Corel Painter - 2015 Instruction Manual

Corel® Painter® 2015 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 copyright. For more complete copyright information about Corel Painter, please refer to the About Corel Painter section in the Help menu of the software.

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Corel, the Corel balloon logo, the Corel logo and balloon logo combination, Painter, Cinco, CorelDRAW, Natural-Media, PaintShop, RealBristle, VideoStudio and WordPerfect are trademarks or registered trademarks of Corel Corporation and/or its subsidiaries in Canada, the U.S., and/or other countries. Other product, font, and company names and logos may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Patents: www.corel.com/patent

Sample artwork is provided by third parties not affiliated with Corel and used by permission.

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Welcome to Corel Painter..................................................................................................................... 1

Using the documentation.....................................................................................................................1

Adjusting the Help window text size....................................................................................................4

Additional resources............................................................................................................................. 5

Registration.......................................................................................................................................... 5

Corel Cinco for Painter......................................................................................................................... 6

Feedback.............................................................................................................................................. 7

About Corel Corporation...................................................................................................................... 7

What’s new in Corel Painter 2015........................................................................................................9

Revolutionary digital brushes................................................................................................................ 9

Enhanced speed and performance..................................................................................................... 11

A fully responsive experience.............................................................................................................. 12

Mobile art that moves you................................................................................................................. 13

What was new in earlier versions of Corel Painter.............................................................................. 13

Workspace tour...................................................................................................................................23

Corel Painter terms.............................................................................................................................24

Exploring the Document window....................................................................................................... 26

Choosing a workspace layout.............................................................................................................29

Exploring the toolbox......................................................................................................................... 31

Displaying the toolbox........................................................................................................................37

Displaying the Media Selector bar...................................................................................................... 38

Contents | 1

Displaying the property bar................................................................................................................ 39

Exploring the Navigator panel............................................................................................................ 40

Displaying the Brush Selector bar and the Brush library panel.............................................................41

Displaying the command bar............................................................................................................. 43

Exploring panels and palettes.............................................................................................................43

Rearranging panels and palettes.........................................................................................................49

Creating and modifying custom palettes............................................................................................ 53

Managing custom palettes................................................................................................................. 55

Working with libraries........................................................................................................................ 56

Creating, importing, exporting, and deleting workspaces................................................................... 57

Restoring the default Corel Painter settings........................................................................................ 58

A short tour of Corel Painter for users of Adobe Photoshop..............................................................61

Creating, navigating, and manipulating documents...........................................................................67

Creating documents........................................................................................................................... 68

Understanding resolution................................................................................................................... 70

Opening and placing files.................................................................................................................. 71

Creating and opening templates........................................................................................................ 74

Switching document views................................................................................................................. 74

Navigating images and viewing image information............................................................................ 75

Zooming images.................................................................................................................................77

Rotating images and the canvas.........................................................................................................80

Flipping images.................................................................................................................................. 82

Repositioning images..........................................................................................................................84

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Cropping images................................................................................................................................ 85

Resizing images and the canvas......................................................................................................... 86

Saving and backing up files............................................................................................................... 88

Choosing a file format....................................................................................................................... 89

Emailing documents........................................................................................................................... 91

Closing documents and quitting the application................................................................................ 92

Using two monitors........................................................................................................................... 93

Support for tablets and other devices................................................................................................ 93

Multi-touch support........................................................................................................................... 93

Wacom Intuos support.......................................................................................................................96

Drag-and-drop features...................................................................................................................... 97

Keyboard shortcuts............................................................................................................................. 99

Customizing keys..............................................................................................................................101

Toolbox commands.......................................................................................................................... 104

Panel commands.............................................................................................................................. 107

Corel Painter menu commands.........................................................................................................107

File menu commands....................................................................................................................... 108

Edit menu commands...................................................................................................................... 108

Canvas menu commands................................................................................................................. 109

Layers menu commands................................................................................................................... 110

Select menu commands................................................................................................................... 110

Shapes menu commands................................................................................................................. 111

Effects menu commands.................................................................................................................. 111

Contents | 3

Window menu commands............................................................................................................... 111

Screen navigation............................................................................................................................. 112

Panel navigation............................................................................................................................... 112

Panel menu commands.................................................................................................................... 113

Brush tools....................................................................................................................................... 114

Selection tools.................................................................................................................................. 116

Adjuster tools................................................................................................................................... 116

Shape tools...................................................................................................................................... 118

Animation........................................................................................................................................ 120

Lighting............................................................................................................................................ 120

Layer selection tools......................................................................................................................... 121

Mosaics............................................................................................................................................ 121

Other commands............................................................................................................................. 121

Painting............................................................................................................................................. 123

Choosing a painting workflow......................................................................................................... 124

Brush tracking and calibration..........................................................................................................126

Exploring painting media..................................................................................................................131

Working with the canvas and layers................................................................................................. 132

Displaying reference images............................................................................................................. 133

Clearing the canvas.......................................................................................................................... 134

Setting up the drawing cursor......................................................................................................... 134

Using a stylus vs. a mouse............................................................................................................... 136

Applying freehand and straight brushstrokes....................................................................................138

Constraining, fading, and undoing strokes....................................................................................... 140

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Erasing image areas......................................................................................................................... 141

Aligning brushstrokes to paths and shapes...................................................................................... 142

Letting media pool........................................................................................................................... 143

Making 360° strokes........................................................................................................................ 144

Painting with airbrushes................................................................................................................... 144

Adjusting spread.............................................................................................................................. 145

Recording and playing back brushstrokes......................................................................................... 147

Reference: Troubleshooting...............................................................................................................149

Working with paper texture and grain............................................................................................. 151

Applying paper texture.....................................................................................................................152

Creating and deleting paper textures................................................................................................153

Opening and managing the Paper Textures library............................................................................155

Inverting and scaling paper grain..................................................................................................... 155

Controlling brightness and contrast of paper grain.......................................................................... 157

Adjusting grain direction and behavior.............................................................................................157

Auto-painting photos........................................................................................................................159

Creating underpaintings................................................................................................................... 160

Auto-painting photos....................................................................................................................... 162

Restoring detail to paintings.............................................................................................................165

Image cloning and sampling............................................................................................................ 167

Cloning images................................................................................................................................ 167

Using Quick Clone............................................................................................................................171

Contents | 5

Setting cloning preferences.............................................................................................................. 172

Working with multiple clone sources................................................................................................173

Editing, updating, saving, and exporting clone source images.......................................................... 174

Painting in the clone........................................................................................................................ 176

Using brush loading......................................................................................................................... 179

Performing offset sampling.............................................................................................................. 179

Applying transformations when sampling.........................................................................................182

Using selections and transformations when sampling.......................................................................191

Filling an area with a sampled image............................................................................................... 193

Working with composition tools, symmetry tools, rulers, and guides.............................................. 195

Using the Layout Grid...................................................................................................................... 196

Using the Mirror Painting mode....................................................................................................... 198

Using the Kaleidoscope Painting mode.............................................................................................201

Using Perspective Guides.................................................................................................................. 203

Using the Divine Proportion tool...................................................................................................... 208

Using rulers...................................................................................................................................... 211

Using guides.................................................................................................................................... 212

Using Snap to Guides...................................................................................................................... 213

Using the grid.................................................................................................................................. 214

Using Snap to Grid.......................................................................................................................... 215

Color................................................................................................................................................. 217

Choosing colors from the Color panel.............................................................................................. 218

Resizing the Color panel...................................................................................................................221

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Showing or hiding Color panel components.....................................................................................221

Using the temporal colors palette.................................................................................................... 222

Changing the paper color................................................................................................................ 223

Sampling colors from images........................................................................................................... 223

Cloning color....................................................................................................................................224

Creating two-color brushstrokes....................................................................................................... 224

Exploring the Mixer panel and mixing controls................................................................................. 226

Displaying and resizing the Mixer panel........................................................................................... 228

Mixing, sampling, and applying colors from the Mixer pad.............................................................. 229

Opening images in the Mixer panel................................................................................................. 231

Changing and saving the Mixer color swatches................................................................................ 232

Saving Mixer panel colors to a color set........................................................................................... 232

Clearing and resetting Mixer panel colors.........................................................................................233

Saving the Mixer pad....................................................................................................................... 234

Loading color swatches and Mixer pad files..................................................................................... 234

Working with color sets................................................................................................................... 235

Customizing the layouts of color sets............................................................................................... 236

Creating and exporting color sets.....................................................................................................237

Editing color sets..............................................................................................................................238

Setting color variability..................................................................................................................... 240

Setting Color Expression................................................................................................................... 240

Loading multiple colors.................................................................................................................... 240

Working with color fills.................................................................................................................... 241

Contents | 7

Applying a color as a fill.................................................................................................................. 242

Limiting and preventing leakage.......................................................................................................244

Color management........................................................................................................................... 247

Understanding color management................................................................................................... 247

Specifying the default RGB color profile........................................................................................... 251

Embedding color profiles when saving files...................................................................................... 252

Specifying the default CMYK color profile for converting CMYK images to RGB.................................253

Previewing and soft-proofing color profiles...................................................................................... 253

Assigning or removing color profiles................................................................................................ 254

Converting color profiles.................................................................................................................. 255

Working with color profile policies................................................................................................... 256

Working with presets....................................................................................................................... 257

Correcting and adjusting colors........................................................................................................259

Correcting colors using curves.......................................................................................................... 260

Adjusting brightness and contrast.................................................................................................... 261

Using the curve to correct colors......................................................................................................264

Drawing freehand curves to adjust colors.........................................................................................266

Specifying the curve values to adjust colors......................................................................................267

Adjusting hue, saturation, and value................................................................................................ 268

Adjusting selected colors.................................................................................................................. 271

Equalizing images.............................................................................................................................274

Matching color and brightness across images.................................................................................. 276

Inverting colors.................................................................................................................................277

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Posterizing an image........................................................................................................................ 278

Applying video legal colors...............................................................................................................279

Dodging and burning.......................................................................................................................279

Libraries.............................................................................................................................................281

Importing and exporting libraries..................................................................................................... 281

Creating and removing libraries........................................................................................................282

Modifying the display of library panels............................................................................................. 283

Moving, renaming, and deleting library resources............................................................................ 285

Restoring default libraries................................................................................................................. 285

Selecting, managing, and creating brushes...................................................................................... 287

Understanding brushes.....................................................................................................................288

Exploring brush categories............................................................................................................... 288

Searching and selecting brushes.......................................................................................................304

Setting basic brush attributes........................................................................................................... 306

Displaying advanced brush controls dynamically...............................................................................310

Organizing and displaying brushes in the Brush library panel........................................................... 310

Copying and moving brush variants................................................................................................. 312

Renaming brush categories and variants.......................................................................................... 312

Saving and deleting brush variants...................................................................................................313

Restoring default brush variants....................................................................................................... 315

Creating and deleting brush categories............................................................................................ 315

Creating and deleting brush libraries................................................................................................ 316

Contents | 9

Importing and exporting brush libraries, categories, and variants..................................................... 317

Saving a brush look......................................................................................................................... 321

Creating brush dabs......................................................................................................................... 321

Adjusting brushes with brush controls............................................................................................. 325

Exploring Brush Controls.................................................................................................................. 326

Expression settings........................................................................................................................... 327

Previewing brushstrokes and brush dabs.......................................................................................... 329

Calibrating brush variants.................................................................................................................330

General controls............................................................................................................................... 332

General controls: Dab types............................................................................................................. 332

General controls: Stroke types.......................................................................................................... 337

General controls: Methods and subcategories.................................................................................. 339

General controls: Source.................................................................................................................. 342

General controls: Multicore.............................................................................................................. 343

Opacity controls............................................................................................................................... 343

Grain controls...................................................................................................................................345

Stroke Attribute controls.................................................................................................................. 347

Size controls.....................................................................................................................................349

Angle controls.................................................................................................................................. 353

Spacing controls...............................................................................................................................357

Changing dab profiles...................................................................................................................... 359

Real Watercolor controls.................................................................................................................. 362

Real Wet Oil controls....................................................................................................................... 367

Computed Circular controls.............................................................................................................. 373

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Hard Media controls.........................................................................................................................373

Bristle controls..................................................................................................................................374

RealBristle controls........................................................................................................................... 375

Static Bristle controls........................................................................................................................ 375

Airbrush controls.............................................................................................................................. 378

Artists’ Oils controls......................................................................................................................... 381

Impasto controls.............................................................................................................................. 385

Digital Watercolor controls...............................................................................................................385

Water controls..................................................................................................................................385

Liquid Ink controls............................................................................................................................390

Stroke Jitter controls.........................................................................................................................397

Well controls.................................................................................................................................... 398

Mouse controls................................................................................................................................ 401

Smoothing controls.......................................................................................................................... 402

Image Hose controls........................................................................................................................ 403

Rake controls....................................................................................................................................403

Multi controls...................................................................................................................................407

Cloning controls............................................................................................................................... 407

Color Variability controls...................................................................................................................415

Color Expression controls..................................................................................................................417

Jitter brushes.....................................................................................................................................419

Choosing a Jitter brush variant.........................................................................................................419

Controlling the behavior of Jitter variants......................................................................................... 422

Contents | 11

Watercolor.........................................................................................................................................423

Working with the Watercolor layer...................................................................................................424

Watercolor brushes and paper texture interaction............................................................................ 425

Working with Real Watercolor brushes.............................................................................................426

Working with Watercolor brushes.................................................................................................... 427

Working with Digital Watercolor brushes......................................................................................... 428

Particle brushes................................................................................................................................. 431

The New Brushes workspace layout..................................................................................................432

Gravity Particle brushes.....................................................................................................................432

Flow Particle brushes........................................................................................................................ 435

Spring Particle brushes..................................................................................................................... 438

General Particle brush controls......................................................................................................... 442

Info palettes..................................................................................................................................... 447

Applying and adjusting flow maps...................................................................................................449

Getting started with flow maps....................................................................................................... 449

Choosing flow maps and compatible brush variants.........................................................................450

Enabling flow maps and controlling flow resistance......................................................................... 452

Customizing flow maps....................................................................................................................453

Hard Media....................................................................................................................................... 457

Choosing a Hard Media variant........................................................................................................457

Modifying Hard Media profiles.........................................................................................................460

Controlling the behavior of Hard Media variants.............................................................................. 462

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Previewing Hard Media dabs............................................................................................................ 463

Markers............................................................................................................................................. 465

Getting started with markers............................................................................................................465

Customizing markers........................................................................................................................ 467

Image hose....................................................................................................................................... 469

Using the Image hose...................................................................................................................... 470

Adjusting Image hose opacity and grain.......................................................................................... 471

Adjusting the size and spacing of image hose elements................................................................... 473

Indexing nozzle files......................................................................................................................... 474

Understanding nozzles, ranks, and indexing.....................................................................................476

Creating a 1-Rank nozzle................................................................................................................. 479

Creating a 2-Rank nozzle................................................................................................................. 481

Creating a 3-Rank nozzle................................................................................................................. 483

Loading and managing nozzle files.................................................................................................. 485

Creating a nozzle from a movie....................................................................................................... 487

RealBristle brushes............................................................................................................................ 491

Getting started with RealBristle brushes........................................................................................... 492

Modifying RealBristle settings........................................................................................................... 492

Liquid Ink.......................................................................................................................................... 497

Working with Liquid Ink brushes......................................................................................................497

Adjusting attributes of the Liquid Ink layer.......................................................................................498

Contents | 13

Using Liquid Ink controls..................................................................................................................498

Impasto............................................................................................................................................. 501

Applying, displaying, and clearing impasto.......................................................................................501

Adjusting and creating Impasto brushes...........................................................................................503

Adjusting Impasto lighting and depth.............................................................................................. 507

Blending impasto with other layers.................................................................................................. 510

Layers................................................................................................................................................ 513

Getting started with layers............................................................................................................... 514

Displaying the Layers panel.............................................................................................................. 517

Creating and deleting layers............................................................................................................. 520

Converting selections into layers or floating objects..........................................................................521

Naming and adding notes to layers................................................................................................. 523

Selecting layers.................................................................................................................................524

Copying and duplicating layers.........................................................................................................526

Moving layers................................................................................................................................... 528

Transforming layers...........................................................................................................................530

Aligning layers..................................................................................................................................532

Locking layers................................................................................................................................... 533

Showing or hiding layers..................................................................................................................533

Changing layer order........................................................................................................................534

Viewing layer position...................................................................................................................... 536

Grouping layers................................................................................................................................ 536

Dropping layers with the canvas...................................................................................................... 539

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Painting on layers.............................................................................................................................539

Preserving layer transparency............................................................................................................541

Adjusting layer opacity..................................................................................................................... 542

Adding drop shadows to layers........................................................................................................543

Blending layers by using composite methods................................................................................... 543

Creating and deleting layer masks....................................................................................................552

Applying layer masks........................................................................................................................554

Loading layer masks to selections.....................................................................................................555

Selecting and viewing layer masks....................................................................................................555

Enabling and disabling layers masks................................................................................................. 556

Copying layer masks......................................................................................................................... 557

Inverting layer masks........................................................................................................................ 557

Editing layer masks...........................................................................................................................558

Importing and exporting layers.........................................................................................................558

Working with reference layers.......................................................................................................... 559

Storing layers as images in the Image Portfolio................................................................................ 561

Alpha Channels................................................................................................................................. 563

Creating and copying channels.........................................................................................................564

Generating channels automatically................................................................................................... 565

Importing and exporting alpha channels.......................................................................................... 567

Selecting and viewing channels........................................................................................................ 567

Setting channel attributes................................................................................................................ 570

Deleting and clearing channels.........................................................................................................571

Contents | 15

Editing channels............................................................................................................................... 571

Selections and transformations.........................................................................................................577

Getting started with selections......................................................................................................... 578

Creating path-based selections......................................................................................................... 580

Creating pixel-based selections......................................................................................................... 583

Creating selections from layers......................................................................................................... 586

Choosing the protected area of a selection...................................................................................... 588

Saving selections as alpha channels..................................................................................................588

Working with the Selection Portfolio................................................................................................ 592

Viewing selections............................................................................................................................ 593

Inverting selections........................................................................................................................... 594

Softening the edges of selections.....................................................................................................594

Stroking selections............................................................................................................................595

Modifying the borders of selections................................................................................................. 596

Expanding or contracting selections................................................................................................. 597

Adding to or subtracting from selections......................................................................................... 598

Preparing selections for transformations........................................................................................... 600

Moving selections.............................................................................................................................600

Transforming a duplicate selection................................................................................................... 602

Scaling and rotating path-based selections.......................................................................................602

Skewing and distorting path-based selections.................................................................................. 604

Canceling transformations................................................................................................................ 606

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Common options for effects.............................................................................................................609

Fading effects...................................................................................................................................609

Applying recently used effects.......................................................................................................... 610

Changing effects with open panels.................................................................................................. 611

Applying effects using source luminance.......................................................................................... 611

Using focus and esoterica effects..................................................................................................... 613

Applying Smart Blur......................................................................................................................... 614

Applying Camera Motion Blur.......................................................................................................... 614

Applying Depth of Field................................................................................................................... 615

Applying Glass Distortion................................................................................................................. 618

Applying Motion Blur....................................................................................................................... 622

Sharpening focus..............................................................................................................................623

Softening focus................................................................................................................................ 624

Applying Zoom Blur......................................................................................................................... 625

Applying Marbling............................................................................................................................626

Automatically cloning an image....................................................................................................... 628

Applying the Auto Van Gogh effect................................................................................................. 629

Applying Blobs................................................................................................................................. 630

Creating custom tiles........................................................................................................................632

Applying Grid Paper......................................................................................................................... 636

Applying Growth effects...................................................................................................................636

Applying Highpass............................................................................................................................638

Contents | 17

Applying the Maze effect................................................................................................................. 639

Placing elements...............................................................................................................................640

Applying the Pop Art Fill effect........................................................................................................ 642

Using lighting and surface texture effects........................................................................................ 645

Applying preset lighting effects........................................................................................................ 646

Adding, deleting, and repositioning lights........................................................................................ 647

Adjusting light properties................................................................................................................. 648

Using paper to create texture...........................................................................................................649

Using 3D brushstrokes to create texture........................................................................................... 650

Using image luminance to create texture......................................................................................... 651

Using clone source or pattern luminance to create texture............................................................... 652

Creating embossed effects................................................................................................................653

Using channels and layer masks to create texture.............................................................................654

Creating reflection maps.................................................................................................................. 655

Adjusting texture lighting................................................................................................................. 657

Apply Surface Texture controls..........................................................................................................659

Applying the Apply Screen effect..................................................................................................... 660

Applying the Color Overlay effect.....................................................................................................660

Applying the Dye Concentration effect............................................................................................. 663

Applying the Express Texture effect.................................................................................................. 666

Applying a warp effect.....................................................................................................................668

Applying the Woodcut effect........................................................................................................... 670

Applying the Distress effect.............................................................................................................. 672

Applying the Serigraphy effect......................................................................................................... 674

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Applying the Sketch effect............................................................................................................... 676

Dynamic Plug-ins...............................................................................................................................679

Getting started with dynamic plug-ins..............................................................................................680

Modifying and deleting dynamic layers............................................................................................ 681

Committing dynamic layers to default layers.................................................................................... 681

Applying the Brightness and Contrast dynamic plug-in.....................................................................682

Applying the Burn dynamic plug-in.................................................................................................. 683

Applying the Tear dynamic plug-in................................................................................................... 684

Applying the Bevel World dynamic plug-in....................................................................................... 686

Applying the Equalize dynamic plug-in.............................................................................................688

Applying the Glass Distortion dynamic plug-in................................................................................. 690

Applying the Kaleidoscope dynamic plug-in..................................................................................... 691

Applying the Liquid Lens dynamic plug-in........................................................................................ 693

Applying the Liquid Metal dynamic plug-in...................................................................................... 698

Applying the Posterize dynamic plug-in............................................................................................706

Patterns............................................................................................................................................. 709

Applying pattern fills........................................................................................................................ 709

Painting with patterns...................................................................................................................... 711

Creating and editing patterns...........................................................................................................714

Creating seamless patterns............................................................................................................... 717

Creating fractal patterns...................................................................................................................719

Contents | 19

Gradients...........................................................................................................................................723

Applying gradients........................................................................................................................... 723

Replacing image colors with gradient colors.....................................................................................726

Adjusting gradients.......................................................................................................................... 727

Creating and editing gradients......................................................................................................... 729

Saving gradients............................................................................................................................... 733

Mosaics and tessellations..................................................................................................................735

Creating a mosaic............................................................................................................................ 736

Selecting and removing tiles.............................................................................................................739

Specifying tile and grout color......................................................................................................... 741

Adjusting mosaic tile dimensions and randomness........................................................................... 742

Filling an area with tiles................................................................................................................... 746

Creating 3D tiles.............................................................................................................................. 747

Re-rendering mosaic tiles..................................................................................................................748

Stroking and filling a selection with mosaic tiles.............................................................................. 749

Adding mosaic effects to an image..................................................................................................750

Creating tessellations........................................................................................................................ 750

Weaves.............................................................................................................................................. 757

Applying weaves...............................................................................................................................757

Editing and saving weaves............................................................................................................... 759

Creating weave patterns...................................................................................................................760

Using the Edit Weave dialog box..................................................................................................... 761

Defining warp and weft expressions................................................................................................. 763

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Defining warp and weft color expressions........................................................................................ 765

Designing the tie-up.........................................................................................................................766

Reference: Expression operators........................................................................................................768

Shapes...............................................................................................................................................781

Getting started with shapes............................................................................................................. 782

Drawing shapes................................................................................................................................783

Drawing lines and curves................................................................................................................. 785

Setting preferences for drawing shapes............................................................................................ 789

Selecting a shape............................................................................................................................. 791

Modifying shape outlines and fills.................................................................................................... 792

Adding, deleting, and moving anchor points................................................................................... 794

Adjusting curvature.......................................................................................................................... 796

Cutting and joining shape segments................................................................................................ 798

Converting shapes to image layers................................................................................................... 800

Converting selections to shapes........................................................................................................801

Resizing, rotating, skewing, and flipping shapes...............................................................................802

Duplicating shapes........................................................................................................................... 804

Combining shapes............................................................................................................................ 805

Blending shapes............................................................................................................................... 806

Saving a shape outline as a selection............................................................................................... 808

Exporting Adobe Illustrator shapes................................................................................................... 809

Contents | 21

Adding text....................................................................................................................................... 811

Adding text to images......................................................................................................................811

Formatting text.................................................................................................................................812

Aligning text.....................................................................................................................................813

Adjusting text kerning and leading...................................................................................................813

Stretching, rotating, and skewing text..............................................................................................814

Adding drop shadows to text...........................................................................................................815

Applying effects to text.................................................................................................................... 816

Applying curves to text.................................................................................................................... 817

Converting text layers....................................................................................................................... 819

Dropping text................................................................................................................................... 820

Working with animation and digital videos......................................................................................821

Choosing an animation workflow.....................................................................................................822

Creating frame-by-frame animation.................................................................................................. 823

Opening a Corel Painter movie.........................................................................................................825

Importing QuickTime and AVI files................................................................................................... 826

Selecting movie frames.....................................................................................................................827

Editing frame content...................................................................................................................... 827

Applying effects to a single frame....................................................................................................827

Previewing animations......................................................................................................................828

Using onion skinning....................................................................................................................... 829

Animating with layers...................................................................................................................... 830

Adding, deleting, and erasing frames............................................................................................... 831

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Repeating frames............................................................................................................................. 831

Inserting movies............................................................................................................................... 832

Rotoscoping..................................................................................................................................... 833

Applying scripts to movies................................................................................................................833

Exporting movies as QuickTime........................................................................................................ 835

Exporting movies as AVI...................................................................................................................837

Importing and exporting numbered files.......................................................................................... 838

Exporting animated GIFs.................................................................................................................. 839

Using scripts to automate tasks....................................................................................................... 843

Getting started with scripts.............................................................................................................. 843

Displaying the Scripts panel..............................................................................................................844

Recording and playing scripts...........................................................................................................845

Enabling and playing background scripts......................................................................................... 847

Creating resolution-independent scripts............................................................................................ 848

Editing, renaming, and deleting scripts............................................................................................ 849

Converting scripts to movies............................................................................................................ 850

Importing and exporting scripts....................................................................................................... 851

Importing and exporting script libraries............................................................................................ 852

Creating and deleting script libraries................................................................................................ 853

Printing images................................................................................................................................. 855

Specifying the page layout and image size.......................................................................................855

Printing your work........................................................................................................................... 856

Contents | 23

Saving files in EPS format for printing.............................................................................................. 858

General notes on printing................................................................................................................ 859

Notes for users of Adobe Photoshop............................................................................................... 861

Comparing terminology in Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop........................................................861

Comparing tools in Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop.................................................................. 862

Frequently asked questions from users of Adobe Photoshop.............................................................864

Setting preferences........................................................................................................................... 867

General preferences..........................................................................................................................867

Interface preferences........................................................................................................................ 869

Performance preferences.................................................................................................................. 871

Shapes preferences...........................................................................................................................873

Cloning preferences..........................................................................................................................874

Tablet preferences.............................................................................................................................875

Connections preferences...................................................................................................................875

Web...................................................................................................................................................877

Choosing web-safe colors.................................................................................................................877

Posterizing using color sets.............................................................................................................. 878

Choosing web-friendly brushes.........................................................................................................879

Creating transparent GIFs................................................................................................................. 880

Reducing the number of colors in GIF files.......................................................................................882

Creating image maps....................................................................................................................... 883

Creating server-side image maps...................................................................................................... 885

Creating web page backgrounds......................................................................................................886

24 | Corel Painter 2015 User Guide

Creating web buttons.......................................................................................................................889

Index................................................................................................................................................. 891

Contents | 25

26 | Corel Painter 2015 User Guide

Welcome to Corel Painter

Corel® Painter® 2015 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:

• “Using the documentation” (page 1)

• “Adjusting the Help window text size” (page 4)

• “Additional resources” (page 5)

• “Registration” (page 5)

• “Corel Cinco for Painter” (page 6)

• “Feedback” (page 7)

• “About Corel Corporation” (page 7)

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 server-based help. However, if you are working offline, you can access the local help file that is installed with Corel Painter.

Welcome to Corel Painter | 1

The Help is also provided as a PDF file, which is available online. In addition, you can refer to the Corel Painter 2015 Getting Started Guide, which provides general overviews about Corel Painter features and presents the most commonly used procedures.

Documentation conventions

The following table describes the conventions used in the Help.

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Convention Description Example

MacOS and Windows commands

Modifier keys (Command, Option, Ctrl, Alt)

Menu commands (Choose X menu menu item)

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.

Header bar A header bar is located at the

top or side of some workspace components, such as the toolbox, property bar, and panels.

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