Painter 6 Tutorial: Making custom dab based brushes

[athena]

Painter 6

Ok, the following is a record (as best as I recall) of how I made the brush. The point here is to share what I did wrong and right so your own explorations may be a bit more informed.

I knew from reading the friendly manual (RTFM) that i wanted to do a captured dab. I will refer to instructions in the painter 6 manual. These instructions on capturing brush dabs start on p 266.

So I went to Xara and made my desired shape (a fan) and added a conical gradient of black and white (actually, you could make that shape in just about any vector program.) From Xara, I selected my fan exported a tiff (.tif) file. (I'll explain later how i could have improved even on this step)

The cool tip to take from here is use shades of grey to define what you wish to be partially transparent areas of the brush. Any opaque parts of your brush will be in black.

Then I went to Painter 6 and opened my .tif file. It's dimensions were not perfectly square, and the manual mentioned the instructions for making a square selection. (Actually, I think they mentioned the square dimensions for a reason, my first attempt at the brush looked funnier than the current one.) So I went to Canvas --> Canvas size added 100 pixels to the top and the bottom to give the future brush a more square shape.

Well, I still didn't follow their instructions which were, choose the rectangular selection tool. Hold down the Shift key and drag across your brush shape to create a square selection. . . . what busy work! I thought, and so I just went to the selection menu and said select all . . . since the dimensions of my tif were kind of square.


And a note about expanding the size of your canvas, if you, like me, tend to switch canvas colors you may want to be sure to have your canvas color that you create new documents with be the same color you have as the background for your future brush . . .in this case, I needed white to make the dimensions of my document kinda square.

http://www.nol.net/~athena/paintutor...ut3/fanbr1.jpg

I imagine truly square dimensions add that extra polish [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

and technically, when building captured dab based brushes, the manual instructs us to draw the brush shape in black on a white background but I'm sure you could be a bit rebellious and draw a white image on a black background. .. just realize that where you paint black or shades of black is where your captured dab will lay down color. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

The next rule i broke . .... was the suggestion to keep the size of the brush close to the size i was going to use it at . .my .tif was huge relative to my expected size but I just wanted to get this test rolling so I didn't mess with the size.

You see, the manual says,
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
to prevent too much aliasing, create a shape with soft (greyscale) edges and draw it close to the size you'll use
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Aliasing? yes in non geekspeak . . . . aliasing = jaggies, so to prevent aliasing is to prevent the jaggies from showing up in your brush . . . . (also why some programs like Xara are renowned for their anti-aliasing skills).

now on to step 3 in the manual. . .. .well that is where i have to say ... please be very careful! (i'll tell you correct order of operations after i tell you what went wrong for me)

It said to choose the brush category where I wanted to save the variant for the captured dab brush. When i made this brush, i ended up choosing the pens category. . . but in recreating the brush making experiment, I chose variable round brush

at this point my first suggestion is . . . Never save new settings over the default variant. When i followed their instructions, i ended up re-creating the dab that the variable round brush comes with as default . . .(in short, my variable round brush now looked like my fan. . .when my intent had been to make a different brush not write over the variable round brush)

How did I fix this mistake? Luckily, i had never messed with the default variant so i was able to recover from this boo-boo by restoring my default variant.

http://www.nol.net/~athena/paintutor...ut3/fanbr2.jpg

. . .If you make the same mistake i did . . that is the only recourse I know of.. (absent doing something truly radical like re-installing. . . maybe Jinny has a better suggestion [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] on correcting a mistake of that magnitude)
<DL>

<DT>Now Athena's suggested order of operations when creating a dab based brush: </dt>
<DD>(i'm not re-inventing the wheel here . . . it's all in the manual but this is a matter of which part of the chapter on customizing brushes you read. .. and what order you should follow the instructions. . . . I followed a linear path and that was the wrong way for me [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] )

1. <LI>open or create your black and white image that is going to be the future brush. Follow instructions on p 266 of the painter 6 manual. Of those instructions, follow steps one and two. Here's my synopsis of the two steps:
   
   
   1. <LI>make b/w image that is to become future brush
      <LI>make square selection of image that is to become future brush
   
   
   <LI>While you have your future image for brush selected, skip to page 267 of painter manual the section is titled To Create a New Brush Category doing this now, serves two purposes
   <ul>
   <LI>a) it creates a brush category you will later fill with your newly fashioned brush
   <LI>b) it creates the brush icon you will see in your toolbox when you go to select brushes
   
   go ahead and follow steps 1-4 here on page 267.
   (see my synopsis or these steps below)
   
   if you've been following the path I took, then all you need to do is
   
   1. <LI>goto Brushes palette, brushes menu -->New Brush
      <LI>Name your brush and click ok
      <LI>
      http://www.nol.net/~athena/paintutor...ut3/fanbr3.jpg
   
   At step 4, p 267,
   I named my new brush category TAH Fanbrush 1 of course you can name it anything you like (hopefully you'll be adding more brushes to your category [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] )
   
   

<LI>Now go back to page 266 of the painter manual. And pick up where we left off. Start with step 3 which is to choose a brush category. What do you know? We just made a new brush category in Athena's previously suggested step [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] I love it when a plan comes together


<LI>Now hopefully you still have your future paintbrush selection selected and now goto Brushes Palette. click Brush ---> Capture brush

<LI>
http://www.nol.net/~athena/paintutor...ut3/fanbr4.jpg [/list]
</dd>
</dl>
Now comes a point where you should stretch, take a break get some water or cocoa. .. etc [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] because you get to twiddle with the settings of your brush. Which by its very nature will take a hefty slice of your time. But it is fun [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Also note that it is important whether you are using the mouse or the stylus to lay down color. Because depending on your settings on the mouse control panel, or the expression controll panel where you adjust the pressure, you may or may not get any color placed on the canvas.

The first brush I posted here, started with the scratchboard pen as its template. The brush I just made in this recreation, started as a variable round brush .. . even the template you start with can impact how the brush turns out (or so i suspect).

<DL>

<DT>here are snapshots of my brush settings for the pinetree brush </dt>
<dd>http://www.nol.net/~athena/paintutor...t3/fanbr11.jpg

In this one the general control panel affected how the mouse reacted (as distinct from the way the stylus reacted)</dd>

<dd>http://www.nol.net/~athena/paintutor...t3/fanbr13.jpg </dd>
<dd>http://www.nol.net/~athena/paintutor...t3/fanbr14.jpg

Take note of this expression control panel. I adjusted inverted the effect of pressure on the size and the opacity. I did this to make painting with this brush easier on my hand. So the lightest pressure leaves the largest dab and the heaviest pressure leaves the smallest dab. </dd>

<dd>http://www.nol.net/~athena/paintutor...t3/fanbr15.jpg </dd>

and as a coup de grace, you can take the next step
http://www.nol.net/~athena/paintutor...wbrush1018.gif


and goto Brushes---> Brush Mover and click on new
http://www.nol.net/~athena/paintutor...t3/fanbr20.jpg

To make a new .BRS file. so you can share your discoveries with all your Painter friends [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]


to use some one else's .brs file, you should click here
http://www.nol.net/~athena/paintutor...wbrush1017.gif

and then click here at load library

http://www.nol.net/~athena/paintutor...t3/fanbr19.jpg

Good luck!

Athena
[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[This message was edited by T. Athena Hatton on May 14, 2001 at 20:30.]

[athena]

trying again. . .

to post my starting .tif

Athena

[Jinny Brown]

Athena,

I've revised the tutorial to (hopefully) make it easier for you to follow.. especially drawing the fan. There's a new illustration that tells you exactly what to do. I think it will help more than reading my Pen Tool tutorial as that one shows you how to trace a curve and doesn't deal with a closed Shape.

To explain a bit about Painter:

In Painter, the following tools are used to create vector-based bezier curves and anything drawn with them is referred to as a Shape: Pen tool, Quick Curve tool, Rectangular Shape tool, Oval Shape tool.

Text is also Shapes (each letter appears in the Layers (or Floaters) list as a Painter Shape. This allows you to alter the shape of letters (Text) or other Painter Shapes by using the Shape editing tools: Shape Selection tool, Add Point tool, Remove Point tool, Convert Point tool, Scissors tool. When an Effect is applied to a Shape, you are first asked if you want to Commit to an Image Layer. Committing the Shape to an Image Layer converts it to pixels only (no more bezier curves) and it can be treated as any other part of the image. Of course, it can no longer be edited with the Shape editing tools so it's good to do some planning before committing it to an Image Layer.

Let me know if the revised tutorial is easier for you to follow, and if you have any questions.

Have fun! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Jinny Brown
http://www.pixelalley.com
_______________________

[This message was edited by Jinny Brown on May 17, 2001 at 01:05.]

[Jinny Brown]

David,

Thanks for the nice description of my site, "Port of Call". [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Basically, what I've done, in building it, is to toss in everything that comes up that I've had time to write or paint about. There's no particular direction but it keeps growing and one of these days I'm going to have to weed out some of the junk and rewrite tutorials to make them better.

The two I just finished writing already need some additions. Yikes! There's not much chance that I'll ever get bored. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Thanks to Athena, I now know that when you capture a brush and want to put it into a new brush category, the time to create the new brush category is **before** the brush is captured, while the square selection is active, and before the brush variant is saved. I was doing it a very cumbersome and needlessly time-consuming way. (Plus, you get a nice little icon doing it Athena's way!)

[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Jinny Brown
http://www.pixelalley.com
________________________

[David Gell]

I'm really getting confused now, but taking everything very lightheartedly [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

First off, I have followed your suggestion Jinny and used the eyedropper tool to first select the color for the auto select function. This works fine. I now have more thoughts and observations for you. The original object of the excercise was presumably to compare two images at different ppi. and evaluate the edge pixels.

My first problem is that there are two windows on my monitor, both measuring 500 x 500 pixels, but one is at 72 ppi, and the other is 300 ppi. Why are the two windows the same size on my monitor? If ppi stands for pixels per inch, then I would have expected the 300ppi window to be significantly smaller than the 72 ppi one. Maybe ppi means something different then?

The image created at 72ppi has the boundary pixels dithered. When the Auto select using current colour method is used, the dithered colours are ignored and so the oblect is copied and pasted minus the dithered pixels. This would not then give a fair visual
comparison.

When an image created at one ppi value is pasted onto a canvas of a higher ppi value, does Painter somehow increase the ppi of the selected object as it is pasted?

I think I need to sleep on this [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

David

[David Gell]

I've just visited your website Jinny and I really must compliment you. What you have created is an essential port of call for anyone interested in Painter [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Getting back to your gingerbread man tutorial, you have given me the idea of creating signature and copyright stamps for my artwork. The fact that the brush (stamp) can be resized and given other attributes such as variable colour and opacity has started to get me thinking of other possible uses [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

David

[Jinny Brown]

David,

Even if an image was created in vector software, or using Painter's vector-based bezier curves to create a Painter Shape, the drawing has to be converted to raster (or pixels) to be edited as an image or used to create a captured brush (dropped to the Canvas then selected).

Painter brushes paint pixels so the vectors aren't part of the process except when doing the original drawing using Painter's Shape tools (or another program's vector tools).

To see how ppi can affect an image in the context of your question:

1. Open a 500 x 500 72 pixel Canvas.

2. Use the Pen tool to draw a closed Shape with plenty of angles and curves, too, if you want. (The purpose of using angles and curves is to show the degree of jaggedness which doesn't show on horizontal or vertical edges.)

3. In the Select menu, choose Set Shape Attributes, uncheck Stroke, and double-click the Fill color swatch then pick a medium blue.

4. Drop the Shape to the Canvas (Layers section, click Drop button).

5. In the Select menu, choose Auto Select, Using: Current Color (the blue used to fill the Shape).

6. In the Edit menu, choose Copy.

7. Open a new 500 x 500 pixel 300 ppi Canvas.

8. In the Edit menu, choose Paste.

9. Now zoom in (to the same percent in both images for equal comparison) and compare the edges of the Dropped Shape on both the 72 ppi and 300 ppi Canvases.

I usually work at least at 300 ppi. Also, feathering the selection (edges of the selected image) helps. Select menu, Feather, then type in the number of pixels (depending on the size of the image and it's final use, 1 or 2 pixels is usually enough to soften the edges).

Hope this helps clarify things a bit. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Jinny Brown
http://www.pixelalley.com
_______________________

[athena]

David,

You're right. Thank you for pointing that out. Hehehe. I have to admit, I rarely use the vector like tools in Painter because in my mind, I've already decided (fairly or unfairly) that you don't DO vector in a bitmap program. Use a shovel to dig and a rake to rake . . .some tools really only do one or two things well. I rarely use vector programs to work on bitmaps and vice versa.

In the interest of time, it was easier for me to quickly do the shape in my favorite vector program. And as with all good experiments, [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] I had to report that the starting image was made elsewhere.

I'll have to give the Painter vector tools a fair chance some day. They might surprise me. (although I am spoiled by the ease of use of certain vector programs . . . ) [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] Especially considering all the cool painter fills and patterns that are available on hand. It will be worth an investigation.

[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Athena

[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

PS: It finallly dawned on me that you were suggesting the use of simple Painter selection tools. Hehehe if this starting image had depended on me using the lasso tool to freehand the fan, [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] well I'm not sure the end result would have come out looking like a fan [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]. . . .I really do like working with nodes. . .. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] (smoother lines better control etc, etc. ) but now you've got me thinking. . I could have used an oval selection and then cut away the unwanted piece of the oval . . . then filled it with a conical fill. . I do love new challenges [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[This message was edited by T. Athena Hatton on May 15, 2001 at 12:54.]

[athena]

Hi there, Jinny!

First, thank you for stopping to make that cool tutorial that you posted on your site. When I first looked at it I thought it was great (I still think it's great).

I had my triangle and was ready to convert it to a fan . . . But [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img] everything worked great 'til step 3. But that's just because I have no familiarity with the shape tools in painter. They are completely foreign to me (mostly because they dont't work like the tools in Corel Draw or Xara. . . and I've never really tried node editing in my copy of Adobe Illustrator 8. . . ).

I'm just going to have to read through chapter 13 of the painter manual and really get familiar with it. Wait . . . I just checked your site again . . you have a tutorial on using the pen tool and bezier curves in Painter! (I know how to use them in Corel Draw and Xara [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] ) . . I'll have to try that. . .before I dive into the book [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img].

But everything else in your tutorial looks very clear and straighforward. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] It made a lot of sense. Nice work!

(I'm wondering if my tutorial seemed unfocused by contrast. . . .yours seems so clear and to the point (sigh) oh well I'll see what I can do to improve . . . always good to have something to aspire to [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] )


Athena

[jassony]

Athena, in Xara you don't need to export your object as a tiff to get it into Painter.

Create your object in Xara, go to create bitmap copy use the transparency option. Copy the bitmap to the clipboard. Open Painter open a new canvas the size you want the brush to be and paste the bitmap you created in Xara onto the canvas.

This eliminates another file name stored on your hard drive. I do this all the time to create objects then save then in my object folder in Painter.

Judi
P.S. I did that with the laces I posted in the Xara forum and they remain transparent.