Hello! I would greatly appreciate it if some kind soul out there could explain to me (in terms suitable for a first grader) how to make a 2D object from a bitmap picture. I want to make trees similar to the one in the Bryce Create file. (also grass, reeds, etc) I have Painter3D, PicturePublisher8 Dabbler, Ultimate Paint, but not the biggies like PSP. Referrences to tutorials are OK too. Thanks, Wayne

Hi Wayne, We've just posted a new tree foliage tube on our Paint Shop Pro Users page (http://www.gardenhose.com/pspusers.htm. There are Painter versions there as well (Mac&Win). As for using a tree pict in Bryce, you might try our free PDF tutorial Painting Trees. It's linked from the Tutorials page and will not only show you how to paint a tree using Painter (or Painter 3D), but you can skip that part and simply go to the last section which talks about mapping a 2D pict/tif to a panel in Bryce. Hope this helps. Dennis@DigArts

Thanks for the quick reply! I'm downloading the tutorial now, but methinks that I wasn't specific enough in my original post. What I REALLY want to do at this time is to take a bmp image of grass or a tree & make a 2D object for replication in Bryce. I know the basics, but can't get the background out of the image so that it will look 3D. An example would be a field of grass & reeds with an occasional tree in which I can place a Poser figure without having the file size of 3D grass & trees. Wayne

Okay, gotcha. You may find it easier to paint a tree, however. As for cutting out a tree using Painter, try using Color Select (assuming they use the same term in P3D). Color select allows you to choose the background color (by clicking in it) a build a mask using that color or some expanded variation of it. It's a little tricky to grasp at first, but try this: Click to select the background color. If the background color is close to the same as the tree, you're going to find it difficult to separate the two. Nevertheless, try this. Move the S Extents and S Feather sliders all the way to 100 or 200%, whichever is highest. Do the same with V Feather and Hue Feather. Use H Extents to broaden the range of colors selected (add in yellow and blue greens). Use V Extents to broaden the range of values, (add in darker versions of the color range). The little preview window will show red where the mask is being applied. When you get what you want, click on OK. From there, you can convert your mask to a selection, Save the Selection as an Alpha channel and use that to isolate the tree in Bryce. Good luck,

Yikes! This seems a bit complex for the likes of me, but I'll give it a shot. Thanks!!