Corel Painter - 12 Instruction Manual
Copyright 2011 Corel Corporation. All rights reserved.
Corel® Painter™ 12 User Guide
The contents of this user guide and the associated Corel Painter software are the
property of Corel Corporation and its respective licensors, and are protected by
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to the About Corel Painter section in the Help menu of the software.
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Product specifications, pricing, packaging, technical support and information
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incidental, special, or consequential damages whatsoever, including, but not limited
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Contents
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
What’s New in Corel Painter? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Using the Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Accessing the Corel Painter Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
About Corel Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Workspace Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Corel Painter Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
The Document Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Exploring the Toolbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Displaying the Toolbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Displaying the Media Selector bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
The Property Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
The Navigator Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
The Brush Library Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Exploring Panels and Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Working with Panels and Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Creating and Modifying Custom Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Managing Custom Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Customizing and Sharing Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Restoring the Default Corel Painter Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Corel Painter for Users of Adobe Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Creating Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Understanding Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Opening and Placing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
Creating and Opening Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Switching Document Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Navigating Images and Viewing Image Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
Zooming Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
Rotating Images and the Canvas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Flipping Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Repositioning Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Contents i
Cropping Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Resizing Images and the Canvas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Saving and Backing up Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Choosing a File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Emailing Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Closing Documents and Quitting the Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Using Two Monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Wacom Intuos Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Drag-and-Drop Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Painting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Choosing a Painting Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Exploring Painting Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Working With the Canvas and Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Setting up the Drawing Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Brush Tracking and Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Using a Stylus vs. a Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Applying Freehand and Straight Brushstrokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Constraining, Fading, and Undoing Strokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Erasing Image Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Aligning Brushstrokes to Paths and Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Making 360° Strokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Painting with Airbrushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Adjusting Spread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Recording and Playing Back Brushstrokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Reference: Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Composition Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Using the Layout Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Using the Mirror Painting Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Using the Kaleidoscope Painting Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Using the Divine Proportion tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Using Rulers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Using Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Using Snap to Guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Using the Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Using Snap to Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Using the Perspective Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
ii Contents
Photo Painting System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Creating Underpaintings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Auto-Painting Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
Restoring Detail to Paintings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
Selecting, Managing, and Creating Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Understanding Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Selecting and Searching for Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Setting Basic Brush Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
Organizing and Displaying Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128
Exploring Brush Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
Creating and Deleting Brush Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144
Opening and Importing Brush Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146
Creating, Restoring, and Deleting Brush Variants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
Creating a Brush Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149
Saving a Look . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
Creating Brush Dabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Importing and Exporting Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
Creating and Removing Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
Modifying the Display of Library Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156
Editing Library Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157
Restoring Default Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157
Paper Texture and Grain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Applying Paper Texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160
Creating and Deleting Paper Textures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
Opening and Managing the Papers Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163
Inverting and Scaling Paper Grain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163
Controlling Brightness and Contrast of Paper Grain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
Adjusting Grain Direction and Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Using the Color Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168
Using the Temporal Colors Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172
Changing the Paper Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
Sampling Colors From Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
Cloning Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174
Creating Two-Color Brushstrokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174
Working with the Mixer Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176
Contents iii
Displaying the Mixer Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Using the Mixer Panel Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Mixing Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Mixing Paint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Creating Mixer Swatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Working with Color Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Customizing the Layouts of Color Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Creating and Exporting Color Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Editing Color Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Annotating Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Setting Color Variability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Setting Color Expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Loading Multiple Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Working with Color Fills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Applying a Color as a Fill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Limiting and Preventing Leakage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Applying Pattern Fills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Painting with Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Creating and Editing Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Creating Seamless Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Creating Fractal Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Gradients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Applying Gradients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Replacing Image Colors With Gradient Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Adjusting Gradients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Creating and Editing Gradients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Saving Gradients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Weaves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Applying Weaves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Editing and Saving Weaves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Creating Weave Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Using the Edit Weave Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Defining Warp and Weft Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Defining Warp and Weft Color Expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Designing the Tie-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Reference: Expression Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
iv Contents
Color Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Understanding Color Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247
Getting Started with Color Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .252
Previewing Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .254
Changing Color Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .255
Working with Color Profile Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .257
Working with Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .258
Adjusting Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Exploring the Brush Controls Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .262
General Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .263
General Controls: Dab Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .264
General Controls: Stroke Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .268
General Controls: Methods and Subcategories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269
General Controls: Source, Opacity, and Grain Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .273
General Controls: Stroke Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .275
General controls: Multicore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .278
Dab Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .278
Size Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .282
Spacing Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .284
Angle Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .287
Static Bristle Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .289
Computed Circular Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .292
Well Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .292
Rake Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .294
Mouse Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .298
Cloning Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .299
Impasto Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .306
Image Hose Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .308
Airbrush Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .309
Water Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .310
Liquid Ink Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .314
Digital Watercolor Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .320
Artists’ Oils Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .320
Real Watercolor Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .323
Real Wet Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .328
Jitter Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .333
RealBristle Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .334
Color Variability Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .334
Color Expression Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .336
Brush Calibration Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .337
Contents v
Expression Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Hard Media Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Hard Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Using Hard Media Variants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Customizing Hard Media Variants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Getting Started with Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Customizing Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
RealBristle Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Getting Started With RealBristle Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
RealBristle Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
Watercolor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Working with the Watercolor Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
Watercolor Brushes and Paper Texture Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Working with Real Watercolor Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Working with Watercolor Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Working with Digital Watercolor brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
Liquid Ink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Working with Liquid Ink brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Adjusting Attributes of the Liquid Ink Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Using Liquid Ink Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
Impasto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Getting Started with Impasto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Adjusting Surface Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Image Cloning and Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Cloning Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
Using Quick Clone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
Working with Multiple Clone Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Painting in the Clone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
Using Brush Loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
Performing Offset Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
Applying Transformations When Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
Using Selections and Transformations When Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
Filling an Area With a Sampled Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
vi Contents
Selections and Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
Creating and Saving Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .407
Viewing Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .417
Adjusting Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .418
Loading and Combining Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .424
Transforming Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .428
Alpha Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
Creating, Generating, and Importing Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .436
Managing and Editing Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .439
Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
Getting Started with Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .448
Managing Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .458
Editing Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .469
Working with Layer Masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .487
Image Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
Applying Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .493
Correcting and Adjusting Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .496
Equalizing Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .505
Tonal Control Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .508
Using Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .513
Working with Surface Texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .516
Using Other Surface Control Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .529
Using Focus Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .540
Using Esoterica Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .547
Dynamic Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
Getting Started with Dynamic Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .568
Exploring Dynamic Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .570
Image Hose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
How the Image Hose Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .598
Getting Started with the Image Hose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .599
Controlling the Image Hose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .600
Indexing Nozzle Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .604
Creating, Loading, and Saving Nozzles for the Image Hose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .607
Contents vii
Mosaics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621
Getting Started with Mosaics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
Placing and Customizing Tiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
Working with Tessellation Mosaics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643
Getting Started with Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
Creating Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
Editing Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
Transforming Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662
Combining Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667
Saving and Exporting Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
Understanding the Text Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
Creating and Formatting Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674
Applying Effects to Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676
Converting and Dropping Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681
Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
Creating Web Page Backgrounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
Creating Web Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686
Working with Rollovers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
Working with Image Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
Creating GIF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
Using Web-Safe Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
Selecting Brushes for the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699
Scripting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
Getting Started with Scripting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
Editing Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709
Working with Scripts and Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709
Animation and Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
Creating Animations and Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
Getting Started with Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718
Modifying a Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
Rotoscoping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726
Saving and Exporting Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 734
Creating and Exporting Animations for the World Wide Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738
viii Contents
Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 743
Getting Started with Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .743
Notes for Users of Adobe Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
Comparing Terminology in Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .747
Comparing Tools in Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .748
Frequently Asked Questions from Users of Adobe Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .750
Setting Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753
General Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .753
Interface Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .755
Performance Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .756
Shapes Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .758
Quick Clone Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .759
Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761
Customizing Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .763
Toolbox Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .765
Panel Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .767
Corel Painter Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .768
File Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .768
Edit Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .769
Canvas Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .769
Layers Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .770
Select Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .770
Shapes Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .770
Effects Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .771
Window Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .771
Screen Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .772
Panel Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .772
Panel Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .773
Brush Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .774
Selection Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .775
Adjuster Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .776
Shape Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .777
Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .778
Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .779
Layer Selection Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .779
Mosaics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .779
Other Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .780
Contents ix
Getting Started
Corel® Painter™ 12 is the ultimate digital art studio. Its inventive drawing tools,
realistic brushes, cloning capabilities, and customizable features let you expand your
creative output in exciting new ways. When you use the pressure-sensitive brushes of
Corel Painter, they become fluid extensions of your hand, so the resulting brushstrokes
are unrivaled in texture and precision. What’s more, features such as the ability to
build your own Natural-Media® brushes and customize how brushes interact with the
canvas give you countless ways to develop your artistic ideas. Corel Painter takes you
far beyond what’s possible in a traditional art environment.
This section contains the following topics:
• What’s New in Corel Painter?
• Using the Documentation
• Accessing the Corel Painter Help
• Additional Resources
•Registration
•Feedback
•About Corel Corporation
What’s New in Corel Painter?
In this section, you will find information about the new and enhanced features of
Corel Painter 12.
Workflow and customization
Redesigned user interface The Corel Painter workspace has been redesigned to
give you easy access to tools, media, commands, and
features. The redesigned workspace also includes an
improved Brush Library panel that integrates both
brush categories and variants.
Getting Started 1
Workflow and customization
Enhanced Cloning capabilities The new Clone Source Panel lets you visualize and
manage clone sources. In addition, you can use one
or multiple clone sources in a document, which are
now embedded in the clone document.
New Navigator panel The Navigator panel allows you to better orient
yourself in the document window and quickly
modify the document window display. You can also
enable various tools from the Navigator including
the drawing modes, Impasto, tracing paper, grids,
and color management.
Enhanced Library management The libraries have been enhanced to help you better
organize and manage a collection of similar items,
such as brushes, paper textures, color sets, and
gradients.
New Temporal Colors palette The new Temporal Colors palette is a floating color
palette that displays in the document window and
lets you view and choose colors within the context of
the image.
Enhanced Custom Palettes The enhanced Custom Palettes feature allows you to
create custom palettes by adding items to custom
palettes that were previously inaccessible for
customization.
Enhanced New Image dialog box The enhanced New Image dialog box lets you set
the size, resolution, paper texture, and paper color of
a new document. You can also create presets for
canvas settings that you use frequently.
Enhanced High Quality Rendering Corel Painter 12 renders smoother-looking images
onscreen when you zoom in and increases the speed
of rendering images when you zoom out.
New Computed Circular brush dab
and controls
2CorelPainterUserGuide
The Computed Circular dab type and controls let
you customize dab profiles, instead of choosing
preset profiles.
Workflow and customization
Enhanced Dynamic brush
adjustments
New Brush Calibration Controls The new Brush Calibration controls let you calibrate
New Multicore support for brushes Multicore brush support maximizes brush
New Smart Blur effect The Smart Blur effect softens the appearance of an
Enhanced Custom Palettes The enhanced Custom Palettes feature allows you to
Progressive digital art capabilities
New Mirror painting The new Mirror painting mode allows you to create
You can now set brush size, opacity, angle, and
squeeze dynamically onscreen, which is useful for
sizing and shaping a brush within the context of the
image.
individual brush variants to match your stroke
strength when you use a pressure-sensitive stylus.
performance when you work on a multicore
computer.
image by smoothing out the colors and sharp
details.
create custom palettes by adding items to custom
palettes that were previously inaccessible for
customization.
a symmetrical painting.
New Kaleidoscope painting mode The new Kaleidoscope painting mode lets you
quickly transform basic brushstrokes into colorful
and symmetrical kaleidoscope images.
New Gel brushes and Merge Mode
controls
New Digital Airbrushes The new Digital Airbrush variants allow you to
Getting Started 3
The new Gel brushes allow you to tint the
underlying colors of an image with the brushstroke
color. You can customize Gel brushes by using the
new Merge Modes brush control to produce
different effects.
apply brushstrokes that do not build up color on
single brushstrokes. You can achieve color buildup
by overlaying multiple brushstrokes.
Unmatched Natural-Media capabilities
New Real Watercolor brushes and
Controls
New Real Wet Oil brushes and
Controls
The perfect complement
New Content Corel Painter 12 includes various new content, such
Compatibility Corel Painter 12 is compatible with your tools and
The Real Watercolor brushes and controls allow you
to apply pigment to the paper in a very realistic way.
The brush control options allow you to precisely
control water consistency and movement. You can
also control the way the water and pigments interact
with the paper.
The Real Wet Oil brushes and controls allow you to
achieve the look and feel of real-world oil paints.
The brush control options allow you to precisely
control paint consistency and movement. You can
also control the way the paint interacts with the
canvas.
as brushes, papers, nozzles, and other media, that
you can work with or integrate into your images.
workflows:
•Mac OS® and Windows® — compatible with
both Mac OS and Windows (including Windows
64-bit) operating systems
•Adobe® Photoshop® support — lets you import
in and export to the Adobe Photoshop file format
•Wacom® Pen and Tablet support — lets you
maximize the Natural Media brush capabilities of
Corel Painter
New Web-based Help Corel Painter 12 now includes a web-based Help
system in order to provide up-to-date help content.
However, if you’re working offline and need to
consult the Help, a Help file is installed locally.
4CorelPainterUserGuide
Using the Documentation
The server-based Help gives you access to a full range of up-to-date topics in a
searchable format. You need to have an active internet connection to access the serverbased help. However, if you are working offline, you can access the local help file that
is installed with Corel Painter.
The Help is also provided in PDF format, which is installed on your computer. In
addition, you can refer to the Corel Painter 12 Getting Started Guide, which provides
general overviews about Corel Painter features, presents the most commonly used
procedures, and includes Insights from the Experts.
Documentation Conventions
The following table describes the conventions used in the Help.
Convention Description Example
Mac OS and Windows
commands
Modifier keys (Command,
Option, Ctrl, Alt)
Menu commands (Choose X
menu item)
menu
Commands for Mac OS and
Windows sometimes appear
within the same procedural
step, with the operating
systems specified in
parentheses.
Names of modifier keys for
Mac OS and Windows
sometimes appear within the
same procedural step, with
the operating systems
specified in parentheses.
You choose a menu name by
clicking it, and then you
click to choose a menu item
from the list.
Hold down Command
(Mac OS) or Ctrl (Windows).
Command + I (Mac OS) or
Ctrl + I (Windows)
(For the Mac OS, press
Command + I; for
Windows, press Ctrl + I.)
Choose File
Quick Clone.
Getting Started 5
Convention Description Example
Header bar A header bar is located at the
top or side of some
workspace components, such
as the toolbox, property bar,
and panels.
Panel tab The panel tab appears at the
top of a panel. You can click
a panel tab to expand that
panel.
Panel options menu Clicking the Panel Options
menu button displays a popup menu with additional
commands.
Flyout Flyouts are containers shared
by certain tools in the
toolbox. You can open a
flyout by clicking and
holding down the tool on the
flyout that is displayed.
A note contains information
that is important to the steps
that precede it. Often, a note
describes conditions under
which the procedure can be
performed.
A tip contains suggestions
related to the procedure.
Some tips present alternative
methods of performing the
steps, or information about
other benefits and uses of the
procedure.
By clicking and holding
down the Layer Adjuster
tool in the toolbox, you can
display a flyout that includes
the Transform tool.
This command is available
only if you have turned off a
selection.
You can choose a brush
category and variant in the
main application or in the
Brush Library panel.
6CorelPainterUserGuide
Accessing the Corel Painter Help
The Help is a fully searchable source of information about Corel Painter.
To use th e Hel p
1 Choose Help menu Corel Painter 12 Help (Mac OS) or Help Topics (Windows).
2 Perform a task from the following table.
To Do the following
Browse through Help topics Click the Contents tab.
Use the index Click the Index tab, and scroll through the
entries to find a topic.
Search the full text of the Help (Mac OS) Type a word or phrase in the
Search box in the upper-right corner of the
Help window, and press Return.
(Windows) Click the Search tab, type a word
or phrase in the box, and click Go. Note that
the search feature does not support
quotation marks. If you enclose the word or
expression in quotation marks, the search
will not produce any results.
Additional Resources
You can access additional Corel Painter resources online to learn more about the
product and connect with the Corel Painter community.
Resources To access
Corel Painter page on the Corel website
Corel Painter Factory
Corel Painter on Twitter
Corel Painter on Facebook
Getting Started 7
http://www.corel.com/painter
http://www.painterfactory.com/
http://www.twitter.com/corelpainter
http://www.facebook.com/corelpainter
Registration
Registering Corel products is important. Registration provides you with timely access
to the latest product updates, valuable information about product releases, and access
to free downloads, articles, tips and tricks, and special offers.
If you skipped the registration process when installing Corel Painter 12, you can
register at www.corel.com/support/register.
Feedback
We value any feedback that you may have about the product or the Help content. To
provide feedback about a specific Help topic, scroll to the bottom of any Help topic and click
the “Was this page helpful?” link.
About Corel Corporation
Corel is one of the world’s top software companies, with more than 100 million active
users in over 75 countries. We develop software that helps people express their ideas
and share their stories in more exciting, creative, and persuasive ways. Through the
years, we’ve built a reputation for delivering innovative, trusted products that are easy
to learn and use, helping people achieve new levels of productivity. The industry has
responded with hundreds of awards for software innovation, design, and value.
Our award-winning product portfolio includes some of the world’s most widely
recognized and popular software brands, including CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite,
Corel® Painter™, Corel DESIGNER® Technical Suite, Corel® PaintShop Photo®
Pro, Corel® VideoStudio®, Corel® WinDVD®, Corel® WordPerfect® Office,
WinZip® and the recently released Corel® Digital Studio™ 2010. Our global
headquarters are in Ottawa, Canada, with major offices in the United States, United
Kingdom, Germany, China, Taiwan, and Japan.
8CorelPainterUserGuide
Workspace Tour
The Corel Painter workspace has been designed to give you easy access to tools, effects,
commands, and features. The workspace is organized by using a series of menus,
selectors, panels, and interactive palettes.
This section contains the following topics:
• Corel Painter Terms
• The Document Window
•Exploring the Toolbox
• Displaying the Toolbox
• Displaying the Media Selector bar
•The Property Bar
•The Navigator Panel
• The Brush Library Panel
• Exploring Panels and Palettes
• Working with Panels and Palettes
• Creating and Modifying Custom Palettes
• Managing Custom Palettes
•Libraries
• Customizing and Sharing Workspaces
• Restoring the Default Corel Painter Settings
Workspace Tour 9
Corel Painter Terms
Before you get started with Corel Painter, you should be familiar with the following
terms.
Term Description
Canvas The canvas is the rectangular work area inside the document
window. In addition, the canvas serves as the background layer of
the image. However, unlike other layers, it is always locked. The
size of the canvas also determines the size of the image that you
create.
Pixels per inch (ppi) The default unit of measurement for resolution in Corel Painter.
Pixels per inch (ppi) is equivalent to dots per inch (dpi).
Layer Layers are independent image elements that stack on top of the
canvas. You can manipulate the content of a layer without
altering the canvas. Layers let you experiment with different
compositions and effects without risking an unwanted,
permanent edit.
Brush Category Brush categories are groups of similar brushes and media.
Brush Variant Brush variants are specific brushes and brush settings within a
brush category.
Dab types The dab type controls the way a brush applies color to the
painting surface. In Corel Painter, there are numerous dab types
that fall under two dab type groups: rendered and dab-based,
also known as pixel-based.
Rendered dab type The rendered dab type produces continuous, smooth-edged
strokes. For example, Camel Hair and Airbrush use the rendered
dab type.
Dab-based dap type The dab-based dab types produce brushstrokes that are made up
of tiny dabs of color that are closely spaced together so they
appear smooth.
Panel A panel contains commands, controls, and settings for a specific
feature. For example, the Color panel contain controls that allow
you to choose colors.
Palette A palette is a container for multiple panels.
10 Corel Painter User Guide
Term Description
Paper Paper allows you to control both the color and texture of the
canvas.
Clone source The clone source determines the image, or image area, that you
want to reproduce through cloning. A document can include
multiple clone sources.
Clone document The clone document is created by copying the original clone
source image which allows you to reproduce a painterly version of
the source image. A copy of the clone source is embedded in the
clone document. In addition, you can add multiple clone sources
to a clone document.
Image sampling Image sampling lets you copy part of one image and reuse it
elsewhere in the image or in another image. You can sample an
image by using the Rubber Stamp tool, a Cloner brush that
supports offset sampling, or a Cloner brush that supports multipoint sampling. Sampling is similar to cloning, but, unlike
cloning, it does not create a separate document that stores clone
sources.
Composite method A composite method, which is similar to blend modes in Adobe
Photoshop, lets you change how a layer blends with an
underlying image.
Workspace Tour 11
The Document Window
The document window is the area outside the canvas that is bordered by scroll bars
and application controls.
Circled numbers correspond to the numbers in the following table, which describes the
main components of the application window. (
Artwork by Julie Dillon)
Part Description
1. Menu bar Lets you access tools and features using pull-down menu
options
2. Brush Selector bar Lets you open the Brush Library panel to choose a brush
category and variant. It also allows you to open and manage
brush libraries.
3. Property bar Displays commands that relate to the active tool or object. For
example, when the Fill tool is active, the fill property bar
displays commands for filling selected areas.
4. Recent brushes bar Displays the most recently used brushes
12 Corel Painter User Guide
Part Description
5. Navigator panel Lets you navigate in the document window, change the
magnification level, and access various document viewing
options, such as Tracing Paper and Drawing Modes
6. Layers panel Lets you manage the hierarchy of layers and includes controls
for creating, selecting, hiding, locking, deleting, naming, and
grouping layers
7. Channels panel Lets you manage channels and includes controls for creating,
hiding, inverting, deleting, loading, and saving channels
8. Mixer pad panel Lets you blend colors together to create a new colors
9. Papers panel Lets you create, modify, and apply paper textures
10. Paper Libraries panel Lets you access the Paper libraries so you can apply them to
the canvas. You can also mange and organize the Paper
libraries.
11. Toolbox Lets you access tools for creating, filling, and modifying an
image
12. Media Selector bar Gives you quick access to the following media library panels:
patterns, gradients, nozzles, weaves, and looks
13. Brush Library panel Lets you choose a brush from the currently selected brush
library. It also allows you to organize and display brushes in
various ways.
14. Temporal Color palette Lets you select a color
15. Canvas The canvas is the rectangular work area inside the drawing
window whose size determines the size of the image you
create. The canvas acts as the image background and, unlike a
layer, it is always locked.
Workspace Tour 13
Exploring the Toolbox
You can use the tools in the toolbox to paint, draw lines and shapes, fill shapes with
color, view and navigate documents, and make selections. Under the toolbox is a color
selector, plus six content selectors that let you choose papers, gradients, patterns,
looks, and nozzles.
The following table provides descriptions of the tools in the Corel Painter toolbox.
Tool Description
Color tools
The Brush tool lets you paint and draw on the canvas or a layer. Brush
categories include pencils, pens, chalk, airbrushes, oil paints, watercolors,
and more.
When the Brush tool is selected, you can choose specific brushes from the
Brush Library panel. For more information, refer to “Selecting and Searching
for Brushes” on page 122.
The Dropper tool lets you pick up a color from an existing image. The
property bar shows the values of the color. When you select a color with the
Dropper tool, that color becomes the current color in the Color panel. For
more information, see “Sampling Colors From Images” on page 173.
The Paint Bucket tool lets you fill an area with media, such as a color,
gradient, pattern, weave, or clone. The property bar shows options for the
areas that you can fill and the media that you can use. For more information,
see “Working with Color Fills” on page 192.
The Eraser tool lets you remove unwanted areas from an image. For more
information, see “Erasing Image Areas” on page 86.
Selection tools
The Layer Adjuster tool is used to select, move, and manipulate layers. For
more information, see “The Layer Adjuster Tool” on page 453.
The Transform tool lets modify selected areas of an image by using different
transformation modes. For more information, see “Transforming Selections”
on page 428.
The Rectangular Selection tool lets you create rectangular selections. For
more information, see “Creating and Saving Selections” on page 407.
14 Corel Painter User Guide
Tool Description
The Oval Selection tool lets you create oval selections. For more information,
see “Creating and Saving Selections” on page 407.
The Lasso tool lets you draw a freehand selection. For more information, see
“Creating and Saving Selections” on page 407.
The Polygonal Selection tool lets you select an area by clicking different
points on the image to anchor straight line segments. For more information,
see “Creating Path-Based Selections” on page 409.
The Magic Wand tool lets you select an area of similar color by clicking or
dragging in an image. For more information, see “Creating Pixel-Based
Selections” on page 411.
The Selection Adjuster tool lets you select, move, and manipulate selections
created with the Rectangular, Oval, and Lasso selection tools and selections
converted from shapes. For more information, see “Transforming Selections”
on page 428.
The Crop tool lets you remove unwanted edges from an image. For more
information, see “Cropping Images” on page 60.
Shape tools
The Pen tool lets you create straight lines and curves in objects. For more
information, see “Using the Pen Tool” on page 648.
The Quick Curve tool lets you create shape paths by drawing freehand
curves. For more information, see “Using the Quick Curve Tool” on
page 650.
The Rectangular Shape tool lets you create rectangles and squares. For more
information, see “Using Shape Object Tools” on page 647.
The Oval Shape tool lets you create circles and ovals. For more information,
see “Using Shape Object Tools” on page 647.
The Text tool creates text shapes. Use the Text panel to set the font, point
size, and tracking. For more information, see “Text” on page 673.
The Shape Selection tool is for editing Bézier curves. You use the Shape
Selection tool to select and move anchor points and adjust their control
handles. For more information, see “Creating Shapes” on page 647.
Workspace Tour 15
Tool Description
The Scissors tool lets you cut an open or closed segment. If the segment is
closed, after you click on a line or point, the shape path becomes open. For
more information, see “Cutting and Joining Shape Segments” on page 661.
The Add Point tool lets you create a new anchor point on a shape path. For
more information, see “Adding, Deleting, and Moving Anchor Points” on
page 657.
The Remove Point tool lets you remove an anchor point from a shape path.
For more information, see “Adding, Deleting, and Moving Anchor Points”
on page 657.
The Convert Point tool is used to convert between smooth and corner anchor
points. For more information, see “Adjusting Curvature” on page 659.
Photo tools
The Cloner tool gives you quick access to the last Cloner brush variant you
used. For more information, see “Painting in the Clone” on page 386.
The Rubber Stamp tool gives you quick access to the Straight Cloner brush
variant, and lets you to sample form point to point in an image or between
images. For more information, see “Performing Offset Sampling” on
page 390.
The Dodge tool lets you lighten the highlights, midtones, and shadows in an
image. For more information, see “Dodging and Burning” on page 511.
The Burn tool lets you darken the highlights, midtones, and shadows in an
image. For more information, see “Dodging and Burning” on page 511.
Symmetry tools
The Mirror Painting mode lets you create a perfectly symmetrical painting.
For more information, see “Using the Mirror Painting Mode” on page 98.
The Kaleidoscope mode lets you transform basic brushstrokes into colorful
and symmetrical kaleidoscope images. For more information, see “Using the
Kaleidoscope Painting Mode” on page 100.
16 Corel Painter User Guide
Tool Description
Composition tools
The Divine Proportion tool lets you plan compositions by using guides based
on a classical composition method. For more information, see “Using the
Divine Proportion tool” on page 102.
The Layout Grid tool lets you divide your canvas so that you can plan your
composition. For example, you can divide your canvas into thirds vertically
and horizontally to use the compositional rule of thirds. For more
information, see “Using the Layout Grid” on page 95.
The Perspective Grid tool lets you select and move the location of the
perspective grid lines, the vanishing point, the horizon line, the ground line,
and the picture plane. For more information, see “Using the Perspective
Grid” on page 110.
Navigation
tools
The Grabber tool lets you scroll through an image quickly. For more
information, see “Repositioning Images” on page 59.
The Magnifier tool lets you magnify areas of an image when you are
performing detailed work, or reduce areas to get an overall view of an image.
For more information, see “Zooming Images” on page 53.
The Rotate Page tool lets you rotate an image window to accommodate the
way you naturally draw. For more information, see “Rotating Images and the
Canvas” on page 55.
Selectors
The Color selector lets you choose main and additional colors. The front
swatch displays the main color, and the back swatch displays the additional
color. For more information, see “Using the Color Panel” on page 168.
The Paper selector opens the Papers panel. From the Papers panel, you can
choose a paper texture to alter the canvas surface and achieve more realistic
results when applying brushstrokes. For more information, see “Paper
Texture and Grain” on page 159.
Workspace Tour 17
Tool Description
Selectors
The View Mode selector allows you to switch between Full Screen and
Windowed. For more information, see “Switching Document Views” on
page 50.
Displaying the Toolbox
The toolbox is open by default, but you can close it. In addition, to minimize the space
required to display the toolbox, tools of similar function are grouped together and they
are accessible from flyout menus. The button for only one of these tools is displayed at
a given time on the toolbox. A flyout menu is indicated by a triangle in the lower-right
corner of the button. You can open a flyout to access all of its tools.
You can also reposition the toolbox by moving it in the application window. In
addition, you can change the toolbox display. For example, you can change the toolbox
orientation.
To open or close the toolbox
• Choose Window Too l box .
You can also close the toolbox by clicking the close button on the toolbox
header bar.
To access tools grouped in flyouts
1 In the toolbox, click and hold the tool icon whose flyout you want to open.
A flyout menu of the entire group of related tools appears.
2 Click the tool that you want to use.
The tool you’ve chosen appears in the toolbox.
To move t he to olb ox
• Drag the toolbox header bar to a new location in the application window.
18 Corel Painter User Guide
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