Product Review: Vectorworks Landmark 2009

Vectorworks 2009 is the latest version of Nemetschek’s integrated 2-D drafting and 3-D modeling and rendering application.  There are six versions of the software aimed at various design professionals: Vectorworks Architect (architecture); Vectorworks Landmark (landscape architecture and planning); Vectorworks Spotlight (set design and theater, event, and exhibition planning); Vectorworks Machine Design (mechanical engineering); and Vectorworks Fundamentals (2-D drafting, basic 3-D modeling); and Vectorworks Designer, combining the previous five into one integrated module. Lastly, for high quality 3D rendering, you can add RenderWorks to any of the modules.

The most significant change for Vectorworks 2009 is a new 3-D modeling engine from Siemens PLM. [We have an extensive discussion of it here and in this interview.]  Suffice to say that this industrial strength modeler significantly boosts the power and performance of Vectorworks 2009. Nemetschek has stated that the new engine operates roughly four to five times faster than the previous version for most 3-D operations and up to twelve times faster for Boolean operations.

There are also some important implications of the new modeling engine when it comes to Building Information Management (BIM).  [For more on BIM and Vectorworks 2009 improvements for Architects in general, see this previous review of Vectorworks Architect.]

While I am writing this review from the point of view of an Architect using Landmark. Nemetschek aims Vectorworks 2009 Landmark at “landscape architecture, landscape design, contracting, or planning” professionals and they should find this review useful as well.

New Features Unique to Landmark

One of the more significant additions to Landmark 2009 is the new “Landscape Area” tool that allows you to designate groupings of plants by outlining an area on your plan.  Individual plants are not graphically shown in these areas, but the landscape area is graphically shown, and by assigning attributes to that area, all individual plants are included in your plant list.  Landscape areas can be made up of a single species of plant or multiple species.  After drawing a simple polyline, you can edit the settings to control the species, the graphic look of the plant cloud, and the information to be shown on the Plant Tag (see below).  In the case of multiple species, you can determine how many plants of each species are to be included by assigning percentages.  [see image 01 below] 

Landmark 2009 also has enhanced controls over Plant Tags.  Plant tags are the labels that can appear on your plan pointing to one or more plants displaying information such as species, common name, the number of plants, etc.  The new features give you far more controls over how these tags look including the approach angle, shoulder angle, and the bubble style.

Another significant addition to Landmark 2009 is the expansion of the plant database.  Nemetschek has partnered with Monrovia, a leading grower of ornamental plants, to greatly increase number of plants in the built-in plant database (from about 1000 to 5000 plants).  The plant database is integrated into Landmark 2009 and is built on top of Filemaker Pro, providing a simple and immediately usable interface.  The database provides information including Latin name, common name, height, spread, growing zones, uses, etc.   The database also provides users a place to designate favorites and add in pricing information and photos.  There is a great feature where you can click a link in the database to bring up a Google image search for the plant you are viewing and you can copy images of your choosing into the database.  You can also automatically bring up the Wikipedia listing or the Monrovia listing to find and add more information. [see image 02]

The more comprehensive the plant database, the more time it can save you when searching for just the right plant.  The database allows you to search by any attribute listed including name, zone, drought tolerance, etc.  As great as the database is, however, I do have a couple of complaints: I wish the database came with images already loaded instead of requiring you to copy and paste images yourself, and the database should allow you to assign the symbol you want to use for insertion right in the plant listing itself so you can jump back to your drawing and immediately be placing your selection.

Other New Significant Features, But Not Exclusive to Landmark

A useful capability for Architects that is mainly a Landmark tool, but is available in the Architect version of Vectorworks 2009 as well, is the analysis of existing and proposed site drainage.  Once you have created a 3D Site Model of your site (see below), Landmark can analyze the slopes and display arrows showing the directions and flow for drainage.  Furthermore, once you have altered the site for your project, Vectorworks can now provide an accurate cut and fill calculation.  (Calculations are a bit slow, so be patient)  There is a “grader” object that allows you designate an area where you will allow the addition of fill.   Grader objects are “site modifiers” and will alter the contours and will affect cut and fill calculations and are useful when trying to create balanced volumes.

Another new tool, particularly useful to landscape design is the arc-based polylines tool.  The “Polyline by Tangent Arc” mode of this tool draws a smoothed, multi-curved polyline by creating one tangent arc after another:  the first two clicks set the tangent, then the third click draws the arc, with subsequent clicks tangent to the previous arc.  The “Polyline by Point on Arc” mode also creates a smoothed multi-curved polyline, although each arc making up the polyline is drawn as a 3-point curve and is not necessarily tangent to the previous arc.  I find this tool particularly useful in tracing curves brought in with graphic files and non-vector based PDFs and for tracing parts of my drawing when determining areas.

The import and export capabilities of Vectorworks 2009 have been updated to include the latest AutoCAD 2009 DWG formats, essential when collaborating with Engineers, Architects, and other professionals who may not be using Vectorworks.  But the best new import capability is what Vectorworks can do with vector-based PDFs.  When a PDF is imported that was originally created with a vector-based application (such as Adobe Illustrator or another CAD application), the objects in the PDF are snappable, allowing you to accurate draw on top of and dimension objects within the imported PDF file.  Furthermore, you can actually ungroup the PDF file resulting in editable, individual objects. Objects can be text, lines, or graphics. I like to use the Symmetric by Distance setting in the Scale Objects tool to scale the PDF drawing once it is imported.

If you import AutoCAD files often, you know that sometimes you get more information than you really need and it can be a pain determining which classes and which layers to leave on and which ones to make invisible.   The new Visibility tool lets you control the visibility of classes and layers simply by clicking on one object in that layer or class. This is a big time saver when cleaning up imported AutoCAD files.

[See Vectorworks 2009 Architect review for other new features such as the enhanced smart cursor and the snap loupe]

Now for a real-world example of working with Landmark and what it is like to create a basic Site Model, one of the most common tasks that would be performed by an Architect using Landmark.

As is often the case, I receive site data for a project from a Civil Engineer working in AutoCAD.  I usually receive a DWG file that contains a survey or a civil engineering plan.  Landmark (and Architect) makes it very easy to create a 3D Site Model from this information.  In this example, I started with a survey drawing emailed to me in DWG format for a residential project of mine.   The DWG file contained some 3D information and some 2D information. [see image 03 below]

The first thing I did was import the DWG file into a new Vectorworks drawing.   I located the contour lines and noted that they were on their own layer and were all 2D polylines.  At this point, I could select each polyline and convert them to 3D polylines with the “Convert to 3D Polys” tool, then assign a Z-value to each one.  I had a couple of dozen contour lines and trying out this process took me about 10 minutes or so, which is not bad.  However, Architect and Landmark also have a “2D Polys to Contours” tool that will do the same conversion interactively.  You fill in the contour interval and the starting contour elevation in a dialog box, then tell Vectorworks which contour is the first contour in the set, and Vectorworks does the rest.  The whole process takes less than a minute and produced an identical set of 3D polylines.  Of course, if you are starting from 3D polylines or a set of 3D survey points, you can skip that step.

Once you have a set of 3D polylines (or 3D survey points), creating a Site Model is simply a matter of selecting your set of polylines and choosing “Create Site Model” from the Landmark menu (AEC menu in Architect).   In the dialog that pops up, you have the opportunity to control how the Site Model is created and how it looks.  You can adjust the contour intervals, 2D view settings, 3D view settings, line weights and colors, etc.  Once your Site Model is created, it is treated as a single editable object.  You can also render the Site Model using all of the usual Vectorworks rendering options. [see images 04 – 06]

Existing contours can be edited and proposed contours automatically calculated and shown by adding “pads” to the Site Model.   Pads are created using a polyline or similar tool.   You convert that polyline to a “Site Modifier” and assign it an elevation and slope.  Lastly, you designate (also with a polyline or similar tool) a “Fence” area that defines the extent of the area you are going to allow for modifying contours to accommodate the Pad.  In this manor, you can layout pads for buildings, and landscape elements. [see image 07]

Another tool I find useful is the Massing Model.  If you do not yet have a 3D model of the buildings to go on the site, or you are working with existing structures, you can very quickly add massing models for buildings.   The process is identical to drawing a polyline around a building footprint.  Your massing model can include a roof, automatically generated by Vectorworks (as long as the footprint of the model is not too complex). [see image 08]

This whole process can take as little as a half an hour from scratch to a usable 3D Site Model ready to provide a base for your landscape design.

Issues

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