Luke Coughlan

Hi Anthony, there is a really great open source program called Draftsight, they have a free version as well as paid for versions that are a fraction of the price of AutoCAD.
http://www.3ds.com/products-services/draftsight-cad-software/offerings/

Well I’m a student who happens to be working at a LA firm too, and in my experience studying so far we have really been pushed when it comes to plant identification and overall plant knowledge as well as horticulture, soils etc. The design side, while still a big part of our studies, almost seems to take a secondary role which I thought was quite…[Read more]

Thanks for breaking your response up into categories, it’s really great! I’ll definitely do some research and see if I can find a few of these. I’m very interested in the design and theory side of things.
Thanks for the great response, its much appreciated.

Wow thanks so much for the great response. I don’t know if I’ll find many (if any) of these around Cape Town but I’ll have a look on ebay.

UPDATE!!
For those of you who are still interested, there is a new version of Lumion that has just being released, Lumion 5.0. They have done a complete overhaul of the program which of cause means better renders as well as improved render time, apparently it renders 50% faster! One of the more exciting parts of the update is the fact that they…[Read more]

Well that’s quite interesting, as a student myself, it would be interesting to see if there are any other lecturers/teachers that feel the same way. Could it partly be a case or new-school, old-school? In your experience would you say 3D’s have been given a fair trial in the landscape industry, or could it be that the old-school is set in its…[Read more]

NOTICE: I only realized now that the link I posted on the original discussion didn’t correlate with the image I posted. A new link has been added, feel free to check it out. Sorry about that.

Well I think its definitely worth the time you put in, its really great work. Thanks for your input, hopefully with enough practice I’ll be that good one day!

This wasn’t the intention of this discussion, it was merely a method for me to try and ascertain why 3D visualization isn’t as widely used in the landscape industry as say in the architecture and design industry. I think this discussion has definitely accomplished what it was set out to do, and I think if anything it has shown that there are many…[Read more]

That’s a really interesting argument. I think a lot of people have come into this discussion with very strong views about 3D, possibly myself included, which is great, but for the most part I made this discussion to try and ascertain as many point of views as possible, not just pick one, that was never the intention here. In all honesty there…[Read more]

This is something that has been discussed briefly earlier on in the discussion. That being said you are definintely right, it often is about the scale of the project that determines whether 3D’s/Walk-throughs are needed, amoungst other reasons of course. I think a companies reputation and past work is a factor too, but I think that is going down a…[Read more]

That is the exact problem I ran into as well, post editing of renders on Photoshop is really time consuming. Your method is exactly what I do too, except I obviously use Revit not Sketch Up. It seems to be a much more efficient method because there is no/little need for post editing and as you stated above “any view is possible and render times…[Read more]

Wow that’s really amazing. I think being able to draw like this also comes down to a degree of natural born talent, I’m not sure how much of this you could teach, am I right in saying that? Regardless this is a perfect example of hand drawn renders that would easily sell a design. Just for interests sake, how long does something like this take…[Read more]

I completely disagree, sorry to say, and here is why. Some clients have absolutely no ability to think in 3D or visualize what a design will look like in their heads, which is problematic and is of course why we do renders and sketches, amongst other reason. The fact that you say “Its not real” is looking at visualization in the wrong way.…[Read more]

I rarely use Sketch Up, not because I have a problem with the program, its a great easy to use program, I’m just more of a Revit fan. I’ve been using it for a few years now and I find it’s just a more finished program with a number of great features. When I said it takes all night to render, I was referring to rendering of videos, still renders…[Read more]

This is something that I have thought about, plant libraries are without a doubt hard to find, but I have managed to find quite a large amount of 3Ds Max models, which have really been very handy. However rendering on 3Ds max obviously takes much longer and that wasn’t really the point to my argument. You seem to be quite clued up in terms of 3Ds,…[Read more]

Hi Dave, thanks for your input, I’m definitely starting to see a general pattern and I think you are right, its not one problem that’s holding 3D’s back, but a combination of factors,sad really. I’m interested to hear about your use of Pool Studio, I personally haven’t used it but I have seen examples of work, do you use it with every project you…[Read more]

Thanks for your input, I’ve been hoping someone with experience on Lumion would share their thoughts. It’s interesting that you should say that Sketch Up modelling is a faster than setting up a Lumion scene. From my experience I found that Sketch Up, as fast as what it may be, is still much more time consuming than working on Lumion. My walk…[Read more]

Thanks for your input. That’s really interesting, do you not feel that a computer limits your creativity? I often find that the limitations of programs (Revit & Sketch Up), in terms of design, often end up shaping the end product, and for that reason I tend to start with conceptual sketches first before moving to a computer. As I said though,…[Read more]

Hi Andrew, Thanks for the very thorough response.
Your input has certainly given me a lot more to think about. I definitely agree with you when it comes to 3D visualization as a design tool, it most certainly is not a design tool, this wasn’t my argument at all. I just feel that it’s a very effective way of showcasing and communicating your final…[Read more]