Welcome to CS ArtisanRV - Cloud-enabled landscape for Revit©
CS ArtisanRV is a specialist BIM solution for landscape professionals working in Autodesk Revit®, providing the tools, workflows, and data needed to design, document, visualise, and quantify landscape projects within a fully collaborative Building Information Modelling environment.
While Revit has become the industry standard for BIM authoring across architecture, structures, and building services, many of its out-of-the-box tools are primarily focused on buildings rather than the external spaces that surround them. CS ArtisanRV bridges this gap by delivering landscape-specific functionality that enables landscape architects, urban designers, and other environmental design professionals to work natively within Revit while maintaining established industry workflows and standards.
Why BIM for Landscape?
Traditional CAD workflows separate graphics from information. Drawings provide a visual representation of objects, while the associated data is managed elsewhere in schedules, specifications, spreadsheets, and reports.
In a BIM workflow, geometry and data are combined within a single intelligent model. Landscape elements are no longer simply drawn; they are modelled as information-rich objects containing both graphical and non-graphical data. Plans, elevations, sections, schedules, quantities, and visualisations are all generated from this single source of project information.
CAD draws representations of things. BIM models the things themselves.
This approach improves coordination, reduces duplication of effort, enhances project accuracy, and enables meaningful collaboration between all disciplines working on a project.
Designed for Landscape Professionals
CS ArtisanRV has been developed specifically to address the unique requirements of landscape projects. Whether working on a traditional ground-based scheme, an urban streetscape, a public realm development, or a complex podium landscape above structure, the software provides tools tailored to landscape design workflows.
The platform supports both natural terrain and highly coordinated multidisciplinary projects where landscape proposals interact closely with architectural, structural, and engineering models. This makes ArtisanRV particularly valuable for projects where successful coordination is critical to both design quality and long-term landscape performance.
Intelligent Planting Workflows
One of the core strengths of CS ArtisanRV is its comprehensive planting workflow.
Authoritative cloud-based plant libraries allow users to create project-specific palettes that can be downloaded and managed locally. From these palettes, designers can place individual plants, linear planting, and area planting directly into Revit models without the need to maintain extensive family libraries.
Planting families are generated automatically as required, with intelligent plan graphics, tagging, and schedules created as part of the workflow. Three-dimensional plant geometry can be visualised at planting size or aged to represent future growth, helping designers communicate both immediate and long-term landscape intent.
Powerful editing and substitution tools enable planting designs to evolve efficiently throughout project development while maintaining accurate schedules and quantities.
Existing Trees and Concept Design
CS ArtisanRV supports landscape projects from the earliest design stages through to detailed documentation.
Tree survey data can be imported directly to create information-rich existing tree objects within Revit models. During concept design, users can rapidly develop planting strategies using Concept Planting objects before refining designs into fully specified planting proposals.
This allows landscape professionals to maintain a consistent workflow throughout the design process while progressively increasing the level of information contained within the model.
Landscape BIM Objects and Site Design Tools
In addition to planting, CS ArtisanRV includes a range of specialist landscape components and tools, including:
- Tree pits with automated soil volume calculations.
- Root balls and below-ground tree components.
- Seed and wildflower mixes.
- Tree and site fencing.
- Terrain and topography enhancement tools.
- Automated spot level placement for setting-out documentation.
- Shadow analysis tools to support environmental and project requirements.
These tools enable landscape elements to be modelled and quantified with the same level of intelligence and coordination expected elsewhere in a BIM project.
Supporting BIM Collaboration
CS ArtisanRV is designed to operate within multidisciplinary BIM workflows, helping landscape professionals collaborate more effectively with architects, engineers, contractors, and project owners.
Intelligent model objects provide reliable scheduling and quantity information, while IFC Export Mapping tools allow users to classify, rename, and export landscape objects in accordance with project BIM requirements. This ensures that landscape data can be exchanged accurately between different software platforms and project teams.
Getting Started
This Help system is organised into functional areas that guide you through the principal workflows available within CS ArtisanRV. Whether you are creating planting palettes, importing tree surveys, modelling terrain, generating schedules, or preparing models for BIM coordination and export, each section provides the information required to make effective use of the software.
By combining specialist landscape tools with the power of Revit and BIM, CS ArtisanRV enables landscape professionals to design, coordinate, visualise, and document landscape projects with greater efficiency, accuracy, and confidence.