Understanding Pick Commands

Pick commands, also known as pickers, are Landshape's most powerful and accurate commands.

To Pick is essentially to select. In Landshape, picking works similar to Sketchup's selecting. By design, there are some minor differences.

If you take some time to understand how pickers work, you will unlock the world of Landshape.

🙋 Pick me! Pick me!

Pick in a Nutshell

Pickers let you use Sketchup geometry to edit terrain.

In Landshape, you use input geometry to impose your vision onto the terrain.

The input geometry you select will drive the terrain result. This way of working enables great accuracy, control, and repeatability.

Sketchup is already pretty good at creating geometry. The pick input is simply standard Sketchup geometry — faces, surfaces, edges, points. But it should be grouped.

As a general rule, your Pick input should always be grouped. Many Pickers require your input to be grouped. Otherwise, these commands may not recognize your input. If you have not already, please set a keyboard shortcut for Sketchup's command Edit > Make Group.

"Input geometry", "control geometry", "input groups", "control groups", or sometimes simply "input" or "control" – in Landshape, all these refer to the same thing.

Pick Terrain Editing Examples

For instance:

• To move terrain up, select a grouped face above terrain, and run Fit.
• To smoothen terrain, select a grouped face above terrain, and run Smooth.
• To add local detail, select grouped edges, and run Embed.
• To color terrain, select a grouped painted face, and run Zone.

Always Group Input Geometry

Generally, Pickers expect groups. Make it a habit to always group your input geometry. This way, you can also much more easily select, move, hide, show, tag, and generally interact with the input. By containing your input in a group, you get in control.

A few Pickers also support raw geometry input. Especially if you already are inside a group. Embed is an example of this.

Holygon plans to make more pickers support raw geometry input.

Pick Operation

Direct

1. Pre-select valid inputs.
2. Run Command.
3. To adjust result, type values.

To finish, switch to any other tool.
To keep commanding, continue to item 2, below.

Alternatively:

Picking

1. Run Pick Command with nothing preselected.
2. While running Command, Pick valid inputs.
3. To apply Command, click Enter or Doubleclick.
4. To adjust result, type values.

To finish, switch to any other tool.
To keep commanding, repeat from item 2, above.

While running the command, type VCB values anytime.
Values control active result, and next result.

All commands in menu Pick should work in the way described above.

Pick Details

Input affects the terrain above and below it.

Most pickers have parameters. Parameters like Distance and Blend may allow you to e.g. expand or shrink the area affected.

Pick commands that use areas as input will per default effect any terrain area above or below it.

For all pickers, an important property of the input is its plan position. Before running your command, ensure your input is in the right plan position.

For some pickers, only their plan position determines the result. Their position in height does not matter at all. This vertical dimension is known as height, elevation, blue axis, or Z. The reason is that Landshape automatically projects the input up or down until it hits the terrain. Example of this includes Embed and Puff.

For many pickers, their height position determines the result. The reason is typically that they move the terrain towards the selected target. An example of this is Fit. If you Fit a grouped flat shape lying flat on your flat terrain, nothing will happen. However, if you elevate your control group upwards, so that it hovers well above the terrain, you should better see what Fit does.

For some few pickers, their input height position only matters relative to other selected input. The reason is that when Landshape automatically projects the selected input to the terrain, it tried to do so in a meaningful order. An example of this unsual pattern is Zone.

Valid Pick Input

Different commands will require different kinds of input.

Some commands already support a quite liberal range of inputs.

However, some commands simply will not work with certain kinds of input.

One reason for this is because different commands have different purposes. Some commands only make sense for an enclosed area. Others only make sense for a path of edges.

Holygon aims to expand the range of valid inputs in future updates. Ideally, all pickers should support any input that makes sense for that command.

A long-term goal of Landshape is to become very liberal with input.

For now, to understand which input a command expects, hover its toolbar icon, or read its Input description in Learn.

Troubleshooting Command Input

🤔 Does Command not work as expected? Probably, you are using invalid input.

😎 For Pick commands, it's easy to learn valid inputs. Try one of these:

• Simply hover the toolbar command button. This should show the tooltip. Many tooltips summarize valid input.
• While Commanding, right-click geometry and go directly to: Landshape > Learn Command. Alternatively, open Learn from anywhere, and manually navigate to the command's page.
• Open SketchUp's Instructor panel. The Instructor should update as you switch tools. You may dock it to the side.

Best Practises to Pick like a Master

Group Your Input

To keep things organised and avoid cluttering, always group your input. Most Pickers should work also with components.

Tag Your Input Groups

In complex models, your viewport may get cluttered with input. To keep your model tidy, Holygon recommends tagging your input groups. This way, you may show and hide your input at a single click.

Check Affected Areas

To check which parts of the terrain should be affected before running a picker, view your terrain from the top and parallel projection. There is a command for this, called View Top. If your input hovers above the terrain, you will see exactly where in plan it connects to the terrain.

As Above, So Below

For height-independent commands, also called area commands, like Embed, Zone, Puff, it works equally well to keep yourcontrol groups below the terrain. For instance, you can keep your entire 2D siteplan under the terrain. Some users prefer this way of working. Other users keep control groups above the terrain.

The choice of vertical input positioning is about practical aspects, like visibility and selectability.

No Need to Select Terrain

For Pick commands, you never need to select the Landshape terrain itself. Landshape will automatically identify the corresponding plot, and apply the command effect.

Pick Command Examples

Examples of common Pick commands include Form, Mesh, Embed, Fit, Blend, Zone, Puff, and many more.

All major Pick commands are found under menu Pick.

A few more auxiliary or experimental Pickers may be found under menu Prop. Currently, these may be less polished.

Pickers versus Other Command Types

Pick commands may be contrasted with Brushes. Brushes let you edit terrain by directly stroking the terrain. However, brush strokes may not have the same accuracy and resuability as geometry-based commands.

For an overview of all command types, see Command Types.

Edit Nonterrain with Prep

Do you wish to instead edit nonterrain geometry? Instead use Prep.