[Thomas J. Johnson]

It sounds like you are going for a realistic as opposed to artistic rendering. For that style, you’re probably better off having your trees/shadows/ground plane colors and textures figured out in CAD, so you’re plotting straight from CAD instead of using photoshop. I’ve achieved very good and pretty realistic results this way…

Alternately, for a very clean, modern look, try printing each layer from CAD, that you want to render, to PDF. I.E. Trees, shrubs, ground 1, ground 2, etc… Then in photoshop you just drop color onto the layer and all of your trees are colored at once. (your lines have to be closed, otherwise it’s a nightmare). If you want shadows, duplicate the tree layer, turn it black or a dark transparency and drag it towards the viewer (down and to the right or left) exposing approx 1/3 of the shadow layer. 

Hope that helps. There are many ways to skin a cat but having 200 tree layers in photoshop is not the way to go… but it sounds like you’ve figured that out 🙂
Have fun banging your head on the desk for $15/hr…

[Thomas J. Johnson]

Alternately, make your canvas size a lot smaller, then when you’re done, use illustrator to vectorize the finished rendering and you can make it as big as you want without becoming pixelated.

[Thomas J. Johnson]

Wetlands develop in the natural environment because of what’s around them and beneath the surface. It’s the relationship of several meters of various soils, geology and the hydrology of a greater drainage system.

The problem with “designed” wetlands is that we decide it would be nice to have a wetland somewhere and none of the bigger picture is there to support it.

I would disagree that constructed wetlands don’t provide ecological benefits. Even poorly designed wetlands support wildlife and botanical diversity. The thing they don’t do is connect to other, larger, meaningful systems. They are islands unto themselves. But a naturalized detention/retention area is better than a turf bowl any day…

[Thomas J. Johnson]

Nick Aceto – He’s the best digital illustrator I’ve ever seen in person. He does work that’s on par with your examples.

http://www.terrainstudioaspen.com/

[Thomas J. Johnson]

You could write a chapter on the subject. The basics… Yes, you can (and should) have a standardized file you open for a new project that has all of your layers and their properties set up properly (weight, color, type, etc). The file should be locked so it doesn’t get altered. Then when you open it, “Save As” using the correct file name for your new project.

Then you can get into frozen, unfrozen, locked, unlocked, and non-printing layers. Also related to layers is your CTB file that specify how lines actually print I.E. a line can look blue on your screen but print red. (color-weight). Most offices have one set up as their “signature look” for their printed files and is essential to have, if printing files from another office (i.e. subs & contractors), otherwise it will print all wonky.

The best way to learn is by cracking out on AutoCAD for four months. Figure it all out yourself. Piss of your project manager when you point out that it’s not being done according to company policy and get fired after moving across the country and working yourself to death. Good luck. Have fun.

[Thomas J. Johnson]

How do you know God is an Engineer and not a Landscape Architect?

Because only an Engineer would put the sewer right next to the playground…

<This one might take a minute to sink in…>

[Thomas J. Johnson]

Ha!

[Thomas J. Johnson]

Hire an engineer…

Rope? That’s some serious rope…  

1,000 lbs of people or 800 lbs of decking and one 200 lb person?

You’re only able to gain 5′-00″ on each side with cantilevered platforms? I bet you could get 10′-00″ on each side and only need a 15′-00″ bridge but that might look goofy…

Having a drainage doesn’t prevent you from using a column support in the middle but there might be a more elegant solution…

Do you only want to move people across the bridge or small vehicles / horses, etc. too?

How much money do you have to spend?

How stable are the banks?

My vote: Stone arch from materials found on site. Strong, cheap and timeless…

[Thomas J. Johnson]

What’s the complicated new school way?

[Thomas J. Johnson]

If your plants are just “thoughtfully placed” in CAD, how do they know what you were thinking, when they try to install it in the field? Consistent plant spacing is pretty standard practice unless you like “design” where you do “one of those here and a few of these there and maybe a couple things in between…” While that aesthetic has merit, it requires hands-on attention to detail. You need to be out there in the field, doing it yourself or directing every plant placement. A grid or line of plants is not about getting as many plants in the ground as possible, it’s about consistency, rhythm and ensuring proper spacing for each species…  

[Thomas J. Johnson]

1. Plant symbols should be “blocks”

2. Insert “block” and “array” at desired planting dimension, i.e. 18″ o.c.

3. Create “table” for your planting schedule

– Insert block in table (A-CAD with automatically scale and align it in the cell)

4. Go to planting plan and “count blocks” (CAD will do this automatically for you). This will tell you how many of each symbol (plant) you have

5. Put that number in your planting schedule.

Viola! Done and done.

[Thomas J. Johnson]

Yes, tree art indeed. Now all I need is 250,000 rhinestones to stick in those holes, a pile of amphetamines to give me the manic ambition to complete the meaningless-mindless task and an exorbitant amount of free time to create free public art so that some guy with a lot of money and the right connections can steal my idea, take all the credit, and make himself even more money…

Been there done that…

Thanks but I think I’ll pass… 

[Thomas J. Johnson]

Dang, you’re probably right… it looks like there is larvae in the holes but maybe it’s just sap…

Gonna have to go sleep on the expressway with my pellet gun…

http://youtu.be/tuhRhFyu-Bs

[Thomas J. Johnson]

Options:

1. Tape Trace to standard paper before scanning.

2. Hang trace on white wall. Use Tripod and camera to capture image.

3. Use trace paper for presentation.

[Thomas J. Johnson]

I guess my question (and I’m not being a smart a$$), is; why would your fee structure be any different than if you “had” the project? It seems like you place a value of X on your time. They want 35 hours of your time? That will be 35 x (X), please and thank you (see, there I’m being a bit of a smart a$$). 

If you’re traveling, your traveling. If you’re doing a site visit, you’re doing a site visit. If you’re doing an inventory, anaylsis, DD, etc. It is what it is…

If you can’t afford my initial ideas, then you can’t afford the finished product.

It seems like you can get yourself in trouble (with different projects/clients “she only charged me this for that… etc) and devalue yourself when you start saying, “well I only charge X for this and Y for that but you’ll need this and it will cost Z”… Just saying it like that makes me fee kinda cheap & dirty… I’d stick with your going rate or whatever you charge per phase of design…

We have a tendency to give too much of ourselves and not charge enough in this profession, which hurts not only your own pocket book but everyone else’s. Charge them what you’re worth and not a penny less. 

[Author]

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