Schematic Irrigation
Quick video
- Schematic Irrigation Overview
- Adding a New Schematic Type to Your Project
- Creating Project-Specific Custom Schematic Types
- Selecting an Existing Type (Including Our Defaults) from Your Preference Set
- Configuring and Editing Schematic Types
- Important: Checking for Accuracy Before Placing Schematic Area
- Placing a Schematic Area
- Deleting a Schematic Type
- Importing Schematic Types from Another Land F/X Project or Template
- Adding Other Equipment to a Schematic Drawing (Optional)
- Listing Schematic Areas in an Irrigation Schedule
- Our Default Schematic Types
- Undocking the Schematic Palette
- Related Webinars
- Troubleshooting
Schematic Irrigation can play a vital role in your site design. Before you even begin your design process, our Schematic Irrigation tool can help give you confidence that you can meet your design parameters. It can also help you inform your client or agency where your plan is headed and what the flow and pressure requirements will be – all in an extremely quick process. Schematic Irrigation areas (also known as zones) help you develop a general idea of the flow totals that will be required for specific portions of your irrigation system.
We recommend creating a Schematic layout before placing your heads (emitters). The Schematic areas you place in your drawing will give you a good idea of the flow requirements in various regions of your site. You can then place your heads with the confidence that you've created a viable basic layout.
Schematic Irrigation Overview
Quick video
Our Schematic Irrigation tool now shares a docked palette with our Circuiting tool.
For an overview of the updates we made to Schematic Irrigation in 2021, see our "What's New – Schematic Irrigation" video, linked to the right.
Open the Schematic Irrigation tool:
F/X Irrigation ribbon, Schematic button
F/X Irrigation menu, Schematic Irrigation option
or type FX_IrrigSchematic in the Command line
The SCHEMATIC IRRIGATION / CIRCUITING palette will open.
1. Ensure that the Schematic tab is selected.
2. Use this button to configure and place a water source for your irrigation system using our Source Data tool.
3. This list will populate with the Schematic types you add to your project. Note that it will be blank when you first open it.
5. Edit an existing Schematic area.
6. Delete an existing Schematic area.
7. Import Schematic types from other Land F/X projects.
8. The flow total for all your Schematic areas will display here.
9. Click this Recalc button to ensure your flow total is up to date.
10. To place a Schematic area in your drawing, select it in the list and click Place.
11. Schedule: List the Schematic types you've used in your drawing in an Irrigation Schedule.
The Schematic palette will be blank when you begin adding new Schematic types to a Land F/X project. We’ve set it up this way so you can limit your list to only show the Schematic types you plan to use in the active project. You can still access your default Schematic types. They reside in your active Preference Set.
Want to undock the Schamatic Irrigation / Circuiting palette? See our docking and undocking the Irrigation Manager and Schematic Irrigation / Circuiting palette documentation.
Important: Checking for Accuracy Before Placing Schematic Areas
Depending on your date of installation, the data in the Schematic Irrigation tool can sometimes be less than ideal. For this reason, before you place a Schematic area, it's important to check the precipitation rate and pressure assigned to that area to make sure they are accurate.
Before placing and using a Schematic area, select the corresponding Schematic type in the Schematic Irrigation Manager and click Edit.
In the Edit Schematic Irrigation Zone dialog box, check the Precip. and Pressure figures. If necessary, change them to reflect your intended rates.
You can also make any other necessary changes at this point by following our Configuring and Editing Schematic Types steps.
We’ve found some users' projects to have the following errors in the Schematic data:
- Outright typo in original data set for some rotors
- Precip rates transposed between dripline areas
- Dripline areas with differing "safety" factors
- Some Schematic areas have an efficiency/safety factor, while others are at 100% efficiency
- All spray and rotor areas at standard triple coverage. In this case, of your region (for instance, the Pacific Northwest) irrigates with single head coverage, all those values will be higher than desired.
For this reason, we recommend taking a quick look and confirming these rates before placing Schematic areas.
Adding a New Schematic Type to Your Project
Click New in the Schematic Irrigation Manager to add a new Schematic type.
The Schematic Irrigation Area dialog box will open.
You can choose to:
- Create a custom Schematic type that will only show up in the active Land F/X project, or
- Select an existing type from a pre-populated list generated from the active Preference Set
Creating Project-Specific Custom Schematic Types
To create your own project-specific Schematic type, you can simply type in all the necessary information, including the Title, Note, Precip and Pressure rates, and, if you want, Cost per square foot or meter.
To select a color or hatch to represent your new type when placed in your drawing, click the Symbol thumbnail and select your desired color or hatch.
Click OK to add your new Schematic type to your project.
For more information on configuring your Schematic type, see Configuring and Editing Schematic Types below.
Selecting an Existing Type (Including Our Defaults) from Your Preference Set
You can also use the Title menu to see a list of all possible Schematic types you can add to your project. These types include all our default Schematic types, as well as any custom Schematic types you've created, and are saved in your active Preference Set.
Select an equipment type from the menu.
After you select an existing Schematic type, the data assigned to that type will autopopulate in the dialog box. In this example, we've selected the SHRUB AREA FOR DRIP EMITTERS – HIGH DENSITY type.
You can choose to edit the data assigned to this equipment type, including its hatch color, before adding it to your project. For more information on this data and how to edit it, see Editing a Schematic Type below.
Click OK to add the Schematic type to your project.
The Schematic type will now appear in the list of types in the SCHEMATIC IRRIGATION / CIRCUITING palette, ready for you to place in your drawing.
Configuring and Editing Schematic Types
To edit an existing Schematic type, select it in the list and click Edit to open the Schematic Irrigation Area dialog box for that type (pictured below).
If you're adding a new type to your project and need to configure the data attached to it, you'll already be in this dialog box.
The Schematic Irrigation Area dialog box includes all the data assigned to the Schematic type you're creating or editing.
1. The Title of the Schematic type.
2. A detailed Note describing the Schematic type appears by default. You can edit and add to this note as you see fit, or type your own notes for project-specific types you create.
3. The data for the Schematic type: precipitation rate (Precip), design pressure (Pressure), and (optional) the construction Cost for this Schematic type.
4. The Symbol, or hatch pattern, that will represent this Schematic type.
We recommend reviewing the preset data for a particular Schematic type before using it.
If you're creating your own custom type, you'll need to fill in these fields (the Cost field is optional) and click the Symbol thumbnail to select a color or hatch to represent that type in your drawing. If you're working with an existing type, this data will have autopopulated but you can edit and change it according to your needs.
Title and Note
Review the Title of the Schematic type to ensure it represents your intent.
The Note field contains expanded text that defines the title in more detail. You can choose to add to or edit this field as needed.
Precipitation Rate
The precipitation rate (Precip) is important to review because its value will determine the flow defined for a selected area, using the following formula:
Flow (gpm) = (Area sf / 96.3) (Precipitation Rate)
Therefore, the Precipitation Rate determines the final flow in gallons per minute (or liters per minute) applied to the various Schematic areas. You may need an accurate portrayal of the flow required for your project. The rates indicated in the default types generally represent an average among several manufacturers of that type of equipment, so you may need to adjust the Precipitation Rate to meet your particular needs.
For a given Schematic type, such as SHRUB SPRAY, you might review the Precipitation Rate listed in the specific manufacturer’s performance data for the head type you plan to use, and either:
- Adjust the Precipitation Rate listed in the Schematic type, or
- Create a new Schematic type of a different title, such as "Shrub Spray Rain Bird 1800," for a very specific type of equipment.
Precipitation Rate and Drip Irrigation
All default Schematic types have a reasonably accurate Precipitation Rate, except for the three SHRUB AREA FOR DRIP EMITTERS types. These types will require your input to match your preferences. This is where individual emitters are used for each plant. If you want to use one of these types, look carefully over previous plans you have designed and make some attempt to determine the precipitation rates for, as an example, high, medium, and low density of planting. This information will be specific to you and the way you work, so look at what you would call a high, medium, or low density of planting, determine the area involved, and carefully total up the flow from the emitters in that area to calculate the precipitation rate. Use one of the following formulas:
- Precipitation Rate (in/hr) = (Total Flow for Area GPM) ÷ (Area S.F. ÷ 96.3)
- Precipitation Rate (mm/hr) = (Total Flow for Area Liters) ÷ (Area S.M ÷ 60)
Pressure and Cost
Pressure: Review the design pressure you want for the head type, as well as the unit construction cost.
This figure may vary for different geographic areas. It may also vary depending on whether this unit cost is only accounting for the lateral system or is also including valves and mainline.
Cost: The default cost was intended to represent a commercial-grade unit cost for the lateral lines and heads only, with valves, mainline, controllers, etc. incurring separate unit costs
Symbol
The default symbol for each Schematic type is a thumbnail preview of a solid hatch of a certain color.
If you want, you can click this thumbnail to select a new color for the Schematic type.
If you click the thumbnail, you'll be taken to the Hatch dialog box, which contains a library of possible colors for Schematic areas.
Here, you can select either a Truecolor or a hatch pattern to represent your Schematic type when you place it in your drawing.
The Truecolor tab will be selected by default. To pick a color for the selected type, click it and click OK.
To see a list of the colors used in Schematic Irrigation, download and open our "hatch_patterns.dwg" drawing, linked below.
Once you open the drawing, go to the layout tab IT1 for irrigation colors, pictured below:
You can also choose to assign a hatch pattern to the selected type. To do so, select the Site hatch.
You can then click one of the hatch patterns to select it, then click OK.
You can add to this library using our Save Hatch tool.
Placing a Schematic Area
On any layer, draw a bounding polyline around an area you know will be a certain equipment type.
In the Schematic Irrigation Manager, select a Schematic type from the list.
Click Place to place the Schematic area.
The cursor will turn into a pickbox, and the Command line will prompt you to Select polyline to hatch, [Draw Multiple].
You can now place your Schematic area in an existing closed polyline area or:
- Type D for Draw. This option will allow you to apply your hatch to a closed polyline area as you draw it.
- Type M for Multiple: This option allows you to select one or more closed polyline areas within your Schematic Irrigation hatch boundary and exclude them from the hatch.
If you type M for "Multiple," the cursor will change to a pickbox that will allow you to make a polyline selection.
Selecting an Existing Polyline Boundary for Your Schematic Area
To select an existing polyline as your Schematic area boundary, use the pickbox to select a closed polyline area where you want to place the Schematic area.
The polyline area will fill with the color or hatch pattern associated with the area you selected, and the flow total of that Schematic area will be shown in an MLeader callout either inside or near the area selected. For easy identification, he MLeader will be the same color as the Schematic area.
This MLeader will be on a non-plot layer, and you may want to click it and move it more to the center of your Schematic area.
You may want to replace the solid hatches in your Schematic areas with different hatches, such as a black-and-white pattern. If so, you can simply edit a Schematic area and change its hatch from a solid TrueColor to a Site hatch. More information
Drawing a Schematic Area Boundary On the Fly
If you haven't yet drawn a polyline boundary for your Schematic area, you can do so on the fly after selecting the type of Schematic area to place.
When you go to place a Schematic area, the Command line will prompt you to Select polyline or interior point to hatch, [Draw Multiple].
Type D for Draw. The cursor will turn into crosshairs. You can then draw your boundary polyline to your liking. Once you close it, the Schematic area will appear within the polyline boundary.
Deleting a Schematic Type
To delete a Schematic type, select it in the Schematic Irrigation Manager and click Delete.
If that type has been placed in a drawing, you may be asked whether you're sure you wish to delete it.
Click Yes to delete the Schematic type.
Importing Schematic Types from Another Land F/X Project or Template
To import Schematic types from another Land F/X project or template, click Import in the Schematic Irrigation Manager.
In the dialog box that opens, select the project or template that includes the Schematic types you want to import, then click OK.
Select each Schematic type you want to import into your current project. You can select multiple types at once by holding down the Shift or Ctrl keys.
Click Add to Project to import the selected types into your project.
The Schematic types you imported will now be included in your project and listed in the Schematic palette.
Adding Other Equipment to a Schematic Drawing (Optional)
If you want, you can choose place other equipment such as valves, points of connection (POCs), backflow devices, and irrigation controllers, as well as lateral and mainline pipe, in your schematic design. In doing so, you can create a virtually complete irrigation plan with all equipment, sized mainline, and a complete understanding of the requirements of the entire system without laying out a single head. See our Adding Other Equipment to a Schematic Drawing (Optional) page for more information and instructions.
Listing Schematic Areas in the Irrigation Schedule
To place a schedule showing all the Schematic types you've placed in your drawing, click the Schedule button in the Schematic Manager.
You can also use our Irrigation Schedule tool to generate an Irrigation Schedule and include your Schematic types.
The Irrigation Schedule dialog box will open.
In the Schematic Areas options at the bottom select the items you want to include in the schedule for your Schematic areas. Then click OK.
The Command line will prompt: Upper Left Corner. Click the upper left corner of the area in your drawing where you wish to place the schedule. The schedule will appear in your drawing.
Be sure to uncheck the boxes for any items in the Schematic Areas section that you don't want to include in the schedule, such as Cost.
Our Default Schematic Types
We've compiled a list of settings for the Schematic types available in our Imperial Preference Set. If you want, you can use the link below to download the list of our Schematic types for your reference.
Undocking the Schematic Irrigation Manager
The Schematic Irrigation Manager is a docked palette by default. To find out how to undock it, see our docking and undocking the Irrigation Manager and Schematic Irrigation / Circuiting palette documentation.
Related Webinars
- Irrigation for Beginners: We'll show how to navigate through the Irrigation ribbon and build a familiarity with our conceptual-level tools. You'll also learn the basics of adding equipment to a project, placing, piping, sizing, and scheduling. (1 hr 45 min)
- Understanding Irrigation Calculations: Join us for a deep dive into exactly what our software is doing when sizing your irrigation design. We'll cover where losses occur in different types of equipment, which schedules are available to help you analyze your system, and how to make the proper adjustments for a successful final product. (1 hr 12 min)
- Schematic Irrigation: Our Schematic Irrigation tool helps you avoid making continual changes to your irrigation design layout at an early stage. Learn which Schematic types to use in certain areas, how to adjust areas, and what tricks you can use to create a quick schematic plan. (1 hr)
- Getting Started with Irrigation F/X: Join us for this webinar to get going with the essential capabilities of Irrigation F/X. We'll show how to navigate through the Irrigation ribbon and build a familiarity with our conceptual-level tools, including Schematic Irrigation. You'll also learn the basics of adding equipment to a project, placing, piping, sizing, and scheduling. (1 hr 8 min)
Troubleshooting
Issue: When you place irrigation symbols, they seem to come in beneath the Schematic Irrigation Xref
Issue: Error: The polyline (or polygon) contains arcs or segments