Landscape area preferences

Parameter

Description

Class

To control appearance and visibility, select a class from the list of classes present in the drawing, or create a new class; if this parameter is set by style, all instances using this style are assigned to this class. 

Softscape Category

Optionally, select a softscape category, or select Manage Custom Categories to edit the list. From the Manage Custom Categories dialog box, click Add or select a list item and click Edit, and then enter a new name. Select a list item and click Delete to remove it from the list of available categories.

If a softscape category is specified, it can be used in the instance or style name formula.

Softscape Name

Enter a landscape area name, which can be used as part of the instance name formula; Vectorworks-provided landscape area styles use this name as the root of the style name

ID

Optionally, enter an ID for the landscape area. If an ID is specified, it can be used in the instance or style name formula.

Instance Name

Select whether to manually enter a name for this instance or to use a name formula.

For Manual, enter a name

For Instance name formula, select a name formula from the list of name formulas present in the drawing. Select Manage Custom Name Formulas to add, edit, or delete a name formula from the list; see below.

Area Units

Select the units for calculating the landscape area, or select to use document units (see Units)

Parameter

Description

Name

Enter the formula's display name, for use in the list of name formulas

Name Definition

Displays the name formula, which can consist of selected name components and manually entered characters

Name Component

To add a name component to the name formula, select it from the list, and then click Add. The component is added to the end of the Name Definition. 

Integer/Lower-case character/Upper case character

If Incrementing Value is selected for the Name Component, before clicking Add, select whether the value should be numeric, or a lower-case or upper-case letter. Enter the Start Value and Increment.

For incrementing values to function, the Instance Name parameter must be set by style.

Parameter

Description

Description

Optionally, enter a description of the landscape area. The description can be long, such as a seed formula, or short. If short, this description can be used for the suffix in a landscape area style name formula. 

Permeability

Includes permeability settings for the landscape area

Permeable/Non-permeable

Select whether the landscape area is permeable or non-permeable, based on all the components calculated together. If it is permeable, enter the Permeability Rate, and select the units.

Runoff Coefficient

If the runoff coefficient is based on the landscape area's components figured collectively, instead of individual components, enter the coefficient

Sustainability

Includes sustainability data for the landscape area

Metric Framework

The current metric framework, habitat type, and the habitat type's metric value display. To change these values, click Select Metric Framework; the available habitat type options change depending on the selected Metric Framework.

Solar Reflectance Index (SRI)

Enter the solar reflectance index value

Unit Price

Specifies a general unit price (for indicating the price per square unit in worksheets)

Price Code

Enter the price code (such as a SKU number)

Edit Components

Opens the Landscape Components dialog box for determining the structure that makes up the landscape area, as described in Creating landscape area components. The calculated Bed Thickness based on the components displays.

Cut into site model

Allows the landscape area to cut into the site model to accommodate its components; if deselected, the landscape area is placed identically, but no excavation is done to the site model

Parameter

Description

Parameter

Description

Bed Area

Show Bed Area in 2D

Select how to display the bed area border in Top/Plan view.

Standard: Sets the border to a single line.

None: Displays no border; use it for a loose planting, such as in a gravel bed, where no exact bed is required, but plant quantities are calculated for the area.

Show Bed Area in 3D

Select how to display the bed area in 3D views. 

None: Doesn't display the bed area.

Components: When components have been specified on the Landscape Area Components dialog box, displays the components in 3D section views.

Display as 3D Polygon: Creates a 3D polygon at a default elevation of 0, which displays the texture of the landscape area's top component. The texture can’t be edited on the Render tab in the Object Info palette. If the landscape area is placed over a site model, the 3D polygon has no fill, and plants are placed on the site model surface.

Display as Texture Bed on: Creates a texture bed for the 3D representation of the landscape area; select whether to display the texture bed on the existing site model or the proposed site model. The texture is only visible when placed over a site model. The bed displays the texture of the landscape area's top component. The texture can’t be edited on the render tab in the Object Info palette.

Plants

Show Plants in 2D

Select how to display the plants in Top/Plan view; this setting is independent of the bed area border display, and can have different attributes:

None: Doesn't display plants; the bed is represented solely by the attributes of the bed area.

Plant Cloud: Draws a convex or concave cloud shape around the border, in addition to the line around the bed area, if any. 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 around the border, in addition to the line around the bed area, if any; for a rougher plant line, specify a short segment length with high segment thickness.

Plant Symbols: Displays individual plant symbols. 

Show Plants in 3D

Select how to display the plants in 3D views in 3D views; plants conform to the surface of the site model if one exists. 

None: Doesn't display plants.

Plant Block: Displays a solid extrude of the area; enter the height of the extrude. This setting is useful for IFC export and conceptual designs.

Individual Plants: When the landscape area contains plant symbols with a 3D component (such as an image prop or 3D model like those provided by Laubwerk), these can be displayed 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 styles do not have a 3D representation.

Visual Variation

If Show Plants in 2D is set to Plant Symbols and/or if Show Plants in 3D is set to Individual Plants, additional options allow you to vary the appearance for a more natural growth pattern.

Show all plant edges inside bed area

Displays plants completely within the bed area; if deselected, some parts of the plants may overlap outside the bed area. This is a graphic setting and does not affect calculated plant quantities.

Parameter

Description

Attributes list

Lists all geometry that has graphic attributes settings. The class and graphic attributes of each part of the object are displayed.

Components, if any, display for reference, but their attributes must be set in the Landscape Component Settings dialog box; see Creating landscape area components.

Select a line in the list browser and click Edit, or double-click a line, to set attributes for the part, and do any of the following:

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

To specify a material for a 3D part, select one from the Resource Selector; the material provides the fill and texture, though the texture can be overridden. 

Set the attributes; see The Attributes palette.

To specify a texture for a 3D part, 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 material's texture was previously overridden, to revert to the material's texture. Set the map type and rotation as needed; see Concept: Texture projection and orientation.

For textures on a 3D part, select Randomize offsets to apply a random horizontal/vertical offset to each instance of a subpart, resulting in a natural, random texture appearance.

For textures on a 3D part, select Follow longest edge to orient the texture along the longest edge of the part. This can prevent the texture from being flipped in a wrong direction.

Parameter

Description

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)