Punch! does look interesting. I checked their website and will probably purchase soon. I've been using a draw program for about ten years now called Canvas. It's worked very well for me but the company was sold and it looks like it may not be supported for much longer. It has a paint component as well, but I've been using PhotoShop for imaging for almost as long, so I've never used Canvas for that. The originator of Canvas, a company called Deneba also created an application called DenebaCad, which I purchased but never learned. I've long considered biting the bullet for the cost in dollars and learning curve for the highly rated VectorWorks (originally called MiniCad). It seems like Punch! may be worth checking out as the price is quite reasonable for what it says it can do. Did you ever acquire Punch!, chillin already?

Depends on the type of work that you're doing... from what I remember of Punch was that it was all pretty standard fixtures for decking, paving, and the remainder of landscaping. If you're doing a lot of custom, atypical structures or pieces, I would highly recommend Sketchup. It also depends if you actually want to create a proper 3D model of the project (from which the program can take snapshots of elevations, sections, perspectives, etc) or if you just want a program to do 2D mockups. 3D models can provide the most automation (i.e. in the production of multiple graphics), but basically you have to put in any information you want shown which is typically a huge time investment. It's after the long run, multiple revisions and versions, updates, and the production of a large number of different views that the upfront time investment starts paying off. Fastest version of creating decent presentation graphics? Probably doing a hand-sketch over a good photo (or photos) of the site, scanning it in, and doing an overlay over the original photo[s]. That would be my first choice. - Audric

Dawn has broken. The gloom is gone. Remodelfla, can I just say that you have revolutionized my life. The Excel program works like a dream. I set the width/height to 0.25, with two squares equalling one inch, and away I went. It meant dinner last night was about three hours later than usual, as I couldn't tear myself away from it, but all in the name of the cause. It's sooo much easier than my ruler-and-rubber method, and I don't have to worry about being "green" in my kitchen materials, as this step alone has saved about 600 trees. Thank you!! Of course, this works only for 2-D renderings, but I can deal with that for now. Intrigued by your trajectory, igloochic ... sounds like something I would (and still might) do, starting with the BH&G package. It's like a self-given dare, isn't it? Solarpowered, thanks for the tip re. educational discount. In fact, I do work in an academic environment (medical research), so would qualify! Thanks to all for your help!

What exactly do you want it to do for you? LD software is really just a graphics tool - it doesn't actually "design" :-)) Unless you already have a working knowledge and understanding of landscape design elements/processes any LD software is no better than just using graph paper and pencil. But if you just want to chart out what you already have, any of the Paint applications, SmartDraw or Google Sketch Up will work fine. btw, the Landscape Design forum would probably be a better location for this request but be prepared to receive similar advice :-) It's a topic that comes up routinely there.