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The aim of this set of notes is to
provide some 'in-depth' guidance for those working in the general field of
garden design (and ornamental horticulture) and who are considering
undertaking software
training courses with us. It is written with potential students of ours in mind,
but should apply to anyone contemplating learning to use software applications
in this field.
In many different disciplines, the advent of computers has radically changed
the
way professionals work.
Many project managers now expect that you would use databases to hold
details on plant selection, software to help with irrigation design,
plans describing
design work with some type of CAD software and marketing materials with
some type of desk top publishing software - image editors, and vector
drawing programs. In most
professions, design work is created using software.
This change in attitude has major implications for many
of us. If you are working, or intend to work, in the horticultural field, you need to be
select and use appropriate software.
If you want to use a
computer to generate accurate drawings describing your design work, then
you need to learn how to operate (use) CAD software to create the
drawings that you currently prepare on a drawing board.
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A CAD program
(IntelliCAD) being used to create a planting plan. |
You might draw on a
database to keep information about individual plants.
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Microsoft
Access being used to keep plant information. |
You may want to 'dress'
up your designs.
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Adobe Illustrator has been used to take a
CAD drawing and turn it into something more than a simple
illustration. |
Or, you may wish to show
a client a representation of your design - one that they can interpret
easily.
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Rendered courtyard. |
Although the user
interfaces in CAD
software are very intuitive, learning to use software to produce professional
drawings is not a trivial exercise; you need to commit and allocate
sufficient time to 'come up to speed'. Producing materials such as
those above is certainly not as simple as using Microsoft Word where with minimal
instruction, raw beginners can 'knock out' an acceptable piece of work
such as a
letter or report in a very short space of time.
Design CAD offers
comprehensive tuition in the use of software used in the field of
amenity horticulture.
You first step in determining a
suitable training program for
your needs should be to make sure that you understand what it is
that you want to achieve i.e. you need to define your aims at the
outset.
There are many possible
scenarios:
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You may simply want to know what programs can do
for your own interest. If that is the case, then read some of the more
general articles in the support
section of this web site. We have for example, published articles on
choosing the
correct CAD software, working in 3D, sending CAD drawings to laser cutting
firms etc.
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Alternatively, you might be
interested because you have been asked to manage a team of
drafting staff involved in a major project, but not necessarily become proficient yourself. If so,
we suggest that you enrol for one of our introductory courses. for
example, Using CAD for
Garden Design - part 1
which is available "in-house", by
CD-ROM based
distance learning or
online learning (scroll down
o the garden design section). This
course costs $750.00 when taken in house (as a group or one-on-one course), $280.00
when take by CD-ROM and $250.00 when taken via broadband learning.
It
focuses on the overall process of taking a design idea to a plot on
paper without going into any detail about the actual mechanism of performing each
step. You need more study to become proficient.
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Finally, you may have
decided that you want to acquire professional skills and
earn at least part of your income by producing design work using
computer software. We
suggest that you contact us by email and let us define a training
program for you, but normally that would involve the sequence:
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Using CAD for garden
design - part 1>
Using CAD for garden design - part 2>
Using CAD for garden
design - part 3.
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Don't forget, we would like you to try
out a "Sample
garden design course" (select the course Using
GardenCAD),
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Play at
least one of our sample movies embedded within the course. Our courses contain many
instructional movies and we want to be
reassured that your equipment works with the movies that we make to
illustrate the use of CAD commands.
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Obtain a copy of the trial
version of IntelliCAD
software and establish that it works on your computer before ordering a course.
Download a free copy of IntelliCAD from
http://www.siacad.com
Yes. We provide all
students with a "Certificate of Achievement". A statement that a student
has reached a satisfactory standard and completed a competent set of working
drawings can also be added on request. Click
here to view a copy of the
certificate.
A. No. As long as you have a
printer attached to your computer, that will do. The principles involved
in preparing a drawing on an A1 sheet (which measures 801mm by 566mm) are the same as
those used to prepare a drawing on an A4 sheet.
If you take a course as a
CD-ROM distance student ($280 per course), on receipt of an official
order from your company (a purchase order) or email note from you if you
are studying privately, we will ship a CD-ROM (with a personal password to unlock
modules in the course) and
a set of course notes. An invoice will be included in the package. Payment
can be by direct deposit to our bankers (BankSA). Details of our bank
account is included on the invoice.
If you wish to pay by credit card, we use the
PayPal system (www.paypal.com). PayPal
offers a very secure system for processing payment across the
Internet and takes all major credit
cards. PayPal acts as an intermediary between you and Design Cad. They
will hold payment to us until you notify PayPal that you have received the
course materials in good order.
If you choose broadband learning ($250
per course), we will email a user name and password along with our
invoice.
More information on our distance learning program can
be found by clicking here.
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