Migrate an Existing Plan into Land F/X

Note: The following catalog of content covered in this webinar is time stamped to allow you to follow along or skip to sections of the video that are relevant to your questions. You can also search for content on this page using the FIND command in your browser (CTRL + F in Windows, Command + F in Mac OS.)

• Intro/TOC
• Set Up the Drawing
• Assign and Populate the Project Data
• Convert the AutoCAD Objects to Land F/X Objects
• Customize Land F/X Objects to Match Your Standards

0:00 – 7:37: Intro/TOC

Why convert? (1:58)

• Training
• Great way to familiarize yourself with Land F/X
• Witness how you can achieve the same (or better) result in less time
• The return
• Having a Land F/X plan means that any revisions can be made as quickly and painlessly as possible.
• Setting up your standards
• Easily compare with your existing standards when setting them up in Land F/X.

 

Demonstration file (3:45)

• This file has had its project data removed via the HYPERLINKBASE command.
• All smart objects have had their data removed via the DELETEALLXDAT command.

 

Basic outline:

Initial drawing setup (4:34)

1. Check for Proxy Objects and Registered Applications (RegApps).

2. Clean the files involved (not included in this demonstration).

3. Verify the units, and assign a plot scale.

 

Set up your project (5:55):

1. Create a new project for the drawing set.

2. Use existing information to populate the project data.

3. In this case, we’re adding plants to the Plant Manager.

 

Convert the AutoCAD Objects to Land F/X Objects (6:25)

1. Quickly swap out dumb blocks with smart Land F/X blocks.

2. Add your custom symbols to the library if desired.

3. Change groundcover area hatches to Land F/X hatches with data.

4. Replace planting labels.

5. Run an automatic schedule.

 

Customize Land F/X Objects to Match Your Standards (7:03)

Customization resources:

• Customizing Land F/X webinar
• Customize for Office Color Standards webinar
• Our customization documentation

7:38 – 9:48: Set Up the Drawing

Measuring a known distance and checking the units and insertion scale (8:00)

 

Applying a plot scale (8:50)

The scale you set is up to you – just don’t use a 1:1 scale.

9:49 – 14:44: Assign and Populate the Project Data

Creating a new project (9:49)

 

Choosing a Preference Set (10:30)

 

Adding plants to the project to create a plant palette (10:50)

 

Importing plants from another project (13:02)

14:45 – 44:49: Convert the AutoCAD Objects to Land F/X Objects

Using the Edit Plant tool to turn dumb blocks into trees and assign them with symbols (15:00)

 

Using our Save Plant Block tool to save a symbol into Land F/X (17:20)

 

Assigning the custom symbol to a plant (20:15)

 

Assigning shrub symbols (20:30)

Note that you can choose to build your plant palette initially before converting the plan, or create it on the fly as you go.

 

Replacing hatches with groundcovers or Shrub Areas (23:25)

Note: The Edit Plant tool won’t work on hatches. Instead, you’ll just need to place the groundcovers and/or Shrub Areas in place of the hatches.

 

Using our Match Plant Properties tool to change existing hatches into groundcovers or Shrub Areas (24:45)

 

Running a Plant Schedule to verify that all plant quantities are correct, then making corrections (26:40)

 

Regenerating the schedule to check for errors again (29:50)

 

Updating the plant labels (30:20)

 

Choosing a label style (31:05)

 

Customizing our default plant label styles (31:50)

 

Labeling several plants at once using our Group Label tool (33:00)

 

Selecting a Text Style to apply to plant labels (33:45)

 

Using the previously drawn window to label more plants with Group Label (36:30)

 

Drawing a polygonal window to select plants to label (39:40)

 

Labeling groundcovers with our Single Plant label tool (40:30)

 

Error checking plant labels using our Verify Labels tool (41:20)

 

Aligning plant labels (43:30)

44:50 – end: Customize Land F/X Objects to Match Your Standards

Customizing the label style (44:50)

 

Preference Sets (45:15)

A Preference Set is a saved bank of customized settings that you can apply to any project you open or create.

 

Editing Text Styles (45:50)

 

Editing layer settings (names, colors, etc.) (46:20)

Take care not to repeat layer names.

 

Editing the block layer colors (47:38)

 

Question: Can you use the Single Plant Label tool to determine square footage for hardscape areas as well? (49:03)

Answer: You’d label hardscape areas by making sure they’re placed as Reference Notes (RefNotes) using our Reference Notes Callouts. You can use our Area Callouts tool to place an additional callout showing the square feet or meters of a hardscape area.

 

Applying a boundary to a hatch (53:50)