Who out there does landscaping on front elevations of residential homes?
I draw 2D house plans and need to dress them up. I've got some trees and bushes and such, but I really need to figure out how to really dress them up and make them look good. I don't have the time to do 3D. We can't charge enough to make it worth our while to do 3D because of the competitive market we're in.
Is this possible in autocad??   OR>>>>>
Any cheap programs out there where you can import dwg, tiff or pdf and dress up the front?
Maybe add real trees, color to the front elevation, etc........
Any help would be appreciated!!!!
 
Looking for something that allows me to do soemthing similar to this>
http://www.softplan.com/SoftPlan-Gallery.html
Doesn't have to look as good, but similar.
 
If you have done this and i can see it online, email me the link.
I know softplan can make some nice elevations, but i don't $2500 and a couple of years to learn a new program. Plus the cost of training.
Thanks

Welcome drice!! I think I understand what you're looking for.To start off, you should be able to find a vast number of additional trees here: http://www.cadforum.cz/catalog_en/?cat=64 (the more the merrier, right?)There are also a number of bushes, shrubs, and other 'landscape' related blocks in that same area, you'll just have to look for them.If you're only working with 2D, then I'm guessing you're not providing your clients with full color images like those examples you provided at that link.
What I have found that really 'dresses' up a 2D landscape are the various
'hatches' in AutoCAD. Hatch out each area based on the type of landscape (grass, top-soil, asphalt, cement, flagstone, etc.)Newer versions of AutoCAD can do just about anything you need in the way of 3D and can produce full color, 3D images, such as those previous examples. If, however, you are interested in cheaper programs, then I just googled "3d landscaping software" and came up with a fairly good sized list of programs that will do what you're looking for - at 1/10th the price of SoftPlan.HAWDesigner2011-01-03 22:31:30

If you don't want to do 3D renderings, you can use Photoshop to do this. You can see examples of some of my work on my website: http://rdeweese.com/. The stuff in my 3D Arch-Vis section is a combination of 3D models that I rendered out of 3D Studio Max and then inserted background photos and plants in Photoshop.

Thanks for the help guys.
Looking it all over and trying to figure out what would be best for me.