Landmark_SIG_052 Special Interest Group July (am) 2014

In this session we looked at the changes to the Planting Tool in the last few new versions of Vectorworks, we compared the benefits of the Landscape Area Tool to using the Plant tool, we looked at creating a planting area around an existing tree, uses for the Existing Tree Tool and Site Modelling / Site Modifiers / Reshape Tool / Labels.

Plant Tool

• Major changes include:
• The ability to create default and custom plant settings for each plant / mass plantings, e.g. shadows, render styles, colours, plant database, etc.
• The ability to control the plant rotation as well as the plant scaling (single or mass)
• The ability to ungroup mass plantings

Landscape Area Tool

• This tool allows you to put mass plantings on a vast area very quickly. Once created the mass planting can easily be modified in the Object Info palette as well as with the Reshape Tool (move a corner or move an edge).
• The same area could be mass planted with the Plant Tool, but the rendering time required is much, much longer.
• Or you could use the Freehand Tool (or any other drawing tool), draw the required area and then apply the Create Objects from Shapes command to convert it to a Landscape Area
• Modifying the Landscape Area Settings (in the Object Info palette), e.g. assigning specific plants, adding / deleting plants, changing the mix of plants, etc.
• This tool also allows for a very quick plant calculation directly fed into the associated worksheet(s). This would be very hard to replicate with the Plant Tool.
• Changing the graphic style of a Landscape Area
• Modifying the Landscape Area with the Reshape Tool

Creating a planting area around an existing tree

• Using the B-key, aka X-Ray Mode, and the Clip Tool at the same time

Existing Tree Tool

• This tool allows you show and schedule existing trees, to put root protection in place, to make recommendations, to tag them, to satisfy councils, etc.

Landscape Area Tool (continued)

• The Landscape Area tool can also be used – without any plants in it – to show mulch areas, texture beds, etc. and to then assign cost to each area or to do volume calculations, budgets, etc.
• These areas can then also be used to generate various reports with the Tools / Reports command (paving, various grassed areas, mulch areas, length of borders, etc. This is a huge time saver.

Site Modelling / Site Modifiers / Reshape Tool / Labels

• Site modifiers allow us to obtain individual information about the impact on the site model (e.g. cut/fill, surface area, slope, elevation, etc.) for each modifier
• These modifiers can then be used to generate various reports (for one, several or all modifiers). The report also allows you to change the settings of a modifier in the report itself, which is then reflected in the site model
• Creating a new Record Format to obtain more detailed information in the worksheet
• Reshaping a site model
• -> GENERAL HINT: The options of the Reshape Tool change with a chosen object, e.g. on top of the common options (to change a 2D / 3D shape) there are specific ones added for reshaping walls, site models, etc.
• When used on a site model, the Reshape Tool now also offers the ability to move, add and delete site labels

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