Adding Plants to the Design

Generally, plants are defined first, and then placed. Plant parameters are set by the definition, but if necessary, certain parameters can be changed in the Plant Tool Preferences dialog box before placement, or in the Plant Settings dialog box, accessed from the Object Info palette, after placement. Another way of placing plants is to place “generic” plants from the installed content, and create plant definitions for them later.

In addition to the appearance and parameters defined for plants, the Plant tool can place plants in several configurations, from single plants to arrays of plants. When setting parameters after placement, an array of plants is considered to be a single “plant” in the Object Info palette. Plants can also created by drawing a polyline and then selecting the Create Objects from Shapes command (see Creating Objects from Shapes).

See Concept: Plants Overview for a discussion of the relationship between plant definitions and the settings for an individual plant instance.

In Massing Creation mode, valid objects are highlighted as the cursor moves over them. Click on a valid object to place the plant. According to the placement settings, the plant follows the path of, or fills, the object.

The Plant tool preferences are retained so that you can easily place additional plants.

Although the Plant Tool Preferences dialog box appears similar to the Edit Plant Definition dialog box, changes made to the preferences do not affect the plant definition.

Plant Tool Preferences: Definition Pane

The Definition pane is used to select the plant definition for placement by the Plant tool. From any pane, you can also edit the plant definition parameters or create a new plant definition, as described in Creating Plant Definitions.

Parameter	Description
Plant selector box	Opens the Resource Selector to select a plant definition for placement; double-click a resource to activate it
Latin/Common	Displays the name of the plant definition for the selected plant
Duplicate	Click to create a duplicate plant based on the selected plant’s definition; see Creating Plant Definitions

Plant Tool Preferences: Size Pane

Parameter	Description
Spread/Height	Use the displayed plant definition values, or enter custom values
Spacing	Use the displayed plant definition spacing settings, or select a custom spacing parameter
Hedge Rows	Specifies the number of hedge rows to create when Hedge mode is enabled
On Plant List	Select the option to include the plant in plant report worksheets

Plant Tool Preferences: Schedule Pane

The Schedule pane displays the default schedule settings from the plant definition; see Plant Definition: Schedule Pane. For each parameter, select Use Plant Definition, or select Custom and enter a value.

Plant Tool Preferences: Render Pane

The Render pane displays the default render settings from the plant definition; see Plant Definition: Render Pane. For each parameter, select Use Plant Definition, or select the Custom outline and massing option, and/or select the No Shadow, Use Document Preference Settings, or Custom shadow setting.

Plant Tool Preferences: Annotation Pane

Parameter	Description
Mode	Select the plant placement mode
Polygon Display	For multiple plant placements, changes the display of the boundary or center polygon defining the plant cluster shape.
Tick Style	Select a tick mark (plant center mark) style
Tick Size	Specifies the tick mark size
Tick Class	To control appearance and visibility, select a class for the tick mark from the list of classes present in the drawing, or create a new class. Select <Plant Class> to place the tick mark in the same class as the plant object.
Plant Rotation	For multi-plant placements, orients the plants in the horizontal direction, rotates the plants along the line created by the drawn polygon, or rotates the plants randomly, creating a more natural appearance
Plant Diameter Variation	Keeps the plants at a fixed size, or randomly varies the plant diameter according to the specified percentage of variation
Plant Height Variation	Keeps the plants at a fixed height, or randomly varies the plant heights according to the specified percentage of variation

Plant Tool Preferences: Tag Pane

Set the display of the plant ID tags on the Tag pane. To create a custom plant tag, see Creating a Custom Plant Tag. After creation, the plant tag’s appearance can be modified via the Plant Settings Tag pane, Object Info palette, tag class settings, and the control point locations on the drawing (see Plant Tag Appearance).

Parameter	Description
Display	Select whether to display a plant tag to the right or left of the leader line, in the center of the plant or group of plants, or to display no tag. A Center tag has no shoulder or leader.
Class	To control appearance and visibility, select a class from the list of classes present in the drawing, or create a new class
Approach Angle	Specifies the angle of the leader line, from 0 to 360°. Setting the same angle for several selected plants aligns their leader lines, for an attractive planting plan (see Aligning and Distributing Leader Lines).
Shoulder Angle	When a tag shoulder line is enabled, sets the angle of the shoulder line and, if selected, tag display, from 0 to 360°. To display the plant tag to the left, specify an angle greater than 90 or less than 270 degrees. To display the plant tag to the right, specify an angle less than 90 or greater than 270 degrees. Setting the same angle for several selected plants aligns their shoulder lines, for an attractive planting plan.
Bubble	Specifies the bubble style, if any, for displaying quantity or optionally, Plant ID, with the plant tag
Top / Center / Bottom	The custom tags present in the drawing and the predefined plant record field combinations for tags are listed. Specify the information to display on each level of the plant tag, or select None to hide a level of the plant tag. For the center level, select Continuation Line to continue the shoulder as a dividing line between the top and bottom tag information. Alternatively, select Set Custom Tag to define a custom plant tag (see Creating a Custom Plant Tag).
Enable Tag Shoulder Line	Adds a shoulder line to the leader line; adjust the shoulder angle with the shoulder control point, or by entering a tag Shoulder Angle
Snap Tag to Plant Centers	Snaps the end of the leader line to the center of the plant; deselect to adjust the endpoint location manually
Display Tag Line Marker	Displays a marker at the end of the leader line; specify the marker to use by editing the plant tag class (see Setting Class Properties)

Mode	Description
Insertion	Inserts a plant according to the selected placement mode
Pickup	Sets the default plant settings to match those of a selected existing plant
Massing Creation	Uses the current plant settings to convert a polyline, polygon, rectangle, circle, or arc into a plant object
Plant Def	Opens the Resource Selector to select a plant definition for placement; double-click a resource to activate it
Single Plant Placement	Places a single specified plant at each mouse click
Poly-Vertex Placement	Places plants at each clicked polygon vertex
Poly-Edge Spaced	Places plants along the drawn polygon at the Spacing distance specified in the definition or settings
Rectangular Array	Fills the drawn polygon with plants in a rectangular array at the Spacing distance specified in the definition or settings
Triangular Array	Fills the drawn polygon with plants in a triangular array at the Spacing distance specified in the definition or settings
Hedge	Enables hedge creation for the Poly-Edge Spaced, Rectangular Array, and Triangular Array placement modes. When toggled on, creates rows of hedges along the drawn polyline; the number of hedge rows is set in the Preferences.
Preferences	Opens the Plant Tool Preferences dialog box, for specifying the plant to place, its placement options, and its definition