FAQs

Absolutely, RhinoLands is indeed fully integrated with BIM technology. It automatically lists items, offers parametric design components, enables simultaneous work in both 2D drawing and 3D modeling, generates quantity take-off lists, supports IFC file format for both import and export, and seamlessly integrates with Revit‘s collaboration technology. These features showcase RhinoLands’ BIM capabilities, fostering smooth collaboration, compatibility, and BIM workflows for landscape design projects.

• Streamlined 2D drawing and 3D modeling: Effortlessly create intricate designs for landscaping, civil engineering, and urban projects.
• Extensive plant database: Access over 8200 plant species, each with detailed technical specifications, simplifying the search and insertion process.
• Automated project documentation: Generate 2D technical plans and comprehensive lists to quantify various project elements such as plant species, hardscape objects, zoning areas, and irrigation systems.
• Realistic imagery and virtual tours: Utilize libraries of lifelike tree models with textured materials for creating compelling visualizations, including seasonal change simulation.
• Robust 3D terrain modeling tools: Easily construct terrains from contours, meshes, or imported data, and modify them with volume calculations, cut and fill operations, and more.
• Civil work capabilities: Design paths, stairs, walls, hedges, fences, and other landscape features seamlessly within your project.
• Irrigation system design: Define and install irrigation systems using various sprinkler types, distributions, and pipes to meet project requirements.
• Internal rendering, ray-traced visualization, and sun animation: Achieve stunning visualizations of your final landscape design through internal rendering and ray-traced modes, ensuring high-quality and realistic representations.
• User-friendly interface: Enjoy an intuitive and efficient workflow that makes designing with RhinoLands both enjoyable and productive.
• Comprehensive support and ongoing development: Access free technical assistance and benefit from continuous updates based on user feedback and requests, ensuring the software remains responsive to user needs.

RhinoLands caters to a wide range of professionals including landscape architects, architects, urban planners, civil engineers, town council technicians, constructors, forestry and environmental consultants, designers, and draftsmen in related fields. Additionally, it serves as a valuable tool for computer graphic artists. Moreover, RhinoLands is beneficial for Rhino or AutoCAD users seeking to enhance their landscape modeling and outdoor design capabilities or incorporate vegetation species into their architectural projects and designs.

While RhinoLands includes Rhino, a product developed by McNeel, the software itself is primarily developed by Asuni, a company specializing in software development and distribution for architectural design, engineering, landscaping, and industrial design. Asuni and McNeel Europe belong to the same company group, collaborating closely on projects such as RhinoLands. Therefore, while RhinoLands has connections to McNeel through the inclusion of Rhino, its primary development and distribution are handled by Asuni.

Lands Design 6, as a plugin exists in 2 formats: 

Rhino

• Lands Design requires Rhino 7 (SR 33) or Rhino 8 (SR 3 or later) version to run. Please note that these SR (Service Release) versions may vary with each new update of Lands Design. We recommend using the latest Rhino service release, which you can download from the following links:
  • Rhino 7: https://www.rhino3d.com/download/archive/rhino/7/latest/
  • Rhino 8: https://www.rhino3d.com/download/archive/rhino/8/latest/
• Lands Design is not available for Rhino 6 or earlier versions.

AutoCAD

• Lands Design is compatible with AutoCAD Architecture versions 2017 and later.

Yes, it does. The  laImportGisData command lets you import .shp files into the document.

• Import from AutoCAD: Yes, RhinoLands can import .dwg files. You can initiate 3D modeling projects using 2D drawings imported from AutoCAD. Lands Design can translate 2D lines into 3D elements such as walls, surfaces, fences, and convert 2D plant symbols into realistic 3D plant species.

• Export into AutoCAD: Affirmative. Once 2D documentation drawings of a 3D model are generated in RhinoLands (or Lands Design in Rhino), they can be exported to AutoCAD by saving the document as a .dwg file. This allows for continued work with the file in AutoCAD.

For rendering RhinoLands projects, the software includes its own Rhino render engine. Moreover, it supports several third-party renderers fully compatible with Lands Design, including V-Ray, Enscape, Lumion, TwinMotion, Flamingo nXt, Maxwell, and others. RhinoLands also incorporates a material manager that can handle materials from all render engines supported by Rhino.

In the case of Lands Design for AutoCAD, users have the option to utilize the AutoCAD renderer, Flamingo nXt, or Lumion for rendering purposes.

RhinoLands includes Grasshopper, and the Rhino version of Lands Design integrates with Grasshopper. This integration offers two distinct approaches:

• Direct Grasshopper Integration: RhinoLands and Lands Design provide a set of objects and commands accessible within Grasshopper. This allows users to automate workflows in Grasshopper using Lands Design objects and commands. Users can also exchange data with geometry and connect Lands Design with other Grasshopper add-ons for various purposes within the Grasshopper environment.

• Grasshopper styles: Users can create RhinoLands (and Lands Design) objects directly from Grasshopper definitions, known as Grasshopper styles. By defining custom parametric objects in Grasshopper and converting them into RhinoLands object styles, users can manipulate and modify these objects within Rhino without needing extensive Grasshopper knowledge. This process occurs seamlessly in the background while Grasshopper is running.

Yes, RhinoLands (and Lands Design) are compatible with Windows 10 and subsequent upgrades. If you encounter any issues following a Windows upgrade, simply uninstall Lands Design and reinstall it.

The existing material to learn Lands Design can be found from the following sources:

• RhinoLands Help: available once you install the program. Run the laHelp command to open it. Or access it online here. 
• Lands design tutorials available here
• Tips & Tricks page.
• Lands Forum at https://discourse.mcneel.com/c/plug-ins/Lands, a discussion forum group to show your projects, solve doubts and share ideas with other users.

RhinoLands and Lands Design plugins are available in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Czech, Japanese, and simplified Chinese.

RhinoLands offers four license modes:

• Evaluation: During the trial period, all features of RhinoLands are fully functional, and no product key is required.
• Viewer: After the evaluation period expires, RhinoLands runs in Viewer mode. While in this mode, users can open and save documents containing Lands Design objects. However, certain features are disabled, including Lands Design commands, editing Lands Design objects using properties and control points, and Lands Design Grasshopper Components.
• Standalone: To run RhinoLands in standalone mode, a valid product key is required. Purchase RhinoLands [add link] to obtain a valid product key.

• Network: The RhinoLands (Lands Design) Zoo plug-in enables the sharing of Lands Design licenses (product keys) among users within the same network workgroup.
  When installed as a workgroup node:
  • Upon startup, a workgroup node requests a license from the Zoo, and an unused license is assigned to the node.
  • Upon shutdown, the license is returned to the Zoo license pool.

This license is exclusively for educational institutions and requires an academic certificate for validation. It grants permission to utilize RhinoLands on all computers within a single classroom or lab, including the instructor’s computer. No network connection is necessary for this type of license. Alternatively, it can function as a floating license, allowing RhinoLands to be used on up to 30 computers within a department via the network.

Indeed, it does. You can distribute Lands Design licenses (product keys) among users within the same network workgroup. To enable this feature, ensure you have the  Zoo license manager and the RhinoLands installed. To utilize a floating license obtained from a Zoo network server, navigate to the RhinoLands (or Lands Design) menu > Licenses and select the “Network” option.

You can install the program or the plugin in different machines. But a single license can only run in one machine simultaneously.