[jwholden]

When a client pays...an acceptable wage...for a landscape design and you produce a color rendering does the color rendering come back to the office or stay with them?

[agla]

I don't know about legallity, but it is definitely not good way to please a client by taking it away when they are really paying for it. You really have to either find a way to get a color copy or render a second one for yourself.

A good photo is not the worst.

[papercutter]

The client always gets to keep my color rendered plan, plus a booklet with photos of all the plants, all the light fixtures, and any finishes specified (stone, brick, pavers, etc.). Depending on the project, I may also include a black and white copy of the plans, as well as everything above saved as pdfs on a CD.

Don't see the benefit to keeping the color copy anyhow. When I was doing it on a blueprinter, we kept an original vellum; now that it's all in AutoCAD, it's totally a non-issue.

Dave

[Inspired]

JWH:
I always provide the customer with all the drawings, details and photos I used to complete the project. I either put them on a drawing sheet or in a folder.


Dave:
Are your color rendered plans used by the installer? Any complaints? I've seen some other designers use a more conceptual color rendering which look beautiful. They are works of art really. But they require a lot of "decisions" or adaptations during the install process.

I've provided colorized plan views a couple of times at the request of my customer and they've appreciated them. I however feel that my colorized plan views always look like black and whites that somebody colored, if you know what I mean.

[papercutter]

My color rendered plans *could* be used by an installer, I guess; they're dimensionally accurate and based on the AutoCAD drawing. But for that reason there's really no need. Once the homeowner has decided what they're doing, I draw up construction plans with layout dimensions, grades in inches, etc.

I have a couple techniques I've been working on here:
http://www.davidmarciniakdesigns.com...portfolio2.htm

Dave

[thegreenman_us]

Those renders are beautiful. Excellent work. Now I've gotta go sharpen my skills.
Thanks for posting.

p.s. David can I make a small website suggestion: Reduce the image size of the bubbling fountain photo on your main page to match the displayed size, it is very slow loading.

[papercutter]

Thanks for the suggestion. I really need to revamp the site and actually try and figure out what I'm doing. Or just hire someone

[Stonehenge]

I know that it feels like you're giving away one of your children when you turn over a color rendering, but other than shoving it into a drawer with the other drawings, I don't have a good reason to keep them, so I leave them with the client. I think the expectation is when you present them a color rendering and they are paying for your design services, they should get to keep it. Trying to explain how they don't would seem like an awkward sell and probably leave to at the very least a smallish bad taste in their mouths for you.

Take a few pictures of it in high res, then turn it over to them.

[thegreenman_us]

I just reduce my plans to 11x17 and colorize that, then I get a Kinkos color copy. IMHO scale isn't important on this "show" plan. If it doesn't fit nicely I'll make several different "views" and colorize them separately, along with an overall view.

The planting or construction plan is a different animal altogether. It often consists of several different pages, one overview, one for hardscape, one for trees, and one for bedding plants and shrubs.

Actually this is my favorite feature of CAD, the ability to do and print layers.

[Inspired]

Wow, very nice Dave. Mine do not look like that at all.

[desynerguy]

Nice job Dave. Question though...does the colour really make a diff? I mean it looks great but is it something the client needs? I was looking at the colour add on for dynascape but then you need a colour plotter and well the cost just keeps going up...any thoughts?
Desynerguy
your designer landscapes, Ontario - landscape design - landscape plan - landscape designer - garden designer - patios - water features - decks

[papercutter]

Originally Posted by desynerguy

Nice job Dave. Question though...does the colour really make a diff? I mean it looks great but is it something the client needs? I was looking at the colour add on for dynascape but then you need a colour plotter and well the cost just keeps going up...any thoughts?
Desynerguy
your designer landscapes, Ontario - landscape design - landscape plan - landscape designer - garden designer - patios - water features - decks

I think it does. Does it have to be that fancy? Not always... Here's my line of reasoning: you and I deal in plans all day long. If something's unclear, we look for contextual clues to figure it out. Your average client, on the other hand, doesn't look at a lot of plans. Most can at least find their house on the plan (but not all), but by at least making water blue, grass green, flagstone gray with streaks of blue and rust, etc., you're clarifying the concept and it suddenly becomes easier for them to place themselves in the proposed landscape.

I use color for other purposes too. In the example at the bottom of the portfolio page I linked to, we were redesigning the front plantings for a job on which most of everything else had already been done. By adding watercolor-style rendering to the native computer output, and doing five minutes of post-processing to clean it all up, I made it graphically apparent what was new work.

I design a LOT of structural components, especially decks, fireplaces, and pools. When you understand shadowing and can render in such a way as to create the illusion of depth, it makes it really easy to show where risers are; which is the deep end of the pool; even the heights of trees relative to the rest of the landscape.

I *think* skilled color rendering is a nonverbal way of telling the client "your landscape will look good because I'm a skilled technician AND an artist." There's another thread on here where I've been fleshing out some research I want to do on that topic.

Lastly, life's hard. How great is it, as the sun is setting, to throw some downtempo on the stereo and make lots and lots of happy trees?

[desynerguy]

Point taken!
But!
How do you charge for all that artistic work?
Desynerguy

[papercutter]

How do I charge? Fairly

In all seriousness... depends on the client and the job. When I quote a design job, included in the fee is the time it'll take me to appropriately render the plan. I'll go really detailed if it's warranted, or when budget is an issue I'll at least splash some color on with the chartpak markers. I just think a plan reads better and looks more finished with color. I'm experimenting with rendering applications (Piranesi, etc) to see if I can streamline the process to make renderings economical for more clients. I don't like the look of the renderings generated by the landscape design programs- just not enough control over the final output and too obviously "stamped out" by a computer program.

[Ston Wurks]

This is a conceptual drawing shown during the 1st meeting where I have a chance to show clients possibilities for their landscape(s)
Of course I leave these, the clients are paying for design services, and my ideas. These renderings are a major part of that.