Saving in-progress files on IX

[nedo]

I just bot IX and am having difficulty retrieving RIFF files that I can continue to work on and ultimately finish someday (I hope). They are not layered files but ones that are merely cloned. I know this must be simple so please excuse my ignorance.
Thanks - nedo...

[Christine Farrelly]

You should just be able to open your RIF files. Are you getting an error when you try to open them?

Christine

[nedo]

Thanks for response.
No error message. Maybe I need to give you mre info.
I have cloned a photo. I've tried a few techniques/brushes and wish to continue with the same project in the future. I "save as' (file name ) and save as type (RIFF). Later I 'open' the RIFF where the (file name ) is located and I get that RIFF file. The trouble is that it is only the tracing that I revised that shows. I cant continue 'cloning'.

[Jinny Brown]

Hi nedo,

Yes, enough information lets us know what the problem really is.

To continue a Clone painting from one session to another, you need to open both the original image and the Clone.

Then you need to tell Painter from what image to take color information while you paint on your Clone.

With both your original image and Clone open, go to File > Clone Source and check the file name of the original image.

If you want to toggle Tracing Paper on or off, either use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl/Command+T or click the Tracing Paper icon in the upper right corner of the image window.

You'll need to do this each time you want to continue clone painting in a new Painter session. Otherwise, Painter has no way to know that you want to use another image as the Clone Source. That means, when you begin painting with a Cloners variant or another brush variant set to Clone Color, Painter will use the default Clone Source, Current Pattern (whichever Pattern is currently selected by you, or the first Pattern in the Patterns palette list).

.

[nedo]

Thank you so much for responding so quickly. I'll try your directions in the morning and pray that I did them correctly.
thank you again.
n...

[nedo]

nedo here again.
I'm sorry, but I still don't follow the exact procedures.
Here's what I just did:
File - open
My pictures - (Click original photo)
Fiile - Quick clone
(Apply brush strokes)
File - clone source - (original pattern checked)
Save -clone of xxxxx
RIFF files
save
Close

Then I go back into File, open. I find clone of xxxxx and all that I have is the tracing with the applied brush strokes. No original.
AARRGG

[Christine Farrelly]

You may need to browse to where the original file was located - Painter does not automatically save back into the original location.

You should also have a list of recent files at the bottom of the file menu.

Christine

[Jinny Brown]

nedo here again.
I'm sorry, but I still don't follow the exact procedures.
Here's what I just did:
File - open
My pictures - (Click original photo)
Fiile - Quick clone
(Apply brush strokes)
File - clone source - (original pattern checked)
Save -clone of xxxxx
RIFF files
save
Close

Then I go back into File, open. I find clone of xxxxx and all that I have is the tracing with the applied brush strokes. No original.
AARRGG

Hi again,

If we're going to communicate clearly, we need to use the terminology we see on the Painter interface, so that's what I'll do to explain how to do a Clone painting from the beginning to the end:

1. Open your photo or other image, whatever it will be that you want to Clone paint. I'll refer to this as Original Image, and/or Clone Source image and/or use the file name. For the purposes of this tutorial, I'll make the file name, My Photo.jpg.

2. Use either File > Clone or File > Quick Clone. So you understand the difference, I'll explain below:

Using either of these two File menu commands, Painter makes an exact copy of your Original Image and Painter temporarily names it, for instance, Clone of My Photo.jpg. You'll see Clone of My Photo.jpg on the title bar at the top of the image window. When you save the file in RIFF format, you'll remove Clone of and name the file appropriately. For intance, you might name it My Photo Clone.RIF. Painter also specifies the Original Image as the Clone Source so if you go to File > Clone Source, you'll see the file name of your original image, My Photo.jpg, is checked in the flyout menu.

Descriptions:

File > Clone only does what I described above and you'll need to choose a Cloners brush variant or choose another brush variant and in the Colors palette, depress the Clone Color icon (looks like a rubber stamp) to enable Clone Color and make a non-Cloners variant work like a Cloner. You'll also need to select and delete the Clone imagery and turn on Tracing Paper.

File > Quick Clone in addition to what File > Clone does, also automatically deletes the Clone imagery and leaves the Canvas blank, turns on Tracing Paper, and selects the Cloners brush category. Those are the default options for File > Quick Clone but those options can be set by the user in Preferences > General in the Quick Clone section on the right side of the dialog box.

The default Quick Clone options are:

• Delete image from clone (box checked)
• Turn on Tracing Paper (box checked)
• Switch to Cloner Brushes (box checked)
  
  • Clone Color (greyed out)

If you uncheck the Switch to Cloner Brushes box, the Clone Color box is then available to check as you may want to use brush variants from other brush categories that contain non-Cloner variants and enable Clone Color yourself to make those brush variants work as Cloners.

3. If you used File > Clone, you'll need to take the additional steps described above in the description of File > Clone. If you used File > Quick Clone, all you need to do is to choose which Cloners variant you want to use, then begin painting.

In Another Painter Session:

In the first Painter session, after you save your Clone in RIFF format, close the Clone, and close the Original Image, and close Painter, then want to continue working on your Clone painting in another Painter session:

1. Open the Original Image, My Photo.jpg.

2. Open the Clone, My Photo Clone.jpg.

3. In the File menu, choose Clone Source and in the flyout menu, check the name of your Original Image, My Photo.jpg, to tell Painter to use this image as the Clone Source. Now you've reestablished the connection between your Clone and your Clone Source image so Painter knows to take color information from your Original Image, My Photo.jpg.

4. Choose a brush variant, make sure Clone Color is enabled, and continue painting.

Any time you want to continue working on your Clone painting in another Painter session, remember to follow the four steps listed above before starting to paint.

Save your Clone frequently in a numbered series of RIFF files, for instance:

• My Photo.jpg
• My Photo_001.jpg
• My Photo_002.jpg

It would be a good idea to have both your Original Image, My Photo.jpg and your Clone, My Photo Clone.jpg (and following numbered versions) in the same folder so you won't have trouble finding them each time you want to continue working on the Clone in another Painter session.

Feel free to print this tutorial so you can refresh your memory quickly while you work.


Good luck!


.

[nedo]

Dear Jenny B
I cannot thank you enough for taking so much time to explain this procedure so thoroughly. Success, it appears, was only two key-strokes away when I clicked on Clone Source and Original Image. That's what I was doing wrong. I received a two tutorial disks with Corel but, they did not explain what you so succinctly did in yours.
Thank you again. And may I add my gratitude for the service that you provide.

n...

[Jinny Brown]

Hi nedo,

I'm glad we were able to get it straightened out. Often, it's the smallest things that keep us from getting it "right".

Thanks for the note of appreciation. I do this because it's a joy to help people learn Painter and your feedback makes it worth the time and effort.

Cheers!