Importing Plant Images

The information in this article appliesto:

QUESTION

I want to import photographs of plants that I can't find in the library. How do I do that?

ANSWER

The following steps make use of image files that are not included with the program. You can use image files that are already on your computer, or you can create new ones. 

These same basic steps can be used to import other images into your plans such as people, pets, cars, furniture, etc. In Home Designer, image objects are more than just 2D pictures. Images have size and height attributes, and can contain transparency information. In a floor plan view, they display only as 2D symbols; but in 3D views, the visual information that they contain is displayed.

Creating a new plant image and saving it to the library

1. First, launch your Home Designer software, and Open  the plan in which you want to place your custom plant image.
   
   
   
2. Select View> Library Browser  if the Library Browser isn't open, right-click on the User Catalog folder, and navigate to New> Plant Image.
   
   
   
   
   
3. On the Image panel of the Plant Image Specification dialog that displays, click the Browse button next to Image File, browse to the desired image or picture on your computer, then click Open.
   
   
   
   In this example, we selected an image that already had transparency information associated with it.
   
   

   Keep in mind that if you want it to display like the other plant images in Home Designer, you may want to crop it appropriately and set the transparency information within a photo editing program before importing the image. 

   
   
4. On the Image panel of the Plant Image Specification dialog, enter the Height and/or Width.
   
   
   
5. Specify an Elevation Reference, then enter your desired height or elevation at which the image displays.
   
   In this example, the Elevation Reference is set to From Floor and a Floor to Bottom value of 0" is specified. If we knew we would be placing this plant into a flower box, for example, we may want to enter a different value here instead.
   
   
   
6. In Home Designer Architectural and Home Designer Pro, the Transparency panel allows you to either use transparency from the image file, or use a custom transparency color and tolerance.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Select the Plant Information panel to enter information about the plant such as its common and scientific names, flower and leaf colors, bloom time, etc. 
   
   
   • Enter any additional information related to the plant, such as a description, lighting or hardiness zone comments. 
     
     

     Setting this information up can be helpful if you are importing a variety of custom plant images that you want to be searchable using the Plant Chooser. 

   
   
8. Make any other desired adjustments, then click OK to close the dialog and apply the changes.
   
   
   
9. With the image selected from the User Catalog, click in your plan to place it, then take a Camera  view to see the results.