Garden: hardscape and water

The hardscape tools build the hard surfaces and structures of a garden on top of your terrain: paths, paving, patios, planting beds, lawns, decking, steps, ramps and retaining walls, plus natural ponds and formal pools. Each one follows the terrain, and Terrafold keeps track of the areas, lengths and volumes for a quantity report.

You find the tools on the Garden ribbon tab and in Draw ▸ Garden. You need terrain first: see Terrain and grading.

Draw a path, patio or lawn

These tools all work the same way:

1. Click the corners of the outline on the terrain.
2. Close it by clicking the first point again, double-clicking, or pressing Enter.

The area is laid on the terrain and follows it exactly. While you draw, type a length to change the thickness, or type steel, kerb or none to choose the edging:

• steel: a 6 mm steel strip standing 15 mm proud of the surface.
• kerb: a 125 mm kerb with a 25 mm upstand.

Backspace removes the last point and Escape starts over.

Each area is a group that remembers its type, its plan area and surface area, its thickness and its edging length. When you select one, the Garden element context tab shows what it is and its area.

Build steps

Draw ▸ Garden ▸ Steps builds a flight of steps along a path you click.

1. Click the points of the path, from one end of the slope to the other.
2. Double-click or press Enter to finish. Type a length first to set the width.

The steps rise from the lower end of the path to the higher one. Terrafold chooses the number of steps so each riser is close to 150 mm, no riser is higher than 190 mm and no tread is shallower than 280 mm. If the path is too short for that, you get a message. Very long treads and uncomfortable step proportions are reported as warnings. The terrain is graded to fit the flight.

Steps along a bent path are mitred at the bends. Landings are not added automatically.

Build a ramp

Draw ▸ Garden ▸ Ramp works like Steps. The ramp slopes evenly from the ground at the start of the path to the ground at its end. If it would be steeper than 1:12 (8.33 %), you get a message saying how long the path needs to be.

Build a retaining wall

Draw ▸ Garden ▸ Retaining Wall works like Steps; type a length to set the wall's thickness.

The wall holds back the higher side. Terrafold levels the ground behind it over 1.5 m and slopes it back to the existing ground beyond that. The wall's top stands 100 mm above the retained ground and its foundation goes 300 mm below the lowest ground at the wall, so its height follows the difference in level. It gets a cap. The wall's length, exposed face area and greatest height are recorded for the report.

Dig a pond or pool

• Draw ▸ Garden ▸ Pond digs a natural pond with sloping banks (1:3), a flat floor 0.8 m deep and a liner.
• Draw ▸ Garden ▸ Pool digs a formal pool with vertical walls, a flat floor 1.2 m deep and a coping of paving slabs along the edge.

Click the corners of the outline and close it. Type a length to set the depth, or natural or formal to switch between the two kinds.

The water level sits 50 mm below the lowest point of the rim. Terrafold digs the basin into the terrain and fills it with a water surface. The quantity report lists the water volume in cubic metres and litres, the water area, the liner area and, for pools, the coping length.

Garden materials

The garden tools use their own materials, which Terrafold adds to the model the first time they are needed:

Lawn, Gravel, Bark Mulch, Decking, Paving Slabs, Brick Paving, Pond Water, Soil and Corten Steel.

They are generated by Terrafold and include surface detail for photoreal renders. You can paint them onto any face like other materials (see Paint with materials).

The quantity report

Terrafold adds up every garden element in the model:

• areas: count, plan area, surface area and volume per type
• edging length per kind
• earthworks: cut, fill and the net difference, from grading, sculpting, steps, ramps, walls, ponds and pools
• retaining walls: length and face area
• steps and ramps
• ponds and pools: water volume, liner area and coping length

Tools ▸ Garden ▸ Quantity Report calculates the report. File ▸ Export ▸ Garden Quantities saves it as a CSV file named <model>-quantities.csv next to the saved model, ready to open in a spreadsheet. Save your model first so Terrafold knows where to write it.

Components placed more than once are counted once per copy.

Limits

• The report uses the quantities stored when each element was made. If you edit an area's geometry by hand afterwards, its quantities are not updated.
• There is no report window yet; use the CSV export.