How to make a virtual using paint for Windows

I make virtuals using normal Paint for Windows..

Step 1 Right click the picture> open with> paint (to open the picture in Paint)
If you want to have several copies/versions of the tree, or before and after, first drug the corner of the picture to extend the white canvas so you have space where to paste the extra pictures.

Then: Select> rectangular selection> select the picture> press Ctrl and drug the picture to a new place to make copy. select with rectangular selection and paste them next to each leaving enough space for branches…

Like this

Next step is to delete all the foliage and branches you dont need. For that use free form selection and select suitable part of the background. You will use that small part of the back ground to delete everything you dont need.

On the top menu : select > free form selection. For this whole vurtual,  You just use control and shift while selecting various parts of the tree to add or from the background to delete.

Pressing shift first before drugging the selection turns your selection into a brush.

 

you can see here the small part I selected and while holding Ctrl dropped on the blank canvas for you to see.
You will not need to drop it on the blank canvas, While holding control you keep dropping it over places on the tree which you want to delete

Here you can see where I dropped the back ground on several places of the foliage.

If you hold shift and drug that small portion of the back ground you selected, it behaves like a paint brush
Here I held shift and drugged the selected piece of background. You can see on the right what happens if you drug with shift

Now imagine your tree has winter silhouette and you want to visualize it with foliage…Open another tree with paint, in  another window. select the crown of it copy,  and paste it on the canvas of your virtual.

Now select a small potion of the foliage, preferably Irregular elongated section containing foliage with dark and light parts. hold control and drop it where you want a pad. Lift the mouse and drop again next to it while continuously holding control. Make sure your portion of foliage stays selected. If you need different angles of foliage go back and select and repeat dragging and dropping while holding control. .
If you have foliage on your tree just select a suitable portion from the before picture and drop it where you want while holding control. Just remember to hold control before lifting the selection in order to copy it and not cut it, or you will have a hole on your picture.

It is so simple…Just dont remove your finger from control…lift and drop that small portion of foliage…while overlapping them.
Like this. Continue until you have done it the way you want it. If you want to delete portions you dont like, select again a part of the back ground and drop it over places you dont want.

Remember to select the part at suitable angle…similar to the direction of the pad you want.

Ones you get used it will not take you more than 5 min to make a virtual

 

Here I used different equally easy technique

Notice above that I copied and pasted trees with branch structure that I like. The tree I want to make a virtual of is first. Notice also that I reduced/enlarged the trees so they are almost the same size as my tree, so the branches are in proportion. But dont worry much about this…Ones a branch is copied…and dropped it can be resized by drugging the corner while it is still selected.

Notice here the first picture where I deleted all the foliage. On the second picture I copied a branch from another tree and pasted it on the right by selecting it and moving it to the new place while holding control. Now notice the branch on the left…it is the same branch which I selected and drugged on the left while holding control, then while it is selected >>>Rotate> flip horizontal, and then drug it to the place you want. If you think the branch is too small/large or you want to make it longer…You can re-size it by drugging the corner.
To select a branch I enlarge the picture by Holding control and rotating the mouth wheel.  Ones it is larger I go around the outline of the branch by dragging the mouth.

 

Notice on the last tree how I did part of the trunk by selecting a section of the top of the trunk, and drugging it while holding shift and in some places by pasting while holding control

Unfortunately for the pictures to fit and not get cut I have to really reduce them.