Every plan is drawn on the same five bands, in the same order. Choosing the right one before you draw is what makes a shape behave as ground, a wall, a bed or a path.
The five, in the order the work happens
- Terrain — the landform itself: levels, slopes and plateaus everything else is built on. Decided first, because it is the hardest to change. An area here has an altitude and shapes the ground.
- Structures — retaining walls, blocks and buildings: everything that stands on the terrain. An area here extrudes into walls of its height, with a roof if you want one.
- Plants — trees, shrubs, beds and borders. Beds are drawn; specimens are placed from the library.
- Paths — the lightest work: where you walk, drawn as a line.
- Light objects — grills, fire pits, benches, stools. Placed, not drawn.
Selecting a band
The five are tabs above the shapes list in the sidebar. The selected tab is the band you are working on: the next shape lands there, and the tool rail offers only what that band uses — the pencil is on the terrain and plants bands but not on structures, the slope tool is on terrain alone, and the light-objects band has no drawing tools at all. If a tool you want is missing, check which tab is selected.
Each band as a whole
The heading of the selected band has an eye to hide the whole band, and behind its ⋯ menu a padlock (everything on it stays drawn but cannot be picked), an opacity fade (see what lies under it) and + Group for a folder inside it.
The bands themselves are fixed: they cannot be added to, renamed or reordered. Folders inside them can nest as deep as you like.
Moving a shape to another band
Drag its row from the shapes list onto another band's tab. A lawn drawn on the plants band by mistake becomes terrain the moment it lands on the Terrain tab, and gains an altitude.
Not on a layer
A plan drawn before the bands existed shows a sixth tab, Not on a layer, until everything in it has been dragged home.
Next
Organise shapes in the sidebar — names, folders and stacking.