Plants and Trees in AutoCAD
Table of Contents
Insert Tree and Vegetation Blocks in AutoCAD
Introduction
Many users use AutoCAD for landscaping projects, garden design, and architecture in general. The design of plants and trees in AutoCAD can be quite laborious. It takes time and practice to design plants that go well with the drawings.
Insert Trees and Plants Blocks in AutoCAD
The first thing to know is that the blocks come in.dwg format. Inserting a predetermined block will allow us to save a lot of time and energy.
All we have to do is the following:
- Open the Insert dialog box and click on the Browse button. Here you can find both the blocks that you have downloaded, as well as any model that you have designed by yourself.
- Browse through the collection until you find the block of trees or plants that you want to insert. Select it and click Open. You must then be in the Insert dialog box.
- Use the dialog box settings in the same way you would for a block within your drawing. You just need to click OK.
- The last step is very important. Notice the message Specify Insertion Point (or Base point/Scale/Rotate). Here, you must specify the insertion point for the tree. If you do it right from the beginning, you won’t have to readjust the scale later.
Trees in Top View
Similar to what we would see on a map, the top view orientation allows us to see our trees and plants from an elevated point. In AutoCAD, unlike a conventional map, trees are drawn on a plane in a particular vertical position. For your reference, when selecting your scale, this position is commonly four feet above the floor. This way you can see the objects above this level. Also, the tree blocks on this level are shown “cut off” when you see them on your screen. In the same way, objects above this vertical position within the structure should not be displayed.
One of the best resources to download trees in top view is the following: https://cad-blocks.net/vegetation-cad-blocks-trees-plan.html
Trees in Cut View
In cut view, we can see our trees from the side. This would represent the flat part of a facade. This view is vital to describing the external appearance of the plants in the drawing. Therefore, we must be careful when importing our blocks into the AutoCAD drawing.
You have to remember that, geometrically, the cut view is a horizontal orthographic projection of the trees in a vertical plane. Or, to put it in another way, the vertical plane is usually parallel to one side of the tree.
When we see this section in our AutoCAD drawing, everything cut by the plane is shown as a bold line, often with a solid fill to show the objects that are cut off. Everything that is seen beyond is usually shown in a thinner line. These sections are used to describe the relationship between the different levels of our drawing.
One of the best resources to download trees in cut view is the following: https://cad-block.com/trees_plants/
3D Trees
The last type of tree we will see in this article is a 3D model. 3D tree blocks are the result of the process of creating a mathematical representation of any surface of an object in three dimensions. It must be taken into account that 3D models can also represent a two-dimensional image through the rendering process.
One of the best resources to download 3D trees is the following: https://www.cadblocksfree.com/en/3d-cad-models/trees.html