I've been asked what good are tree texture pictures, with differing sky colours etc, in them, to railway modelling. Please note that none of what I'll try and demonstrate is new, or is wholly my idea. I'll try and show just one appliction, that of packing in details to a back scene area. Very rarely do pictures have enough concentrated detail in just the right places to cover joints in backscenes, fill gaps, link ares and so on.

I'm going to try and add a large tree to the back garden of a photograph of a house.

I'm going to use generic terms for photo manipulation where I can, you'll have to find their equivalents on your system if you'd like to try. Tree backgrounds are probably the easiest way to start doing this sort of thing.

I'll take one of the free texture pictures [Pic 1]from the link I posted earlier



1  'Cut out by colour' the blue sky, selecting a portion of the upper sky with 'global' command. This means that where ever the selected sky colour is, it wiil be removed from the picture. I also select 'cut out the opposite area' This means that the area other than the sky will be cut out, and left on a transparent page. Remember the default background will be white, check it has worked by sliding the cut out layer aside, taking the sky with it.[Pic 2]



2  The areas of sky showing through the gaps in the branches will be a slightly different blue, so repeat the process, choosing the same settings, but selecting a bit of the sky that shows through the gaps in the branches. [Pic3] This picture will have a transparent background that can be put over another picture, so that the other picture's sky colour, or brick colour or whatever, will show through the tree and around the outside of the tree.



3  Selecting another suitable photograph, use the 'Cut out by colour' command again in the area of sky you want to put your new tree. Here's the clever bit, save a bit of that sky colour somewhere [another page perhaps] and using the 'Background' command use that colour by the 'Choose colour, ink dropper command' put it back on the new picture. This will mean that whatever you paste over it will have the colour showing through the gaps and around it as it will act as a background to whatever you place on top of it.



4  So, paste in your cut out tree, scale and position it as you wish, and then use the 'Arrange - send to back' command to put it behind your photograph.







I hope that makes sense, basically, by playing with 'Cut out' [by colour, shape, by drawing etc] you can remove interesting elements and move them around you picture, eg move those two line side huts closer together and put them at the other end of the platform back scene for example.

This example was done on Microsoft Photodraw, a relatively simple system.  With a bit of imagination, you can put whatever you want into that space on the back scene between two buildings, why use the Peco one??

Good going, Doug. Heaps of possibilities with this sort of thing.
 I've done similar things with Paintshop Pro when adding my own photographed trees to a gold course designer but I'm blowed if I remember how I did it.

 I notice the sky behind the house is two different colours. Would it be easy to fix? I'm guessing it would be.

 Mike

hi, Mike,

Paint shop Pro, like Corel draw is something you must keep using ,I suppose, it's not like riding a bike, is it?

I'd have to start again with Corel, its not an instinctive thing.

I looked at the 'Gimp' that Bob posted in the software section….Phew! A completely different language, before you get to grips with the three floaty screens…..I'll have a look at the other one today if SWMBO hasn't got something planned.  Martin [Test User] seems a whizz on it…he could be getting a few e-mails!

I think it's too involved for what I need, though.

I'd love us all to have a 'common user' photosoftware system, so we can swap ideas and projects, it would help complete beginners no end, and all the questions inevitably make others think and develop new ideas.

Fixing the sky is no problem. In Photodraw, I'd 'Replace' the left hand sky blue with the right hand blue, and 'Smudge' some of the lighter colour using a sof brush tool. Sadly, for the forum, I've JPEGd it all and not saved the P'Draw files so I can't just re-do it in one step.

[user=312]dooferdog[/user] wrote:

hi, Mike,


I'd love us all to have a 'common user' photosoftware system, so we can swap ideas and projects, it would help complete beginners no end, and all the questions inevitably make others think and develop new ideas.

 

That's a really good idea Doug. Could we have some members thoughts on this please. I will open a separate topic and we will see what comes of it.