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, and you want the capability of working with other land use professionals (exchanging drawing files with them for example), then you need to learn how to operate (use) CAD software to create the drawings that you currently prepare on a drawing board (Fig 1 below). In that case, you would learn to use AutoCAD, IntelliCAD or possibly MicroStation. This software costs money. If on the other hand, you wanted to work as a sole practitioner garden designer, you could use free CAD software, specially created for garden designers. (Fig 2 below).

Here is a link to the GardenCAD web site. There you can download a copy of GardenCAD and use it right away - a zero cost option.

Fig. 1. A planting plan for a remembrance wall in a cemetery. IntelliCAD was used to create the planting plan.

Fig 2. A free CAD program (GardenCAD) used to create a different garden design plan. Note the use of a hand lettered font to give some personality to the drawing.

CAD software is not the only software you will need to use. You might draw on a database to keep information about individual plants (Fig 3 below).

Fig 3. Microsoft Access being used to keep plant information.

Or even 'dress' up your designs using Adobe Illustrator (Fig 4.).

Fig 4. 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.

Google SketchUp can also be used to show 3-D representations of your design intentions.

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.

We 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 want to develop a career as a garden designer; if so please 'check out' GardenCAD. It is free. If you want a copy of the professional version of GardenCAD Pro, it comes bundled with a complete training course (cost $250) on its use at our landscape eLearning web site - http://www.landscapetutor.net.

• You may simply want to know what these 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", or by  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), or $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 set out below. Each of these courses costs $250 and gets you to the point of CAD competency so that you could work in a landscape architects office.

• 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 there. 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.

• Obtain a copy of the trial version of IntelliCAD or GardenCAD Lite software and establish that it works on your computer before ordering a course. Download a free copy of IntelliCAD from http://www.siacad.com and GardenCAD from http://www.gardencad.net.

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. We will teach you to print to a PDF writer and take you finished drawings to a copy center for printing.

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 send a personal password to unlock modules in the course. 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.