Creating landscape area components

Preview

Displays a sectioned preview of the landscape structure, including any defined components. The top of the preview indicates the top part of the landscape as it will be drawn.

Overall thickness

Displays the thickness of the landscape. The thickness is always determined by the thickness of the components; a landscape always has one component by default.

Datum

Select whether the datum is applied to the top or bottom of the designated component; the indicator in the Datum column updates accordingly. A datum is the reference point for elevation settings; for landscapes, it is fixed vertically (it does not change with any changes to the thickness or definition). The datum location affects the modification of the proposed site model.

Designate one of the components as the datum component by clicking in the Datum column.

In 3D, plant instances are placed at the datum elevation.

Surface

Select whether the landscape is of fixed thickness or has a tapered component to assist with drainage. Click in the Tapered column to designate the tapered component.

Components

Lists the components that form the structure of the landscape, in order from top to bottom as displayed in the preview. To change the order of a component, click and drag within the # column.

If multiple components are selected, changing the order moves all selected components to the new location.

Datum

Click in the column to designate the datum component. An indicator in the column points towards the top or bottom, to show the datum location. To change the datum location, either click on the indicator to switch the placement, or click Top of component or Bottom of component in the Datum section of the dialog box.

Tapered

If Tapered component is selected in the Surface section of the dialog box, click in the column to designate which component is tapered. The bottom surface of the designated component is flat, and the top surface is tapered to incorporate the drainage. All components above and below the tapered component are of uniform thickness to maintain the taper that the designated component brings to the overall landscape.

Other component settings

The remaining columns in the component list display the current settings for the landscape, from the Landscape Component Settings dialog box

New

Opens the Landscape Component Settings dialog box to define the components of the landscape

Edit

Opens the Landscape Component Settings dialog box to edit the attributes of one or more selected components; changes are made to all selected components. Alternatively, to edit a single component, double-click the component to open the Landscape Component Settings dialog box.

Duplicate

Duplicates one or more selected components; the duplicates are added to the component list right below the originally selected components

Delete

Deletes one or more selected components; the landscape thickness is adjusted accordingly

Definition

Name

Provide a name for the component, which displays in the Components list in the Landscape Components dialog box

Class

To control appearance and visibility, select a class from the list of classes present in the drawing, or create a new class. Select <Object Class> to place the component attributes in the same class as the landscape object.

Material

To use a material resource, select a material from the Resource Selector

Thickness

Specifies the component’s thickness; the thickness of a landscape is the sum of its components. A component must have a thickness greater than 0.

Texture

Applies the selected texture to the component. If the component uses a material, the texture is initially set to the material’s texture, but this can be overridden. Select a texture from the Resource Selector, or click one of the buttons to use no texture, to use the class texture, or if the selected item's material texture was previously overridden, to revert to the material's texture.

Section Fill

Specifies the component appearance in section views. If the component uses a material, the fill is set to the material’s fill, and the controls are disabled. Otherwise, select a fill style, or Class Style to set the fill attributes by class. Depending on the Style selected, select a color, pattern, or resource (hatch, image, gradient, tile).

Section Pen

Specifies the component appearance in section views. Select a pen style, or Class Style to set pen attributes by class. Depending on the Style selected, select a color, pattern, or line type resource.

Thickness

Select the line thickness; to use a custom thickness, select Set Thickness from the line thickness list (see Line thickness attributes)

Make All Attributes by Class

Sets all fill, pen, and texture attributes by class, except those that come from a material

Remove by Class Settings

Removes all by class settings for fill, pen, and texture attributes; does not affect material definitions with attributes set by class