PlantStudio Super-Speed Tour

.

What PlantStudio is for
PlantStudio exists purely to

) you specify to simulate and draw 3D plants.
PlantStudio can't draw every plant that exists, but it does cover a variety of common

plants.
You can

the pictures.
You can write out one plant at a time to a

for use in 3D programs.
You can create image hose nozzles for MetaCreations Painter and picture tubes for Paint Shop Pro.
You can create numbered animation files of growing or revolving plants to use in Painter or many other animation studios.

Memory use
If you can't devote at least eight megabytes of memory exclusively to PlantStudio, you should turn off

. They speed up drawing considerably but also increase PlantStudio's memory requirements by several megabytes.

Starting PlantStudio for the first time
When PlantStudio starts up for the first time, you will see an empty file with no plants in it. You should

.

Using hints
There are long hints (text popups) for nearly everything you can point the cursor at everywhere in the program. If you are not sure what something does, hold the cursor still over it and see if a hint appears. If you don't see any long hints,

.
Hints only appear when PlantStudio is on top in relation to other programs, including the help system. For example, if you are looking at a help window and you move the mouse over an item on a PlantStudio window behind the help window, you won't see a hint because the help system is on top. You can tell which window is on top because its title bar is a special color.

Using plant files
In the main window of PlantStudio is a list of plants in the

. Visible plants have a seedling in front of their name. Click on the seedlings to

. Visible plants can be seen in the drawing area. If you can't see any plants, choose Scale to Fit from the Layout menu.
You can only have one file open at a time. To move plants between two plant files, use the

(choose Plant Mover from the File menu).

Using the drawing area mouse modes
The first four buttons on the toolbar under the menu on the main window determine what the mouse does in the drawing area. The modes are:
Select/drag plants: Click to

them.
Scroll: Click and drag to move the drawing area viewpoint.
Rotate plants: Click and drag to

the selected plants.
Magnify: Click to

; right-click or Shift-click to zoom out.

Selecting plants
You can

in the main window by clicking on them in the plant list or drawing area.
In the plant list, Shift-click or Control-click in the plant list to select more than one plant.
In the drawing area, Shift-click or click and drag to select more than one plant. You can only select plants in the drawing area when the mouse is in Select/drag mode .
The plant you select first is called the

. It is different from the other plants you select because you will see information about it in the panels labeled Life cycle, Parameters, and Parts.
If the Show Focused Plant Only option is on in the Options menu, all other plants will disappear when you select a new

. In this mode you can only select one plant at a time.
To deselect all plants, click outside of any plant in the drawing area, or click below all the plants in the list in the plant list, or choose Deselect from the Layout menu.
You cannot select individual parts of plants (like leaves) because the plants don't come apart.
If you click on one plant and get another, the other plant is first in the

.

Drawing speed
You can choose between Draw as Bounding Boxes, Draw as Wire Frames, Draw as Solids, and Draw Custom

. Choose one of these drawing speeds from the Options menu.
When you copy, save or print a picture, or create an animation or nozzle/tube file, the current drawing speed is used. Make sure you set the drawing speed before you choose the menu item to create the output.

Changing plant age and parameters
In the Life cycle panel, drag the red line back and forth to

. Click Animation to see a plant grow through its life cycle quickly.
In the Rotation panel,

of selected plants.
In the Parameters panel, choose a

.
The Parts panel is for

. There is nothing to click on there; it's for display only.

Using 3D objects
Leaves, flowers, fruits, buds and root tops are drawn using

.
You can choose from a library of 3D objects or

.
3D objects have two colors: the front face and back face color. If you

and you can't see anything happening, change the other face color.

Breeding
Breeding makes new plants from existing plants by randomly changing ("mutating") the plant parameters. You can breed from one or two parents.
To

of offspring will appear in the breeder.
In the breeder, double-click on single plants to breed, or choose two parents by Shift-clicking and choose Breed from the Breed menu.
You can

out of the breeder to the main window.
Breeder plants are NOT saved with the plant file and disappear when you leave the program.

Making time series
Making a time series creates a series of plants, each at a different age. This is useful when you want to see how a plant grows.
To

, select a plant in the main window, then choose Make Time Series from the Plant menu. The new series will appear in the time series window.
You can

out of the time series window to the main window.
Time series plants are NOT saved with the plant file and disappear when you leave the program.