Exclude Shrubs
Quick video
- Exclude Shrubs Overview
- Applying Exclude Shrubs to All Groundcover Areas Automatically
- Exclude Shrubs and Concept Groundcovers
- Why Doesn't Exclude Shrubs Work On All Plants in the Area I Selected?
- Exclude Shrubs and the Multiple Option for Excluding Interior Objects from Groundcover Hatches
- Related Webinars
- Troubleshooting
When you place a groundcover hatch, you can use our Exclude Shrubs tool to eliminate hatch patterns from shrub symbols for more concise drawings and accurate plant counts.
Exclude Shrubs will only work on our groundcover hatches. To exclude individual trees or shrubs from Shrub Area hatches, or site hatches depicting gravel or other hardscaping materials, use our Plant Outlines and/or P-Hatch tools, or simply delete the plant you've added as a Shrub Area and add it back to your project as a groundcover.
Do not use the native CAD command Hatch Edit to remove hatches from beneath shrubs and other blocks.
Exclude Shrubs Overview
Open the Plant Manager, and place a groundcover.
You'll now see an option in the Command line to Exclude Shrubs.
Type E to enable the Exclude Shrubs feature. Then click a polyline boundary that contains individual shrubs.
A non-plot boundary line will be created automatically around each individual shrub within the groundcover area you selected.
The plant count will be updated to match the groundcover area excluding the shrubs.
Important:
- Be sure all plant symbols are within the hatch boundary line. The Exclude Shrubs feature will only eliminate the hatch pattern from shrubs that are completely within the hatch boundary line.
- The Exclude Shrubs tool will not eliminate hatch patterns from tree symbols.
Applying Exclude Shrubs to All Groundcover Areas Automatically
We've added a checkbox in the Planting Preferences that automatically applies Exclude Shrubs to every groundcover hatch you place.
Open the Planting Preferences:
F/X Planting ribbon, Planting flyout
F/X Admin ribbon, Planting button
F/X Planting menu, Preferences option
or type FXPreferences in the Command line
In the Planting Preferences, check the Ground Covers exclude shrubs box.
Then click OK to save this setting.
Once you apply this setting, Exclude Shrubs will engage automatically whenever you place groundcover hatches.
Like all other changes you make in the Preferences, this setting will not be applied to the existing contents of your drawing. If you want to apply Exclude Shrubs to existing hatches, you'll need to do it manually using the Exclude Shrubs tool.
Exclude Shrubs and Concept Groundcovers
Want to use Exclude Shrubs when placing groundcovers you've added as Concept Plants? It will work with Concept groundcovers, but only manually – and only with shrubs you've added and placed from the Plant Manager. When you're about to place a concept groundcover, press the E key to trigger the Exclude Shrubs option when you place the groundcover. Note that Exclude Shrubs will not recognize and exclude individual Concept shrubs.
Why Doesn't Exclude Shrubs Work On All Plants in the Area I Selected?
As mentioned above, Exclude Shrubs will only work on plants that are completely within the hatch boundary line. If Exclude Shrubs is not eliminating the hatch from some of the plants in the planting area you selected, check to ensure that those plants are completely within the bounding polyline. If not, you'll need to either:
- Move the problematic plants completely within the boundary line, or
- Move the bounding line outward to encompass the plants completely
In this example, all plants are completely within the boundary line.
Exclude Shrubs is now able to create a bounding line around each plant and exclude the plants from the groundcover hatch when we place it.
In the example to the left, we've added three plants to our previous design.
Note that the three plants are not contained completely within the planting area boundary.
As a result, Exclude Shrubs is unable to create the necessary bounding lines around the three new plants, and these plants are not excluded from the hatch when we place it.
To correct the problem, we'll move the three new plants completely within the planting area boundary, as pictured to the left.
Exclude Shrubs can now create the necessary bounding lines around the three plants and exclude them from the hatch when we place it.
Rather than moving shrubs inside the hatch area, you can also choose to expand the hatched area to include the shrubs in their present locations, which will allow Exclude Shrubs to work with those shrubs. Our P-Hatch tool provides a quick method for adding onto an existing hatch area by "painting" with the hatch pattern. More information on P-Hatch
Why Does This Happen?
In short, because that's just the way that AutoCAD hatches work (or more accurately, don't work) with intersecting objects.
A plant contained only partly within a boundary line is actually intersecting with that line. Because of the inherent nature of hatches, AutoCAD will not allow plants to be excluded from hatches unless they are contained completely by the hatched area.
That's why, if we were to move a few of the plants partially outside our hatched planting area, the hatch would then be applied to the portions of the plants that lie outside the planting area.
Exclude Shrubs and the Multiple Option for Excluding Interior Objects from Groundcover Hatches
If you have Exclude Shrubs active, you may notice that the Multiple option for excluding interior objects (such as boulders or stepping stones) from the groundcover hatch is not available. That's because these two features cannot function at the same time. If you want to exclude shrubs and additional interior objects from a groundcover hatch, you'll need to complete a few manual steps. Information and instructions
Related Webinars
- Getting Started with the Planting Tools: Starting from square one, we'll provide the necessary information for familiarizing yourself with the software and starting your training right. (1 hr 3 min)
- Planting F/X for Beginners Part 2: In this second installment, we'll dive right into some of the tools you need to know about for the best experience and fastest workflow when starting with Land F/X planting plans, including our Exclude Shrubs tool. (1 hr 3 min)
Troubleshooting
Issue: Software runs slowly, or green hatches appear on your plant symbols, symbols not displaying correctly, or other issues when using Exclude Shrubs
Issue: You want to use the Multiple option to exclude interior objects such as boulders or stepping stones from a groundcover hatch in addition to using Exclude Shrubs, but the Multiple option is not available
Contact
- Land F/X
Our software tailors AutoCAD® to the needs of landscape architects, irrigation designers, and other professionals. We automate your most tedious tasks and ensure accuracy, giving you more time to design.