NGP Basics: Freeform Shapes & Curves

Learn how to create custom garden beds and landscape features using freeform shapes and curves in Native Garden Planner! In this quick tutorial, we'll cover the tools you need to draw natural, organic layouts that fit your space.

This video is part of the NGP Basics series — a step-by-step playlist that covers everything you need to know to design your first native garden, from creating a project to choosing plants and exporting your finished design.

In this video you'll learn:

How to draw freeform shapes
How to create smooth curved edges
How to edit and refine existing shapes
Tips for creating natural-looking garden beds and borders
When to use freeform shapes instead of basic shapes

Transcript

[0:00] Welcome to part five of designing a simple garden. In the previous video we covered creating simple shapes from the shapes menu. Now we're going to talk about the freeform polygon builder — the tool you reach for when you need something organic, curved, or completely custom.

To get started, click "Freeform Polygon" from the plus menu in the control panel.

Drawing a straight polygon

[0:23] The freeform polygon builder works like any standard polygon tool: each click places a point, and each new point adds a line segment to your shape. Just connect the dots to close it.

By default the tool snaps points to the grid. Hold Ctrl (or Cmd on Mac) to disable snapping and place points freely at any position.

Adding curves

[1:12] To create a curved edge instead of a straight one, click and hold on the point rather than just clicking. Dragging while holding creates a Bézier curve handle at that point, bending the line segment into a curve.

A few things to know when working with curves:

Always hold Ctrl/Cmd while dragging curves. Without it, the curve handle will snap to grid positions, which makes smooth, organic shapes very hard to achieve. Holding the key gives you full precision.
Think in small C-curves. The easiest way to approach a complex curved shape is to mentally break the outline into individual C-shaped arcs. Place a point at the start and end of each arc, then press-and-hold-drag at each point to bend the segment into that arc.

Here's an example — a swooping border garden:

Click to place points along the straight edges
At each curved section, press and hold, then drag to create the curve
Close the shape back at the starting point

The result is a natural, flowing border shape.

Editing points after the fact

[2:48] It's hard to get a complex curved shape perfect on the first pass, and that's fine. Draw the rough shape first, then click Edit Points to refine it.

In edit mode:

Drag a point to reposition it
Click a point and hit the red X to delete it
Drag the blue handles on either side of a point to change the magnitude and angle of the curve at that junction — pulling a handle further out makes the curve rounder and fuller
Click anywhere on a line segment to add a new point at that location, giving you more control over that section of the curve

The workflow is: draw the rough shape → edit points → tweak handles → repeat until it looks right. You can go back into Edit Points as many times as you need.

Using lines as guides for precise shapes

[7:28] If you need specific key dimensions on a freeform shape — say, you know the widest part of a teardrop pond should be exactly 5 feet across — use the line tool as a reference guide first.

Add a line, set it to 5 feet, and position it on the canvas where that dimension needs to fall. Then draw your freeform shape using the line endpoints as anchor points, snapping your polygon vertices to them. When you're done, delete the lines.

Tracing from a hand-drawn reference image

[9:08] For complex shapes, a useful technique is to sketch the shape on paper, photograph or scan it, and upload it as a background image to the canvas. Set the scale by indicating a known distance between two points on the sketch (e.g. "this edge is 4 feet"), and the image will be scaled to match your canvas.

Then use the freeform polygon builder to trace directly over the sketch, holding Ctrl/Cmd to place points exactly where you need them. Use the ruler to verify distances as you go. Once the shape is built, delete the background image.

Resizing a finished freeform shape

[11:36] If you've drawn a shape that looks right but is the wrong size, use the Resize option rather than rebuilding it. Click and drag to scale it up or down, and hold Shift while dragging to keep the proportions locked so the shape scales uniformly in all directions.

That covers the freeform polygon builder — straight polygons, curves, point editing, line guides, image tracing, and proportional resizing. It takes a little practice to get smooth curves, but the edit-points workflow means you can always go back and refine.