Running around a site waving your arms and explaining the wonders you’re proposing is fun, but does not work well for sharing concepts or remembering all the ideas discussed. This is especially true when we’re presenting alternate concepts that emphasize one aspect of the program over another. This is where mobile design shines.
stencils
site plan
We start with some basic measurements, if the space is not too large (you can only measure so much during a concept). From this, we use an iPad app to create a base plan to scale, so what we propose will fit in the space and have the right size and proportions.
Then, another app for conceptual design. There’s also an app for notes.
All of these apps output pdf files that go into the Cloud so they’re waiting for us at the office (or get uploaded when we’re back)
rough concepts
The conceptual design app is where we have some fun. It’s really fast, and by creating custom stencils we can streamline repetitive tasks and concentrate on the design over the graphics. All these things are custom colored and copied – and since they’re kind of hand drawn the concept plans don’t look computer generated.
These stencils work for titles, annotations, trees, shrubs, paving patterns, stipples and textures, north arrow, scale, site furnishings like tables and chairs. They work for perspectives and elevations, too – there are people to give a sense of scale, side views of trees and plants.
consult sketchbook
Back in the office, we take the pdf files created on the iPad and combine them into a letter size sketchbook, output that as a pdf file, and send it to our client.
So far, this system has worked well. Some people are happy with the consult sketchbook, some have even built from them (although a lot of detail needs to be added, since they’re concepts not working drawing).
For those who opt for working drawings (detailed landscape plans), we already have a CAD base plan from the consultation and can jump into larger drawings with only a few additional measurements, most often site elevations that require a transit.
SOFTWARE USED, conceptual stage
This stuff changes constantly, so it’s a continuing quest to find what works, what got a bad update and what’s new that can work even better.
There’s a lot of “abandonware” out there, too. Great ideas that come out, get a few updates and are, well… abandoned with only rare updates and no new features.
The worst ever bad update was AutoCAD Mobile, whose developer decided to remove pretty much every useful function for our purposes (drawing, editing…) to run off and make us all unwilling beta testers, even though we’re paying for their app.
So we’re looking for an alternative that does what we want and does not cost a fortune. Needless to say, we won’t be using any more Autodesk products!
It’s strange, but there seems to be only a handful of app developers that want to partner with their users in the long term. Apps get abandoned, price structure changes to expensive subscriptions that don’t really add any value, they don’t keep up with iPad OS improvements like file structure…
iPad
Morpholio Trace for concepts and sketches, Notability for notes, Procreate (if we want to be fancy) for illustration or fancier plan graphics, Vectornator for stencils.
Occasional use: Archisketch, Artstudio Pro, Concepts (difficult user interface!), Affinity Designer, Carbo…
Desktop
Affinity Publisher to put it all together, PDF Expert to adjust pdf file size if needed.
This just proves you can’t do everything on an iPad. You need big files, processing power for 3D rendering, and other big stuff that iPads can’t do (yet?).
We use even more apps for working drawings: database, CAD, photo cataloging…