2D Rendering

[alfresco]

Is there a method of producing a multi coloured palette for plant symbols? Secondly,I am looking to produce a softer presentation copy for clients. Some of the colours are harsh and would like to produce a product which is more appealing! For example, simply colouring lawn sections a particular shade of green does not look great. Suggestions?

[gmm18]

maybe try using a gradient fill,

then make transparent,

and overlay and stack these for different effects.

or use hatches...

there are also lots of 2D plants that come with VW,

some of them look pretty good, check out the artistic-colorwash symbols...

what VW version are you on?

[alfresco]

I am currently using 2008. Thanks.

[landscape archiberry]

Alfresco

I made a really soft gradient for lawn, palest palest green at one end, nearly white. I put this under a hatch like "Sand" (the hatch having no background fill) and it looks pretty good. Gradients keep 2D objects from looking quite so flat.

[IanH]

Also try complimenting the gradient using a fine stipple fading from the lawn edge. Unfortunately the stipple tool produces very coarse adjustments down at the low density end so often the slightest nudge (often in combination with pen size) is needed to get it looking right.

This works especially well if hand rendering the plan - another trick is to put a very pale yellow wash across the whole garden so the background is not white. It softens the whole image plus, if hand rendering, avoids the use of excessive colour. You can then put in circular white highlights if needed. Stack these all on different layers to create the desired look as necessary.