Landshape Iconography

If you wish to understand Landshape, a good place to start is to befriend the icons.

Icons Visuals Have Meaning

Instead of using conventions for icon, Holygon has opted for a semantic visual language.

This means that you don't need to memorize each icon one by one. Instead, you can learn a few basic iconographic rules-of-thumb. They let you understand the meaning of the icons. While there are exceptions, many icons will follow the visual rules.

At first glance, icons may seem a bit similar. But there is method to the madness.

Take some time to learn these basic visual patterns. Soon, you will be able to make an educated guess what the next icon does, even before you have clicked it.

Example 1 – The Form Icon

Let's take a closer look at the Form icon. In Landshape, Form is available in both the Main and Start toolbars.

The lower left shows a grey Plus subicon. This shows that Form creates new terrain. Currently, only Form and Plot create new terrain.

The lower right shows a grey Rhombus subicon. This shows that Form is a Pick command.

The blue shape represents Input. It exemplifies a selected input group. The input group controls the output. In Form, the input group controls both output plan and elevation.

The orange shape represents Output. This exemplifies the new terrain that Form creates.

Note that the terrain output is Dotted. Orange dots show that Form will edit the topology of the terrain. Only a few commands edit terrain topology.

Most Pick commands only shape terrain up or down, without changing terrain topology. Pick commands that only shape will instead show a solid orange line.

Also note that the positions of output and input are vertically close. This shows that Form creates new terrain based on the elevation of the input.

Example 2 – The Level Brush Icon

Let's take a closer look at the Level Brush icon. It is available in the Brush toolbar.

The lower right shows a grey Brush subicon. This shows that Level Brush is a brush tool.

The fatter orange shape represents terrain Output or effect. This exemplifies the new terrain elevations that the Brush shapes. Here, the output is solid. A dotted output would mean that the brush edits the topology of the terrain.

The thinner greyish shape, visible at the left and right of the effect represents terrain Context. Context can help show how the effect of the tool relates to existing terrain elevations.

The purple dot represents a sampled target height. Sampling is optional.