LABash - University of Maryland - 2017

LABash 2017 is fast approaching, and of course you know that Land F/X will be there! If you haven't already registered, now's the time!

The University of Maryland hosted the first LABash I ever attended in my first year of BLA back in 2006, and that year's event was the reason I kept returning every year I could! This conference is for both students and professionals, and it's a great way to network and learn things your curriculum won't cover. Plus it's a lot of fun!

Here are some key dates:

February 13: Last Day to register for an extra Expo Passport Raffle Entry

This is your key to great prizes, including an all-expense-paid trip for two to the 2017 ASLA Expo in Los Angeles provided by Land F/X! This trip includes spending cash, entry to the expo, a hotel room, opportunities to network with Landscape Architects across the country, and an invite to our LA Confidential party.

February 23: Last day to get LABash pricing when booking a room at the College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, the closest hotel to the conference!

March 8: +$25 Late Registration Prices Begin (register before this date!)

March 23: Registration and Opening Ceremony

March 23–25: The Expo is open! Visit Jeremiah and Amanda at the Land F/X table to pick up some swag, have your passport raffle card stamped for another chance to win that ASLA trip for two, and ask questions on how to save time on your final design project.

March 25: Land F/X Presents!

Jeremiah Farmer @ 2:30 p.m.

Not Your Father's AutoCAD: Bringing CAD Drafting into the Future of Landscape Architecture

If you're only drafting using the tools that come with AutoCAD, you're using a workflow from two decades ago. This session will introduce the essential tools that have evolved inside the Land F/X plugin for AutoCAD and SketchUp since then. Land F/X has evolved from a start-up established by a father and son in a garage into a widely used landscape architecture tool. Among its many features are a massive plant and site amenity database, ready-to-use symbols, colorization tools, and the ability to import a CAD drawing into a 3D model. All these features have been developed based on suggestions from landscape architects who use the software every day. Created based on the presenter's father's need for landscape architecture tools within AutoCAD, Land F/X speeds up the daily tasks of thousands of landscape architects worldwide.

Amanda Berry @ 4 p.m.

Rendering in AutoCAD and SketchUp with Land F/X

The best way to communicate your design intent to a client or the public is through colorful plan and 3D renderings. The level to which you take your renderings is only limited by the time you've budgeted to complete the task. This session will cover the tools Land F/X adds to AutoCAD and SketchUp to take renderings further within those programs in a few clicks. We'll show you how to spend less time creating a great rendering and, as a result, reduce your reliance on time-sucking post-production rendering software.

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Are you stuck on how to travel to Maryland? Being far from Maryland is no excuse! I did the trek from Toronto to New Orleans one year. It's not too late firm up your travel plans. Here's how:

• 1. Find your travel buddy. Traveling to conferences becomes cheaper and cheaper as the group going grows larger and larger. At the University of Guelph, we organized coach buses or several smaller van rentals to cut down on travel costs, which helped more people afford to go and reduced the cost even more! Sharing a hotel room also helps. Maybe a travel company in your area can help you organize your trip to find even more savings.
• 2. Bump up the learning potential. For that Toronto to New Orleans LABash 2007 trip, we made a few stops along the way to Delaware Park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in Buffalo, and to Fallingwater in Pennsylvania by Frank Lloyd Wright.
• 3. Ask your landscape architecture program to help fund the travel costs. If you're following suggestions 1 & 2 above, you might be meeting some requirements for department funding!
• 4. Ask your professors to consider arranging project due dates to allow students to attend without missing a deadline. LABash is, after all, one of the best educational conferences LA students can attend!

See you there!

–Amanda