Creating Turf Area Defined by Other Landscape and Hardscape Areas & Buildings

[jmccain8]

Hello - Using Vectorworks Landmark 2019 and working in 2D only at this time (just learning): Is there a convenient way to define as lawn (turf) all the "negative" areas left between the landscape and hardscape boundaries created in other design layers, and the footprint of buildings, the road, etc.? In other words, all the amorphous space left over from all drawn objects and boundary lines.

 

My hope is that it won't be necessary for me to go back and trace the boundaries of all these other objects, already created by complex polylines composed and created into objects. That would take me a very long time and would be duplicating my efforts. I'm assuming VW has a smarter way.

 

Most important reason for being able to turn all that negative space into a landscape area (turf) is so that Vectorworks can provide the square feet of all that space so that I can calculate required amounts of loam and seed or sod.

 

Attached is a PDF. Note the road at bottom of drawing, from where a polyline runs diagonally to upper left of drawing, then across the top and straight back down to neighboring building and the road, then left along road and up the driveway edge. All empty white space outlined by those lines - up until reaching various landscape and hardscape boundaries - will be turf.

 

Thanks for your help!

James

 

 

Landscape Plan - Create Turf Landscape Question.pdf

Edited May 3, 2019 by jmccain8

[Tony Kostreski]

Hi @jmccain8,

 

From the looks of your plan, you may be able to use the 2D Polygon Tool with "Inner Boundary Mode" selected (see attached image)—it looks like a paint bucket and it will fill in the void spaces you are requesting. You just want to make sure there are no gaps in your linework otherwise it won't work. I would suggest turning off the plants and drawing a temporary quick polyline on either side of your irregular stone pavers before using the tool.

 

Hope this helps!

Tony

[jmccain8]

This was a quick and easy solution, thank you!

Edited May 3, 2019 by jmccain8

[jmccain8]

Hi Tony - Is there a way to get the 2D Polygon Tool/Inner Boundary Mode to recognize plants within a landscape area, so that when I use the command it will exclude all the plants and create a polygon of the remaining negative space around the plants and inside other boundaries?

 

Thanks,

James

[Tony Kostreski]

Hi @jmccain8,

 

That actually sounds like a great wish but not that I know of. If you really need just the negative space the only workaround I can think of is to select the Plant objects, duplicate them (so you don't lose the originals), and then run the command Modify>Convert>Convert to Group. You should be able to use Inner Boundary Mode with groups. Delete duplicate plant objects (groups) once finished.

Here's my test.

 

Let me know if that helps for now. I can put in a Vectorworks Enhancement to work with Plug-in Objects.

[Jeff Prince]

@jmccain8 Now that you know the easy way to solve this problem, time to right click on that turf area and explore "create objects from shapes".

You can get a lot of added value from that simple polyline.  It's not difficult to switch to a BIM approach for this stuff, even if you have no immediate use for the 3D display.

Anyhow, hope this motivates you to explore the function.  It is a game changer for me.

 

You can turn that polyline into a hardscape and define it as a turf.

Want a border to show up to the party? Done by selecting the option.

Need quantity take offs? Done automatically via worksheets and update as the design changes.

Even shows up in 3D with the proper build up.

Depending on the nature of your work, this could be a big time saver if you invest some time in learning it.

 

Here's an example..

The turf area was generated from a polyline I drew, the tan topdressing was created using the paint bucket method.

The border was generated by the turf object and is part of it.

I removed the border where the deck is by using the reshape tool and deleting those sections quickly.

 

Vectorworks includes some predefined build ups for landscapes such as this example.

All the textures and build up depths are defined for you or you can change them to suit.

 

The turf area and border in this example are one "object", but contains separate definition for the turf bed and border.

The rock topdressing is a separate "hardscape object".  All of it created by two 2D polylines and selecting some styles to apply 🙂

[mjm]

"The turf area and border in this example are one "object", but contains separate definition for the turf bed and border.

The rock topdressing is a separate "hardscape object".  All of it created by two 2D polylines and selecting some styles to apply…"

 

Sweet! @jeff prince