports SKP files. Also, if you are doing work with GIS, it can import and export SHP files, as well. As a student, you qualify for a free student license, and once you graduate, you’ll find that the price is far less than the combination of applications required to do the work we typically need to do from start to finish. Best of luck to you in your pursuit of other applications…keep us posted as to what you decide to evaluate.

[Eric Gilbey]

Stef,
If you are using a program that provides for .ifc export, it would then fundamentally export your site’s geometry out, and in some cases, information associated to those objects, and should come into Revit, as it also supports the import of IFC files. The IFC exchange has some growing to do, to include more site related objects, like plants and furniture, and each BIM application has some growing to do to better support the IFC exchange (some do better than others) but what is nice is to see an architecture firm provide a 3D model of their building to you. You bring this into your program to do the work you do (the way you want to do it), then send the site information back to the architect to review the impact of your design on the site with their building. We are in the midst of seeing this happen now, and excited to promote further development of IFC to better support exchange of site related objects…so we can still use the site design tools that help us do our job best.
Thanks for the post, Stef. Look forward to more discussion on this. -Eric

[Eric Gilbey]

Stefanie, As all BIM applications are continuing to evolve, the ability to work through open source BIM will likely prevail. As architecture or planning projects form that require BIM, and realizing that there are more than one BIM application out there, the ability to communicate with most or all BIM applications will be the ultimate goal. The ability for other BIM applications to share files is through .ifc files, and this will likely be the format for landscape architects to do the same…though .ifc files right now do not do a whole lot to support site design objects…it likely will eventually (sooner the better).
I am working with some firms right now looking how they can collaborate using a site design modeled in Vectorworks Landmark with their Revit building design, thus doing the best job at site design and getting those files back into Revit for the architecture firm to see the results of the site design effort. The key file format in the exchange is .ifc

[Eric Gilbey]

I would suggest that anything that is significantly far from the MSRP would need to be verified for a legitimate license. Software companies do have the ability to track bootleg software and this tracking does identify the IP address of the machine on which it is installed. Beyond not getting support for the software, with that new of a version, they likely could easily disable the license and the buyer then is out that $100. I’d suggest to verify with Autodesk if that serial number is legitimate before buying.

[Eric Gilbey]

I have been wanting to share this with you, and now that the press release is out, your wish for Cinema4D and Vectorworks Renderworks to work more as one is being granted. When Vectorworks 2011 is released on September 14th, Renderworks will be powered by the Cinema4D rendering engine.

[Eric Gilbey]

It is tedious work, and of course we can make it easier by staging our photo image with a neutral background board or sheet…and may even take planning a day to photograph when the sun light is less dramatic to capture a more generally lit plant. There are so many variables about capturing your own cutouts that it could end up being a discussion of its own. I have used photoshop to cut them out as well, and would love to hear from others on the tools they use for making cutouts.

[Eric Gilbey]

Noah brings up a great point about mixed media in our 3D models. Having photorealistic textures on your proposed features is essential to make the photorealistic props look like they belong, and vice versa…you would not want to bring photorealistic props into a model you are purposely trying to look sketchy.

One program that imports and exports DWG files, and allows you to design interactively in 3D with the ability to still show typical 2D plans and cut sections is Vectorworks Landmark. Jonathan asked about many 3D image props that could be used and modified and Vectorworks’ Renderworks does already contain these, but you can easily make props from cutouts too. The best part of these objects are that they are represented in 2D and 3D…if the symbol is modified to be 12′ wide so would the 3D prop.

If you choose to do a sketch rendered model, you’ll need to use artistic or sketchy images for your plants to be consistent.

[Eric Gilbey]

John, I saw your post when you first placed it and was very curious to see where the discussion went. I transitioned from AutoCAD almost 3 years ago (after 12 years of using it), and began using Vectorworks. One thing which I think makes the effort of transitioning from one method of CAD to another worthwhile is the training. Everyone has a different learning style, and certainly some people have the ability to pick up a program and run with it, finding their way via trial and error, while most really need some form of training…no matter what the program is. As you have found with SketchUp, there is a necessity to dig in more to master the program beyond just drafting. As people move away from general CAD programs, for whatever reason, they have to realize that these programs, that are more efficient and informative, do require a different approach… the time/effort invested in properly learning them is so worth it when the result is higher productivity and more to show (and report) from their new workflows.

[Author]

Posts