plants

[flax]

I need a much more extensive catalogue of plants. is there some program that has this? I started with Sierra LandDesigner 3d and liked it but it was abandoned in 2000 or so. I thought perhaps i could import that database to this program but i am not sure it is possible and even that is not as complete as i would like.
Any ideas?

[Allan Chesney]

Have you got the Pro version - there are over 7500, or are you wanting some specific varieties? If so you can add your own photos if you have a suitable Paint program to manipulate them.

Allan

[flax]

       I do have Pro. LandDesigner had drop down lists in the plant properties that allowed one to change the flower color.I plan to try Adobe Elements if I have to to make some plants but most flower catalogues don't have pictures of the structure of a plant standing independently. They are often close ups of the flowers or the plants in front of other plants where the leaves become a jumble. I also am not growing many of the plants I want to use or they are small in this season or not flowering. That is also true of the photos I have taken in the past.
I am going to try some plant books to see what I find but plant breeding these days means plants with new colors and bloom properties are appearing constantly. There are also time time constraints as I need to finish the design in time for spring planting (right about now).
   LandDesigners database is an .odt file. Is that importable or perhaps I could change it to another type of file that would import?
   This is the online description of that type of file.

A set of ODF based productivity tools that allow users to create/edit/open/save text documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

I have been able to open it with Open Office but I am not sure of how to manipulate it.

            Reading in the forum about Carrara made me think maybe that would be helpful but I am not sure that is so.There is a trial available but I would not want to start the trial now if it wouldn't help with this as I am so busy now I would not be able to give to give it much attention if it didn't address my immediate problems. Those magazine with free software seem not to be available anymore.

Thanks for your help with the house. It is quite presentable now from the outside. Enough to do the landscape design around it.

[Allan Chesney]

If you still have Landscape Designer can you take the images from that? If it will display them large enough you may if able to display them, take a screen print and use Elements to manipulate.

Allan

[Doug.S]

Detailed specific plants of certain species is a bit hard to get in 3D format....but there are several ways to approach it...

- Carrara is an excellent 3D tool but is limited in its plant/tree library...but you can "grow your own"

- better to search the web for free or pay for specific models

- there are several programs that generate 3D plants...try Vue, or Bryce  or Xfrog as they are scenery/plant programs

- free is a small program to grow your own and the have a library of plants too...Plant Studio
http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com/download_new.html

Of course you can use 2D images on a photoboard that is set to "point at camera" with magenta for transparency in .bmp format

[flax]

Is there a name for the type of file that allows one to see the same plant in different seasons? Or is there a name for that property?

[Allan Chesney]

Cant help with that one but I did find a bug in the season change - it is fixed to the Northern hemisphere. I am set to Australia but the trees bloomed in Autumn and lost their leaves in Spring!

Allan 

[flax]

In toolbar -global settings-are those set right?

[flax]

oh-i guess you're set right-you said so-I am changing to a 2d program for speed-2 months to return it if it doesn't work out.

[Allan Chesney]

I did do some further tests, found a few more problems and made an entry under Feature Requests to have them fixed. The flowering trees change month by month quite nicely but the other plant groups do not seen to do so. Half a dozen issues with plants, rendering and the plant encyclopedia.

Allan