Truleaf Garden Architect Tutorial: Create Your First Layout

This Truleaf Garden Architect tutorial covers the product-activation workflow for creating, reviewing, and saving a first layout. You will choose a setup type, check the configured canvas, place crops and equipment, review the scene, and confirm autosave. The tutorial does not decide which system, room plan, greenhouse plan, or lighting design is correct.

The tool can help you organize a plan, but the scene is not proof of plant spacing, light coverage, airflow, yield, or construction fit. Use crop-specific guidance and real measurements before buying equipment or building the setup.

Primary action: See the Garden Architect

Secondary action for existing users: Open the setup

Table of contents

• Before you start
• Choose a setup type
• Check real-world dimensions
• Place crops and equipment
• Review the layout in 3D
• Save the setup to a project
• What next

Before you start

You can explore the Garden Architect as a guest. To complete this tutorial, you need a Truleaf account and a project because guest work does not use project autosave or let you add project crops.

Have these details nearby:

• An approximate width, depth, and height for the growing space
• A short list of crops you plan to grow
• A list of large items that affect the layout, such as racks, growing systems, and lights
• An idea of whether the space is indoors, in a greenhouse, or outdoors

Your measurements give you a reference for checking the configured canvas. The current interface displays the canvas size but does not provide a control for editing it.

If you have not chosen a growing method, compare the main options in Growing Systems Compared before building the scene. That guide owns system selection; this tutorial focuses on using the Garden Architect.

Choose a setup type

Start from Projects. Select New Project, enter a project name, add an optional description if it helps you identify the space, and choose Indoor, Greenhouse, or Outdoor. Create the project, then select Garden Architect from its project card.

Choose the type that describes where the setup will operate:

• Indoor for a space where artificial lighting is the available lighting mode
• Greenhouse for a protected space that may use solar and artificial lighting
• Outdoor for an open-air setup where the library hides the artificial-lighting category

The setup type changes which lighting controls the Garden Architect makes available. It does not decide which light, growing system, or crop is right for your conditions.

If you opened an existing project, check the project name and setup-type badge before adding anything. Project settings let you change the name, description, and setup type, but changing the type should be a deliberate choice because the available lighting options differ.

Check real-world dimensions

Open the Project section in the right-hand controls panel and find Canvas Size. The Garden Architect displays the stored project dimensions in metres. Compare those figures with the approximate width, depth, and height you measured before starting.

This step is a check, not a dimension-entry task. The shipped interface does not expose fields for changing the canvas width, depth, or height. If the displayed size does not match your space, record the mismatch and do not treat the finished scene as a scale-accurate plan.

You can still learn the placement controls or make a rough arrangement. Keep the limitation visible in your notes, especially if you plan to use the scene to discuss equipment purchases or a build with someone else.

Do not infer real clearance, fit, or plant spacing from the canvas alone. The tool shows the stored canvas and placed objects; it does not replace measurements taken in the space.

Place crops and equipment

Use the Component Library on the left to browse categories or search for an item. The built-in catalog includes growing equipment such as a four-tier rack, a Deep Water Culture (DWC) system, a Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) system, and lighting components.

Add an equipment item in the way that suits your device:

1. On a desktop, drag the item onto the canvas or double-click it.
2. On a touch device, tap the item to place it.
3. Select the placed item if you need to move, rotate, scale, duplicate, or delete it.

If you are unsure whether DWC, NFT, or another system belongs in the plan, pause and use the growing-system comparison. The component library helps represent a choice; it does not validate that choice for your crop or space.

To add crops already attached to the project, open Project Crops or select Add to Scene. You can place crops manually or use Auto-Arrange. Auto-arrange includes a spacing control and previews the resulting grid and area before placement.

Treat that spacing control as a drawing input. Its available range is not a plant-spacing recommendation. Check a live plant profile for the crop or use a source written for that species and growing method before setting a real planting distance.

Add lights only when the project type makes the relevant lighting option available. Outdoor projects hide the artificial-lighting category, while indoor and greenhouse projects apply different solar and artificial-light rules.

The Garden Architect does not verify that a light delivers the right spectrum, intensity, or daily exposure for a crop. For the plant science behind fixture specifications, read the LED grow light spectrum guide. Use measured light data and crop-specific targets for real decisions.

Review the layout in 3D

The designer opens in 3D View. Pan, zoom, and rotate the camera to inspect the arrangement from several angles. If the scene moves out of view, use Fit All to bring the placed items into frame or Reset Camera to restore the camera position.

Select an object, then use Move, Rotate, or Scale to adjust it. The transform controls change the object in the scene. They do not confirm that a resized model matches the dimensions of the equipment you own or plan to buy.

Switch to 2D View when a top-down check makes alignment easier, then return to 3D View to inspect height and overall arrangement. Use both views to catch obvious overlaps and misplaced objects.

Review the scene in a consistent order:

1. Confirm that the main growing systems are represented.
2. Check that racks and other large equipment are in the intended positions.
3. Look for crops that landed on top of another object or outside the area you meant to use.
4. Check that lights appear only where the setup type allows them.
5. Compare the scene with your own measurements and equipment specifications.

A clean-looking model is still a planning draft. The current view does not establish light coverage, airflow, safe access, expected yield, structural capacity, or construction clearance.

Save the setup to a project

There is no separate canvas Save button. For an authenticated, non-guest project, changes to scene objects enter autosave after a two-second delay. Watch the status in the toolbar and wait until it changes from Saving to Saved before leaving the page.

If the toolbar shows Save failed — Retry, select that status to retry the save. Wait for Saved before returning to Projects or closing the tab. A pending change can trigger a warning when you try to close the page, but the warning is not confirmation that the save finished.

Before you leave, make one last visual check:

• The project name and setup type are correct.
• The expected crops and equipment appear in the scene.
• No item is selected by mistake for deletion or another edit.
• The toolbar says Saved.

The saved project is your return point for later edits. Open the same project from Projects and select Garden Architect to continue working on it.

What next

Your first saved layout gives you a visual inventory of the space. Use the canonical planning guides for decisions the product tutorial does not own:

• Compare the chosen method with the hydroponic system planning guide.
• Plan room dimensions, racks, access, and airflow in How to Plan a Grow Room Layout.
• Plan greenhouse benches, aisles, irrigation zones, and crop movement in Greenhouse Layout Planning.
• Calculate fixture placement, mounting height, overlap, and PPFD coverage in the Grow Light Placement and Coverage Guide.

When you are ready to return to the product, See the Garden Architect through the public feature path, then Open the setup to continue with an existing project.