I have several large beds around the property. I'm looking to keep track of what I have where--most plants are unlabeled and so I've been trying to ID them and plot out where they are.
So I'm trying to create a map of each section, sketching it out with reasonable accuracy (i.e., make it proportional), add in landmarks (raised beds, big rocks), then map out what is where. That way I'll know that a coneflower is 2' away from the eastern edge of the bed and 3' from the northern edge and the salvia is 2.5' north-west of that, the pine tree is 3' south-east of the 3.5' x 6' raised bed, and so on.
I've been using Affinity Designer to get started. I was an Illustrator user way back but I haven't had a need for it for years, and I thought Designer would be a less expensive alternative that worked similarly. Well, it isn't really--mainly in that the tools don't work how I remembered Illustrator working, so the learning curve was steeper than I thought. But more importantly it's really difficult if I'm looking to measure things.
That is, if I want to create a 20'x31' roughly triangular bed (with a curved hypotenuse) the shape is easy enough to draw, but getting the sides to actually represent 20x31 takes some kludge work since there's no easy way to measure things. I'm not demanding that it let me measure in inches and feet, just that Point 2 is X and Y distance (inches or pixels) from point 1.
Or that if I create a circle it's exactly Z pixels wide. It would be enormously helpful if I could not only SEE that it's those dimensions, but EDIT those dimensions. So if I want a circle that's 48" wide I can roughly create the circle then select it and use that object's info to set the diameter to 48" (or whatever equivalent measure I'm using).
I also want some sort of ruler tool--not X and Y rulers at the edges of the screen, but a way to measure a distance between two objects, so that I can set them accurately apart.
Again this is just a map so it doesn't need to look pretty. So I'm not looking for 3D design or something to plan out a yard; I want a map with reasonably accurate measurements of what is where. I don't know if this falls more in the realm of CAD software, but for something I'm only going to use a little here and there I don't want to spend a lot.
Being able to add graphics (i.e., my pictures) of each plant to help ID them would be a bonus, but not really crucial.
BTW, I'm looking for an OS X app, not a web too.
thanks
So I'm trying to create a map of each section, sketching it out with reasonable accuracy (i.e., make it proportional), add in landmarks (raised beds, big rocks), then map out what is where. That way I'll know that a coneflower is 2' away from the eastern edge of the bed and 3' from the northern edge and the salvia is 2.5' north-west of that, the pine tree is 3' south-east of the 3.5' x 6' raised bed, and so on.
I've been using Affinity Designer to get started. I was an Illustrator user way back but I haven't had a need for it for years, and I thought Designer would be a less expensive alternative that worked similarly. Well, it isn't really--mainly in that the tools don't work how I remembered Illustrator working, so the learning curve was steeper than I thought. But more importantly it's really difficult if I'm looking to measure things.
That is, if I want to create a 20'x31' roughly triangular bed (with a curved hypotenuse) the shape is easy enough to draw, but getting the sides to actually represent 20x31 takes some kludge work since there's no easy way to measure things. I'm not demanding that it let me measure in inches and feet, just that Point 2 is X and Y distance (inches or pixels) from point 1.
Or that if I create a circle it's exactly Z pixels wide. It would be enormously helpful if I could not only SEE that it's those dimensions, but EDIT those dimensions. So if I want a circle that's 48" wide I can roughly create the circle then select it and use that object's info to set the diameter to 48" (or whatever equivalent measure I'm using).
I also want some sort of ruler tool--not X and Y rulers at the edges of the screen, but a way to measure a distance between two objects, so that I can set them accurately apart.
Again this is just a map so it doesn't need to look pretty. So I'm not looking for 3D design or something to plan out a yard; I want a map with reasonably accurate measurements of what is where. I don't know if this falls more in the realm of CAD software, but for something I'm only going to use a little here and there I don't want to spend a lot.
Being able to add graphics (i.e., my pictures) of each plant to help ID them would be a bonus, but not really crucial.
BTW, I'm looking for an OS X app, not a web too.
thanks
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