Creating a Project Material List

A powerful feature of Realtime Landscaping Pro is its ability to generate a comprehensive list of the objects used in your landscape. This list, called a project material list, can help you determine what you'll need to purchase in order to build the landscape you've designed, as well as help you estimate how much it will cost.

To create a project material list, select Tools > Project material list. A dialog similar to the one shown below will appear:

The objects you are currently using in your landscape will appear on the list. To change the description of an item, click the description and enter a new one.

By default the unit prices are all set to 0. To enter the price, click the price in the Unit Price column and enter the actual price.

Any changes to the prices or descriptions will be stored in your current landscape. However, these changes will not be applied to any other landscape files. If you want to create a price list and use it in another landscape file, click Save Price List to save it to disk. To load a previously saved price list, click Load Price List.

From a practical standpoint, you will probably find it easier to use a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel to edit your material list. Each landscaping project is unique, and you may have additional items such as labor and excavation to account for.

To export the project material list:

1.   Click Export.

2.   Enter the destination filename and click Save.

Realtime Landscaping Pro will automatically detect if Excel is installed on your system and ask you if you want to run it. The following is an example of a project material list that was exported to Excel.

Important: The length, area, and volume quantities are based on the size of the objects you create, so be sure to double-check your measurements before purchasing materials.

Including Hidden Layers

By default, objects in hidden layers are included in the project material list. If you want to exclude objects in hidden layers, then uncheck the Include hidden layers option. This is useful when you want to create a project material list that only includes certain objects.

To create a project material list that only includes certain objects:

1.   Move the objects you want included in the project material list to one or more visible layers.

2.   Move the objects you do not want included to one or more hidden layers.

3.   Select Tools > Project Material List.

4.   Uncheck Include visible layers. The project material list will then only include objects in visible layers.

To hide all of the objects in a layer, right-click the layer tab at the bottom of the screen and click Hide objects in this layer.

See Using Layers for more information about layers.