Adding a Patio

Patios of any shape and size are easy to construct in Realtime Landscaping Architect. Because patios are always flat, they are especially useful when working with sloping and uneven terrain. Patios support a wide variety of materials, including stone, concrete, brick, flagstone, and more.

To add a patio:

1.   Click the Add Patio button, which is found at the top of the screen under the Building tab.

2.   Draw the outline of the patio by clicking the left mouse button to add points. Press the Backspace key to remove the last point added, and press the Esc key to cancel. If you would like to input the distance and angle manually, place at least one point and then press the Enter key.

3.   To finish drawing the patio, place the last point on top of the first point. Alternately, right-click to place the last point; it will automatically connect to the first point.

Editing the Border

A border is automatically added when you create the patio. You can toggle the border on or off per edge or turn it off entirely.

To edit the border:

1.   Select the patio that you want to change.

2.   Expand the Border menu found to the right of the screen.

3.   Click Border type and select the desired border type.

To toggle the border on or off per edge:

1.   Select the patio that you want to change.

2.   Expand the Border menu found to the right of the screen.

3.   Click the Edit Border button to enter border editing mode.

4.   Click each edge where you want to toggle the border on or off.

5.   Click the Edit Border button again to leave border editing mode.

To remove the border:

1.   Select the patio that you want to change.

2.   Expand the Border menu found to the right of the screen.

3.   Set the Border type to None.

Note: The corner type of the patio border can be adjusted at each point. See Changing Corner Types for details.

The following landscape design uses a patio with a border, as well as a separate Accent Strip for the inset.

Adding Stairs

For instructions on adding stairs to your patio, see Adding Patio Stairs.

Adding Patios to Sloping Terrain

Patios can be built on sloping terrain to provide a flat building surface for decks, houses, lawn furniture, rockery, and more.

Customizing the Plan View

Like many other objects, Patios can have a customized appearance in the Plan view. This is useful when the patio needs to look realistic in the Perspective view, but stylized in the Plan view. To achieve this, check the Custom appearance in each view option that appears to the right of the screen when a patio is selected. After this option is checked, two tabs will appear: Plan and Perspective. These tabs make it easy to customize how the patio will appear in each view. If you wish the patio to look realistic in both views, simply ensure that the Custom appearance in each view option is not checked.

Tips:

•      Patios are usually easiest to add while in the Plan view.

•      Using the grid snap feature can make adding an accurate patio very easy. See Snap Settings for more details.

•      Stairs can be easily added to any patio in your landscape design. For details, see Adding Patio Stairs.

See also:

Patio Properties
Setting Object Properties
Selecting Objects
Editing Points
Adding Patio Stairs
Editing Objects