[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/

[Luke Coughlan]

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 strange, hence me wanting to find some good design related books. 

So thanks so much everyone, you’ve really been very helpful.

[Luke Coughlan]

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.

[Luke Coughlan]

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.

[Luke Coughlan]

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 have added a further 190 high quality plants to the Lumion library. I must say I’m really excited to see what can be done with this new version.

[Luke Coughlan]

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 ways? Bare in mind I ask that question not as an attack on the old-school, I’m just really interested to get your opinion. I may be going a bit off topic but its interesting and helpful nonetheless.

Once again thanks for your input.

[Luke Coughlan]

For some reason the video refuses to play directly. To view the BMX Park walk-through click next, its the 4th video in the playlist. Sorry about that.

[Luke Coughlan]

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.

[Luke Coughlan]

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!

[Luke Coughlan]

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 MANY reasons. You are right, its not a religion and shouldn’t be treated as such, I think the problem is people have some very strong opinions, which I don’t think is entirely a bad thing, it makes for a great discussion.

Again thanks for your input.

[Luke Coughlan]

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 couldn’t possible be one answer or this probably wouldn’t be a problem. I think your point of view is very relevant and possibly 2D plans etc are a better and certainly a cheaper way of displaying a design, but again I have to come back to the fact that some clients battle to visualize a 3D environment when all they are given is 2D plans and sections. Do you not think that 3D’s communicate a design in a easier to understand way? Obviously at university level we possible go a bit over board with 3D’s, but that’s just because we can, in industry such luxuries aren’t always possible because for budget constraints etc. 

Just to back track and add my opinion with regard to your comment on Site Design and Plant Identification, I think those are very relevant problems. At the moment I’m studying at a university that has quite a large focus on design and plant identification and I must say I have noticed that other institutions don’t really do the same. I’m not sure how one is meant to use plants in a design if they have next to no knowledge about the individual plants they are using. That is of course my personal opinion though, someone with more experience in industry may prove me wrong.

Thanks for your input though, its a very interesting argument.

[Luke Coughlan]

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 completely different road and we may end up straying from the original topic of discussion.

Thanks for your input though, it’s great hearing all these opinions.

[Luke Coughlan]

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 are short.” I’m really hoping Lumion does extent their plant and tree library, what they already have, although limited, I feel is really effective. 

[Luke Coughlan]

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 you? I think for the most part something like this could actually be put up on a wall and displayed as an artwork, where as computer 3D’s tend not to be used in that way even after completion. 

[Luke Coughlan]

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. Visualization when done properly can give a client a close to real experience, or at least (And this would be in most cases) give a much clearer idea of the look and feel of the design, it just communicates better. Thanks for your input though.

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