Four ready-made shapes cover most of a plan: terraces, lawns, ponds, beds. They share one button on the tool rail.
The Shape button
The Shape button draws whichever shape you used last. Click it to open the choice — Rectangle, Ellipse, Circle and Triangle — or press the key straight away: R, O, C, A.
How each one draws
- Rectangle — drag corner to corner. Shift makes it a square.
- Ellipse — drag the box it fits in. Shift makes it round.
- Circle — drag from the centre outwards; the radius follows the pointer. Handy for a tree canopy or a round bed with a known middle.
- Triangle — drag the box it fits in; the apex is at the top.
Edge lengths show as you drag, so you can stop at the number you want.
Exact sizes
Drawn roughly is fine: select the shape, press T for Transform, and type its Size and Position in the sidebar. A 3 × 4 m terrace is three numbers away.
What the shape becomes
That depends on the band it is drawn on — the tab selected in the sidebar:
- On Terrain, it is a level and shapes the ground.
- On Structures, it stands up as walls with a roof.
- On Plants or Paths, it is a bed or a paved area, coloured but flat.
You choose the band first, then draw. Understand the five layers explains them.
Before drawing
The two chips under the drawing tools set the fill colour and texture the next shape gets, and the altitude slider at the edge of the plan sets its altitude. Set them once and every shape you draw inherits them.
Next
Snap to a grid makes the edges land on round numbers.