Fieldwalker's design editor has 12 tools for placing permaculture design elements on your map. Each tool has a keyboard shortcut, and some have variants accessible via click-and-hold or right-click.
Design Overview
The Design Toolbar floats at the top-left of the canvas. It contains 12 tools organised into three groups.
Placement tools — Trees (1), Buildings (2), Water (3), Garden Beds (4), Dense Vegetation (5).
Click the canvas to place a symbol.
Polyline tools — Paths (6), Fences (7), Earthworks (8), Watercourses (9).
Click a sequence of points to draw a line.
Polygon / other — Zones (0), Areas (−), Labels (T).
Each tool has a keyboard shortcut (the number/letter shown above). Press the shortcut to activate the tool; press it again to cycle through variants. You can also hold click or right-click a tool to see its variants — different tree types, fence types, earthwork types, and so on.
Placing elements: Click the canvas to place.
Your cursor changes to show you're in placement mode. Click the same tool button again (or press Escape) to deactivate and return to selection mode. If you click on an existing element instead of empty canvas, the tool steps aside and selects that element.
Editing elements: Select any element and its properties appear in the Design tab's Properties card.
You can change the type, adjust dimensions, set status (Existing vs Proposed), and fine-tune appearance. Right-click any element for a context menu with duplicate, delete, and layer-ordering options.
Undo/Redo: ⌘Z to undo, ⌘⇧Z to redo. Every action — placing, moving, resizing, deleting, reordering — is undoable.
Design styles: In the Design tab's Style Settings, toggle between Illustrated (the default permaculture illustration style) and Schematic (cleaner, more diagrammatic).
Schematic mode has a Hand-drawn intensity slider — from clean lines at 0% through natural hand-drawn character at 100% to a rough sketch feel at 200%.
How tools work
Activating: Click a tool in the toolbar, or press its keyboard shortcut. Your cursor changes to show placement mode.
Placing: For placement tools, a single click drops the symbol. For polyline tools, click a sequence of points. For polygon tools, click points to close a shape.
Variants: Click-and-hold (~300ms) or right-click a tool to see the flyout. Press the keyboard shortcut repeatedly to cycle variants.
Deactivating: Click the active tool again, or press Escape.
Placement tools
Trees (1) — Individual tree symbol.
Variants:
- Deciduous,
- Evergreen,
- Conifer,
- Palm,
- Fruit,
- Native,
- Dead/Bare.
Properties: Tree type, Canopy radius.
Buildings (2) — Building symbol.
Variants:
- House (pitched),
- Shed (flat),
- Greenhouse (hip).
Properties: Roof type, Width/Height in metres.
Water (3) — Water feature.
Variants:
- Pond,
- Dam.
Properties: Variant, Width/Height.
Garden Beds (4) — Garden bed with planting patterns.
Variants:
- Raised,
- Ground-level,
- Keyhole.
Properties: Bed type, Plant type, Width/Length.
Dense Vegetation (5) — Vegetation polygon — amorphous canopy blob with scalloped edge.
No variants. Properties: Pattern rotation, Tree crown size.
Polyline tools
Paths (6) — Path line.
Variants:
- Vehicle
- Walking
Properties: Path type, Width.
Also offers "Convert to Polygon."
Fences (7) — Fence line with post spacing and detail.
Variants:
- Post & Rail
- Star Picket
- Electric
- Hedge
Properties: Fence type, Width.
Earthworks (8) — Swale/berm line with asymmetric cross-section.
Variants:
- Swale
- Berm
Properties: Type, Width.
Watercourses (9) — Watercourse line.
Variants:
- Runoff
- Creek
- River
Properties: Type, Width.
Polygon and other tools
Zones (0) — Zone marker (concentric overlay).
Properties: Zone number (1–5), Radius.
Areas (−) — Arbitrary polygon area.
Properties: Status, Style.
Labels (T) — Text label.
Properties: Font size, Fill/Stroke colour.
Universal properties
Every element has:
- Status (Existing/Proposed),
- Style (Illustrated/Schematic),
- Hand-drawn intensity (Schematic only, 0–200%),
- Position,
- Rotation,
- Opacity,
- and a Symbol Type selector to change type after placement.
Canvas tools
- Select (V),
- Pan (H),
- Point Detect (D),
- Pin (M),
- Measure (U),
- Elevation (E). Elevation is hidden until the image is georeferenced.
Right-click context menu
Right-click any element:
- Edit/Info (I),
- Duplicate (⌘D),
- Delete (⌫),
- Bring to Front/Forward,
- Send Backward/Back,
- Zoom to Object (Z).
Scale-aware sizing
Symbols automatically size based on site scale. A tree on a quarter-acre block is proportionally smaller than on a 50-acre farm. At different zoom levels, symbols render at three detail levels: full, simplified, and marker.
This helps place objects at a realistic size for your land.