BGD Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 Hi, Is it possible to make a plant's image prop using 2D or 3D photorealistic imagery available in Vectorworks Libraries > Objects > Landscape Plants > 2D Imagery Elev Photorealistc and Vectorworks Libraries > Objects > Landscape Plants > 3D Image props photorealistic? Thanks Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Tony Kostreski Posted July 9, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted July 9, 2020 Hi @BGD-- Please let me know if this answers your question: Edit Plant Style>Visualization>3D Graphics>Copy from Symbol>Find desired 3D image prop photorealistic. 1 Quote Link to comment
BGD Posted July 10, 2020 Author Share Posted July 10, 2020 thanks for the reply. I get your reply about 3D images, but is there a way to use 2D image resources too. As in there are lots of relaistic images under VW Libraries>Objects - Landscape Plants>2D Imagery Elev photorealistic. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee bgoff Posted July 10, 2020 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted July 10, 2020 Yep, same way just use the Top/Plan Graphics dialog in the Plant Style. 1 Quote Link to comment
Jeff Prince Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 @BGD keep in mind you can use your own images as well when you inevitability can’t find what you need in the Vectorworks libraries. 1 Quote Link to comment
BGD Posted July 14, 2020 Author Share Posted July 14, 2020 @bgoff No, I mean is there a way to convert 2D image in Vectorwork libraries as 3D images for a plant style? For e.g. can I make a plant style for Anigozanthis that uses the 2D image available in Vectorworks Libraries > Objects - Landscape Plants > 2D Imagery Elev Photorealistc > Herbaceous > Anigozanthos 'Amber Velvet 1.0 Elev as the plant style's 3D view as shown in the print screenshot? Thanks Quote Link to comment
BGD Posted July 14, 2020 Author Share Posted July 14, 2020 @jeff prince Is there any free resource with good collection of plant images (cut out types) to create image props? Thanks Quote Link to comment
Popular Post Jeff Prince Posted July 14, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted July 14, 2020 59 minutes ago, BGD said: @jeff prince Is there any free resource with good collection of plant images (cut out types) to create image props? Thanks I gave up on finding free or even paid plants long ago because the plants I need are pretty unusual and specific to desert environments. So, I make my own from photographs I take or sometimes find on the internet. It's pretty easy to cut out plants using an iPad with a pencil in Affinity Photo. In regards to your question about using the 2D images in the VWX library, I believe those are already referenced by plant objects and 3D image props of the same name in the library. So, if you wanted to reuse them on a different plant... Follow @Tony Kostreski instructions from above, note he is pointing at 3D Image Props Realistic in that example. Alternatively, 1. insert the plant that has the image you want from the VWX library of plant styles if for some reason it can not be found in the image props folders. 2. select the your plant that you want to use the image from the plant in the first step. 3. edit plant style 4. under 3D, select "generate from symbol" selecting the plant symbol you just inserted Done. The method I use is to create my plant images for use as image props within a plant style... Edit a photo in Affinity Photo/Photoshop, save as PNG with a transparent background. Import the image into VWX as a resource. Create my new plant and then add the "3D" using create from image. This builds the image prop for you. 6 Quote Link to comment
BGD Posted July 16, 2020 Author Share Posted July 16, 2020 @jeff prince Thanks for such informative reply. 1 Quote Link to comment
hollister design Studio Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 On 7/14/2020 at 3:42 PM, jeff prince said: The method I use is to create my plant images for use as image props within a plant style... Edit a photo in Affinity Photo/Photoshop, save as PNG with a transparent background. Import the image into VWX as a resource. Create my new plant and then add the "3D" using create from image. This builds the image prop for you. Jeff - thankyou. I'm in the same boat up here in northern California, using mostly natives. We have traditionally made our own 3D plants for our MAYA workflow from our own photos. Almost all the VW forums and instructional videos say "go to the resource manager and look at all the pretty pictures pre Installed!" So helpful to have your method from user generated photos! I was going to force my way through this tommorow. 2 Quote Link to comment
Jeff Prince Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 @hollister design Studio happy it helped you. Since you have actual 3D geometry of plants, there are some cool possibilities with plant objects... This is a demonstration I made for one of my Vectorworks tutoring clients. He wanted to see lots of graphic data about plants. So this single plant object houses all of this information using classes, 2D geometry, image props, and a 3D model. You get different display characteristics via class control. This is obviously reliant upon a disciplined Class and Viewport methodology to be successful. Plant Objects are one thing I compliment Vectorworks on frequently. And when you have actual 3D geometry in your plants instead of imageprops, there is a whole new world of possibilities... 3 Quote Link to comment
Jessica Soulliere Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 @jeff prince So import pngs with transparent backgrounds, but what resolution and sizes are these images? We are going to digitally hand draw our own database of images but we just want to be sure they are created at the appropriate resolution and size for scaleability. What dpi? What LxW pixel dimensions/range of dimensions? Thanks! Quote Link to comment
Jeff Prince Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 @Jessica Soulliere funny you ask, I did the same 3 years ago... if you follow the links in my signature, you will find there are many outstanding, unanswered questions on this topic. It’s sad that we can’t get an official answer to these critical image workflows. 1 Quote Link to comment
hollister design Studio Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 @Jessica Soulliere I would love to hear from VW an official Mapping Guildline, but that's probably not going to happen. Jeff has been asking for info for years. In my experience 'acceptable' texture sizes can change drastically depending on the size of the object. When I was texturing in Maya (a different program, but one that actually gives you control over textures and UVs) I used to keep 'human sized' textures to around 4000x4000. Smaller objects or tiled textures could be slightly less - but I don't think I ever went below 3000. And that was back in the day before CUDA cores... Arroway Edition medium maps (not the ones included in VW, but the purchased packs) are 3000x3000 when they are square. Their large maps can be 11,000x8000 or larger and those are tiled... I've tried to carry that over to VW and most of my plant images are around 3000x3000 and cropped as close to the image edge as possible. I have a couple of 1000x1000 images (the worst is a Pride of Madeira at 742x572 that looks horrible) - but they were the best image I could find on google and I haven't gotten a good isolated photo myself yet. Quote Link to comment
Michal Zarzecki Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 Guys, this is a slightly different workflow question, but still relates to using image props. I have created and used some props for different plants, but I struggle to import and transfer them to a new plant which looks similar (e.g grass). Problem 1. I have imported the desired image prop from another file using the Resource Manager, but I can't find the way to apply it to my plant style in the current file. Neither of options (Edit current graphics; Generate obviously; Copy from symbol or create from image) enables the reuse of a prop already in my resources. Do I have to create a fresh image prop or duplicate the plant style that is using it already and change all the plant data again? Surely not! There must be a quick and easy way. Problem 2. When I am editing a Plant Style and choose to Copy from symbol, I can only choose from plant styles within other opened files. When I go to Browse a Document and select a file that is not already open, nothing happens and I have to Cancel to get VW responsive again. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment
Jeff Prince Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 Problem 1 - Edit Current Graphics select the image prop go to the OIP and change the texture in the render tab to your desired image prop, which will be show as a texture. alternatively, if you are starting with an image instead of an image prop, just use “create from image”. Problem 2 - Open files you want to acquire resources from prior to editing 🙂 I keep all of my plants in a single master file I call “plant builder ______”. I’ve got a few of those files organized by major type such as palms, desert trees, cacti, ground cover, etc. I then construct my plants in the appropriate file and copy them to my project. This keeps things organized and centralized for future use. Plus, if I just open the file, I can use the resource manager to import them to my current project, which has a manageable amount of plants to browse through. Bonus, I can choose to view elevation or iso of the image prop this way too. 1 Quote Link to comment
Michal Zarzecki Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 38 minutes ago, jeff prince said: Problem 1 - Edit Current Graphics select the image prop My base style has no other image prop used as its 3D representation, but rather a generated model. Can I replace it with an already available prop? Quote Link to comment
Jeff Prince Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 4 minutes ago, Michal Zarzecki said: My base style has no other image prop used as its 3D representation, but rather a generated model. Can I replace it with an already available prop? Yes, you can switch between methods of depiction. It's easy. Quote Link to comment
Michal Zarzecki Posted January 11, 2023 Share Posted January 11, 2023 42 minutes ago, jeff prince said: I keep all of my plants in a single master file I call “plant builder I have something similar, called My Nursery, but rather then building styles there I move them there back from my projects. I Definitely need to optimise my workflow here. Nevertheless, browsing through files that are not open seems to fail in this particular context, which is more than inconvenient - it means that I need to cancel the current workflow and open the file needed. Anyway... it's quicker to tweak the workflow than try to discuss with VW. They may improve it now and break it in the next update/ version again. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.