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Digital Aquascaping? What do you think?

Joined
19 Nov 2020
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2
Location
germany
Hi guys,

have you ever thought about creating or planning your aquascapes digitally?

For me, there was always the problem of converting my layout ideas into reality. So I tried to develop a new way of planning layouts...

It's named "Scape It". Scape It allows you to create stunning layouts in a matter of minutes. Easy, fast and absolutely free.

It's a project, that evolved of the issue above. It's driven by the joy of aquascaping.

You can find Scape It here: scape-it.io

So, please give it a try. It has just been released a few days ago and is at its very starting point. If you have any feedback, ideas or questions - I would be happy to answer them.

Have fun with Scape It

Bildschirmfoto 2020-11-15 um 12.01.24.png

- River Layout created with Scape It

Bildschirmfoto 2020-11-15 um 12.03.13.png

- Scape It Editor
 
I've tried it :) Good way to try out some inspiration. Some tips: Allow layers to be locked, when trying to place plants behind larger hardscape, I kept accidentally moving the hardscape. Add blyxa and fissidens to the plants, both were sorely missed :p
 
Upon reloading the page, I now see the layer tool with options to lock a layer :) Sorry, just a browser issue on my side! That just leaves adding more plants ;)
 
Wonderful planning tool. I used something similar decades ago to plan my terrestrial garden. There wasn't one designed for aquascape when I started my planted tank, so I used Paint tool to draft the layout.

I recompose my scape by moving real plants around as I don't root any plants in the substrate. I anchored all my plants in pots or epiphytes attached to small rock which I move around to re-scape. It turns out that re-scaping is more important than initial scaping as plants grow, change form, stunt, or die so initial scaping is never satisfactory.
 
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What a fantastic tool you've created there @Luca Freiensehner - I've only had a quick play, but its so easy to use and works brilliantly! For someone like myself who doesn't have photoshop or paint program skills, this is perfect for layout planning. Keep adding to the plant options and hardscape rock and wood variants.

I think this thread should be retitled "Scape It - Aquascape Planning Tool" and make a sticky on this forum section if @LondonDragon, @Tim Harrison et al agree. - maybe it could be added to the 'Calculators' section?
 
Brilliant idea, look forward to trying it on mobile! Android compatible?
 
Just tried it and it was great fun!
Is there a way of saving or sharing your creations other than right clicking and saving the image?
I would be great if in the future we could upload our own images of hardscape to add plants to.
 
This is how I planned and executed my design using Paint drawing tool, my DIY version of Digital Aquascaping. It‘s work in progress with only interim product as the scape is continuously evolving. All my plants are mobile as they are epiphytes attached to rock or potted so I can move them around to rescape as digital.
 

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Just used it for a scape planning as seen here :
Planted Scape with mini landscape rock.png

Overall I really liked using the tool because of its ease of use and helps planning an aquascape better since not all of us have God-like drawing skills.

Some features/feedback you could consider :
1) Add an option of equipment which could contain heaters, in-tank diffusers, lily pipes, skimmers, etc. This would give a more realistic view of how it will all look together after final assembly.
2) Option to export the scape/project to a format which can then be imported later again if the scape needs to be reworked after say for e.g. getting inputs from folks out here.
3) Add more plants especially from the easy and medium category as this will help beginners as most likely they will be the main users of the tool.
4) A collaboration option where you could design the scape together with another user (This is just my geeky mind being a software engineer myself :geek:)

I would surely be recommending the tool as I feel it is a good starting point for novice aquascapers.

Regards,
Mel.
 
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