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.

Why learn to use computer software?

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.

Let's take some examples;

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.

A CAD program (IntelliCAD) being used to create a planting plan.

You might draw on a database to keep information about individual plants.

Microsoft Access being used to keep plant information.

You may want to 'dress' up your designs.

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.

Learning to use software

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.

Determining your training needs

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:

• 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.

• 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.

• 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:

• Using CAD for garden design - part 1> Using CAD for garden design - part 2> Using CAD for garden design - part 3.

Our distance learning program - some preliminaries

• Don't forget, we would like you to try out a "Sample CAD course",

• 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. Many of these movies can be downloaded from the home page of this web site.

• 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

Q. Is some form of certification provided?

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.

Q. Is it necessary to own a plotter?

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.

Q. What methods of payment do you offer?

If you take a course as a distance student, 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.

 More information on our distance learning program can be found by clicking here.

Contact: info@designcad.com.au   T/F +61 8 8354 2400  M 0418 414 932 Design Cad Pty Ltd (ABN 38 007 890 146)  ©1997- 2006. http://www.designcad.com.au