Programs for garden landscape design can help achieve productivity in the arrangement of the surrounding area. Thanks to them, there is no need to make sketches of the garden from different angles. In addition, the sketches must correspond to all seasons. All this can be taken into account in one software; it is enough to make a model, and then simply select certain conditions, while the process of creating a project is greatly accelerated and becomes of higher quality.
Landscape design developed in a special program
Landscaping design software is designed with easy-to-learn designs. Even a PC user who does not have special knowledge can create a project sketch.
Produced by several companies. Previously, they were developing software for designers, but designing summer cottages has become so popular and in demand that manufacturers decided to start developing software for amateurs and beginners. This is a real find for those who want to arrange their own plot. Just choose one software
, install it on your computer, and create. Landscape design option for the site
- All design software for beginners have some common characteristics:
- Create a project from scratch, or upload a photo of the site;
- Adding snapshot files;
- Possibility of adding plants;
- Paving paths;
- Arrangement of flower beds;
- Location of buildings;
- Changes in the terrain of the site;
3D - finished project.
For professionals, the software is more complex, with the help of which three-dimensional models are created.
I would like to note that free software for designers is quite conditional; they have a trial period, but during this time a design project for personal use can be ready.
Virtual Project - Compilation Guide Nowadays you can find many computer programs in different areas on the market, and landscape design is no exception. This program can be downloaded for free. But there is also paid service
, designed for professionals. Among this diversity, you can easily find a landscape composition that you like. But you shouldn’t immediately go to the nursery to purchase the necessary plantings. Visualize the project based on your site and landscaping plan.
Various programs for creating landscape design are a kind of encyclopedic guide that answers questions in detail in the following areas:
Encyclopedias are presented on disks that provide information on landscape design, art, with various kinds of lighting effects for different design options for a dacha area.
What do encyclopedic discs teach?
IN this moment There are six discs on the market - “Landscape Art Series”. It's kind of step-by-step instruction to create programs for designing landscape design of a summer cottage, and practical guide on the use of various elements in design. What can you learn from encyclopedic disks:
Thanks to these encyclopedias, even a novice designer can easily create a magnificent garden.
Free programs for landscape design
For comparison, let's look at several of the main programs used for online landscape design.
X-Designer - 3D summer cottage planner
Thanks to this program, it is possible that will be not only functionally holistic, but also artistically perfect. This will not be difficult to do even if you are not familiar with computer modeling. Thanks to the X-Designer program, you can correctly position all buildings, both residential and commercial, and plan the planting of shrubs, trees and flower beds. 
The project can include paved paths and alpine slides.
Description
X-Designer allows you to experiment when creating a summer cottage project without financial investments and without spending a lot of effort.
Features of the program
- There is a step-by-step description, instructions, hot keys;
- There is a search system that responds even after entering the first word;
- Creating a design project on a computer is possible without special education.
Downloading the X-Designer program will not take much time, and installing it on your computer is completely free.
Our Garden Rubin 9.0
This is an analogue of Sierra in Russian - both functions and design implementation capabilities. The program is made up of a certain number of blocks that are used to compose certain tasks. And a full-fledged project is created with a full range of integrated capabilities. The advantage is the Russian-language interface and the free nature of the program.
Interface of the program Our Garden ruby The developers' calculations were aimed at mass use of this program. In addition to the desktop program, this program also has an online product, which is very easy to learn and use, but it is worth noting that they are primitive. You can create a project using them very quickly, although it will not be of the same quality as desktop programs can offer.
Program Garden Rubin version 10
This is unique with more advanced and new potentials, plus a large directory of plants.
Garden Rubin 10 is suitable for both ordinary gardeners and professional designers. In addition, the program serves as a guide for teachers and students of schools and design courses.
This program allows you to monitor at any time, and you can see how the area will change in a month and even in a few years.
Option for planning and landscape design created in the Our Garden Rubin program Characteristics Garden Rubin 10
The 10th edition has rules and advantages:
How to install and run
There are no special requirements for a PC - every user, both a beginner and a professional, can design landscape projects.
The installation is standard, just agree to the license terms and select various functions. The first one will be recommended. If you choose the second one, you can mark the functions you need.
There is a complete set:
- Management;
- Help;
- Examples;
- Textbook;
- Themes;
- 3D models of plantings;
- Pictures in addition.
But we want to note that if you are a beginner, then it is better for you to accept the agreement with the recommended settings.
Interface
If you have an interest in landscape design, then this program is for you. Once the program is installed on your computer, you need to study it very carefully.
An example of a garden plot project in the Our Garden 10 program The plan field is in a central location. In the toolbar at the top, there are items:
- "file";
- "editor";
- "plantings";
- "change";
- "place", etc.
The program reminds Word page. But the pop-up panel says it’s landscape design software. For example, when selecting plants, the user sees specimens, a library that describes in detail the plant itself, the place, time of planting, and care for it. You can download the 10th edition of the Rubin Garden program Russian version for free.
X-Designer is special program, which is intended for creating projects of landscape objects. In this software you can design a plot of land, as well as create a 3D visualization of the finished plan.
Usage
The program will be useful to professional designers who create “landscape projects” on high level, as well as for those who want to build an additional structure at home or in the country.X-Designer was created a long time ago, so the images in high quality do not wait. If you need convenient program, which provides landscape design, then download it and work without spending a lot of time on work.
Functional
X-Designer is a 3D model builder that allows you to assemble landscape models without using templates. The program does not contain special schemes, that is, you construct objects in any order.Generating 3D models in random order is not supported. You can use ready-made blanks and then create a project. Select the desired plot size, and also set the current time of day and season.
Having selected the necessary settings, you will begin creating projects. X-Designer enables the design of terrain features, hills or depressions. All object models can be filled with water, and you can also plant various plants.
Plant grass, flowers, trees, and also complement the landscape with buildings of different formats. If necessary, you can add gazebos and other decorative elements. At the final stage, you can start arranging the details: place lanterns, decorative stones, benches and other landscape design elements.
While viewing the 3D model, you can rotate the camera to inspect finished layout from any angle. All work is saved in popular graphic formats. If necessary, you can add your projects to the printout using the editor function
Key Features
- the editor allows you to create three-dimensional models of houses and surroundings;
- the software provides a choice of textures for structures and additional elements of the home site;
- in the program you will look at finished models from different camera angles;
- editor saves graphic files in different formats, and also allows you to print them;
- the program does not support the creation of arbitrary object models - a selection of ready-made materials is available;
- the program does not belong to the category of advanced editors, so the quality of graphics is low;
- The editor has a simple graphical environment with Russian localization.
Agree, with powerful support it is much easier to improve your garden plot. Then the flower beds from spring to late autumn will always be covered with flowers, and the alpine hill will be visible almost from the gate. And the hedge will look not like a wild jungle, but like a work of art.
Master landscape design programs and you will immediately see how much more convenient it has become to create masterpieces.
We offer an overview of the 20 TOP programs for visualization of landscape design - the most popular and interesting. There are also free programs among them.
The full name is X-Designer 3D garden planner. Developed by IDDK. One of the simplest, but quite functional programs.
It will also take a little time to master it - up to half an hour.
The program is shareware. After the trial period ends full version can be purchased on the company's official website.
Advantages: 3D mode allows you to see the area in space. You can set the size of the plot, time of year, date, time of day, and “plant” plants. And thus see how the landscape will look at night or during the day, in spring or late autumn. Like the previous product, X-Designer allows you to see changes in the site in perspective. Useful feature– modification of the relief.
Flaws: Quite simple functionality, which was reflected in weak graphics. However, it is possible to imagine at least approximately what a personal plot will look like.
Website: http://iddk.ru/ru/
The software is the result of the work of DiaComp. Under the name “Our Garden” the developer has released several versions of the programs. For example, Our Garden 6.0 Omega, Our Garden 9.0 Ruby, Our Garden 10.0 Crystal.
The program is accessible and understandable. Allows you to model your objects, calculate estimates, and present the site in a volumetric projection.
The program is shareware.
Advantages: an extensive catalog with plants and their detailed characteristics. The landscape can be supplemented with other objects: garages, houses, gazebos, ponds, etc. Trees and shrubs can be shaped. Change the terrain. The finished sketch can be saved, viewed at different times of the day and year, viewed in 3D mode and printed.
Flaws: For experienced landscape designers, it may seem overly simple.
The Google SketchUp utility was developed not exclusively for landscape design, but for constructing three-dimensional objects in general. However, it has proven itself well as a program for creating landscape design.
Originally a Google product, and still in online mode You can cooperate with other products of the company.
Two versions of the program: free and paid.
Advantages: 3D model of the site, you can develop a new model or use one presented on GoogleEarth. IN paid version the program works in tandem with Google apps. You can set the terrain, shady and sunny areas of the area.
Flaws: V free version functionality is limited. But the paid version has many more features and will appeal to experienced designers. Only suitable for Mac OS versions 10.8, 10.7, 10.5 Intel and 10.6 Intel
Beautiful and powerful computer program, in which the created landscape looks very realistic.
The program is shareware.
Advantages: 3D projection, the details are perfectly drawn in the sketches. The ability to see the landscape in perspective, a large library of objects and models. You can not only print the sketch, but also create a video. Drawing up an estimate.
Flaws: there is no Russian version. The paid utility is expensive.
6. Sierra Land Designer
The program is similar to the Russian utilities of the Our Garden series, but has broader functionality. Despite the rich catalog of models, it can be supplemented with individual items.
The program is shareware.
Advantages: shows the site at different times of the day and in different seasons. An extensive database that can be supplemented with your own objects. Allows you to make adjustments according to your own measurements and change the illumination. An opportunity to see how landscaping has changed in the future.
Flaws: Initially, all objects are two-dimensional. But finished projects have a three-dimensional image. Not Russified.
7. Punch Home Design
A universal utility for working with landscapes, buildings and rooms with convenient graphical tools. Contains many modules, objects, textures. If necessary, you can edit them.
The program is paid. A 15-day trial period is provided. You can download the free trial version on the official website.
Advantages: There are 2D and 3D projections, you can switch between them without losing data. The program analyzes materials, tools, decor and other objects for their compatibility. The pictures are very realistic. The ability to create an estimate, set parameters, print or send to email.
Flaws: the program is paid. But during the trial period you can evaluate whether it is worth buying or not. Software and a virtual walk around the site will help with this.
The developers of the interior design program FloorPan 3D decided to occupy another niche and released version 12 Deluxe to help landscape designers. All the same simplicity and three-dimensional graphics. But now you can model a plot of land, load measurement data, terrain, vary time, illumination and climate type.
When installing it, make sure that there is enough free space on your hard drive.
The program is paid. After familiarizing yourself with the functionality, you need to buy a key from the developer.
Advantages: the project being developed can be seen from any angle. The ability to “install” fences, gates, gates, lay paths, and draw up estimates. The finished project is exported to a computer. The visual travel function remains with the ability to add or remove objects along the way. A huge catalog of everything that is needed on the site - from rolled lawns to statues and lanterns.
Flaws: In a short period of time, it is sometimes difficult to assess the usefulness of a utility. Unrealistic graphics. There is no program in Russian yet.
9. TurboFloorPlan 3D Home & Landscape Pro
TurboFloorPlan Landscape is a convenient and easy-to-use program with a wide variety of functions and objects. In it you can design the interiors of houses and create masterpiece landscapes with your own hands.
The program is shareware.
Advantages: understandable to both ordinary users and specialists in the field of landscape design. In addition to plants, shrubs, and trees, there are various objects for the garden: bridges, fences, ponds, buildings, sculptures, etc. You can create estimates. There is also a 3D projection, a visual tour of the site.
Flaws: the program is not Russified. However, its interface is intuitive.
10. Complete Landscape Designer 3
Another program for landscape design. You can work both with the main background and overlay objects on a digital photograph.
You can download the program without registration on the website.
Advantages: There are many objects in the library: buildings, plants, etc. You can search by certain parameters, select the type, degree of moisture and acidity of the soil.
Flaws: The interface is English, but it’s easy to understand. There is no three-dimensional image, so the layout of the site can only be seen in a plane.
The Landscape Design program is easy to use. You can create a completely decent site project in it.
The program is free.
Advantages: you can create a full-fledged project from scratch. Does not take up much space and does not require large volumes random access memory. The functionality is clear even to a beginner. Large database of objects.
Flaws: the project is clearly visible in 2D mode. 3D projection is also available, but its quality leaves much to be desired. In the program you can create a project for yourself, and not for sale.
This complex covers interior, architectural, and landscape design. It creates luxurious three-dimensional projects with detailed graphics.
The program is paid. You can see how the program works in the demo version.
Advantages: detailing, 3D projection, a wide selection of objects in the catalog, textures, special effects, limitless design possibilities.
Flaws: energy intensive, difficult for a beginner, high price.
13. 3D Home Architect
A program with exciting and simple interface. Beginners can handle it, but it will also be interesting for professionals. You can choose plants based on their characteristics.
The program is paid.
Advantages: reports an error if objects are out of place, for example, stacked on top of each other. A rich library of various positions allows you to create various projects, change vegetation, buildings, lamps, etc. You can create an estimate. Upon completion, the finished project is sent to your computer or email. The project is created in 3D mode.
Flaws: not Russified. The graphics are a little weak, although this is enough for the project.
14. Better Homes and Gardens Landscaping & Deck Designer
A simple but functional utility for designing the landscape design of a site, including. The program was created by Chief Architect.
The program is paid. But on the website you can see her work.
Advantages: great graphics, lots of plants and reference information according to them, other objects with the help of which the landscape changes. Detailed drawing of the site, including its relief. 3D visualization of the project. Lighting options. An opportunity to put the garden into perspective.
Flaws: English version.
This is not just a utility. This is a series of landscape design programs released on disk. There are programs and encyclopedias here, useful tips for arranging lawns, ponds, fencing, growing conifers, shrubs, etc.
1. Home Design 3D Outdoor/Garden
An application that allows you to completely create a landscape project: garden, plot, playground. You can enter measurements of the site, mark the location of the house, complete the project with furniture and various objects (there are a little more than 100 of them in the database).
There is an opportunity to see the spatial landscape.
A good application with great potential. You can not only create new landscape projects, but also edit ready-made photos of the site. There are functions for adding plants. True, prices are indicated in conventional units. But they can also be edited.
The ability to save a project and send it by email, transfer data to a computer. The project is visible in three-dimensional graphics.
The only thing is. At difficult stages, the application asks for a key. At the time of writing, the developer did not indicate how to obtain this key.
3. Landscape design
You will not be able to create or edit projects in this application. This is a collection of beautiful courtyards and their individual zones. But it will help you find a common language with the client and understand how he sees the landscape.
Agree, it’s better to show it once than to try to explain it in words a hundred times.
4. FloraMe -Landscaping made easy
An English-language application that allows you to vary the landscape. There is a choice of soils and plants. At the end, you can save or edit the project.
You can’t call it a professional program for planning a plot at a dacha or near a cottage, but you can play with textures and flora.
An application that allows you to develop a rough site plan and planting plan. Upon completion, you can export the project to clients or to yourself by email.
An important function is creating a project based on a digital photo.
Great tool for planning. Now the client will visually imagine what the site will look like. The only negative is the paid, more advanced version. Yes and English language creates inconvenience. So, you just need to learn the terminology - it will come in handy.
X-Designer is a landscape design software.
Usage
The software will be useful not only for those who are engaged in landscape design at a professional level, but also for those who independently decided to arrange the area adjacent to their home. X-Designer was released about ten years ago, so don't expect high-quality images from it. If this does not bother you, you can safely download the program and work with it, since it copes with its duties quite well.
Functional
X-Designer is a 3D constructor that the user will have to assemble. The program does not offer any schemes - you design everything as you wish. You cannot generate objects yourself here - you can only use ready-made templates. Before you start designing, you need to choose the size of the plot, as well as decide on the time of day and time of year.
After this, you can proceed to the most important thing. X-Designer allows you to shape the terrain, creating hills or “hollows” that can be filled with water, planting plants in the ground - grass, flowers, trees, and, of course, adding various buildings. These include houses and gazebos. Finally, you can take care of the details - “arrange” lanterns, decorative stones, benches and others necessary elements. When viewing a three-dimensional model, the user has the opportunity to rotate the camera and examine the created layout from different angles. The finished project can be saved in JPG formats, PNG and BMP, and print.
Key Features
- creating a 3D model of the house and the adjacent garden;
- choosing textures for the house, fence and other elements in the garden;
- viewing the created model from different camera angles;
- saving in graphic format and subsequent printing;
- there is no possibility to create your own parts - only ready-made ones are allowed;
- the program, due to the lack of updates, offers rather primitive graphics;
- quite intuitive interface, which is completely translated into Russian.
When developing a design project for a personal plot, it is very important to have visual representation at different stages of its compilation. Landscaping, garden accessories, paths and ponds - all this can be organically and simply arranged using landscape design programs. Let's look at free apps.
Common to all: what to look for when choosing
When developing design projects, you should be guided by the principle “the simpler, the better.” If certain software satisfies the requirements in the context of a specific project, there is no point in chasing advanced tools for creating high-level graphics.
Most design visualization programs have primarily a presentational purpose. This is important when doing custom work, but if the development is carried out for yourself, mastering complex CAD mechanisms will result in an ineffective waste of time.
In the practical development of landscape design, you should always leave room for imagination. It is unlikely that you will be able to fill the one-to-one scene in the foreseeable future with the same elements that will take place in the real physical world. Therefore, the primitivism of objects in the virtual environment and the low degree of detail are more of a benefit than a disadvantage. They provide an opportunity to evaluate the overall global side design without being distracted by minor details.
Considering the above, we recommend paying attention to software marked “for beginners”. Also of great importance is free access to educational literature authored by the creators of the program or the developers using it.
It is worth noting that the lack of a Russified version of the software usually does not become an obstacle when developing simple gardening and landscape design projects. Also keep in mind that the concept of free for this kind of software is very conditional: even professional tools have a trial period, during which it is quite possible to develop your own project, but you will not be able to use a paid program for commercial purposes.
Working with Content Libraries
The basis for working with most landscape design programs is the use of ready-made elements from a standard set. You simply create a scene of the required dimensions, and then place the necessary content on it: lawns, paths, buildings, trees and decorative paraphernalia.
One of the most popular free products— Sierra Land Designer — contains several modules with the ability to freely import projects between them. The strength of this kit is its impressive library of garden plants, supplemented with recommendations for climate suitability, planting, care and life cycle. The program suffers from a weak visualization tool: the garden planner has a two-dimensional top view, but after layout the project can be viewed in a rather modest 3D visualization module.
A developed community of users plays an important role in working with landscape design. SketchUp, for example, although not designed as a program for detailing garden plots, has an extensive library of 3D models that have been previously created and used by other users. Sketchup does not have a built-in encyclopedia of plants, but it allows you to create a visual environment with high degree detail and variety.
The golden mean in terms of libraries and display quality is FloorPlan 3D. The program has a developed set of components and design templates, both ready-made and third-party. And this doesn't come at the expense of usability or graphics.
User Interface Differences
Almost all programs differ in their individual layout of controls. This directly determines ease of use, speed of development and completion of the project.
For example: SketchUp has a very wide range of tools for editing and moving objects. They are located on two panels in different parts of the screen and can be customized individually. The same feature distinguishes most CAD programs (Autocad, ArchiCad, etc.): everything that should be at hand is located on the main editing screen, and all additional modules, such as setting the parameters of individual models, relationships between them and tools visual display are located in additional internal windows.
A slightly different organization scheme is used in programs that are specifically aimed at garden and landscape design. In Sierra Home&Land Designer 3D and 3D Home Architect Design Suite Deluxe, working with the project and its components is divided into stages, each of which has a separate module with its own tab. Switching between them is absolutely free; at any time you can go back and, say, reconfigure the global parameters of the scene or the properties of a group of objects.
Visual environment
Free programs Most of them do not pretend to produce high-quality graphics with good realism. But in their segment, they still differ from each other in the method of visual presentation and the degree of image elaboration.
The most simple programs, such as Expert Landscape Design or Garden Planner 3, are designed to efficiently arrange objects on a site plan. 2D overhead views, purely schematic displays and, with rare exceptions, the inability to set up and film a scene for presentation are the hallmarks of programs designed for low-level design.
There is a special class of landscape design tools that use photographs to construct scenes by collaging them or rendering pseudo-3D. This group includes Realtime Landscape Architect and 3D Home Landscape Designer. They allow you to walk around the site in three-dimensional mode and have the opportunity to film the project scene from unique angles or simulate conditions of changing weather and time of day. The main function of such programs is to automate the manual processing of photographic materials in graphic editors.
The best detail and photorealistic rendering are used by such 3D modeling “monsters” as Autodesk 3ds Max, Maya, Punch Home Design and SketchUp. These programs do not have (with the exception of special plugins) tools for working specifically with landscape and park design, but they allow you to work with sources of natural and artificial lighting, fully support shadows. This is possible due to the rendering included in a separate program module, therefore, with some effort, you can take incredibly realistic pictures of your virtual site. Unfortunately, such opportunities are quite expensive: programs have high system requirements and require time to master.
User level
The potential complexity of interacting with a program can be assessed by the range of its capabilities. Placing elements of a standard library on a plan using Expert Landscape Design does not require any preparation at all, while setting up a high-quality display in Sierra Home&Land Design can require several hours of attention and a number of unsuccessful attempts.
Don't forget that in the long run it's better to start with mid-level programs such as SketchUp or the more specific Complete Landscape Designer in order to master the full range of basic CAD capabilities for landscape design.
Help in this matter will be free and paid literature on developing projects in a specific program, various thematic forums and communities. For almost all of the programs described, there are series of videos with examples of work, from which you can evaluate the capabilities and control scheme of the program in a matter of hours.
Recommended sequence for developing your own project
Finally, we will suggest the optimal sequence of actions that will allow you to master most of the software’s potential in two or three evenings and quickly develop your own project. When you decide on the choice of program, study 3-5 lessons demonstrating work with both individual models and their groups and entire scenes, explaining the very concept of development.
When creating your project, start by designing and setting up your global scene. Remember that objects can be grouped and hidden once you've finished working on them, so you can focus on specific areas of the scene. When individual details have been worked out, start arranging them globally.
At the final stage, work is carried out with the special capabilities of the program: setting up materials, textures, lighting, simulating different conditions and angles. Obviously, the project will not gain physical implementation in one day, so you should return to the virtual plan of your site from time to time to look at it with fresh eyes and finalize small details.
Loading...