From food to flora: SketchUp enables postgraduate student to bloom

The latest contributor to our customer stories programme is Robert Smith, a postgraduate student in Garden Design at the British Academy of Garden Design, who is pursuing his passion for design after a successful 20-year career in food manufacturing.

Studying online allows Robert to balance studies with his personal and professional commitments. While his interest in garden and landscape design has always been present, it has significantly grown over the years. We talk to Robert about his journey and how SketchUp is playing a significant part in his postgraduate studies.

Growing a career in garden design with SketchUp, how's that going for you?

The Postgraduate Diploma is fully online and based on hand drawing, with no CAD or rendering software training provided. You can use CAD software if you have experience or obtain external training. Initially, I drew and designed by hand, enjoying the process. However, I reached a point where I spent excessive time redrawing garden designs for different elevations and angles.

Is this where SketchUp met Rob and the rest is history?

I researched CAD software looking for something that could assist me, and consulted with some very helpful designers on Instagram, finding SketchUp to be a suitable and affordable option for students. After experimenting with SketchUp, I quickly realised its potential and found it could do what I wanted and would save me a lot of time.

As a complete novice in this field and entirely self-taught, I've found SketchUp an invaluable tool. Its 3D modelling capabilities allow me to quickly design gardens to scale, experiment with different materials and layouts, and visualise the space from any angle or perspective.

Small garden with soft lines and shadow

The software's extensive layering and viewing options provide incredible flexibility, enabling me to easily explore various design possibilities. I can try various materials on pathways to get a good sense of how the space will look and add plants from the online catalogue as changes are easy to make. 

Large garden with soft lines in Plan view

Furthermore, I believe there is a collaboration between ShootGarden and SketchUp. The integration with ShootGarden's online plant database significantly enhances the design process. This collaboration provides access to a vast library of plant images, allowing me to accurately represent seasonal changes and create more realistic and informed designs. 

SketchUp empowers me to showcase my designs effectively, presenting my assignments with clean crisp images in 3D with accurate sun shadows, thanks to the geolocation feature. Additionally, the 2D drawing capabilities, facilitated by Layout, enable me to create professional-looking plans with ease.

Large formal country garden, 2D Working plan (Layout)

Italian coastal garden, Elevation 2D, parallel projection

Italian coastal garden, construction drawings 

The confidence I've gained in my design abilities through using SketchUp is evident in the positive feedback I've received from my course tutors. I believe I've only begun to scratch the surface of SketchUp's potential and am eager to further explore its capabilities, including the integration with rendering software like VRay, D5, and Twinmotion, as I continue my learning journey and ultimately my professional development as a garden designer.

Showcasing your postgraduate learning journey with SketchUp caught our eye!

Upon starting the course I created an instagram account, Lawn Wall Garden Design documenting my journey and the projects I’ve created using SketchUp have been great to share. I’ve received complementary words from garden designers and many others since I started documenting my learning journey this way. This is helping me build up a small following which will assist me as I start to work with clients this year and create my website.

Italian coastal garden, 3D concept plan perspective

Italian coastal garden, 3D visual, path to fire pit

What I like about SketchUp.

I find it incredibly intuitive. If I encounter a task I can't immediately accomplish, I can easily discover how to do it through the numerous online tutorials available.

This software significantly accelerates the process of reproducing drawings. I can even customise the appearance to mimic hand-drawn plans, adjusting line weights and colours with just a few clicks, thanks to the wide range of style options.

I really appreciate the geolocate function. The shadow feature is invaluable, allowing me to visualise how shadows move across the garden throughout the day. This is incredibly helpful for determining the optimal placement of structures, trees, and even demonstrating the effectiveness of seating areas at different times of day or in various seasons.

Since the gardens are drawn to scale, I can obtain precise measurements by simply clicking on any line or area. I can then easily label the drawings with these measurements as needed.

SketchUp will mean I can be efficient, and produce very high quality images for my website and drawings for my clients and professional working plans with construction drawings, for their contractors and landscapers

Further information

Follow Rob's journey on Instagram

Learn more about ShootGarden

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Learn more about postgraduate learning at the British Academy of Garden Design