Landartma Posted February 15, 2021 Share Posted February 15, 2021 I'm placing plants in a plan and want 3d plant symbols. I had some luck taking a Rhododendron and matching it up with images in the stock symbol library. Although the scale of the flowers and leaves are way off because I rescaled. I watched two videos, the images in each were already cleaned up and backgrounds removed. Is this a requirement prior to importing the image or can the image be cleaned in VW? I attempted to generate image props as per the video generating an image prop for a new plant in Vectorworks. The end image prop on the plan is just an image of the shrub. Nothing happened except the image pasted to the plan. I am seeing two main differences between what I made happen and what I saw happen. First I do not have an alpha channel button. This is not available on my system so I'm not sure if I need it. Then I saw GDI + is supposed to run when importing pics but it looks like its not recommended to be enabled on a PC. I will post this issue separately but just wanted to bring it up. For the Vector Works tech people which VW university class covers this? I looked at a few but am not sure. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee bgoff Posted February 15, 2021 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted February 15, 2021 you need to use a cropped image with a background either a single color or an alpha channel. It looks like you are using only images not making them image props. 2 Quote Link to comment
Landartma Posted February 15, 2021 Author Share Posted February 15, 2021 yes indeed I am just using an image. I attempted to go through the image prop process...No luck yet. So it needs to be cleaned up prior to importing like go through and delete the background? Quote Link to comment
zoomer Posted February 15, 2021 Share Posted February 15, 2021 1 hour ago, Landartma said: So it needs to be cleaned up prior to importing like go through and delete the background? Yes, it is necessary to have a suitable image source first. As said, an empty, single colour background or an Alpha Channel. 1 Quote Link to comment
Landartma Posted February 15, 2021 Author Share Posted February 15, 2021 First I have to say thanks for everyone's help with my questions its much appreciated. I spoke with my buddy who's a graphics wizzard. My understanding is that for an Alpha Channel you need photo editing software. Any suggestions on what to use? Quote Link to comment
zoomer Posted February 15, 2021 Share Posted February 15, 2021 Gimp is free, cross platform and open source. If you are not familiar already with any proprietary Image Editing Software, like Photoshop already, it may be worth to learn/start with Gimp. On Mac I prefer simple Pixelmator for my purposes because it is very easy to use. For a full featured package I would recommend Affinity Photo, reasonably priced with perpetual license, Mac and PC. 2 Quote Link to comment
Landartma Posted February 15, 2021 Author Share Posted February 15, 2021 Zoomer thanks! Quote Link to comment
Jeff Prince Posted February 16, 2021 Share Posted February 16, 2021 @Landartma Another nice program for this task is Affinity Photo. It's pretty inexpensive and has the lion's share of Photoshop features I use. I prefer the Ipad version for preparing plant images because it's fast and intuitive when using the apple pencil, especially when compared to the desktop + mouse workflow. Once you get the desired image prepared, here's a video on how to get VWX to generate the image prop for you while defining the plant object. 3 Quote Link to comment
ajshrubshall Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 Can someone who has any spare time, tell me how I could go about creating new plants. Im a garden designer and love VW but the plant libraries are really poor. Im getting to the point of just buying some packs but would love to find a cheaper alternative. I have heard of using image props but stuck on the process. If someone could make this idiot proof so I could understand it, that would be perfect. Quote Link to comment
Administrator JuanP Posted March 24, 2023 Administrator Share Posted March 24, 2023 @ajshrubshallCheck these 2 courses: Create Image Props Create Plants in Vectorworks And we have more information available at the University. Quote Link to comment
Benson Shaw Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 Check out the above links to learn creating image props with image mask texture. Not too difficult. You can use images you capture. Build your own library. The trick is background removal. It is rather easy and very effective these days compared to a few years ago. If no capability in house, make an internet search for “photo remove background”. Many free options, others with subscription, others with apps for sale. Most offer a drag/drop input with near instant result to upload. They have different capabilities, so try a few. Apple has even entered the fray within latest Ventura OS (not so good at trees in my tests). -B Quote Link to comment
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