landworkscad v6 getting started tutorial

7/24/2019 LANDWorksCAD v6 Getting Started Tutorial

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LANDWorksCADv.6Stand-AloneSoftware

Professional Landscape Design Software

Getting Started Tutorial

(Metric Edition)

CAD International

www.CAD.com.au www.CADInternational.com

2006 - 2013 - All rights reserved


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IntroductionWelcome to the world of LANDWorksCAD, the most versatile and easy-to-use professional

Landscape program available.

LANDWorksCAD is available as stand-alone software that includes RealCAD general purpose CADsoftware as its core. You can alternatively purchase LANDWorksCAD as a plug-in application for

other CAD software such as AutoCAD or BricsCAD etc.

This tutorial uses the stand-alone version that includes RealCAD. It is intended to provide you with

an introduction to the features and power of LANDWorksCAD. We hope you find it helpful and fun

to use.

We know you are keen to start and may even want to jump aheadbut, lets spend a few minutes

on the basics:


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TheLANDWorksCADScreenLayout

Start LANDWorksCAD. Your screen will look like Fig 1 below.

Fig 1

The small window in the middle of the screen entitled LANDWorksCAD is called a Startup menu.

Its displayed every time you start LANDWorksCAD. Be sure to read the Did You Knowsection for

some tips on how to best use the software. You can read more tips by clicking on the Previous Tip

and Next Tip buttons. Each time you start LANDWorksCAD a different tip will randomly be

displayed.

The buttons on the right hand side of the menu should be fairly self-explanatory:

Open Existing Drawingselect a CAD file that you have drawn previously.

Start New Drawingstart a completely new drawing from scratch.

Open Template Drawing open a special drawing called a Template. Templates are simply

drawings that have been set up for specific applications, e.g. architectural, engineering,

landscaping, etc. Obviously, in your case, you would choose a landscaping template. In atemplate, scales, line-styles, values, etc, have been pre-set for the appropriate application.

There may even be a title block or some lines and text already in the drawing.

Play Video Manual short learning videos to help you with the basics of LANDWorksCAD.

Getting Started Tutorial opens this document that you are reading now.

Visit Web Sitetakes you to the LANDWorksCAD website

TheRecent Files box lists the last 9 drawings you worked on. Selecting a name from the list

opens that drawing immediately.

Always show this dialog tick box - un-ticking it to prevent this dialog from appearing in the

future. If you want to have the startup menu displayed again, select Options, Systemfrom thedrop down menu and tick the Show startup dialog option.

Start-up

Menu


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Close- closes the startup menu. The ESCkey also closes the menu.

OK, now you know what the startup menu does, lets get going with LANDWorksCAD. For now,

please click on StartNew Drawing to start. Your screen should look like Fig 2.

Fig 2

NOTE: If your screen does not show the LANDWorksCAD menu please do the following:

1. Click on the Toolsmenu

2. Click Load Applicationfrom the drop down menu

3. Click on LANDWorksCADin the dialog box that appears

4. Click on OK

The LANDWorksCAD menu should now appear. It may not appear in the same position as shown

above, but it can be moved anywhere on the screen.

To ensure the LANDWorksCAD menu always appears in the future, do the following:

1. Click on the Filemenu

2. Click on Save Options

Click OKin the dialog box that appears after a few seconds.

Prompt

Coordinates BarInterrupt ToolbarMain ToolbarTitle Bar

Click StatusQuick ToolbarStyle Bar

LANDWorksCAD

Menu

BackgroundCrosshair

Work Plane

IconDrawing

Window

Menu Bar


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Now lets look at the screen.

It may look a little daunting at first with icons and words all over the place, yet it wont take long to

get used to it. Youll find its all very logically laid out when you start using it just like driving a car

really.

Starting from the top, you can see the following:

Title Bar shows the name of the software, LANDWorksCAD, followed by the name of the open file.(As you have only just started LANDWorksCAD, the file has no name and is thus labelled untitled). Theabbreviations that follow indicate the current drawing settings. These will be explained later in the tutorial.

Menu Bar drop-down menus such as File, Edit, Transform, etc. just like any other program.

Main Toolbar icon commands for drawing and editing. These are called theprimary operations.

Interrupt Toolbar this contains icon commands that allow the primary operation to be interruptedsothat additional functions, such as zooming (second icon on top row), are made available making the primary

operation easier to perform.

Coordinates Bar this contains spaces (fields) to enter distances and angles or X, Y and Z coordinatesfrom your keyboard. You will use this when drawing accurately. You can also lock distances and anglesto assist in inserting and editing entities. The Padlock icons show as locked or unlocked.

Prompt lets you know what input is expected from you. The prompt changes as you work. The colour ofthe prompt also changes depending on what you are doing. ALWAYS LOOK AT THE PROMPT!!!!!

Drawing Window this is where you create your drawing. Multiple drawing windows (views) can beopened as desired.

The title bar of each view displays the view name, zoom value and plot scale (print scale)

NOTE:The white space in the drawing window does not represent a piece of paper. Rather it represents a

small part of an infinite space in which we can draw.

There is no limit to the size of what you can draw. Everything is to be drawn at real-size and then scaled tofit onto whatever size paper you want.

Workplane Icon indicate the X and Y directions. Where X and Y meet is known as absolute zero orthe origin and is often a good place to begin a drawing.

Crosshair moves with your mouse movement and is also known as the crosshair cursor.

LANDWorksCAD Menu contains the commands specific to landscape architecture and design.

Background is where you display your drawing windows. You cant draw on the background. Thebackground area is always white whilst the drawing windows can be any colour you desire.

Style Bar this is where you set or change the basic properties of the entities you are inserting.

Quick Toolbarprovides quick access to the Delete, Repaint, Undo, Redo and Grid commands.

Click Status reports how you just clicked; either DIG, SNAPor ENT-LOCis displayed.


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ConventionsUsedinThisTutorial

It is HIGHLY recommended that you use a quality mouse with a roller wheel on top. For this tutorial

it is assumed you are using such a mouse.

You may need to select two icons, one top and one bottom, to activate a command as shown in Fig 3.

Fig 3

Certain terms are used repeatedly when explaining the steps in this tutorial. To save space, they are

defined below. Please be sure you understand these terms.

Term Action Required

Select Left click once

Click Left click once

Right-Click Right click once

Double-Click Left click twice in quick succession

Drag Click and hold down the button or roller wheel (youll

be told which) whilst moving the actual mouse

Snap Crosshair shows as a SQUAREthen click

Locate Crosshair appears as a DIAMONDthen Click

Tick/Un-tick Click in the tick boxto toggle a tick on or off

Type Key-in the text using the keyboard

Enter Press the Enter key on the keyboard

Shift+ Hold down the Shift Key used with other

functions. Eg Shift + Drag

Ctrl+ Hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard used

with other functions eg. Ctrl + Drag

Alt+ Hold down the Alt key on the keyboard used with

other functions eg. Alt + Z = Zoom

LH / RH Left hand / right hand

Table 1


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RELAX

Ifyoumake mistake,itcanbefixed!

We have tried our best to make the instructions in this tutorial as clear and easy to read as possible,

and yet you may make mistakes occasionally. Fortunately LANDWorksCAD has 2 methods of

recovering from mistakes.

The Esc key

Look at the top LH corner of your keyboard; you will see a key labelled Esc. This stands for Escape.

Pressing this key stops the current command without completing it. (It does not undoyour mistakes

see below). It has no effect once you have completed the command. So, if youre following the

instructions in this tutorial or youre in the middle of a command and you make a mistake or get

confused, simply press the Esc key to stop the command at that point. You can then go back and re-

do the steps in the tutorial.

Undo

Even more powerful than the Esc key is the ability to Undo whatever you have done. If you have

made a mistake drawn the wrong thing or put something in the wrong position, even deleted

something by mistake the Undo command will reverse your steps and your mistake will disappear!

The Undo command can be found in the Quick Toolbar at the bottom of the screen as shown in Fig 4

below. You can Undo as many times as you like.

Fig 4

(Ctrl + Zalso performs an Undo)

The arrow next to the Undo command is the Redocommand. If you Undo a command because youthink you made a mistake, but then realise it was correct in the first place, the Redo command doesthe command again for you. You can use the Undo and Redo commands repeatedly.

Well, that should be enough basics to get you going. Lets move on and start the realtutorial.

and remember to enjoy yourself!!!!!!


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SimpleexercisestoshowhowthingsworkOK, lets spend some time getting familiar with the workings of LANDWorksCAD as we have been

discussing.

Move your cursor around the screen. Youll see the crosshair in the drawing window and a small

arrow in the toolbar and menu areas. As you pass your cursor over the icons on any of the toolbars,

note how the Prompt Bar displays the appropriate command prompts.

Holding your cursor over any icon for a short time, without pressing a mouse button, will also display

a small box with the same command prompt words described above. This is known as a tool tip.

Well now work with LANDWorksCAD, just a bit, to get used to it.

DrawingLinesandCircles

To create something in a CAD system such as LANDWorksCAD you have to draw it. As a quick

demonstration well draw a few lines and circles to see how it is done.

1. Select the Line Commandsicon from the top row of the Main Toolbar, followed by the InsertLineicon from the bottom row as shown in Fig 5(LH group of icons).

Fig 5

2. The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Select the start of the line.

3. Position your crosshair towards the bottom LH corner of the drawing window and click. Dontgo too close to the corner; you need to leave some space for later work

4. The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Select the end of the line.

5. Move your crosshair towards the middle of the drawing window. As you move it a line willappear, stretching between the point you just clicked and the crosshair.

6. Move the crosshair around the screen, but dont click yet. Notice how the line continues tostretch and follow the crosshair? This is called rubber-banding. If you happen to move your

crosshair out of the drawing window, the rubber-band will disappear as the arrow cursorappears, but it will re-appear when you move back into the drawing window.

7. Notice also the constantly changing number that appears next to your crosshair. This numbershows the distance the crosshair has moved from the last point selected. Its referred to asdistance tracking and can be used simply as a guide to how far it is between points or to drawaccurately in conjunction with other options in LANDWorksCAD, eg, the grid. More on this inother tutorials.

8. Without trying to draw a perfectly straight line, position your crosshair towards the top LHcorner of the drawing window and click. Again, dont go too close to the corner. A line will bedrawn between the two points you clicked and another rubber-band will appear following thecrosshair from the second point you clicked.

9. Move your crosshair across to the top RH corner of the drawing window and click. Again donttry to be accurate or too straight.


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10. Move your crosshair down to the bottom RH corner of the drawing window and click.

11. Now position your crosshair approximately over the middle of the first line you drew, but dontclick yet!

12. A small diamond should appear on the crosshair as shown in Fig 6. Still dont click yet! Thisdiamond indicates that LANDWorksCAD has seen the line and can use it in various ways if

you want it to. This will be explored more in later tutorials.

Fig 6

13. Move your crosshair down along the line to the beginning of the line. Dont worry if thediamond disappears, it means youve moved your crosshair slightly off the line. Just move thecrosshair back over the line again.

14. When you get close to the end of the line the diamond will be replaced by a small square asshown in Fig 7. Still dont click yet! This square indicates that LANDWorksCAD has foundthe very end point of the line.

Fig 7

15. Make sure the square is still showing on the crosshair and now you can click!

16. Notice how the rubber-band line jumped to meet the end of the first line you drew, even if youwerent pointing right at the end of the line? This is known as snapping to the end of a line

and later in this tutorial it will be referred to in this way, e.g. snap to the end of the line.

17. The rubber-band is still active, but we have finished drawing lines for now.

18. Right-click this will terminate the current sequence of lines. The Prompt Bar now promptsyou to Select the start of the line, allowing you to draw more lines if you wish.

19. Right-click again to terminate drawing lines completely. The Prompt Bar will revert to thestandard prompt Select command or entities.

20. You should now have a really rough rectangle displayed in the drawing window. Lets put acircle in the middle of it.

21. Select the Circle Commandsicon from the top row of the Main Toolbar followed by the InsertCircle by centre and circumferenceicon from the bottom row as shown in Fig 8.

Fig 8

22. The Prompt Bar prompts you to Select the centre of the circle.

23. Position your crosshair approximately in the centre of the rectangle, click and then move yourcrosshair away a little bit, but dont click again just yet.

24. The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Select a point on the circumference of the circle and youwill see a rubber-band circle attached to your crosshair.

25. Move your crosshair until your circle looks about the same size as the circle in Fig 9 and thenclick. The circle will be drawn.

The Distance

Tracking

number has

been removed

from the image


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Fig 9

26. Dont worry if your rectangle and circle dont look exactly like these; remember, youre justplaying at the moment.

27. The circle command is still active, so insert a few more circles of different sizes inside therectangle move your crosshair to various positions and then click, move your crosshair andclick again. Try putting circles within circles. Put about 6 circles in.

28. Dont right-click yet; we havent finished putting in circles.

29. Now lets try to be more accurate in our placement of a circle.

30. Move your crosshair to the top LH corner of the rectangle until the small snapping squareappears and then click. It doesnt matter which line you are closest to as they meet at thesame end point.

31. The centre of the circle will be inserted exactly at the corner point. Thats the whole point ofsnapping to be accurate. Move your crosshair and click again when youre happy with thesize of the circle.

32. Try inserting circles on the other three corners of your rectangle.

33. When you have finished inserting circles, right-click to terminate the circle command.


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ZoomingandScrolling

One of the difficulties with CAD software is that you are often trying to draw an object that is much

larger than the screen on which it is to be displayed, e.g. a house and surrounding gardens. To solve

this, you are able to zoom in on an object to make it look larger on the screen or zoom out froman object to make it look smaller on the screen, or scroll sideways to see a part of the drawing

thats off the screen. It must be stressed that zooming DOES NOT change the physical size of the

object, it just makes it look bigger or smaller, in the same way that a zoom lens on a camera can

make objects appear larger or smaller to suit the photographer. Similarly scrolling DOES NOT

physically move or re-position the entities you have drawn. Rather, it is like flying over the entities

at a constant height. You are the one moving around, although it looks like the entities are being

moved

Using these zooming and scrolling techniques, it is possible to view any part of your drawing at

almost any scale you want. You can enlarge a really small object to work on it more easily or you canstep back from a large object to get an overall feel for its size.

Lets have a closer look at the circle you inserted at the top LH corner of your rectangle by zoomingand scrolling.

If youre using a mouse that DOES NOT have a roller wheel, please jump forward to the section titledZooming and scrolling without a mouse roller wheel on page Error! Bookmark not defined..

Zooming and scrolling with a mouse roller wheel

1. Move your crosshair so it is roughly in the middle of the top LH circle. (dont worry if thediamond or square appear on your crosshair, theyre ignored when zooming)

2. Roll your mouse roller wheel slowly towards you. The circle will move towards you; you arezooming in.

3. Continue to roll the mouse wheel until part of the circle disappears from the drawing windowand then stop rolling the wheel. It doesnt matter if the LH part, the top part, or both disappear.

4. Now roll the mouse wheel away from you. The circle will move away from you; you arezooming out.

5. Roll the wheel, either toward or away from you, until the rectangle and all circles are visible inthe drawing area again.

6. Now well scroll around the drawing, i.e. move sideways, without zooming in or out.

7. Move your crosshair to the centre of the drawing window.

8. Now, press and hold down the mouse wheel. Dont let go until instructed to do so.

9. While holding down the mouse wheel, move the mouse towards the right of the drawingwindow. Dont let go of the mouse wheel yet!

10. The entire drawing is moved sideways; part of it may even disappear from the drawing window,but this doesnt matter.

11. Keep holding down the mouse wheel and move your mouse around the drawing window to seehow you can scroll in any direction.

12. Release the mouse wheel when youve had enough scrolling. It doesnt matter where yourrectangle and circles end up; well control them with some more zooming in a moment.

13. Notice how both these operations, zooming and scrolling, were performed without selecting a

command. With LANDWorksCAD, moving around your drawing is really quick and efficient.


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14. There are times when you want to step back and see your entire drawing displayed in thedrawing window. To do this, instead of zooming out and panning around, possibly a number oftimes, you can simply select the Zoom fit entities to windowicon from the Interrupt Toolbaras shown in Fig 10. Do this now.

Fig 10

15. There are more zoom commands available, but that will do for now. Well explore the otherslater in the tutorial.

Please jump to the section titled Zooming during the rest of this tutorial on page 16.


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Zooming and scrolling without a mouse roller wheel

1. Select the Zoom Commands icon from the top row of the Interrupt Toolbar, followed by theZoom in using window icon from the bottom row as shown in Fig 11.

Fig 11

2. The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Locate the corner of the zoom window and the crosshair

changes to the shape of a magnifying glass, i.e. .

3. Position your magnifying glass above and to the left of the circle, as shown in Fig 12, and click.The dot in the centre of the magnifying glass will define the start of your zoom window that youwill see in a minute.

Fig 12

4. The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Locate the opposite corner of the zoom window.

5. Move your magnifying glass diagonally down and to the right; an elastic rectangle will bedragged with it.

6. Move your mouse until the rectangle looks approximately like the one shown in Fig 13and clickagain.

Fig 13

7. The area enclosed by the rectangle you defined has now been enlarged to fill the screen. Thisis known as zooming in and this is only one method; there are others, which well explorelater.

8. The Prompt Bar prompts you again to Locate the corner of the zoom window allowing you to

zoom in even further, enlarging the objects even more, if you wish. We wont do that now, soright-click to terminate the zoom in command.

9. Dont worry if the circle doesnt look perfectly smooth after you zoom in. This is easily fixedalthough we wont do it just now.

10. To zoom out and see all of your drawing again, select the Zoom and View previous iconfrom the bottom row of the Interrupt Toolbar as shown in Fig 14. Notice you dont have to firstselect the Zoom Commandsicon from the top row as it is already selected.

Fig 14


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11. Now well scroll around the drawing, i.e. move sideways, without zooming in or out. Selectthe Zoom scrollicon from the bottom row of the Interrupt Toolbar as shown in Fig 15.

Fig 15

12. The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Locate the start of the scroll direction Press control ordrag to start dynamic scroll and the crosshair changes to the shape of a magnifying glass

again, i.e. .

13. Position your magnifying glass roughly in the middle of the top left circle on the screen, butdont click yet.

14. Press the left mouse button down and keep it pressed down.

15. While holding down the left mouse button, move your mouse towards the centre of the screen.Dont let go of the button yet.

16. The entire drawing is moved sideways; part of it may even disappear from the drawing window,but this doesnt matter.

17. Keep holding down the mouse button and move your mouse around the drawing window to seehow you can scroll in any direction you want to.

18. Release the mouse wheel when youve had enough scrolling. It doesnt matter where yourrectangle and circles end up; well control them with some more zooming in a moment.

19. This is how you scroll, i.e. move around the drawing without zooming in or out. WithLANDWorksCAD, moving around your drawing is really quick and efficient.

20. The Zoom scrollcommand is still active the Prompt Bar is still prompting you to Locate thestart of the scroll direction Press control or drag to start dynamic scroll , so right-click toterminate it.

21. There are times when you want to step back and see your entire drawing displayed in thedrawing window. To do this, instead of working backwards though your previous zoomed viewsand possibly panning around, you can simply select the Zoom fit entities to windowicon fromthe Interrupt Toolbar as shown in Fig 16. Do this now.

Fig 16

22. You may not see a big change in the display depending on where you left you drawing afterscrolling.

23. There are more zoom commands available, but that will do for now. Well explore the otherslater in the tutorial.


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Zooming during the rest of this tutorial

During the rest of this tutorial, rather than explain in detail how to zoom in and out and how to scrollevery time you need to do so, well simply say zoom in to or zoom back to the previous viewor zoom fit to see everything or scroll to the left; statements like that, and you can choosewhichever technique from the preceding sections suits you best. It might be a good idea to bookmark

the section for ease of reference until you have mastered zooming and scrolling. We will, of course,provide hints during the tutorial; we wont leave you completely stranded.

To end this tutorial and clear the drawing area, select File, Newfrom the Menu Bar.

The dialog box shown in Fig 17 will be displayed.

Fig 17Click on No we dont want to save what we have drawn at this time.

The LANDWorksCAD screen will revert to how it looked when we first started.


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PracticalHands-OnTutorialThe aim of this tutorial is to draw a plan similar to that shown in Fig 18. In creating this drawing you

will learn how to:

1. Start with a template filethat has been previously set upfor you.

2. Save the template file asyour own drawing.

3. Draw the property.

4. Draw the house outline.

5. Draw the simplerectangular patio.

6. Draw the driveway andstraight path.

7. Draw some simple straightsteps.

8. Draw the curved path.

9. Hatch the house outline.

10. Draw curved gardenedging.

11. Insert existing trees andplants.

12. Label and size the existingtrees and plants.

13. Insert a schedule for theexisting trees and plants.

14. Insert proposed trees andplants.

15. Label the proposed treesand plants.

16. Insert a legend for theproposed trees and plants.

17. Update the legend.

18. Add some other figures.

19. Add a title sheet to thedrawing.

20. Add text to the drawing.

21. Save the drawing.

22. Print the drawing.

Fig 18

Items such as labels and text have

been left off this image for clarity.

A copy of this drawing plan showing

the dimensions used throughout the

tutorial can be found in Appendix 2.


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Within the steps listed above you will learn to control the colour, layer, style and weight of the

objects you draw. These properties will be explained during the tutorial. You will also learn how to

edit the objects, i.e. move, copy, stretch, trim, break, etc.

The approach taken is a holistic one, i.e. rather than learning all about inserting lines by just playing

with lines, in this tutorial you will learn to insert and control lines by drawing a property boundary

and the outline of a house; rather than learning how to edit lines by experimenting with the

different edit options, you will edit the lines using the appropriate option as and when you need to.

So, lets go!

Startwith templatefilethathasbeenpreviouslyset

upforyou

1.Select File, New from Templatefrom the menu.

2.Select the LWTute01.cad file. The Preview window wont show anything because nothing hasbeen drawn yet.

3.Click on the Openbutton to confirm your selection.

4.Your screen should then look like Fig 19.

Fig 19

A template file is simply a drawing that has been created and saved, often with nothing drawn in it, butall properties and parameters, such as colours, scales, grids, default angles, etc, set appropriately.You can create as many template files as you need.

Savethetemplatefileasyourowndrawing

It is always a good idea when starting a new drawing from a template to save it immediately. The

template is only a starting point and you will lose your drawing if something happens to your

computer and your drawing does not have a name to save to.

1.Select File, Save asfrom the menu.


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2.Choose the ~My Drawings folder in the LANDWorksCAD-v5 folder and enter a name for thedrawing. You can use whatever name you want really, but a suggestion for now is to add yourinitials to the end of the template name. For example, if your name was John Smith thedrawing name would become LWTute01_JS.

3.Click on the Savebutton to confirm your drawing name.

4.Look at the Title Bar your new drawing name is displayed there now, with a .cad extension,which is LANDWorksCAD way of identifying its files. You dont have to worry about adding the.cad extension manually; LANDWorksCAD does it automatically for you.

5.While were saving, lets set up LANDWorksCAD to automatically save the drawing every 10minutes. This will reduce the possibility of losing work you have done.

6.Select Options, Systemfrom the menu.

7.The dialog box shown in Fig 20 will be displayed.

Fig 20

8.Set the Auto Save options as shown and then click OK. The options may already be set,which is fine; at least now you know how to turn on Auto save.


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Drawtheproperty/lotboundary

Well use some simple line commands to draw the lines of the property (lot) boundary, but we must

first select the correct colour, layer, styleand weightfor the lines. It is a bit like selecting the correct

pen or pencil when drawing by hand.

It should be mentioned here that if you are supplied with a paper copy of the property boundary lines and/or

house outline, this could be scanned into LANDWorksCAD and traced over or simply used as a background

reference image. This tutorial does not cover this, but later ones do.

Colour

LANDWorksCAD has 256 active colours you can choose to draw with. The main reason for using

colour is that it makes it easier to identify and select different elements of the drawing.

Layer

Think of a layers as perfectly transparent pieces of tracing paper numbered 0 1023. (These can

also be named) All the layers are stacked on top of each other to form a drawing. Only one of

these layers can be on top of the stack at any one time and this is known as the active layer.

Anything you draw is always drawn on the active layer. Any layer can be made the active layer at

any time. Layers can also be turned off at any time, thus temporarily hiding the objects drawn on

them.

Layers can be used to group related objects together, e.g. you might put all the plants on one

layer, and concrete on another layer. You can then turn off the plants layer whenever you want if

you just need to work on the concrete for a while without seeing the plants.

Style

The solid, dashed or dotted appearance of lines etc are referred to in CAD as Styles.

LANDWorksCAD has 256 styles to choose from and any of them can be modified to suit your

needs. Six have been pre-defined for you.

Weight

The weight is the width or thickness of the lines from 0mm to 3mm. 0mm equates to the

thinnest possible line that can be printed on your printer.

Warning: There are some printers that dont print lines that have a thickness of 0mm. They

read the 0 literally and print nothing!

LANDWorksCAD has an easy way of controlling these four properties, called Style Sets. A Style Set is

a named combination of these properties, e.g. in this tutorial there is a Style Set named Boundary

which has the colour set to 150 (khaki brown), the layer to 1, the style to 0 (solid) and the weight to

0.1mm. By selecting a Style Set, the four properties are automatically set for you.


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OK, enough of the theory, lets draw some lines!

9.To set the line properties, select the Default/Change Style Setlist box from the Style Bar asshown in Fig 21. You can click anywhere in the list box.

Fig 21

10. A list of existing Style Sets will be displayed as shown in Fig 22. Select the Style Set namedBoundary from the drop-down box as shown.

Fig 22

The Style Bar now displays the properties of the Boundary Style Set, as shown in Fig 23,including an image of a line that has those properties. The RealCAD Title Bar also displays theproperties at its RH end, i.e. Col 150 Lay 1 Sty 0 Wei 0.10.

Fig 23

11. Select the Insert Lineicon from the Main Toolbar as shown in Fig 24.

Fig 24

The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Select the start of the line.

Well draw the boundary starting from the bottom LH corner and well place this corner at theposition on the screen known as absolute zero or the origin, which is indicated by theworkplane icon. This is a common way of starting drawings as it gives a known point ofreference.

12. To do this, make sure all the fields in the Coordinates Bar are set to 0.00 (zero) as shown in

Fig 25(they will be because the template has been set up for you) and simply press Enter.

Fig 25

The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Select the end of the line.

13. Move your crosshair across the screen. As you move it a line will appear, stretching betweenthe origin point you just selected and the crosshair. This is the rubber-banding we explainedearlier in the tutorial.

If you were to click now (dont!) you would draw a line, but you wouldnt have any control over thelength or angle of the line. You could move your crosshair across to the right from the origin untilthe Distance Tracking indicated approximately 20,000, which is the length of the line, but it still

wouldnt be accurate enough. To have control and accuracy for the lines we draw we typecoordinates instead. LANDWorksCAD has three coordinate systems that can be used:


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Cartesian: uses horizontal (X), vertical (Y) and height (Z)

Cylindrical: uses distance (D), angle (A) and height (Z)

Mapping: uses bearing (B), length (L) and height (Z)

These coordinate systems can be used interchangeably.

For this tutorial well ignore the Z coordinate because we are only drawing in 2D.

Well start with the horizontal line and well use the Mappingcoordinate system.

14. Press Bon the keyboard and then look at the Coordinates Bar. The X, Y, Z coordinates thatwere displayed before have been replaced by B, L, Z for mapping as shown in Fig 26.

Fig 26

For this horizontal line the bearing is 90 and the length is 20,000mm (20m).

15. Type 90for the bearing.

16. Type a space(using the spacebar) this moves the focus to the L coordinate box as shownin Fig 27.

Fig 27

17. Type 20000for the length of the line.

18. Press Enterand the line is drawn.

Youre probably thinking it seems a lot of work just to define a line, but with only a little practiceyoull find coordinate entry quick, easy, accurate and efficient.

The Prompt Bar still prompts you to Select the end of the line - so you can immediately draw thevertical line.

The vertical line has a bearing of 0 and a length of 42,000mm (42m).

19. To draw the vertical line, type the following while watching the Coordinates Bar carefully:

B 0 space 42000 Enter (Note: the 0 is a zero)

The Prompt Bar still prompts you to Select the end of the line - so you can draw the next line.

The back line has a bearing of 250 and a length of 26,000mm (26m).

20. To draw the back line, type the following:

B 250 space 26000 Enter

To draw the LH line we can simply snap to the beginning of the horizontal line21. Move your crosshair over the LH end of the horizontal line until a small square appears (not a

diamond) as shown in Fig 28. (the line is shown very thick here to make it easier to see)

Fig 28

22. When you see the square, click.

The last line will be drawn connecting exactly to the beginning of the first line.


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23. Right click to terminate drawing that sequence of l ines.


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Drawthehouseoutline

OK, now weve got the site boundary in place, lets draw the outline of the house, ensuring it iscorrectly positioned on the property.

The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Select the start of the line, but first well set the lineproperties.

24. Select the Default/Change Style Setlist box as shown in Fig 29 and select the HouseStyleSet from the list displayed.

Fig 29

The bottom LH corner of the house is 2m from the LH property boundary and 6m back from thefront property boundary. We can define this point easily using an offset construction and welluse XY coordinates to draw the house outline.

25. To use an offset construction, select the Locate an offset point icon from the Interrupt

Toolbar as shown in Fig 30.

Fig 30

The dialog box shown in Fig 31 will be displayed, allowing you to choose whether you want tooffset from one or two entities and how far the offset(s) are.

Fig 31

26. Tick the two Fix Distance boxes; enter the distances shown in Fig 31 and click OK.

The Prompt Bar prompts you to Locate the first offset entity.

The first distance you entered was 6000, so the first entity to locate is the front boundary line.

27. To Locate the front boundary line, move your crosshair over the line until you see a diamond

(not a square) and then click. It doesnt matter where along the line you locate it.

The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Locate the second offset entity.

28. Locate the LH property boundary.

The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Locate the intersection position.

29. Dont click your mouse button yet, but move your crosshair around the screen a little.Depending on where your crosshair is, you will see one of four possible intersection points,indicated by a small + sign where the two moving guide-lines intersect. We didnt tellLANDWorksCAD on which side of the entities the offsets were to occur so, with two lines eachhaving two sides to choose from, there are four possible answers.

30. Move your crosshair around until the intersecting lines look like Fig 32 and then click.


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Fig 32

31. The dialog box shown in Fig 31 will be redisplayed in case you want to end the line using theoffset construction, but we dont so select the Cancel button.

A rubber band line will now be attached to your crosshair, starting at the offset point defined, asshown in Fig 33. (your Distance Tracking number may be different to this one its not critical)

Fig 33

32. To draw the bottom, horizontal line of the house outline type:

X 6000 Enter

To draw the remaining lines of the house, type the following sequence:

Y 4000 Enter

X 10000Enter

Y 8000Enter

X -4000Enter (note the minus sign)

Y 4000EnterX -12000Enter (note the minus sign

Y -16000Enter (note the minus sign)

The minus signs are required to ensure the line is drawn in the desired opposite direction. Apositive value draws a line in direction of the Workplane arrows shown by Fig 34. Negativevalues draw the lines in the reverse direction.

Fig 34


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33. Right click to terminate drawing the house outline.

The house outline should be complete and positioned correctly on the property. Fig 35.

Fig 35

Now well draw the patio, steps, paths and driveway, starting with the patio


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Drawthesimplerectangularpatio

The Prompt Bar is prompting you to Select the start of the line, but first well set the lineproperties again.

34. Select the Default/Change Style Set icon as shown in Fig 36 and then select the PavingStyle Set from the list displayed.

Fig 36

LANDWorksCAD has a number of options that allow us to accurately control the position andplacement of objects. Well use one of these now to start the horizontal patio line in the correctposition, 1000mm back from the front of the house.

35. Select the Locate along a reference entityicon from the Interrupt Toolbar as shown in Fig37.

Fig 37

The dialog box shown in Fig 38 will be displayed, allowing you to choose how far along a line youwish to start.

Fig 38

36. Set the distance as shown and then click OK.

The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Select the reference entity.

37. Locate the vertical line of the house towards its bottom end but not right on the end. Fig 39.

Fig 39

38. The dialog box shown in Fig 38will be displayed again to allow you to define the end of theline you are drawing in the same way, but we dont want to do that so simply click Cancel.

39. Move your crosshair around the screen. You will notice the rubber-banding of the line you aredrawing starting from the point you just defined.

The Prompt Bar prompts you to Select the end of the line.


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Well type in coordinates now to ensure accuracy.

40. Type the following: X 6000 Enter

This draws a horizontal line 6000mm (6m) long to the right.

41. And now type: Y 3000 Enter

This draws a vertical line 3000mm (3m) going up.

The patios done easy eh? It should look like Fig 40.

Fig 40

42. Right-click to terminate this sequence of lines.

43. Right-click again to terminate drawing freehand lines.

This was one of several ways we could have drawn the patio lines. You will find there is alwaysmore than one way to draw using CAD. Well use some other techniques to draw the paths anddriveway.


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Drawthedrivewayandstraightpath

It may seem a strange way of doing things, but well just draw the RH driveway line and the LHpath line to start with. Stay with it; itll make sense as you do it all.

The RH driveway line is offset 300mm in from the edge of the house and goes down to meet theboundary line. Well use a vertical line and the technique in step 35 in the previous section todraw this line.

44. Select the Insert vertical lineicon from the Main Toolbar as shown in Fig 41.

Fig 41

The Prompt Bar prompts you to Select the start of the vertical line.

45. Select the Locate along a reference entityicon from the Interrupt Toolbar as shown in Fig37.

46. Set the distance to 300 in the dialog box that appears and click OK.

47. Locate line A towards its RH end as indicated. (A diamond not a square on your cursorplease)

48. Cancel the dialog box that re-appears.

49. Move your crosshair around the screen. This time the rubber-band only moves verticallybecause we are drawing a vertical line and the new line starts 300mm from the end of theselected line.

50. Locate the bottom, horizontal boundary line B.

The RH line of the driveway is drawn.Now well draw the LH line of the straight path.

51. Snap to the bottom of line as shown by C.

52. Locate the bottom, horizontal boundary line again as indicated by the B.

The LH line of the path is drawn and your drawing should look like Fig 42.

Fig 42

Rather than draw the next lines the same way, well offset the lines we have already drawn.

This is an easy way of copying a line at a specified distance away.

53. Right-click to terminate drawing vertical lines.

A

B

C

DE


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54. Well start with the driveway locate the driveway line now, indicated by the Din Fig 42.

Notice it now appears dotted? This indicates that it is selected and any subsequent commandswill work only on this line.

55. Select the Offset entities by a given distanceicon from the Main Toolbar as shown in Fig43.

Fig 43

The dialog box shown in Fig 44 will be displayed, allowing you to choose how far from theselected line you want to offset the new line.

Fig 44

56. The driveway is 3400mm wide so enter that amount into the Offset distance box as shownand then click OK.

The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Select the position of the offset profile, from the selectedentity. This basically means which side of the line do you want the copy?

57. Position your crosshair so it is anywhere to the LEFT of the dotted line and click.

The other driveway line will appear.

58. The Prompt Bar still prompts you to Select the position of the offset profile, from the selected

entityso we could continue to repeatedly offset the line we selected, but we want to offset thepath line now instead, so right-click to terminate the current offset sequence.

59. Locate the path line that we drew earlier, indicated by the Ein Fig 42.

60. Select the Offset entities by a given distanceicon from the Main Toolbar again, but set theOffset distance (the path width) to 1500 this time.

61. Position your crosshair so it is anywhere to the RIGHT of the dotted line and click.

The other path line will appear. Youll notice it doesnt reach the patio, but we can trim/extend itto meet.

62. Right-click to terminate the Offset command.

63. Right-click again to de-select the dotted path line.

Your drawing should look like Fig 45.


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Fig 45

64. Select the Trim entity to another entityicon from the Main Toolbar as shown in Fig 46.

Fig 46

It may sound funny to use a Trim command for this, but Trimming in LANDWorksCAD reallymeans altering the length of an entity; it can lengthen or shorten an entity. (trim or extend)

The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Select the entity to trim.

65. Locate the RH path line you have just drawn anywhere above its centre as indicated by the Fin Fig 45. The line will appear grey and dotted to indicate it is selected.

The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Select the intersecting entity or the position to trim to.

66. Locate anywhere along the horizontal line Gof the patio. (diamond cursor)

The path line is extended to meet the patio line.

67. Right-click to terminate the trim command.

F

G


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Drawsomesimplestraightsteps

Well draw the steps now, but first lets zoom into make life easier.

Remember how to zoom in? See the instructions that start on page 12 for full details, but for now

position your crosshair roughly in the middle of the bottom boundary line and roll the wheeltowards you until the patio area is bigger on the screen. Dont zoom in too far.

The bottom step goes from the edge of the house across to the path and is a horizontal line.

68. Select the Insert horizontal lineicon from the Main Toolbar as shown in Fig 47.

Fig 47

The Prompt Bar prompts you to Select the start of the horizontal line.

69. Snap to the end of lineA(shown in Fig 45)

70. Locate anywhere along the RH path line B.

71. Right-click to terminate drawing horizontal lines; theres an even easier way of putting the restof the steps in.

Your drawing should look like Fig 48. You may not see both boundary lines depending on howyou zoomed in.

Fig 48

72. Locate the step line you just drew.

73. Select the Translate (Copy) entit iesicon from the Main Toolbar as shown in Fig 49.

Fig 49

The Translate (Copy) Options dialog box shown in Fig 50will be displayed.

A

B


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Fig 50

74. We need 3 more lines spaced 250mm apart going up the screen (in the Y direction) so set thefields as shown here then click OK.

Three more lines will appear, completing the steps.

75. Right-click to de-select the dotted step line.

Your drawing should look like Fig 51.

Fig 51


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Drawthecurvedpath

Now for the curved path. Well create this without using quite as much accuracy as the path anddriveway to show how you can draw something so it looks right rather than based purely on

coordinates. Well be drawing 1 arc and then offsetting it so at least the width of the path isaccurate.

76. Select the Insert Arc by start, circumference and end points icon from the Main Toolbaras shown in Fig 52.

Fig 52

The Prompt Bar prompts you to Select the start of the arc.

77. Click approximately where the point labelled 1is shown in Fig 53.

Fig 53

The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Select a point on the circumference of the arc.


As you move your crosshair now you will see a curved rubber-band.

The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Select the end of the arc.


The arc will be drawn and should look similar to Fig 54. Dont worry if it doesnt look exactly the

same. The idea here was to put in a path that looks right and that is up to you.

12

3


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Fig 54

80. The Prompt Bar prompts you to Select the start of the arc allowing you to draw more arcs ifyou wish, but well create the other side of the path by offsetting the arc we just drew, so right-click to terminate the command.

81. Locate the arc you just drew it will appear dotted.82. Select the Offset entities by a given distanceicon from the Main Toolbar as shown in Fig

55.

Fig 55

The dialog box shown in Fig 56 will be displayed, allowing you to choose how far from theselected arc you want to offset the new arc.

Fig 56

83. The path is 1500mm wide so enter 1500into the Offset distance box and then click OK.

The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Select the position of the offset profile, from the selectedentity. This means which side of the arc do you want the copy?

84. Position your crosshair so it is BELOW the dotted arc and click.

The arc defining the other side of the path will appear.

85. The Prompt Bar remains the same, meaning we could continue to offset the arc, but wevefinished for now, so right-click to terminate the current offset.

86. Right-click again to de-select the dotted arc.

Your path should look similar to Fig 57.


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Fig 57

Obviously it looks a little messy at the moment, but we can tidy it up easily by trimming again.

LANDWorksCAD has a fantastic tool called the Magic Eraser, which makes trimming anddeleting linear entities amazingly quick and easy. By linear entities we mean lines, arcs, circles

and curves. The Magic Eraser works as follows when no command is active, ie, the promptdisplays Select command or entities, hold down the ALT key, then hold down your LEFT mousebutton and drag the crosshair over the entities to be deleted and/or trimmed. Your crosshair willchange shape to look like a pencil with an eraser on the end and as it moves across the screen itdisplays a temporary tracking path. Any entity the eraser crosses will be deleted or trimmed, asappropriate if the entity is not crossed by any other entity, it is deleted; if the entity is crossed byanother entity or entities, the part of the entity crossed by the Magic Eraser is trimmed. Well usethis technique to tidy up the paths.

87. Using the Magic Eraser technique described above, drag your crosshair over the RH ends ofthe arcs you just drew, as indicated by the wiggly line in Fig 58 below. It doesnt matterwhether you drag from top to bottom or vice versa. The end sections of the arcs will betrimmed back to the LH driveway line.

Fig 58

88. Use the Magic Eraser to trim the LH ends of the arcs. Remember, if you make a mistakesimply click the Undo icon at the bottom of the screen.

Your path should now look similar to Fig 59.


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Fig 59

Now we can use the Magic Eraser to tidy up where the curved path meets the straight path anddriveway.

89. Using the Magic Eraser technique, drag your crosshair across the driveway and straight pathlines as shown in Fig 60 below.

Fig 60

90. The sections of driveway and straight path between the 2 arcs will be trimmed, making thepath look much neater. Your drawing should look similar to Fig 61.

Fig 61

91. In creating this curved path we positioned it purely by eye. The only accuracy involved wasdefining the width of the path. We could have positioned the first arc with far more accuracy ifwe wished by defining the centre of the arc using coordinates. The point to be made here isthat LANDWorksCAD can be as accurate or free-form as you want it to be.

Lets zoom out so we can see the whole drawing again.

92. Select the Zoom fit entities to windowicon from the toolbar as shown in Fig 62.


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Fig 62


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Hatchthehouseoutline

Now well hatch the house outline, but first well set the line properties again.

93. Select the Default/Change Style Seticon as shown in Fig 63 and then select the Hatching

Style Set from the list displayed.

Fig 63

94. Select the Insert plane by interior posit ionicon from the tool bar as show in Fig 64.

Fig 64

The Prompt Bar prompts you to Locate the interior of the polygon to fill.95. Click anywhere inside the house outline.

Your house should now look like Fig 65.

Fig 65

The hatching you see here was predefined as part of the original file you opened to start thistutorial. LANDWorksCAD contains many other predefined patterns and you also have the abilityto define your own patterns.

It may seem that its taken a fair while to get the house, etc in place, but with experience andpractice this will become much easier and faster.just like driving a car.


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Drawcurvedgardenedging

So now lets work on the garden. The idea is that you are designing a new backyard for yourclient. Theres not much there at the moment, but youre about to wave your magical designers

wand!Well start by putting in the proposed garden edging using a freeform curve. Then well insertsome symbols to represent the existing vegetation. Finally well insert some more realisticlooking symbols for the proposed vegetation.

As usual, well set the line properties first.

96. Select the Default/Change Style Set icon as shown in Fig 63 above and then select theGardens Style Set from the list displayed.

97. Select the Insert curveicon from the Main Toolbar as shown in Fig 66.

Fig 66

98. The Curve Insert dialog box will appear allowing you to set the Curve degree. For now welljust leave it at the default setting of 2. Select OK to continue.

The Prompt Bar prompts you to Select the start of the curve.

Well be putting in a curve that roughly follows the points shown in Fig 67 below. We sayroughly because it is not critical exactly where the garden edge is. Feel free to experiment a bitif you wish.

99. Click roughly where each point is shown in Fig 67 going from left to right. A curve will beinserted, following the points you insert.

Fig 67

100. After youve clicked on the last position, right-click to terminate the command.

Your finished garden edging should look something like that shown in Fig 68 allowing for yourpossible creative experimentation!


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Fig 68

The ends of the curves are obviously too long, so well trim them back to meet the boundarylines.

101. Using the Magic Eraser technique drag your crosshair over the two end sections ofthe curve that extend past the boundary lines, as shown in Fig 69below.

Fig 69

Your curve should now look similar to that shown in Fig 70 below.

Fig 70

Hmmm, looks pretty good, but not quite right. The bulge indicated by the red ellipse in Fig 71should be deeper; more like Fig 72.

Fig 71 Fig 72

We can achieve this, without having to redraw the whole garden edge, by moving the curvescontrol points.

102. Locate the garden edge curve anywhere along it is fine. The curves control points(or handles) will appear, as shown in Fig 73.


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Fig 73

103. Locate the point indicated by the number 1in Fig 73.

104. Click and drag your crosshair youll find the point you just located follows yourcrosshair and drags a section of the curve with it, allowing you to see how the shape of thecurve will be changed. Release the mouse button when you are happy with the shape.

105. The command is still active; so repeat for the points numbered 2 and 3.

106. Right-click to terminate the command when youve moved the third point.

107. The curve may look a bit dotted once the control points are turned off. To refresh thescreen, select the Repaint windows icon from the Quick Toolbar at the bottom of the screenas shown in Fig 74.

Fig 74

The resultant garden edging should look similar to that shown. It doesnt matter if its not exactlythe same; youre just playing and learning at this stage. The idea is that you know you dont have

to necessarily redraw things. They can simply be edited.OK, now its time to put in some existing trees


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Insertexistingtreesandplants

Well put in some figures to represent the trees and plants that exist in the backyard at themoment. Some of the trees are to be removed, some are to be retained. Well then label them

and produce a schedule of existing plants. Please note this tutorial does not cover insertingconcept plants.

First though, as ever, well set the line properties.

108. Select the Default/Change Style Set icon and then select the Vegetation-existingStyle Set from the list displayed.

109. Now select the Insert Existing Plant icon from the LANDWorksCAD Toolbar.

The dialog box similar to that shown in Fig 75 will be displayed. There may be a slight delaybefore it appears as LANDWorksCAD connects for the first time to its Excel database of plants.

Fig 75

This dialog box lists all the plants that have been defined in the Existing Plants section of theLANDWorksCAD Excel database of plants.

The area at the top of the dialog box, called Selected Items, is where you select the plant youwant from the list.

The buttons below the Selected Items list let you work with the database from withinLANDWorksCAD. See manual for details on how this works.

110. Try selecting a plant from the list to see what they look like.

The Insert Figuresection of the dialog box lets you insert the selected plant in several differentways. 1 Point, 2 Points, Scale 2 Points

The Replacebutton allows you to replace an existing figure on the drawing with one you selectfrom the list. More on this later.

The Cancel button is, hopefully self-evident; clicking this button closes the dialog box without

anything being done, no matter what you might have clicked on to that point.

Well be putting in four plants as shown in Fig 76 (the numbers are for identification purposes

only).


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Fig 76

111. The first three plants to be inserted are actually going to be removed as part of thenew garden design, so select the first plant in the list, the one with the description that saysremove, and then click the 1 Point button.

An image of the plant will be attached to your crosshair and the Prompt Bar prompts you toLocate the position to place the plant.

112. Position your plant approximately where the item labelled 1 is shown in Fig 76 andclick your left mouse button to insert it. It doesnt matter if its not in the exact position shownand dont worry about the size of the plants, this will be adjusted later.

113. The image of the plant remains attached to your crosshair and the Prompt Bar stillprompts you to Locate the position to place the plant so insert two more plants where theitems labelled 2and 3are shown.

114. The fourth tree will be retained in the new garden design, so right click to stopinserting plants.

115. Select the Insert Existing Plant icon againfrom the LANDWorksCAD Toolbar.

116. This time select the second plant in the list, the one with the description that saysretain, click the 1 Point button and insert the plant where the item labelled 4is shown in Fig

76.

117. Right-click to stop inserting plants.

Now well correctly identify, label and resize size these existing trees.


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Labelandsizetheexistingtreesandplants

118. Select the Label Existing Planticon from the LANDWorksCAD Toolbar.


Fig 77

119. Enter the information shown here. The Botanical Name, Label item usingand Statusinformation can be selected from their drop down boxes. The Item Name is automaticallygenerated. All other information needs to be typed in. You can press the Tabkey to movefrom field to field.

Brief explanations of the options in this dialog box are given below:

Botanical Namelets you identify the existing plant by its Botanical name.

Label item usinglets you choose which property of the plant is used to actually label it, eg,you could label it with its common name for a copy of the drawing thats going to the client.In this case were using the Botanical name. The items in this list are taken from theLANDWorksCAD database.

Item Namelists the value of the property selected in the Label item usingbox. It can beedited if required.

Label Prefix defines a prefix to help identify the plants, eg, if you have a number ofBanksia ericifolia, you could set the prefix to Be and they would be labelled Be1, Be2, etc.The prefix can be up to 256 characters long.

Text Size lets you define the size of the text used to label the plants. If Scale text by the

plot scale is ticked, the size entered is multiplied by the drawings plot scale so it can beseen on screen. If Scale text by the plot scale is not ticked, you must determine how bigthe text needs to be to be visible on the screen.

Trunk Diameteris the actual, measured diameter of the plants trunk.

Heightis the actual, measured height of the plant.

Spread is the actual, measured diameter of the plants foliage. This value will be used toresize the figure so it is the correct size on the screen.

Status 1 & 2 let you select some common conditions of plants.

Comments let you add additional information to the drawing.

120. Press OK to continue.

The Prompt Bar prompts you to Select the figure to label.


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121. Locate figure 1. It will turn grey and the text label T1 will be attached to yourcrosshair.

The Prompt Bar now prompts you to Select the position of the label.

122. Click roughly in the middle of the figure.

The figure will be re-sized based on the spread value entered in the dialog box, the label T1willbe inserted where you indicated and the dialog box will be re-displayed.

123. Repeat the process for the other figures, with the information shown in Table 2.

If you make a mistake at any stage, cancel from the dialog box and Undo what you have done.You will have to select the Undo icon a number of times to completely undo the resizing andlabelling because there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes. Just watch the screen untilthe figure is back to its original size.

Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4

BotanicalName

Lagerstroemiaindica

Lagerstroemiaindica

Ceratopetalumgummiferum

Label ItemUsing

Botanicalname

Botanicalname

Botanicalname

Item Name Lagerstroemiaindica

Lagerstroemiaindica

Ceratopetalumgummiferum

LabelPrefix

T T T

Text Size 5 5 5

TrunkDiameter

400 400 200

Height 15000 15000 5000

Spread 10000 10000 4000

Status 1 Remove Remove RetainStatus 2

Comments

Scale textby plotscale

Table 2

124. Cancel the dialog box when it re-appears after the fourth figure. This will terminatethe command.

Your screen should look similar to Fig 78. Notice how the figures have been resized to match thespread value and the labels have been inserted.


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Fig 78

Having labelled the existing plants, we can now automatically create and insert an Existing PlantSchedule.


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Insert schedulefortheexistingtreesandplants

125. Select the Existing Plant Scheduleicon from the LANDWorksCAD Toolbar.


Fig 79

126. Leave the heading as it is, change the Table Size to 500 as shown and make sure allthe boxes are ticked. Hopefully these options are self-explanatory you can choose whetheror not you want this information included in the schedule.

127. Press OK to continue.

The Prompt Bar prompts you to Locate the position of the tree schedule.

128. Well need to zoom out slightly because were going to place the schedule below thebottom boundary line so point your crosshair roughly in the middle of the house and roll themouse wheel away from you until your drawing is about half the size.

129. Click about 5mm below the bottom LH corner of the boundary lines. The point youare locating is the top LH corner of the schedule.

A list of the existing plants with their relevant information will be inserted into your drawing. Thisis the schedule, but its probably too small to read so lets zoom in and have a look at it.

130. Point your crosshair roughly in the middle of the schedule text and roll the mousewheel towards you until you can read the text.

You should be able to read the text now, as shown in Fig 80 and you can see that it is theinformation you entered for the Label Existing Plantcommand earlier.

Fig 80

OK, now lets put in some new proposed trees and plants into the drawing.


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Insertproposedtreesandplants

First well zoom back so we can see the whole property.

131. Select the Zoom fit entities to window icon from the Interrupt Toolbar. Its one on

the bottom row of Error! Reference source not found.above. Move your cursor over eachicon until you find it.

Lets set the line properties as usual.

132. Select the Default/Change Style Set icon (look back at Fig 63 if youve forgottenhow) and then select the Vegetation-proposed Style Set from the dialog box that is displayed.

133. To insert proposed plant, select the Insert Proposed Plant icon from theLANDWorksCAD Toolbar.


Fig 81

The area at the top of the dialog box, called Selected Items, lets you select the plant you want toinsert into your drawing. This list is obtained from the LANDWorksCAD database spread sheet

called LANDWorksCADPlantDatabase .xls.134. Click once anywhere in the row of the plant you want.

Preview images of the plant will be displayed in the six bottom right hand boxes. The images thatare displayed will depend on what has been defined in your LANDWorksCAD database.

135. Select a few plants to see their preview images. Scroll down to see more plants andscroll sideways to see more information about the plants.

The buttons directly under the Selected Items list let you edit the database from withinLANDWorksCAD. And the areas below that, called Paletteand Search Field, let you search forplants based on certain criteria or combinations of criteria, e.g. a plants botanical name, a plantscommon name or even a minimum height. This is not covered in this Getting Started tutorial.

When youre happy with the plant you have selected, you can insert it into your drawing in severaldifferent ways. These techniques are explained in detail in the manual that we encourage you tolook at! The three most basic methods are explained here though.


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The plant you selected is attached to your crosshair and is inserted whereyou click your mouse at the nominated or original size and rotation.

The plant you selected is attached to your crosshair and is inserted whereyou click your mouse at the nominated or original size. Move the mouse anda second click determines the rotation/orientation.

The plant you selected is attached to your crosshair and is inserted whereyou click your mouse. Move the mouse and a second click determines therotation/orientation and size of the plant.

136. For now scroll through the list of plants and find one you like the look of. Click on the1 Point option.

An image of the plant will appear attached to your crosshair and the Prompt Box prompts you toLocate the position to place the plant. The image is the one that was seen in the top LHpreview box in the dialog box, but this can be changed later.

137. Position your plant somewhere in the back garden area and click to insert it. Youmay want to zoom in closer to the garden area first.

138. The image of the plant remains attached to your crosshair and the Prompt Bar still

prompts you to Locate the position to place the plant so you can insert more than one of eachplant if you want to. Insert a couple more.

139. Right-click when youve finished inserting that plant.

140. Select the Insert Proposed Planticon again and choose another plant, but thistime click the 2 Point option.

Like before, an image of the plant will appear attached to your crosshair, but this time the PromptBar prompts you to Locate the centre of the plant.

141. Click somewhere in the garden area to position your plant and then move yourcrosshair away to see what happens next.

142. You now have the ability to adjust the orientation of the plant. The Prompt Barprompts you to Locate the outside of the plant. Click again when youre happy with its

orientation.

143. As before, after youve inserted one plant, the plant image remains attached to yourcrosshair and you can insert more of that plant. Put some more in.

144. Right-click when youve finished inserting that plant.

145. Select the Insert Proposed Planticon again and choose yet another plant, butthis time click the Scale 2 Points button to insert it.

Like before, an image of the plant will appear attached to your crosshair, and the Prompt Barprompts you to Locate the centre of the plant.

146. Click somewhere in the garden area to position your plant and then move yourcrosshair away to see what happens next.

You now have the ability to adjust both the orientation and the size of the plant.

147. Move your crosshair until youre happy with the orientation and size of your plant andthen click.

148. The command is still active, so put a few more of this plant in the back garden. Tryusing different orientations and sizes. Right-click to terminate the command when youvefinished.

Your garden area might look something like Fig 82 when youve finished. Probably much better!


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Fig 82

Currently the plants are displayed as basic figures, but they can be displayed as detail figuresor as bitmap images. Exactly how they look depends on how they are defined in theLANDWorksCAD database.

149. Select the Plant Display Switchingicon from the LANDWorksCAD menu.


Fig 83

150. Click on the white dot next to Show Detail Figures, as shown and click OK.


Fig 84


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151. Click Yes and all the plants you have inserted as basic figures will be redisplayed asdetail figures. Your garden area might look something like Fig 85.

Fig 85Because we didnt pre-select any plant figures, all plants were changed to Detail figures. If weselect some plant figures before choosing the command, only those selected plants will bedisplayed as chosen.

Well change the display to bitmap images, but well pre-select some plant figures so only theychange.

Drag a selection window from position A to position B, as shown in Fig 86. By drag a selectionwindow we mean place your crosshair at position A, hold down your left mouse button, drag yourcrosshair over to position B and then release your mouse button. The figures inside the selectionrectangle will turn grey, indicating they have been selected.

Fig 86

152. Select the Plant Display Switchingicon from the LANDWorksCAD menu, clickon Show Bitmap Images and click OK. You wont be asked if you want all plants modified thistime.

153. Repaint the screen by selecting the Repaint Windows icon at the bottom of thescreen as shown in Fig 87. This will ensure the screen display refreshes both the line work andthe bitmap images.


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Fig 87

Your garden area might now look something like Fig 88.

Fig 88

154. Select the Plant Display Switching icon from the LANDWorksCAD menu andselect Show Detail Figures again. Well work in that mode from now on.


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Labeltheproposedtreesandplants

Now well label the new plants, but of course well set the line properties first as usual.

155. Select the Default/Change Style Set icon and then select the Text Style Set from

the dialog box.

The labels will look similar to Fig 89.

Fig 89

156. You will be asked to select 3 points to define the label:

1. the Start of the leader (the lines) which is the tip of the arrowhead

2. the corner of the leader

3. the end of the leader157. The thing to remember is that you define the points of the label moving away from the

plant. If you make a mistake, simply right-click to terminate the command, select the Undoiconand then repeat the command.

158. Select the Label Proposed Planticon from the LANDWorksCAD Toolbar.

159. The dialog box shown in Fig 90 will be displayed

Fig 90

Explanations of all the options in this dialog box are given in the manual


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160. Set the information as shown in Fig 90 and click OK. Because we havent selectedany plants, Number of plantsis set to 1.

The Prompt Bar prompts you to Locate the entity to label.

161. Select a plant. Here were selecting the plant in the top RH corner. It will turn grey toindicate it has been selected.

162. Follow the prompts in the Prompt Bar to insert the label. It should look similar to Fig91.

Fig 91

Note: to keep the leader line between points 2 and 3 horizontal, hold down the Shift key as youdefine point 3.

163. The command is still active, so label a couple more plants, but dont label them all,well try something slightly different next. When youve finished labelling plants, right-click tostop the command. Remember, if you make a mistake, simply right-click to terminate thecommand, then select the Undoicon and then repeat the command.

This time well select some plants before running the command.

164. First select all the same plant species. To do this select the first plant, hold down theShift key and select the other plants.

165. Now select the Label Proposed Planticon from the LANDWorksCAD Toolbar.The Number of Plantsbox shows you the number of plants you have pre-selected. This onlyworks for plants that are the same species of course otherwise the labelling would be incorrect.

166. Click OK and draw the label from one of the plants.The label is inserted and lines are drawn between each of the selected plants, indicating the labelapplies to them as well. These lines can be changed to any colour, style and weight that youprefer.

167. If there are any plants not yet labelled, label them now. Use either technique asingle plant or multiple plants. Remember to right-click to stop the command if you changetechniques.

When all labels are in, your drawing might look something like Fig 92.

Fig 92

Insert legendfortheproposedtreesandplants

We can also insert a legend that describes the plants in more detail. It should be noted that youdont have to label the plants and insert a legend; they are not dependent on each other. Youcan label the plants and/or insert a legend.

First of all we need to zoom out to give us room to place the legend.


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168. Select the Zoom fit entities to windowicon (see if you can work out which one it is)

169. Then select the Zoom outicon and click in the middle of the house.

170. Right-click to terminate zooming.

171. Now select the Proposed Plant Legend icon from the LANDWorksCADToolbar.

172. The dialog box shown in Fig 93 will be displayed.

Fig 93

173. Brief explanations of the options in this dialog box follow:

Database Fields and Legend Fieldslets you control what information about the plants is tobe displayed in the legend. You can refer to the manual for details on setting these up tosuit your needs.

Headinglets you enter a heading for the legend.

Group By lets you group the plants in the legend by a common factor, eg, here we aregrouping plants by Type, so all shrubs will be listed together, all trees, all palms, etc.

Show Borderscontrols if the legend has lines surrounding it and between the columns and

rows of data.

Show Relative Sizecontrols whether the sample images of the plants that are shown inthe legend are drawn at relative size or all at the same size.

Show Quantitycontrols if the quantity of each plant is included in the legend.

Show Quantity Lastcontrols if the quantity of each plant is shown in the last column of the

legend or the second column.


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Table Size is an indication of the size of the legend on the screen. You may have toexperiment to find the size that suits your drawing.

174. Set the options you desire and then click OK.

The Prompt Bar prompts you to Locate the position of the legend.

175. Click approximately 5mm below the LH end of the Existing Plant Schedule.

176. The legend will be drawn. You may need to zoom in to read it use the mouse wheelor the Zoom in icon until you can read it, as shown in Fig 94. Yours will probably look differentto this one because you have inserted different plants with different quantities and differentitems in the Legend

Fig 94

Notice it shows the symbol used for the plant and all the information that was selected in Fig 93above. Also, the plants have been grouped by their Type.

177. Note down the name and quantity of the first plant in the legend. Well do somethingwith it in a moment.

178. Select the Zoom fit entities to windowicon so we can see the whole drawing again.


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Updatethelegend

OK, the client decides they want another one of the plants that is first in the legend, but in thefront garden. (I told you wed do something with it soon) Rather than go through the standard

insertion procedure, we can just copy one of the existing palms and then update the legend.179. To copy the plant do the following steps:

a) point to the plant so that the selection diamond appears dont click or do anything else justyet

c) press down your left mouse button and keep holding it down dont let go until told to!

d) press down one of the Ctrlkeys on the keyboard and keep holding it down again dont letgo!

e) move your mouse an image of the plant will be attached to your crosshair.

f) drag the plant to the front of the house, near the existing plant labelled T1.

g) release the mouse button only when you are happy with the position

h) now release the Ctrl key

This is one way of copying something in LANDWorksCAD. If you hadnt held down the Ctrl key,you would have only moved the plant, not copied it.

Another way of copying is using the standard Windows Copy and paste method.

180. Select another plant from the garden.

181. Select Edit, Copyfrom the menu or select Ctrl + Con the keyboard if you know thattechnique.

The Prompt Bar prompts you to Select the position to use as the origin of the copied entities.

182. Click again roughly in the middle of the plant.

183. Select Edit, Paste from the menu or type Ctrl + Von the keyboard if you know that

technique.

184. Click somewhere else in the garden, away from the plant you selected.

A copy of the plant will appear.

185. Either of these techniques is a valid way of copying entities in LANDWorksCAD; youjust need to find which suits you best.

Now we have added some new plants, we need to update the legend.

186. To do this, simply repeat the process for inserting a Proposed Plant Legend asdescribed in the previous section, however, when prompted to locate the position of the legend,snap to the top LH corner of the existing legend. The existing legend will be replaced by an up-to-date version.

187. Zoom in on the legend as you did before.

You will see that the quantities have been updated to account for the plants we copied.



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Addsomeotherfigures

LANDWorksCAD is not limited to just plants; it comes with a variety of other objects as well. Asexamples, lets put in a rotary clothes-line and a car.

189. Select the Insert figure by origin and direction icon from the Main Toolbar asshown in Fig 95. This command works the same as the 2 Point technique for inserting plantsyou used previously; the first point you click positions the figure and the second pointorientates it.

Fig 95

190. The dialog box shown in Fig 96 will be displayed. Locate the Furniture and Equipmentfolder (Usually in C:\Users\Public\LANDWorksCAD..\Figures\)

191. Select the Clothes Line Rotaryfile and click the Open button.

Fig 96

An image of the clothes-line will be attached to your crosshair and the Prompt Bar prompts you toLocate the position to place the figure.

192. Position the clothes-line wherever you like in the yard. Click to insert it, move yourcrosshair around and click again to orientate it appropriately.

193. Right-click to terminate the command.

Now for the car

194. Select the Insert figure by origin and direction icon again and select the Cars andTransportfolder, then select your desired car from the list.


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195. Insert and rotate the car into the driveway. Hold Shift to lock the rotation angles asyou move your mouse around.

Almost there now well put a title sheet around the drawing to make it look better, add some textand then we can print the finished drawing.


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Add titlesheettothedrawing

Well insert one of the standard title sheets that are supplied with LANDWorksCAD.

First lets zoom out a little so theres room to work with the title sheet.

196. Select the Insert figure by origin pointicon from the Main Toolbar as shown in Fig97.

Fig 97

197. The dialog box shown in Fig 98 will be displayed and it will still be listing the files inthe previously used folder. Browse back up the folder tree until you can see the Title-Sheetsfolder. (C:\user\public\LANDWorksCAD..\Title-Sheets\..)

Fig 98

198. Select the Title-Sheets folder, scroll until you see the file called Drawing SheetA4V. Click on it once to see a preview.

199. Set both the X Scale and Y Scale options to 200, as shown and then click Open.200is the scale of this tutorial drawing, i.e. the scale required to fit the drawing on to a vertical(portrait) A4 sheet of paper. In this example we are increasing the size of the sheet rather thandecreasing the size of the drawing! This is the simplest way to fit your drawing to the paper butthere are other ways not covered here.

200. An image of the title sheet, A4 size with Vertical orientation and scaled up to suit thedrawing, will be attached to your crosshair. Position it so that it surrounds your beautifuldrawing and click to insert it. It should look like.


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Its possible that all of your drawing may not fit inside the title sheet. This means you need tochange the X and Y scale factors used when inserting the title sheet, but dont concern yourselfwith this detail just now.


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Addtexttothedrawing


202. Select the Insert text by origin pointicon from the Main Toolbar as shown in Fig 99.

Fig 99

203. The dialog box shown in Fig 100 will be displayed, allowing you to enter text.

Fig 100

204. Type in the word Garden as shown. Set the height to 5, then click OK.

The word Garden will be attached to your crosshair and the Prompt Bar prompts you to Locatethe position for the text.

205. Position the text between the front of the patio and the curved path as shown in Fig101 and click. The text will be inserted.

Fig 101

206. Right-click to stop inserting that particular piece of text.

landworkscad v6 getting started tutorial

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