Home garden designers can use simplified programs which have some of the capabilities of these programs are much easier to learn and use. This is sold as specialist Garden Design Software. The programs make use of bitmap images to supply textures for grass, flowers, shrubs, water, walls, fencing etc. Garden design software is a good starting point in computer aided design. Specialists can then move on to Vector CAD and Bitmap CAD.
When to use garden CAD software
People with a basic understanding of measuring, plan scales and drawing will probably find paper and pencil adequate for thinking about changes to their garden. Others, who are comfortable with learning computer software, may find garden CAD software has the following advantages:
- the software can give a visual impression of how planting design will combine with the design of paving, steps, walls etc
- the software can help to convert on-site measurements into a plan
- the software can help to visualize the changes of level which play such an important part in a successful designGardencomposer is a form of BitmapCAD, which works only with digital photographs. It lets you compose an image of the garden but does not help with drawing a plan. Unfortunately it is basically the same as Punch Garden Design. The software is relatively easy to load, simple point and click icons, printable general directions, and it has great month to month viewing plenty of plants to choose from. The program is worth the money, if only to get acquainted with the general workings of a simple landscape program.
3D Garden Composer DVD/CD
- Garden Designerhas 800 3D plant objects, 400 3D pre-designed objects and 100material textures.
- Plant Encyclopediahas 15,000 plants, 22,500images. Includes trees, shrubs, flowers and vegetables.
- Photo Designerallows you to design a plan based on digital photos.
- Photo Editorproviding you with Digital images, which can be used within the program as textures and backgrounds.
- Animated Tutorialwith 3 hours of video helps you to become familiar with the main features.
- Guide to prevention and treatment of 370 garden pests with 650illustrated images of plant diseases.
- 3D virtual tourof the garden and 3D glasses are supported.
- Comprehensive searchfor the best plants for your garden and a wide range of garden tools.
- More than 30 pre-designed garden plans and 100animations for plant care.
- Ability to view garden design throughout different seasonsand years.
- Use a GPSdevice for a precise survey
System Requirements
- MS Windows Vista
- Intel Pentium III 600 or compatible
- 512MB RAM
- Video card with at least 32MB RAM on-board and OpenGL driver
- Video mode is 800x600x24 or higher
- Hard disk free space 100MB
- CD drive 24x
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