Creating Landscape Areas

Landscape areas are large, defined regions of plant combinations. These can be useful for conceptual planning and for specifying large planting or reforestation areas, when individual plant symbols do not need to be drawn. Plant information from a landscape area is based on plant symbol data, and is included in plant list worksheets. If a site model is present, the landscape area is calculated based on the site model and displays in the Landscape Area Settings dialog box.

A landscape area can also be created without plant information specified, for use as a general ground cover or mulch area with a label showing the total area required.

Landscape area objects can also be created by drawing a polyline and then selecting the Create Objects from Shapes command (see Creating Objects from Shapes).

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To create a landscape area:

1. Click the Landscape Area tool from the Site Planning tool set.

2. Click Preferences from the Tool bar to specify or change the default landscape area parameters.

The Landscape Area Settings dialog box opens.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Tag Information	Specifies the landscape area tag format
Name	Provides a name for the landscape area, which can be displayed in the tag
Tag Display	Select On to display a landscape area tag to the right or left of the leader line; set the left or right position with the Tag Text Angle
Tag Class	Specifies the class for the landscape area tag, or allows a new class to be created for the tag
Tag Line Angle	Specifies the angle of the leader line. Range: 0–360°.
Tag Text Angle	When a landscape area tag is set to display, sets the tag text display angle. Range: 0–360°. To display the area tag to the left, specify an angle greater than 90 or less than 270 degrees. To display the area tag to the right, specify an angle less than 90 or greater than 270 degrees.
Tag Header	Select the information to display in the first line of the landscape tag, or select None to hide the top portion of the ID tag; select Set Custom Tag to define a custom landscape area tag (see Creating a Custom Landscape Area Tag)
Tag Body	Select the information to display in the main portion of the landscape tag, or select None to hide this portion of the ID tag; select Set Custom Tag to define a custom landscape area tag (see Creating a Custom Landscape Area Tag)
Area Units	Select the units for calculating the landscape area; this is set to the file units by default (see Units), but can be changed
Display Tag Line Marker	Displays a marker at the end of the leader line; specify the marker to use by editing the tag class properties (see Setting Class Properties)
Graphics
3D Display	Select a 3D display option for the landscape area; in 3D views, plants conform to the surface of the site model if one exists
2D Only	Does not create a 3D representation of the landscape area; the landscape area displays in top/plan view only
3D Plants	When the landscape area contains plant symbols with an image prop 3D component, switching to a 3D view displays the image props in a rectangular array, for a realistic 3D view. Plant density is determined by the distribution or percentage specified for the landscape area. 3D loci are placed when the plant definitions do not have a 3D component.
3D Poly	Creates a 3D polygon at a default elevation of 0, and can display a fill color when rendered. Alternatively, assign the landscape area a texture from the Render tab of the Object Info palette (Renderworks required)
Texture Bed (Renderworks required)	Creates a texture bed for the 3D representation of the landscape area. If there is more than one site model in the file, the texture bed conforms to the site model that is in the same layer as the landscape area, if there is one. Apply a texture to the landscape area. Select the site model and click Update from the Object Info palette; the landscape area displays as a texture bed on the site model.
Border Style	Specifies the type of border for the edge of the landscape area
Standard	Sets the landscape area border to a single line
Plant Cloud	Draws the landscape area border with a convex or concave cloud shape; specify the cloud billow type and the billow parameters. In addition to selecting the billow size and height, the billow variability sets the variation between the smallest and largest billows.
Plant Line	Creates a freehand plant line border for the landscape area; for a rougher plant line border, specify a short segment length with high segment thickness
Plant Information	Specifies how to calculate the plant quantities of the combined plants in the landscape area, for tag display as well as planting plan worksheets; select Distribution Rate or Percentage
Distribution Rate (automatic coverage area %)	Calculates plant quantity based on plant distribution rate. As each plant is added to the list of plants in the landscape area, its rate per area or from the center is specified; the percentage of each plant in the landscape area is calculated automatically.
Distribution Rate (custom coverage area %)	Calculates plant quantity based on plant distribution rate. As each plant is added to the list of plants in the landscape area, its rate per area or from the center is specified, as well as the percentage of each plant in the landscape area. This option allows plants to be merged within the landscape area.
Percentage	Calculates plant quantity based on plant percentage of the total. As each plant is added to the list of plants in the landscape area, its percentage is specified. The plant distribution rate must be the same for all plants in the landscape area; specify the rate and units to use.
Landscape Area	Displays the landscape area value based on the surface area of the site model found if one exists, or based on the landscape area polyline if no site model is present. The units for the display are specified by Area Units.
Plant list	Displays the plants included in the landscape area, including each plant’s distribution rate and percentage of the plant total. The plant order can be changed by click-dragging an item in the # column to a new position; this affects the plant list order in the plant tag body.
Add	Click to open the Edit Plant Information dialog box, to add a plant to the list of plants in the landscape area, and specify its distribution rate or percentage
Edit	Click to open the Edit Plant Information dialog box, to edit the selected plant; a different plant symbol can be selected, or the plant distribution rate or percentage changed
Delete	Click to delete the selected plant from the list of plants in the landscape area

3. Specify the plants included in the landscape area, as well as their frequency. Click Add to specify or Edit to change an included plant and its distribution rate or percentage value. The total percentage of all plants in the landscape area should be 100 when finished.

The Edit Plant Information dialog box opens.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Plant definition list	To include plant information in the landscape area, select a plant definition for placement. The files and folders available in the current document and in the libraries are listed on the left. Select a file to display thumbnails of the plant definitions available in that location, and select the desired plant definition.
Latin Name/Common Name/Plant/Tag ID	Displays the selected plant’s definition information
Rate	If Distribution Rate is selected in the Landscape Area Preferences dialog box, indicate the plant distribution value and units. This distribution value is used to calculate the plant quantity for each plant type in the landscape area.
Percentage	If Percentage is selected in the Landscape Area Preferences dialog box, indicate the percentage of this plant in the landscape area. Using a fixed distribution rate for all plants, the percentage is used to calculate the plant quantity for each plant type in the landscape area. The total value of all plants must add up to 100%.

4. Click OK, and then click OK again to close the Landscape Area Preferences dialog box.

5. Click the appropriate mode in the Tool bar to select the boundary creation method of the landscape area.

For more information on the Polyline tool modes, see Creating Polylines.

6. Click to set the landscape area’s start point.

7. Click to set the end of the segment and the beginning of the next. Continue drawing segments in this manner until the landscape area object is complete.

The appearance of the landscape area is controlled by several methods.

●    Change the landscape area parameters from the Object Info palette, including specifying a general unit price (for indicating the price per square unit in worksheets), price code (such as a SKU number) and vertex parameters; click Landscape Area Settings from the Object Info palette to change landscape area information and other preference parameters

●    Change the landscape area 2D attributes from the Attributes palette

●    Change the landscape area tag appearance by editing its parameters from the Object Info palette, editing the tag class properties, and/or moving tag control points (similar to a plant tag; see Plant Tag Appearance)

●    To align landscape area tags for improved readability, use the Align/Distribute Leader Lines command (see Aligning and Distributing Leader Lines)

●    Reshape the landscape area by double-clicking on it; the Reshape tool is automatically activated, to reshape the object directly in the drawing

●    Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac) on the landscape area object and select Edit from the context menu. The Edit Landscape Area dialog box opens. Either edit the settings of the selected landscape area, or edit the shape of the object path with the Reshape tool.

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Creating a Custom Landscape Area Tag

Creating Landscape Area Schedules

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