Tips for designing your garden £ £Lay your foundations first £Plants are much easier to position than 3D objects. Generally, lay down the manmade features first. Bridges and flights of steps are fiddly and are best done early on. £ £Selecting objects £Sometimes, when there are many object close together, it is tricky to outline the object you want. Switching off the surrounding features will help (see features panel). Another idea is to use PLAN view. This is almost always the best method for positioning anyway. You can also try moving so you are closer to the group of objects. £ £Hotspots £Each object has a spot on it where it is held when dragging around outlined. In unrotated PLAN view, for example, the house features have a hot spot that is on their bottom left corner. If you double click and use the position bar to rotate the house you will see that the house moves relative to the hot spot, so for rotated houses, the hot spot is no longer in the bottom left corner. If you are unable to get the wireframe outline to come up for any feature, move slowly around its edge until it becomes visible. £For walls, and houses the hot spot is at their bottom left corner. For plants the hot spot is at their base. The best way to check where an object's hot spot is it to outline it then left click and hold: The position on the object that is pointed to by the mouse is the hot spot. £ £Placing features next to other features £Occasionally features can be drawn in the wrong order. This is most likely to happen when two objects, for example a house and a garage, are adjacent. To reduce this problem consider: ~Lean to: works best with the tallest rectanglar side adjacent to the wall. ~Blocks: make the side that will be next to your other object longer (even if only slightly longer) than the other side. £ £Using textures £When painting panels of objects, you will get the most pronounced 3D effect if you make the textures slightly different shades. You make like to try alternating shades (see the hexagonal greenhouse as an example). £ £Flat objects £If you need several flat features to be drawn in a particular order, consider making the ones that are on top slightly higher (say 0.1 of a metre) than those underneath. £ £Planting on raised beds £The best method is to switch to PLAN view. Move downwards so you get a clear view of the bed. Switch on AUTO height. Then position your plants. The planting height will be found automatically. If you have the position bar down, you will be able to confirm that the plants are going in at the correct height. £If you wish to move an object in LEVEL view that is not at ground level, remember this rule: the outline always shows the location that the object will be inserted. The mouse will point to the place on the ground that is immediately beneath the object's hot spot. £ £PLanting on Slopes £AUTO height cannot work out the height at various points down a slope. The best method is to first arrange the plants at ground level in their correct x,y positions. Then, using LEVEL view, double click on each plant and, using the Oz increment on the position bar, gradually raise each plant so that it is visible on top of the slope. £ £3D objects don't look right planted directly on slopes. You should put the slope next to a block as a foundation if you want to place a building half way up a slope. £ ******************************* Performance considerations £ £Too fast? ~Reduce your movement increments (see menu DISPLAY\OPTIONS). ~Increase the Delay between frames (see menu DISPLAY\OPTIONS). £ £Too slow? ~Close all windows you don't need. ~Close the HELP window. ~Don't have realistic shadows switched on (see menu DISPLAY\OPTIONS). ~The larger your viewpoint windows (GARDEN EDIT, GOTO, CAMERA), the more that needs updating. Keep these windows as small as practical. ~Increase your movement increments (see menu DISPLAY\OPTIONS). ~Reduce the Delay between frames (see menu DISPLAY\OPTIONS). £ ******************************* Getting Started £This information can be found in HELP by searching for 'Getting Started'. £ £ £Activate a panel (title bar turns blue) by clicking anywhere in the panel once. £ £Positioning ~. Right click and drag to insert a feature. ~. Outline a feature then left click and drag to reposition. ~. Outline a feature then press DEL to delete. ~. Outline a feature then double click (or CTRL I), it will become the current object and will copy the object to the object editor. £ £Precise positioning and rotation ~. Open position bar, outline a feature then double click (or CTRL I), then use precise position controls (Ox, Oy, Oz, Or) to alter the feature's position and rotation. £ £Movement ~. Move to a location by clicking in the GOTO panel. ~. Move your viewpoint by using the MOVEMENT panel. Click once for small movements. Click and hold, the movement will speed up. Right click for a single step. £ ******************************* Goto panel £ £The Goto panel shows a plan view of the garden reflecting the current rotation. When the Garden Editor panel is active, a circle in the Goto panel indicates your position in the garden. £ £To move to a particular place in the garden, make the Goto panel active and then click the mouse in the required spot. You will immediately be moved to the new position in the garden, keeping your current rotation. £ ******************************* Camera panel £ £The Camera panel has two purposes. You can either use it to capture your favourite views of the garden, so that you can easily return to them, or you can create a moving video sequence. £ £The camera stores position and time information, but not plant information. If you remove a particular plant from the garden which has previously been recorded by the camera, when you next examine the recording, the plant will no longer be present. Similarly, if you move a plant within the garden, the camera shot will show the new (current) position. £ £A row of buttons below the title bar are used to control the camera. Many of these can also be operated from the keyboard (hot keys). Move the mouse to each of the buttons in turn to display context help in the Help panel. £ ******************************* Movement panel £ £The movement panel contains 20 buttons which allow you to move the viewing position of the garden. As the garden appears to move, your position is updated on the position bar. The actual distance moved each time a button is clicked can be altered from the Display Options panel where you can increase or decrease the movement increment for each direction, and rotation. £ £Context-sensitive help is available on the Help panel for each of the buttons; just position the mouse over the required button when the Movement panel is active, and the relevant help will appear in the context box on the Help panel. £ ******************************* How to move a panel £ £Any panel can be moved to a different position on the screen, in the following way: ~1 Click on the panel to make it the active panel.~2 Move the mouse cursor to the title bar and press the left mouse button. You will see the border change to a dotted line. ~3 Now drag the dotted outline of the panel to the new position and release the mouse button. ~4 The panel will assume its new position. £ ******************************* How to size a panel £ £Any panel with a maximize/minimize button at the right-hand end of the title bar can be resized in one of two ways: £ ~ By clicking on the maximize/minimize button. This toggles the panel's size between full screen and its former size. ~ By 'stretching' or 'shrinking' the border of the panel. Place the mouse cursor on the border of the panel and press the left-hand mouse button. The border will change to a dotted line. Now drag the dotted outline of the border to increase or reduce the size of the panel. When you release the mouse button the whole panel will assume the new size. £ £Each panel has a minimum and maximum size, beyond which it cannot be reduced or extended. £ £The Garden Edit panel can be maximised by pressing the F8 key. £ ******************************* How to open a panel £ £Every panel can be opened from the Windows menu. Highlight the required menu item and then click the left mouse button or press Enter. £ £Alternatively, panels can be opened by clicking on the appropriate button on the Task Bar at the bottom of the screen. Once the panel is open, its button disappears. £ ******************************* How to close a panel £ £All panels can be closed by clicking on the close button at the left-hand end of the title bar. £ £Every panel can also be closed from the Windows menu. Highlight the required menu item and then click the left mouse button or press Enter. £ ******************************* General description of a panel (window) £ £Every panel includes the following features: £ ~ A Title bar - containing the name of the panel, or, in the case of the Garden Edit panel, the name of the garden file. ~ A Close button at the left-hand end of the title bar. £ £Some windows are of a fixed size. These include: ~ Database panel ~ Plant palette ~ Features panel ~ Jobs panel ~ Movement panel ~ Object editor. £ £The remaining windows contain a maximize/minimize button at the right-hand end of the title bar, and can be resized. These windows include: ~ Garden Edit panel ~ Camera panel ~ Goto panel ~ Help panel. £ £Several panels may be open at once, but only one panel can be active at any time. A panel is made active by clicking in it with the mouse. The active panel is brought to the top, and the title bar has a blue background with white lettering. All other open panels show a white title bar, with black lettering. £ ******************************* Database panel £ £This panel allows you to select plants for your garden from the large number held in the database, depending on a variety of criteria. The resulting selection appears on the Plant Palette panel for planting. £ £The plant selection criteria include: ~ Feature Colour ~ Conditions required by the plant (e.g. sun or shade, soil moisture and pH) ~ Plant type (tree, shrub or flower) ~ Plant height ~ Plant colour wheel ~ Plant group ~ Plant attributes (in pairs) ~ Minimum temperature tolerated £ £The plant list may either be by Latin name or common name, and plants may be ordered by height, width or alphabetically by name. £ £Details for the current plant (highlighted) are shown below the list and include the plant's preferred growing conditions, an illustration of its shape, the colour of flower, leaf and bark/stem, and size information. £ ******************************* Memory Setup £ £If your system is low on memory when 3D Garden Designer starts up, you will see the following message: £ £Your current system setup is low on memory. £To allow 3D Garden Designer 2 to run, the £memory requirements are being lowered. £This means that you won't be able to have £as many items in your garden and you won't £have as much choice in your plants database. £The ideal solution is to free up more £conventional memory. After that £you can adjust the memory requirements by £using the Setup\Memory Preferences panel. £ £To re-read this message see 'Memory' in HELP £ ******************************* How to use help £ £The Help panel displays two different types of help: program help (Context), and planting advice (Advice). £ £The Help panel can only be updated to show context help and advice when it is fully displayed. To make sure it doesn't get 'buried' below any other panels you may have open, you can choose to keep it on top. £ £Advice £ £Advice is available when the advice check box on the help panel is switched to yellow. £ £The advice information box displays planting advice (for example, it tells you if you are putting an acid-loving plant in an alkaline situation) and information about the plants in the garden. £Sun and shade information are advice only, not warnings. Shadows falling on any part of the garden will vary over time, and the density of shade will also vary. This makes it difficult for Garden Designer to assess accurately the amount of shade falling on any region of your garden. So, if a plant must have full sun, the advice panel will always tell you even if the plant is positioned correctly. £ £In a planted garden, it displays information about the currently selected plant or object. If you activate the Garden Edit panel, and then move the mouse around the garden, each plant or object will be selected in turn with the appearance of the wireframe. If you let the wireframe rest on a plant or object the relevant information will appear in the advice box. £ £Context help £ £Context sensitive information is displayed when the context check box on the Help panel is switched to yellow. If the advice option has also been selected, the context-sensitive information is displayed in the upper box. £ £To get context help on any of the (non-menu) panels, hold the mouse pointer over a button. After about a second, help will appear in the context box. £ £Search £ £You can obtain help on a number of topics by clicking on the Search button on the Help panel. This opens a panel containing the Help index. Highlight the relevant item and then double click (or press Enter) to open the help information panel. £ £You can scroll down the contents list panel, or use the up/down arrow keys to move the highlight up or down to select a topic, or use the letter keys to move to a particular letter of the alphabet. £ £A row of asterisks indicates the end of the help information. Click on the Exit button to close the panel. £ ******************************* Search £ £You can obtain help on a number of topics by clicking on the Search button on the Help panel. This opens a panel containing the Help index. Highlight the relevant item and then double click (or press Enter) to open the help information panel. £ £You can scroll down the contents list panel, or use the up/down arrow keys to move the highlight up or down to select a topic, or use the letter keys to move to a particular letter of the alphabet. £ £A row of asterisks indicates the end of the help information. Click on the Exit button to close the panel. £ ******************************* Advice £ £Advice is available when the advice check box on the help panel is switched to yellow. £ £The advice information box displays planting advice (for example, it tells you if you are putting an acid-loving plant in a alkaline situation) and information about the plants in the garden. £Sun and shade information are advice only, not warnings. Shadows falling on any part of the garden will vary over time, and the density of shade will also vary. This makes it difficult for Garden Designer to assess accurately the amount of shade falling on any region of your garden. So, if a plant must have full sun, the advice panel will always tell you even if the plant is positioned correctly. £ £In a planted garden, it displays information about the currently selected plant or object. £ £If you activate the Garden Edit panel, and then move the mouse around the garden, each plant or object will be selected in turn with the appearance of the wireframe. If you let the wireframe rest on a plant or object the relevant information will appear in the advice box. £ £If the context option is switched on, advice appears in the lower box. £ ******************************* Context help £ £Context sensitive information is displayed when the context check box on the Help panel is switched to yellow. If the advice option has also been selected, the context-sensitive information is displayed in the upper box. £ £To get context help on any of the (non-menu) panels, hold the mouse pointer over a button. After about a second, help will appear in the context box. £ ******************************* Compacting Databases £ £How to compact the database. £ £If you have deleted any plants from the database, you need to compact the database to remove them (selecting delete merely marks the plant for deletion, allowing you to recover it using undelete, if you have deleted it in error). £ £After compacting, 3D Garden Designer 2 closes, so you are invited to save your garden first. £ ******************************* Jobs Panel £ £Displays information on the jobs to be done each month and when to prune the plants you have placed in your garden. £ ******************************* Snap to grid £ £The grid is only available in unrotated PLAN view. It helps you place objects in the garden. £ ******************************* User options £ £These options are initially set up when you create a new garden, and some may be changed using the Display Options panel. They are saved from session to session in a file called GARDEN2.OPT. £ ******************************* Latitude £ £The latitude setting is defined when you create new garden using the New garden option from the File menu. It has an effect on the appearance of the shadows. £ ******************************* File menu £ £This menu contains five options, followed by a list of gardens designed previously. To load one of these gardens, just double click on its name with the left mouse button. The File menu options include: ~ New garden ~ Load garden ~ Save garden as ~ Save F2 ~ Quit £ ******************************* New garden £ £This menu option opens the New Garden panel. It is used to define the following: ~ dimensions of the garden plot ~ minimum temperature ~ latitude ~ viewing year ~ aspect ~ units (metric or imperial) ~ soil type £ ******************************* Minimum temperature £ £The minimum temperature is used for selecting plants, and providing planting advice. £ £When you define a new garden, you can specify the minimum temperature that will be experienced during the winter. £ £When selecting plants from the database you can select the minimum temperature that you need plants to withstand. £ £When entering a new plant, using the Database Entry screen, you can define the minimum temperature you expect the plant to withstand. £ ******************************* Viewing year £ £Initially the viewing year is set to the current year (taken from the system date) plus 10 to let you see a mature garden. This value can be adjusted using the New Garden panel when you create the garden. £ £If you want to see how the garden will look at the time of planting, for example, take the year back to the current year by changing the value in the Yr box on the Position bar. £ ******************************* Soil pH £ £Define the soil pH (acid, neutral or alkaline) when you create a new garden. £ £When selecting plants from the plant database, you can choose whether to include plants which prefer acid or alkaline soil, or that are pH tolerant.£ £When entering a new plant, using the Database entry screen, you can specify the plant's pH preference. £ ******************************* Load garden £ £Selecting this option from the File menu opens the Read GARDEN file panel. This displays a list of .G3D files in the current directory. If required, you can select another directory or drive. £ £When you open the File menu, you will see up to four garden files listed at the end of the menu. These are the most recently accessed garden files, and can be opened directly by clicking on the required file name. £ ******************************* Save as £ £This option on the File menu opens the Write GARDEN file panel. You can create a new file for a new garden by typing in a file name, or save a new version of an existing garden file by selecting the file name from the list, and then clicking on OK. £ If you wish to save the file to floppy disk, select the required drive, and the file list and directory list boxes will clear. Type in the file name and click on OK. £ £Save F2 £ £This option saves the garden using the existing file name. Alternatively you can press the F2 key to save the file. £ ******************************* Quit £ £To leave the program, select quit. If you have made changes to your garden since you last saved it, you will be invited to save it. Select Yes, and the Write GARDEN file panel will open. £ ******************************* Undo last insert BKSP £ £Use this option from the Edit menu to remove the last object added to the garden. Alternatively, you can use the backspace key. £ ******************************* Delete object DEL £ £Use this option from the Edit menu to delete the current object. Move the mouse around the garden until the object you wish to remove is highlighted with a wireframe and then select this option, or press the Del key. £ ******************************* Copy object CTRL I £ £Use this option from the Edit menu to select the current object so that it can be copied by clicking the right mouse button. When the object is selected, the wireframe appears dotted. This option has the same effect as double clicking on the object with the left mouse button. £ ******************************* Redraw screen ESC £ £The Escape key is very useful. If the screen display breaks down in any way, pressing Escape will redraw the screen. If the mouse gets lost in detail or gets 'trapped' in one area of the screen, pressing Escape will return it to the centre of the screen. It will also free the mouse/cursor from a highlighted object and input value box (as found on the position bar, for example). £ ******************************* Printer options panel £ £Use the Printer Options panel to set up your printer. Choose your printer from the list by highlighting it and then double click to make it the default printer. Make sure the correct output port is selected (usually LPT1). Use DIRECT TO PRINTER only when the printer plugs directly into your PC, leave unchecked if you are printing across a network. £ £Click on the OK button to save these settings. £ ******************************* Memory... £ £This option opens the Memory Preferences panel from the Setup menu. This panel is used to alter the number of plants held in the database and the garden, the number of features in the garden and the number of snapshots held by the camera. The default settings represent the minimum required by the program. These are: £Database plant limit ~ 800 (maximum allowed, 1300) £Garden plant limit ~ 300 (maximum allowed, 1000) £Garden feature (manmade objects) limit ~ 100 (maximum allowed, 300) £Snaps (camera frames) limit ~ 300 (maximum allowed, 2000) £ £It also indicates the memory available. When you increase the number of plants, objects or snaps you will reduce the memory available. £ £If you attempt to add more plants to the garden than the current resource settings will allow, you will be informed you need to increase the settings. £ £After you make the changes to any of these limits, the new settings do not apply until you next run the program. So when you click on OK you are invited to save the existing garden first. If you choose Yes, the Write GARDEN file panel opens to allow you to save the file. You are then informed the program must close for the new setting to take effect. £ ******************************* Windows menu £ £This menu allows you to open or close each of the windows or panels needed to operate the various features of the program. Each panel option toggles between 'Open' and 'Close' depending on whether the particular panel is open or closed at the time. £ £Panels can also be opened by clicking on the appropriate button on the Task bar at the bottom of the screen. £ ******************************* Close All £ £This option can be selected from the Windows menu. It closes all the open panels at once. £ ******************************* Arrange All £ £This option can be selected from the Windows menu. It repositions and resizes the open panels to their default position and size, i.e. the position and size when they are first opened. £ ******************************* Next Panel F6 £ £This option is found on the Windows menu. It switches you from the current panel to the next panel, i.e. makes the next panel active. £ ******************************* Display Options £ £The Display Options panel is opened from the Display menu. It allows you to select movement increments and delay; measurement units (metric or imperial), and whether to show blue sky, the green base and shadows. £ £The movement increments control the amount of change that occurs each time the mouse is clicked on the relevant movement button. If you are using the Camera to record a sequence, they define the distance travelled between each frame - the shorter the distance the smoother the animation. The delay controls the time between each frame, and may need to be adjusted depending on the speed of your particular machine. £ £The measurement units can be changed for an existing garden. £ £When selected, the blue sky and shadows displays change so that they are appropriate for the time of day. If your machine is rather slow, you may prefer to switch off the shadows. £ £You may prefer to switch off the default rectangular base if you have defined one of an irregular shape, in order to see it more easily. £ ******************************* Print Inventory £ £The plant inventory lists full details of every plant in the garden, and the position of every occurrence. Plant details include: ~ Latin name, common name (if available) ~ Preferred planting conditions (sun/shade; soil type; pH preference) ~ Type/description of plant, minimum temperature tolerated ~ Ultimate height and width. £ £The Print Inventory panel is opened by selecting the Print Inventory option from the Plants menu. It operates in exactly the same way as the Printer Options panel. £ ******************************* Print Jobs £You can print the list of jobs for the selected month by selecting the Print Jobs option from the Plants menu. This opens the Print Jobs panel which operates in exactly the same way as the Printer Options panel, opened from the Setup menu. £ ******************************* Print Garden £ £You can print the current garden by selecting the Print Garden option from the Plants menu. This opens the Print Garden panel which operates in the same way as the Printer Options panel, opened from the Setup menu. £ ******************************* Save inventory £ £This option is found on the Plants menu. It saves an inventory of all the plants in the current garden to a file with the same name as the garden with the extension .INV (e.g. GARDEN.INV). You can examine this list using any text editor (e.g. Edit). £ ******************************* Database Entry screen £ £The Database Entry screen is opened by selecting the Edit user database option from the Plants menu. This allows you to add more plants to the database, or change details of existing ones. £ £The screen shows details of the currently selected plant which include: ~ Latin name ~ Common name ~ Variety ~ Height (maximum) ~ Width (maximum) ~ Minimum temperature the plant can tolerate (in degrees C) ~ Age at maturity ~ Shape ~ Selection options for the plant (as displayed on the Database panel) ~ A scrollable list box displaying the names of all the plants in the database, either by Latin or common name and ordered by name, height or width, as currently selected on the Database panel. The current selection is highlighted. ~ The colours of the Flower, Berry, Leaf and Bark/Stem ~ The appearance of the plant through the months of the year, and a check box indicating the pruning period. £The screen also shows: ~ A choice of 12 different plant shapes, each with a check box to indicate which one is selected ~ Colour/texture selection boxes for Leaf colours, Blossom/Berry colours and Flower colours. £ £Seven command button across the bottom of the screen are used to manipulate the database. These include: ~ Save (Writes the current record to USER.GDB database file) ~ Delete (Marks the current record for deletion) ~ Undelete (Restores a previously deleted record to the database. Records cannot be restored if deleted before the last time the database was compacted) ~ Compact (Erases all records marked for deletion from the database. Records cannot be restored following this process) ~ Clear (Clears the Latin name, Common name and Variety information boxes) ~ Help (Displays this help screen) ~ Exit (Closes the Database Entry screen and returns you to the main work area, just as you left it). Any panels which were displayed when you opened the Database Entry screen, will still be open. £ ******************************* Object Editor £ £The Object Editor panel used to create the man-made objects in your garden. It contains a number of basic objects which you can resize and colour to resemble those in your own garden. £ £The basic shapes include house, greenhouse, lean-to greenhouse, hexagonal conservatory, wall, fence, hedge, gate, trellis and arch as well as a variety of flat and block shapes which can be used to indicate paths, patios, ponds, and flower beds, etc. £ £The manmade features that are preceded by 'Base:' in the list have special properties, these include Base: block, Base: half-moon, Base: hexagonal, and Base: triangular. These features are intended only to replace the standard base which can be switched off using menu DISPLAY\OPTIONS, if you have an irregular shaped plot. £All these features are always drawn so that their surfaces are at ground level, so their bases are actually below ground level (0). All other features have the minimum height for their base at ground level. £ £Any object can easily be decorated using the 76 colours and textures provided in the colour palette. £ ******************************* Choosing a new object £ £Open the Object Edit panel and select the object you wish to edit from the list box in the top left-hand corner of the Edit panel. Click on the scroll bar to the right of the box to scroll up or down the list. £ £The highlighted object is displayed to the right of the list box. £ ******************************* Changing the size of an object (Object Editor) £ £You can change the size and proportions of an object using the height, breadth and width boxes in the Objects area of the panel, which is on the right-hand side, below the selected object. Either click on the up/down arrow key to change the value, or click in the box to place a cursor in it, delete the current value and type in a new one and press Enter. You will see the object change in shape as the new values are applied. £ £You can move closer to or away from the object by clicking on the arrow buttons immediately above the sizing boxes. The object appears to get larger or smaller, but does not actually change in size; it just changes your viewpoint while you are editing the object. £ ******************************* Rotating an object (Object Editor) £ £At the top of the Objects area is the rotation box. This changes the direction the object is facing, to allow you to modify the back as well as the front. It does not affect the orientation of the object when it is placed in the garden. £ ******************************* Changing the colour of an object or feature £ £Any of the objects can be decorated using any of the colours or textures provided in the colour palette in the Object Editor. £ £The current colour/texture is shown as the Fill pattern below the Features area of the panel. To select another colour/texture simply click on one of the squares in the palette. £ £If you click on the current object, you will see an area outlined by a yellow dotted line. This shows you the area you have selected to be recoloured. If you now click on the Paint button so that it is depressed, and then click in the outlined area, it will change to the selected fill pattern. If you click on a different area of the object, this will also be painted with the current fill pattern. You can choose a different fill pattern, with the paint button still switched in, and recolour any area on the object, as required. £ ******************************* Moving water £ £The last colour/texture on the colour palette on the Object Editor represents moving water, and is useful to create a water feature such as a pond or swimming pool. £ £Once an object painted with this texture is placed in the garden, you will see the water ripple when you rotate the garden. The water will also ripple in the following way: ~. Activate the Garden edit panel by clicking on it. ~. Click the mouse in an area outside the active Garden Edit panel (e.g. anywhere on the screen background). The water will ripple. ~. The water will stop rippling (and the mouse pointer re-appear) when you move the mouse. £ ******************************* Adding features (Object Editor) £ £You can add vertical rectangular features to any of the vertical objects. The most common application will be windows and doors to the house. £ £First choose an appropriate fill pattern. Then click on the Insert button. The cursor will change into a small rectangle. Now click on the vertical face of the object where you want to place the window or door. A rectangle of the selected fill pattern will be positioned on the selected face, outlined in yellow, to show it is selected. The Insert button will have returned to its normal position. You can change the position and size of the window/door in the following way: £ £Position: £Use the WinY and WinX boxes in the Features area (below the Insert and Paint buttons) to adjust the position of the rectangle. The position is measured from the top left-hand corner of the current panel, so increasing Y moves the rectangle downwards, and increasing X moves it to the right. £ £Change the values either by clicking on the up/down arrows, or by clicking in the box to obtain a cursor, deleting the current value and typing in a new one. £ £Size: £The height and width boxes indicate the dimensions (in the units selected from the Display Options panel). Again, you can change the values either by clicking on the up/down arrows, or by typing in a new one. £ £If you add a second window (or door) to the object, when you click the insert button the mouse cursor will be the size of the previous one after modification. The yellow outline around the first window will disappear. If you wish to make further modifications to the first window, or delete it, place the mouse in the centre of the window and click. The yellow outline will switch to that window to make it current. £ £To remove a feature/window, make sure it is outlined in yellow and press the Delete key. £ ******************************* Save object £ £You can save an edited object so that you can use it again in the future. Click on the Save button to open the Write OBJECT file panel, and type in a new name (the existing name is overtyped - you do not need to delete it). You do not need to add the .O3D extension, this is added automatically when you click on OK. £ ******************************* Loading an existing object £ £You can load a previously saved object into the object editor either for additional editing, or to make it available for insertion in the garden. This includes all the objects supplied with the program. Click on the Load button to open the Read OBJECT file panel and select one of the objects from the list. Either double click on the object name, or move the highlight to the required name and press Enter. The selected object will then be loaded into the Object Editor. £ ******************************* Placing an object in the garden £ £The current object in the Object Editor or manmade Features panel can be placed in the garden in the following way: ~1 Open the Garden Editor if is not already open. Otherwise click in the Garden Editor panel to make it active. ~2 Move the mouse to the position where you want to insert the object. ~3 Click the right mouse button. The object will appear in the garden. £You can modify any object (but not a plant) which is already in the garden. Move the wireframe to the required object and the double click or type Ctrl I. The wireframe will change to a dotted line. If you now go to the Object Editor, you will find the selected object is current. After you have made your modifications, you will need to delete the feature from the garden to replace it with the new version. £ ******************************* Editing an object already in the garden £ £You can modify any object (but not a plant) which is already in the garden. Move the wireframe to the required object and double click or type Ctrl I. The wireframe will change to a dotted line. If you now go to the Object Editor, you will find the selected object is current. After you have made your modifications, you will need to delete the feature from the garden to replace it with the new version. £ ******************************* Plant palette £ £The Plant palette provides a convenient way of holding a collection of plants which have been selected using the database panel. It gives brief details about each plant, but omits the criteria for creating a sub-set of plants. If required, it can hold all the plants in the database, but it is usually more convenient to work with a smaller group of plants. £ £The information displayed for each plant includes the plant's colour wheel; the leaf colour; the plant's ideal requirements; its shape and the height and width at 10 years and ultimate height and width. £ ******************************* Planting age £ £The plant palette lets you select the plant's planting age (the age of the plant in relation to the viewing year). This is normally set to 10 because the default viewing year shown on the New Garden panel is the system year plus 10. So assuming that the plant is actually planted during the current year, it will appear 10 years old in the viewing year. £ ******************************* Placing plants in the garden £ £Plants can be placed in the garden in one of two ways: ~ Selecting and placing individual plants in the garden - see Planting individual plants for more information. ~ Using the Auto design feature - see Using Auto design for more information. £ ******************************* Planting individual plants £ ~1 Choose a plant from the palette by highlighting it on the list. Names are arranged alphabetically, and can either be by Latin name or common name (as selected on the Database panel). If you type the first letter of the name, you will automatically be taken to that part of the list. Alternatively you can click on the scroll bar to the right of the list to move up or down the list, or just use the arrow keys to move the highlight. As you highlight each plant in turn, you will see the information display for the plant updated. ~2 Click on the Garden Edit panel to make it active. ~3 Position the mouse where you wish to place the plant and click the right mouse button. You will see a wireframe of the plant appear at the tip of the mouse pointer. When you release the right mouse button, the plant will appear. ~4 If you wish to reposition the plant, press the left mouse button, and you will see the wireframe on its own. Move the wireframe to the required position, and release the mouse. ~5 To plant more of the same plant, repeat steps 3 and 4 £ ******************************* Using Autodesign £ £This feature allows you to select a group of flowers, using the Database panel, and plant them in a specified area as a single unit. For example, you could choose to plant a bed of pink and white heathers. £ £This feature is best suited for planting flowers. It is used in the following way: ~1 Open the Database panel and select a group of flowers (make sure Pond is deselected). For example, if you want a patch of small blue and white flowers select the blue and white colours from the Feature Colour area of the Database panel, Flower from the plant type area, type in a maximum height value in the Max ht box, and choose the plant groups you wish to include). The database list box will contain a list of suitable plants. ~2 Close the Database panel and open the Object Editor. Select the Auto design feature. It will appear as an outlined square feature coloured the same colour green as the base. The default size is 5 m (15 ft) square. ~3 Resize the object, if required, (see Changing the size of an object). ~4 Go to the Garden Edit panel and click the right mouse button to place the object. ~5 If you don't like the design, press BKSP to delete the bed, then right click to re-insert the bed. Each time you right click you get a different design. £ £Once in the garden, you can reposition the entire object, or select individual plants and reposition, delete or copy them in the normal way. £ ******************************* Features panel £ £The Features panel lists all the features which can be edited in the Object Editor. £ £It allows you to select one of the features (which you may have edited using the Object Editor) to place in your garden. £ £Some are basic shapes you can use to develop unique features for your garden (e.g. you can use the slope with any of the blocks to create raised areas in the garden); others are created virtually ready for inclusion (e.g. Greenhouse). £ £The manmade features that are preceded by 'Base:' in the list have special properties, these include Base: block, Base: half-moon, Base: hexagonal, and Base: triangular. These features are intended only to replace the standard base which can be switched off using menu DISPLAY\OPTIONS, if you have an irregular shaped plot. £All these features are always drawn so that their surfaces are at ground level, so their bases are actually below ground level (0). All other features have the minimum height for their base at ground level. £ ******************************* Anchor Height (Features panel) £ £You can select the height above the ground (base) at which objects are inserted in the garden (e.g. when placing plant in raised beds) by switching on the Anchor height option, and adjusting the Anchor height value. This value will then apply to every object subsequently inserted until the value is changed, or the option switched off, i.e. to AUTO mode. £In AUTO mode, objects that are placed in PLAN view will automatically find the correct height allowing for the local terrain and features underneath them. This does not apply to sloping features such as slopes, and roofs. When planting on slopes, the best procedure is to highlight an object by double clicking, then use the Oz control on the Position bar. £Positioning objects that have heights above ground level is made easier if you always use PLAN view. If you use LEVEL view, bear in mind that the mouse pointer always points to the location where the object would be if it were to be placed at ground level, while the outline shows the place where the object will finally be drawn. £ ******************************* How to deselect features displayed in the garden £ £You may find it convenient to temporarily 'remove' certain features from your garden which may be obstructing the view. The following groups of features can be switched off using the Features panel and thus removed from display in the garden: ~ Boundary wall (also includes gate, fence, hedge, and freehand wall) ~ Buildings (includes house, and all styles of greenhouse) ~ Vertical structures (includes arch, wall and trellis) ~ Trees/shrubs ~ Flowers £ £Switching features off also increases the speed of updating the display, or placing objects in the garden. £ £The various block shapes, the slope, freehand path and other flat objects (circular, triangular, hexagonal features etc.) cannot be switched off. They are all considered to part of the ground. £ ******************************* Freehand Features (Features panel) £ £The Freehand path and Freehand wall features are inserted into the garden in a different way to all the other features. Once you have sized and coloured the Freehand feature using the Object Editor, click in the garden Edit panel to make it active. £ £Then click the right mouse button in the position where you want the freehand feature to start. A small circle will appear. £ £Move to the next position and click again, and a line will appear connecting the start position to the second point. Repeat this procedure until you reach the end of the wall or path. Then click in the circle, and the freehand feature will appear. Each freehand feature is allowed a maximum of 20 points (nodes). £ ******************************* Position bar £ £This multi-function bar can only be displayed or closed from the Windows menu. It is divided into three areas: ~ Object position ~ Garden position ~ Time. £ £See Object position, Garden position and Time for more information. £ ******************************* Object position and rotation £ £The position of the current object in the garden is shown at the left-hand end of the bar. Ox, Oy and Oz indicate the distance across the garden (from left to right), the distance from the front of the garden and the height above the ground respectively. Or shows the rotation of the object (this is more applicable to features than plants). £ £These positions are calculated before the garden is rotated i.e. when the garden is facing in the direction originally specified. £ £The position or rotation of the current object can be precisely defined by first selecting the object (double click or CTRL I when outlined), then either by clicking on the up or down arrows to the right of the value (to increase or reduce the value), or by clicking in the box and typing in a new value. £ ******************************* Garden position £ £The relative position of the garden is shown near the centre of the position bar. X=, Y=, Z= and R= show the position of the garden on the screen. £X increases if you move the garden to the left (by clicking the right-pointing arrow on the Movement panel), i.e. move your viewpoint to the right. £ £Y increases as you move closer to, and across the garden. £ £Z indicates the viewing height above the ground. It increases if you tilt the garden towards you. £ £R shows the degrees of clockwise rotation away from the originally specified aspect. £ ******************************* Time £ £The controls at the right-hand end of the position bar allow you to view the effect of time on the garden. By increasing the value in the Yr box (either by clicking on the up-arrow, or clicking to place a cursor in the box, deleting the current value and typing in a new one), you can see how your garden will grow over the years. £ £Initially the viewing year is set to the current year (taken from the system date) plus 10 to let you see a mature garden. This value can be adjusted using the New Garden panel when you create the garden. £ £If you want to see how the garden will look at the time of planting, take the year back to the current year. £ £The Mth box shows the month of the year. By clicking on the up or down arrows you can see how the appearance of the garden will change over the year. £ £The Hr box shows the time of day. If you have selected "Realistic shadows on" from the Display Options panel, you will see the shadows change as you change the time of day. If "Blue sky" has been selected, the sky will darken during the night-time hours. £ ******************************* Vision Software £ £Vision Software is Janet A Nicholson and Dr Richard Whitaker. Between them, they have created, designed, and programmed 3D Garden Designer 2. £ £Their garden, Nook Nursery, was created about 15 years ago by Mr and Mrs Brian Bedson, alpine specialists. £ £Janet and Richard have added pools to encourage wildlife and their garden is home to all sorts of creatures including hedgehogs, woodpeckers, squirrels, frogs and newts dragonflies and the occasional cat. £ £Richard is a keen photographer and has photographed all the plants in 3D Garden Designer. Janet loves all sorts of gardening but is especially interested in hardy plants. £ *******************************
