Mini-Review: Realtime Landscaping

[mouser]

Basic Info

App Name	Realtime Landscaping
App URL	http://www.ideaspectrum.com/
App Version Reviewed	Pro v5 (other editions are very similar)
Test System Specs	Specs of the test system here done in a quote block
Supported OSes	WinXp or Later
Support Methods	email, phone; no forum
Upgrade Policy	unknown
Trial Version Available?	Yes
Pricing Scheme	$59-$249 depending on edition
Relationship btwn. Reviewer and Product	Just a satisfied user

Intro:

Realtime Landscaping is a software program for helping you design and visualize landscaping ideas.  It's used mainly to plan walkways, fences, flower beds, and other outdoor structures.  

While it has some support for 3d building model constructions, it's not meant to do interior modeling, and cannot support the kinds of detailing building architectures that the serious building modeling tools can (like Chief Architect).  However it does excel at letting you super rapidly sketch and render quite complex outdoor landscaping plans, and the 3d walkthrough rendering is quite pleasing.

Mini-Review: Realtime Landscaping Mini-Review: Realtime Landscaping

Who is this app designed for:

Amateur-to-mid-level landscapers and adventurous homeowners.  This is not a child's toy -- it is very easy to use but it is a serious tool that will let you create some very detailed and advanced designs.

The Good

Extremely intuitive and fun to use.  Serious editing features.  Nice attention to details.  Lots of variety in objects and structures and surfaces.  I found the fence building layout too especially nicely done.  Surprisingly good support for modeling ground level building architecture to help visualize landscape around building.  Support for graded land.  Support for various pool styles.

The needs improvement section

The walkthrough mode could be a bit better; a photo-realistic raytracing rendering mode would be excellent.  Ironically, the features for rendering flowers and different plants looks very useful from the interface side of things, but i found it not very pleasant in terms of final rendered design -- I think that's less a software issue than just the difficult challenge of rendering so many different plants and flowers.  But if you are mostly interested in seeing how different flower arrangements would look, this program may not help you too much.

Why I think you should use this product

If you are interested in doing landscaping work on your property -- or are just curious about how certain changes would look, this is a fantastic tool.  Expect to put in some work into learning how to use the software -- like other similar tools and architecture tools, this is basically a simplified Computer-Aided-Drafting (cad) tool, which can involve a learning curve if you have no experience with the concept.  But it makes doing simple things simple, and complex things possible.

I used it to design some alternatives for a back yard for the condominium building I live in; it was so wonderful to be able to visualize different possibilities, different layouts, different tile materials and fence layouts.  Really invaluable when it came time to showing other people some potential options.

How does it compare to similar apps

I'm sorry to say I don't remember the other programs I evaluated before i purchased Realtime Landscaping a year ago -- but I did try every similar app i could find, and none held a candle to Realtime Landscaping in the price range.

Conclusions

This is one of those programs that produces valuable results, and is a pleasure to use.  If you are curious about exploring landscaping ideas on your property, you owe it to yourself to try this software.

Links to other reviews of this application

http://landscaping-s...ing-plus-review.html (video review).

[cranioscopical]

Thanks, that's one to keep in mind. The second image looks quite detailed.

What's the difference between the bottom end of the price range and the top end?

Mind saying which version you used to plan your layouts, and for how big a space that was?

A positive review like this can save a great deal of time when it comes from someone who's done the looking and whose judgement can be trusted. 

[mouser]

I used the Pro version ($99).

There is a good comparison page here, where you'll see that there isn't that much difference between the pro and architect edition that is relevant for home users: http://www.ideaspect...m.com/comparison.php

[bmikey]

Intro:[/b]

Realtime Landscaping is a software program for helping you design and visualize landscaping ideas.  It's used mainly to plan walkways, fences, flower beds, and other outdoor structures.

-mouser (March 14, 2011, 12:01 AM)

This is exactly what I have been looking for a while now. I am so happy that I have found it finally here. I want to redo my garden and therefore I have been looking for such a software. I already have an idea how my garden will look like but it would be fantastic to visualize it first in order to be absolutely sure that I will want it like I am planning to. If I have done that I will order flowers online and then start my garden project.

[kyrathaba]

Nice review. Will forward this to my aunt.