Resources
The following items may be beneficial to our Clients. These resources vary from websites to software. The software listed is free or a great value software. Typically Designers will send designs in a format that the Client can not modify. However, the Client might want to change the design, so some of our suggestions on this resource page includes software that will the help the Client modfiy the design without the designers involvement. The Client might be interested in having a Online Meeting to learn how to get going on this software.
01
Gimp
The name is strange, but the imp part of it has to do with Image Processing. This program is the open source version of Photoshop. It may not be quite as good as Photoshop, but it is FREE and that saves you maybe $400 dollars. It is really powerful and with that comes lots of buttons. It can be useful for adding cutting a pasting plants to pictures of your house, cleaning up a Google Earth Image, or just dressing up a photo you took. Free -
Draft Sight
This program is offered free, but you do have to sign up. It is developed by a really large software company and they use it to lure Autocad users to their product line. So it is very much like Autocad Light and can open DWG files easily. This is useful because most Landscape Architects use Autocad so if you want to get a version of your file that you can tinker with, this is a good software. Unless you want to spend around $4000 and get the full, real Autocad. FREE
Real Time Landscaping Architect
Now this software is not free. However, it does what Gimp and Draftsight both do. And it is totally built for landscaping! Not too many Landscape Architects use this software. Yet. But it is really fast and for people who have never used design software often it is the easiest to figure out. If you want to look at your job in 3d, quickly add walls, pools, decks, etc. this is the software of choice. So we say it is a great value at approximately $400 for their top of the line model Other versions start at around $90.
Houzz
This is a website. It is very popular for searching for design ideas. Use it for pools, plants, fire pits,etc. You have to sign up to really get going but it is free and it allows you to make a list of those items you "Like." However, unless the site has changed, Houzz does not make it easy for you to send the photos to people who are not members of Houzz. So to help you with that and other things we use Traction Software Screen Grab Pro (listed here as well.) Houzz. com is FREE for users.
Screen Grab Pro
No telling when or how we first came across this program. And there are other screen grab methods that some people like better, but for us this program has alway been reliable and easy to use. And FREE. Basically, you just turn it on and when you run across something you see on your screen that you like, you can just hit the F8, draw a box around the picture, or words that you like and the software copies the the information. You tell the software where to save it. Sometimes you just don't know how to save something and then Screen Grab Pro can help you out. FREE