Editing the Background Picture

Once you have imported a background picture, you can design new landscapes that use it without having to import it again.

To choose a different background picture:

1.   Select Settings > Background Picture. The following dialog will appear:

2.   Click the picture. A dialog will appear with a list of your imported pictures. Click the picture you want to use and click OK.

3.   Click OK again. The background will then be set to the picture you selected. Any objects you currently have in your landscape will not be affected.

You can easily make minor color and brightness adjustments to your picture using the Color and Brightness command.

To change the background picture's color and/or brightness:

1.   Select Settings > Background Picture.

2.   Click the options button to the right of the picture.

When the drop-down menu appears, select Edit Color and Brightness. The following dialog will then appear:

3.   Change the brightness, contrast, saturation, and tint as desired. When finished, click OK. To undo any changes, click Reset.

You can make more extensive changes using the Realtime Picture Editor. For example, you can use the Clone tool to remove undesirable parts of the landscape.

To edit the background picture using the Realtime Picture Editor:

1.   Select Settings > Background Picture.

2.   Click Edit using the Picture Editor.

3.   The Realtime Picture Editor will then start and automatically load the picture. When you are finished editing it, simply click Save and then Exit. Realtime Landscaping Photo will then reappear and the modified version of your background picture will be automatically loaded.

In the following example, the Realtime Picture Editor's Clone tool was used to remove the unwanted edging and improve the appearance of the grass:

Using Photoshop or Other Picture Editing Software

You can use Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Gimp, or other program to edit your pictures. Simply edit your original picture and then import it into Realtime Landscaping Photo using the Picture Import Wizard.

Tip for Advanced Users: You can also edit the imported version of your picture. When you import a background picture using the Picture Import Wizard, the picture is copied to the following directory:

Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\Realtime Landscaping Photo 3\Custom Data\ picture2\background\Custom\

Windows Vista: \Users\user\Documents\Realtime Landscaping Photo 3\Custom Data\ picture2\background\Custom\

Note: When using Realtime Landscaping Pro, replace Photo with Pro in the above directory name.

Where user is your Windows user name. You can edit these pictures using the software of your choice. However, since Realtime Landscaping Photo stores a copy of your picture in memory, you will need to stop and restart the program to load your changes.