AndyBard Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Hello. I have been told about X-billboarding, alpha mapping etc to produce the effect of a garden that looks full of 3D plants and while i understand the basic processes of placing an image on to a flat surface that aligns itself with the camera for perspective views I have no idea how to go about creating these 'billboards' or how to get them into VW and use them. Could someone out there please help. Beginner and complete idiot this end so very simple instruction would be much appriciated. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Biplab Posted February 9, 2006 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted February 9, 2006 Use Model->Create Image prop menu to create these. The auto-rotating feature is a check box on the object info palette. Quote Link to comment
AndyBard Posted February 9, 2006 Author Share Posted February 9, 2006 Thanks so easy. is there a way of just having the plant outline. I down loaded a palm to play around with, but it has a black background. So when i create a perspective view the palm is there, great but has a black background.So i have a black rectangle with a palm on it.. Do I need to do some photoshop trickery to lose this background. Quote Link to comment
islandmon Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Image Map. For best results use Photoshop to select the background with Magicwand Tool and replace with a solid color like magenta or green. Then when creating the Image Prop select the color to be invisible... bingo. Otherwise use VW to select background grey area and adjust contrast to exclude it. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee Dave Donley Posted February 9, 2006 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted February 9, 2006 Hello Sneeky_Gekko: The mask options in the Create Image Prop dialog let you mask out the background in several ways. If the source image has an alpha channel then you can use that, otherwise you can select a particular color in the image to be transparent, or use grayscale (black is transparent). HTH, Quote Link to comment
AndyBard Posted February 10, 2006 Author Share Posted February 10, 2006 Thanks all. Quote Link to comment
alanmac Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 If you go to this link on imagecels site then they give details of Dave's description. I've used the Kentia palm with Photoshop (don't have Renderworks) on final renders and its perfect for my use. You don't need to spend time with the magic wand tool, especially with tricky stuff like a palm. http://www.imagecels.com/im04000.html About third item down Alan [ 02-10-2006, 06:23 AM: Message edited by: alanmac ] Quote Link to comment
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