Corel PAINTER 8 User Manual
The ultimate digital sketching and painting tool
™
USER MANUAL
Copyright 1991–2003 Corel Corporation. All rights reserved.
Corel® Painter™ 8 User Guide
The contents of this user guide and the associated Corel Painter software are the property of Corel Corporation and its respective l ice nso r s ,
and are protected by copyright. For more complete copyright information about Corel Painter, please refer to the About Corel Painter secti on
in the Help menu of the software.
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Contents
Welcome to Corel Painter 8
What’s New in Corel Painter 8? . . . . . . . 1
Redesigned User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . 1
About Your User Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Corel Support Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Workspace
Using the Menus and Document
Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Workspace Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Using the Toolbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Using Selectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Using the Property Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Using the Brush Selector Bar . . . . . . . .15
The Brush Creator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Working with Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Exploring the Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Setting Palette Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Libraries and Movers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Modifying a Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Customizing Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Creating Custom Palettes . . . . . . . . . . 28
Basics
Opening Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Working with Documents . . . . . . . . . .37
Saving Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Closing Documents and Quitting
the Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Setting Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 0
Using Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Wacom Intuos Support . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Using Textures, Patter ns, an d
Weaves
Using Paper Texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Using Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Using Weaves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Color
Working with Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
Changing Paper Color . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
The Mixer Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82
Using Color Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
Color Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Color Variability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
Color Expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91
Annotating Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Using Gradients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
Painting
Exploring Painting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Understanding Brushes . . . . . . . . . . .100
Using a Stylus or Mouse . . . . . . . . . 102
Selecting a Brush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Brush Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Where You Can Paint . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Marking the Canvas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Painting with Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Painting with Gradients and Patterns 112
Painting with Airbrushes . . . . . . . . . 114
Recording and Playing Back Strokes . 117
Filling Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Using Water Color
The Water Color Layer . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Working with Water Color Variants . 126
Water Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Digital Water Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Using Liquid Ink
The Liquid Ink Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Impasto
The Impasto Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Creating an Impasto Effect . . . . . . . . 136
Adjusting Impasto Depth . . . . . . . . . 136
Adjusting Surface Lighting . . . . . . . . 137
Creating Custom Impasto Brushes . . 138
Blending Impasto with Other Layers . 141
The Brush Creator
Customizing Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Using the Brush Creator . . . . . . . . . . 143
The Main Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Using the Randomizer . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Using the Transposer . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Using the Stroke Designer . . . . . . . . 147
Setting Size Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Setting Spacing Controls . . . . . . . . . 158
Setting Angle Controls . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Setting Bristle Controls . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Expression Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Setting Well Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Setting Rake Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Setting Random Controls . . . . . . . . . 169
Setting Mouse Controls . . . . . . . . . . 172
Setting Cloning Controls . . . . . . . . . 172
Setting Impasto Controls . . . . . . . . . 173
Setting Image Hose Controls . . . . . . 1 7 5
Setting Airbrush Controls . . . . . . . . . 175
Setting Water Controls . . . . . . . . . . 176
Setting Liquid Ink Controls . . . . . . . . 179
Setting Digital Water Color Controls . 182
Managing Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Cloning and Tracing
Cloning Imagery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 7
Cloning a Document . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Using Tracing Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Changing Clone Source . . . . . . . . . . 190
Painting in the Clone . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Using Auto Clone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Using Auto Van Gogh . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Point-to-Point Cloning . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Multi-Point Cloning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Turning Other Brushes into Cloners . 197
Using a Selection while Cloning . . . . 199
Repeating Source Imagery . . . . . . . . 201
Filling with Transformed Cloning . . . 201
Using Selections
Working with Selections . . . . . . . . . 203
Creating Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Converting Selections to and from
Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Saving Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Loading Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Combining Selections Using
Boolean Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Transforming Selections . . . . . . . . . . 214
Editing Path-Based Selections . . . . . . 214
Using the Selection Portfolio . . . . . . 217
Using Alpha Channels
Understanding Alpha Channels . . . . 219
Creating Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Managing Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Editing Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Using Layers and Layer Masks
Layer Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Working with Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Creating Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 2
Saving Files Containing Layers . . . . . 234
Deleting Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Managing Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Editing Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Table of contentsii
Changing Layer Characteristics . . . . . 248
Using the Image Portfolio . . . . . . . . . 254
Working with Layer Masks . . . . . . . . 255
Using Image Effects
Basics of Applying Effects . . . . . . . . . 259
Third-party Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Orientation Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Correct Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Other Tonal Control Effects . . . . . . . 268
Apply Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Apply Surface Texture . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Other Surface Control Effects . . . . . . 286
Focus Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Esoterica Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Objects Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Using Dynamic Plug-ins
Dynamic Plug-in Basics . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Brightness/Contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Burn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Tear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Bevel World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Equalize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Glass Distortion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Kaleidoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Liquid Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Liquid Metal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Posterize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
The Image Hose
How it Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Using the Image Hose . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Controlling the Image Hose . . . . . . . 336
Indexing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Creating Nozzles for the Image Hose 340
Nozzle Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Creating a Nozzle from a Movie . . . . 347
Mosaics
Getting Started with Mosaics . . . . . . 351
Tile Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
Working with Mosaics . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Mosaic Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Working with Tessellati on Mosaics . . 360
Using Shapes
About Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Creating Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
Setting Shape Attributes . . . . . . . . . . 372
Editing Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Working with Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
Working with Text
The Text Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Applying Effects to Text . . . . . . . . . . 386
Exporting Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
The Web
Features for the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
Creating Web Page Backgrounds . . . 393
Creating Web Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . 396
Using the Image Slicer . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Creating Rollovers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Image Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Creating GIF Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Using Web-Safe Colors . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Brushes for the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
Scripting
Understanding Scripting . . . . . . . . . . 415
How Scripts Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
The Scripts Palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
Recording Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
Playing Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Editing Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Scripts and Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
Animation and Video
Creating Animations and Video . . . . 423
The Frame Stacks Palette . . . . . . . . . 424
Creating a Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Modifying a Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
Animation Considerations . . . . . . . . . 430
Combining Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
Rotoscoping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Saving and Exporting Movies . . . . . . 438
Animations for the World Wide Web 442
Printing
Understanding Printing . . . . . . . . . . . 445
Setting Up Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
Printing an Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
Color Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
The Color Management Dialog Box . . 4 4 8
Options for Files Saved asEncapsulated
iii Corel Painter
PostScript (EPS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
Keyboard Shortcuts
Toolbox Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
Palette Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
File Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . 457
Edit Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . . . 457
Canvas Menu Commands . . . . . . . . 458
Effects Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . 458
Select Menu Commands . . . . . . . . . 458
Shapes Menu Commands . . . . . . . . 458
Window Menu Commands . . . . . . . 459
Screen Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
Palette Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
Brush Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
Selection Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
Adjuster Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
Shape Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
Layer Section Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
Mosaics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
Table of contentsiv
1
W elcome to Corel Painter 8
Corel® Painter™ 8 is the leading
Natural-Media® painting
application. Corel Painter lets you
simulate a wide range of art tools,
from felt pens, charcoal, and colored
pencils to water color and oils.
What’s New in Corel Painter 8?
Corel Painter lets you experiment with
the widest range of Natural-Media
tools. You can expand your digital
drawing and painting techniques with
a portfolio of new features.
Corel Painter features a redesigned
user interface, including a new
toolb ox, Brush se l e ct or ba r, prop e rt y
bar, Info palette, and new palette
design and behavior.
Corel Painter also includes a Mixer
pal e tt e that r e al i stic ally mi m i c s th e
traditional paint mixing experience.
Digital water color, a new Sketch
effect, and more than 400 new brushes
all expand your creative potential.
You can create custom brush variants
using the new Brush Creator, which
includes the Randomizer, Transposer,
and Stroke Designer. Corel Painter
also includes redesigned layer masks
and channels that provide a smoother
workflow and greater compatibility
with Ad obe® Photoshop® .
Redesigned User Interface
Corel Painter features a redesigned
user interface, which is based on the
following new elements.
Toolbox
The toolbox has been redesigned
vertically and, by default, is docked to
the top-left corner of the document
window. The toolbox lets you access
the tools in Corel Painter, as well as
the primary and secondary colors, and
provides easy access to the Paper,
Pattern, Gra d i en t , N ozz l e, Weave ,
and Brush Look libraries.
The toolbox can be undocked and
moved anywhere inside the
application window, or it can be
turned off.
Property Bar
The property bar replaces the
Controls palette. The property bar is
context-sensitive depending on which
tool is selected, providing commonly
used controls for each tool.
The property bar is docked below the
menu bar by default, but it can be
undocked and moved to any location
in the document window, or tu rned
off.
Brush Selector
The Brush Selector lets you choose a
brush category, using the Brush
Category picker, and a brush variant,
using the Brush Variant picker. The
name of the selected brush category
and variant is displayed on the right
side of the Brush Selec tor. You have
the option to view the categories and
variants by a thumbnail or list view.
The Brush Selector is docked, by
default, to the top-right corner of the
document window, beside the
property bar. It can be undocked and
moved to any location in the
document window, or it can be turned
off.
Palettes
The palettes have been redesigned for
this version of Corel Painter, and they
include the following new features:
• Group/Ungroup — You can g rou p
and ungroup palettes by dragging
them together or apart to create
any combination of palettes.
• Resizeable — You can increase or
decrease the size of list palettes,
such as the Layers, Channels, and
Scripts palettes.
Info Palette
The new Info palette provides access
to the following information:
•Image size preview
• Document information, such as
width and height
• X and Y coordinates and the
cursor posi tion
• Context-sensitive information
based on the selected tool. For
example, if the Eyedropper tool is
selected, the HSV and RGB
information is displayed.
• Unit information, such as pixels,
inches, and resolution
Mixer Palette
The new Mixer palette lets you mix
colors interactively. The Mixer palette
contains a Brush tool and a Palette
Knife tool for applying and mixing
colors, mimicking the traditional
experience of mixing two or more
colors on a palette.
Welcome to Corel Painter 82
The Mixer palette also includes an
Eyedropper tool for sampling specially
mixed colors from imagery, as well as
Zoom and Pan tools for easy
navigation in the palette. You can
choose to save your Mixer palette
settings for future use, and you can
create a custom color set from the
colors in the Mixer palette.
Digital Water Co lor
Digital Water Color is a simple,
transparent medium that is ideal for
hand painting line drawings, touching
up photographs, or creating simple
water color washes.
Sketch Effect
The new Sketch effect in Corel
Painter lets you convert images or
photographs to simple pencil
drawings, while providing controls for
the amount of paper grain being
applied, the heaviness of the pencil
line, and the desired level of detail.
New Brush Variants
Corel Painter includes over 400 new
Brush variants. New brushes are
included in the following categories:
•Acrylics
•Airbrushes
•Artists
•Blenders
• Calligraphy Pens
•Chalks
•Charcoals
•Colored Pencils
•Conte
•Crayons
• Digital Water Color
• Distortion
• Erasers
•Felt Pens
•F-X
•Gouache
•Image Hose
•Liquid Ink
•Oil Pastels
•Oils
• Palette Knives
•Pastels
•Pattern Pens
•Pencils
•Pens
•Photo
•Sponges
•Sumi-e
•Tinting
•Water Colors
Brush Creator
Corel Painter features a Brush
Creator, which is designed to make
the brush variant creation proces s e asy
and fun. The Brush Creator includes
three key features:
• Randomizer — The Randomizer
lets you choose an existing brush
variant and randomize its
properties to create a new variant.
You can set the amount of
randomization to determine how
much of the origi nal brush’s
Core l Pain t e r 3
properties remain—a low amount
will r e sult i n va rian t s that are very
similar to the original, while a high
amount will result in variants that
are radically different. To help you
visualize how the new brush
variants will look, the Randomizer
provides a brush stroke preview of
each new variant.
• Tra nspose r — The Transposer lets
you change the properties of one
brush variant using the properties
of another. For example, you can
choose the 2B Pencil and create
brush variants that are mutated
toward another variant, such as
Charcoal. To help you visualize
how the new brush variants will
look, t he Transposer provides a
brush stroke preview of each new
variant.
• Stroke Designer — The Stroke
Desi g n e r lets you mo dify the
properties of brush variants using
advanced controls. The Stroke
Designer has 16 different sets of
controls: General, Size, Spacing,
Angle, Bristle, Well, Rake,
Random, Mous e, Cloning,
Impasto, Image Hose, Airbrush,
Water, Digital Water, and Liquid
Ink. To make the brush creation
process more visual and
interactive, the Stroke Designer
includes a live preview that
updates each time you make
changes to the brush variant.
Industry-Standard Masks,
Layer Masks, and Cha nnels
Layer Masks: The redesigned layer
masks let you hide and reveal areas of
lay ers wi thou t maki ng pe rman e n t
changes to an image.
Channels: The Channels palette lets
you use alpha channels to create and
store masks to modify, separate, and
preserve specific areas of an image.
And So Much More...
• Thumbnail previews for Layers,
Layer Masks, and Channels
•Brush cursor preview that lets you
see the size of th e br ush you’re
painting with
• Enhanced keyboard shortcuts to
make it easier to transition
between Corel Painter and other
applications
• Enhanced file compatibility with
Adobe Photoshop
• New paper textures, patterns,
Image Hose nozzles, brush looks,
gradients, and more!
• Extra content CD, including 100
pictures from
http://www.brandxpictures.com,
hundreds of brushes, paper
textures, and more!
About Your User Guide
You can find answers to most of your
questions in the Corel
Guide. It provides information you
need to get the most out of Corel
Painter.
The Corel Painter User Guide is for
both the Mac OS® and Windows®
platforms. As a convention, Mac OS
commands precede Windows
commands in the text.
®
Painter™User
Welcome to Corel Painter 84
When a modifier key differs between
the Mac OS and Windows, the Mac
OS modifier is listed first, followed by
the Windows modifier. For example,
Command + I (Ma c O S) or Ctrl + I
(Windows) means that Mac OS users
would press Command + I and
Windows users would press Ctrl + I.
Choosing a menu item from a menu
follows the convention “Choose menu
name > menu it em.” For simplicity,
the term “folder” refers to directories
as well as folders. The Corel Painter
interface for Mac OS and Windows
platforms is identical, unless
otherwise specified.
Registering Products
Registering products is important.
Registration provides you with timely
access to the latest product updates,
valuable information ab out product
releases, and access to free downloads,
articles, tips and tricks, and special
offers.
• by mail—send the product
registration card to the Corel
Customer Service Center nearest
you
• during installation—follow the
instructions provided by the
product setup
Corel Support Services
Corel Support Services can provide
you with prompt and accurate
information about product features,
specifications, pricing, availability,
services, and technical support. For
the most current information on
support services available for your
Corel product, please visit
www.corel.com/support .
You can register a Corel product
• online—follow the instructions
provided on the Corel Web site
Core l Pain t e r 5
The Workspace
2
The Corel Painter workspace has been
designed to give you easy access to
tools, effects, commands, and features.
The workspace is organized across a
series of menus, selectors, and
interactive palettes. Some features are
also available in the frame of the
document window.
Using the Menus and Document Window
Using the commands on the Corel
Painter menu bar, you can:
• work with files and editing
commands
• adjust and apply effects
• perform selection operations, work
with shapes, and create ani mati ons
• control the document window or
the Corel Pa inter workspace
The document window lets you access
the following features with the click of
a button:
• tracing paper
•grid
• color correction
•impasto effect
•drawing mode
• navigation
Workspace Tour
Menu bar
Property
bar
Toolbox
Color
Selection box
Content
selectors
Canvas
Document
window
Drawing
mode icon
Brush
selector
Colors
palette
Layers
palette
Navigation
icon
The Workspace8
Zoom slider
Using the Toolbox
In the toolbox, there are tools to make
marks, draw shapes, fill shapes with
col o r, view and navigate, and make
selections. The re are also six selectors
that let you choose papers, gradients,
patterns, weaves, looks, and nozzles.
The toolbox.
Some tool s of similar function share a
space in the toolbox. The button for
only one of these tools is displayed at a
time. Any tool that has a triangle in
the bottom-right corner has one or
more tools underneath it in a flyout
menu.
The toolbox is open by default;
however, it can be closed. You can
move the toolbox around the
document window, and you can dock
the toolbox to the document window
or to other palettes.
The current tool can be modified by
option s on the pro p e r ty b ar, which
change as you change tools. For more
information, see “Using the Property
Bar” on page 14.
To access tools grouped in flyout
menus:
1 In the toolbox, hold down the tool
icon whose flyout menu you want
to open.
2 Choose th e tool you want to use.
Some tools sh are a space in the toolbox . Hold
down the tool button that’s displayed to open
the flyout menu.
To close the toolbox
• Do one of the following:
• Click the Close button in the
top corner of the toolbox.
•Choose Window menu >
Hide Toolbox.
To open the toolbox, choose
Window menu > Show Toolbox.
To move the toolbox
1 Place the cursor over the title bar of
the toolbox.
Core l Pain t e r 9
2 Drag the toolbox to a new location
in the document window.
The Grabber Tool
The Crop Tool
To dock the toolbox
1 Place the cursor over the title bar of
the toolbox.
2 Drag the toolbox to the edge of the
document wind ow or a palette.
3 When the toolbox lines up with
the edge of the document window
or palette, release the mouse
button.
The toolbox will snap into place.
Navigat io n a nd Utili ty To ol s
The Magnifier Tool
You can use the Magnifier tool to
magnify areas of an image when you
are performing detailed work, or to
reduce areas to get an overall view of
an image. For more information, see
“Zooming” on page37.
The Grabber tool gives you a quick
way to scroll an image. For more
information, see “Repositioning
Documents” on page 39.
The Rotate Page Tool
The Rotate Page tool lets y ou rotate an
image window to accommodate the
way you draw naturally. Refer to
“Rotating Documents” on page39 for
more information.
The Perspective Grid Adjuster Tool
The Perspective Grid Adjuster 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.
See “Using the Perspective Grid” on
page 45 for more information.
The Crop tool l e ts you remove
unwanted edges from the image. For
more information, see “Cropping
Images” on page40.
Tools that Apply Color
The Brush Tool
You use the Brush tool to make marks
on the Canv a s or a layer. The Brush
tool represents a category of marking
tools. Within the Brush category are
pencils, pens, chalk, an airbrush, oil
paints, water colors and more.
When the Brush tool is selected, you
can choose specific brushes from the
Brush selector bar. For more
information about selecting brushes
and tools, refer to “Selecting a Brush”
on page103.
The Workspace10
You can set opacity, grain, and
drawing style (freehand stroke s or
straight line strokes) on the property
bar.
The Paint Bucket Tool
color . When you select a color with the
Dropper tool, that color becomes the
current color on the Colors palette.
F or more information, see “Sampling
Colors from Imagery” on page80.
The Selection Tools
The Lasso tool lets you draw a
freehand selection. Refer to “Using
Selectio n Tools” on page 206 for more
information.
The Magic Wand Tool
The Paint Bucket tool lets you fill an
area. The property bar shows choices
for what area to fill and what to fill it
with. The Color Tolerance and Color
Feat her values let you c o n t r ol th e
extent of fill and opacity in
neighboring areas. You can also
choose to anti-alias a fill.
Double-click the Paint Bucket tool to
specify what color in the image to lock
out of your fill. For more information
on the Paint Bucket tool, refer to
“Filling Techniques” on page 118.
The Dropper Tool
The Dropper tool lets you pick up a
color from an existing image. The
property bar shows you values for the
The Rectangular Selection Tool
You use the Rectangular Selection tool
to create rectangular selections. Refer
to “Using Selection Tools” on
page206 for more information.
The Oval Selection Tool
You use the Oval Selection tool to
create oval selections. Refer to “Using
Selection Tools” on page206 for more
information.
The Lasso Tool
The Magic Wand tool lets you click or
drag in the image to select an area of
similar color. Refer to “Using the
Magic Wand” on page 207 for more
information.
The Ad juster Tools
The Layer Adjuster Tool
The Layer Adjuster tool is used to
select, move and manipulate layers.
Refer to “Using Layers and Layer
Masks” on page229 for more
information.
The Selection Adjuster Tool
Core l Pain t e r 11
The Selection Adjuster tool lets you
select , m ove, and m a n i p ul a t e
selections created with the
Rectangular , Oval, and Lasso selection
tools and those converted from
Shapes.
The Shape Tools
Corel Painter creates all shapes by
using Bézier curves. Every shape you
create automatically becomes a
separate layer in the document.
Shapes are listed on the Layers palette.
The Shape Selection Tool
The Shape Selection tool is for editing
Bézier curves (shape paths). You use
the Shape Selection tool to select and
move anchor points and to a djust their
control handles. Refer to “Working
with Shapes” on page378 for more
information.
Th e Text To o l
The Text tool creates text shapes. Use
the Text palette to set the font, point
size, and tracking. For more
information, see “Wor king with Text”
on page385.
The Shape Design Tools
You use the Pen tool and the Quick
Curve tool to draw shapes.
The Pen Tool
The Pen tool lets you create straight
lines and curves in shape objects. For
more information, see “Using Shapes”
on page365.
The Quick Curve Tool
The Quick Curve tool lets you create
shape paths by drawing freehand
cur v es. For more information, see
“Using Shapes” on page365.
The Shape Objects Tools
The Shapes Objects tools create
rectangular or oval shapes. When you
create a shape, the details are
displayed on the property bar.
For more information, see “Creating
Shapes” on page368.
The Rectangular Shape Tool
You use the Rectangular Shape tool to
create rectangular shape objects.
The Oval Shape Tool
Yo u use the Oval Shape tool to create
oval shape objects.
The Shape Edit Tools
The Shape Edit tools allow you to
manipulate existing shapes. For more
information, see “Editing Shapes” on
page 373.
The Workspace12
The Scissors Tool
You use the Scissors tool to cut an
open or closed segment. If the
segment is closed, once you click on a
line or point to cut the shape path, the
shape path becomes o pen.
The Add Point Tool
You use the Add Point tool to create a
new anchor point on a shape path.
The Remove Point Tool
You use the Remove Point tool to
remove an anchor point from a shape
path.
The Convert Point Tool
The Convert Point tool is used to
convert between smooth and corner
anchor points.
The Co lor Selection Box
The Color Selection box lets you
choose primar y and secondary colors.
The front rectangle displays the
primary color, and the back rectangle
displays the se condary color . For more
information, refer to “Understanding
Prima ry and Se c ondary Colors” on
page79.
The Color Sele ction box.
To change the primary or
secondary color:
1 Doubl e-click th e pri m a ry or
secondary color rectangle.
2 Choose a col or from the Color
dialog box.
Using Selectors
The selectors in the toolbox give you
quick access to the libraries for the
following Corel Painter elements:
papers, gradients, patterns, weaves,
looks, and nozzles.
You can display items in selectors as
thumbnails or in a list. You can also
access commands from each selector
men u. If the com m and you w a n t is
not available, you can display the
entire palette that corresponds to the
selector.
To open a selector:
1 Click the flyout menu arrow on
the bottom-right corner of the
selec t or you want to open .
2 Choo s e an ite m fr om t he lis t .
To display items as thumbnails or
in a list:
1 Click the flyout menu arrow on
the bottom-right corner of the
selec t or you want to open .
2 Cli ck the selector menu arrow, and
choose List or Thumbnails.
Core l Pain t e r 13
To access selector menu
commands:
1 Click the flyout menu arrow on
the bottom-right corner of the
selector you want to open.
2 Click the selector menu arrow , and
choose a command.
To display a selector’s palette
1 Click the flyout menu arrow on
the bottom-right corner of the
selector you want to open.
2 Click the selector menu arrow , and
choose Launch Palette.
Note
This command is not available from
•
the Look and Nozzle selector s.
Using the Property Bar
The property bar in Corel Painter is
context-sensitive — it changes
according to the tool you are using.
You can access settings and o ptions fo r
each tool, and you can change them
according to your preferences using
the boxes or pop-up sliders. Tool
settings are retained when you switch
from one tool to another. You can also
use the property bar to restore the
default settings of the selected tool.
The property bar is docked
horizontally to the menu bar by
default. You can move the property bar
anywhere i n the document wind ow,
dock it under the menu bar again, or
close it.
The property bar for the Rectangular Selection
tool.
To access tool settings on the
property bar:
• Choose a tool from the toolbox.
Tool settings are display ed on the
property bar.
To change tool settings on the
property bar:
1 Choose a tool from the toolbox.
2 Do any of the following:
• Type a value in the box next to
the control, or click the arrow
next to the control and adjust
the pop-up slider.
• Enable or disable the check box
next to the option you want to
use.
Note
Not all of these options are available
•
for every tool. The settings change
depending on t he tool selected.
To reset the default tool settings:
• Click the Reset Tool button on the
property bar.
Note
The Reset Tool button on the property
•
bar has the same icon as the selected tool
in the toolbox.
To move the property bar:
• Point to the bar on the right side of
the property bar, and drag it to its
new location.
To dock the property bar:
• Point to the title bar of the property
bar, and drag it under the menu
bar.
The property bar snaps into place.
The Workspace14
To close the property bar:
• Do one of the follo wing:
•Choose Window menu >
Hide Property Bar.
• If the property bar is undocked,
click the close button on the
title bar.
Tip
To show the property bar, choose
•
Window menu > Show Property Bar.
Using the Brush Selector Bar
The Brush selector bar lets you choose
from a variety of brush categories and
variants. Brush categories are groups
of similar brushes and media. Brush
variants ar e specific brushes and brush
settings within a brush category.
The name of the selected brush
category appears at the top of the
Brush selector bar. The name of the
selected brush variant appears under
the brush category name.
The Brush selec tor bar.
To display the Brush selector bar:
• Choose Window menu > Show
Brus h S ele c tor Bar.
To choose a brush from the Brush
sele c t or bar:
1 On the Brush selector bar , click the
Brush Category arrow and choose
a brush ca t egory.
2 Click the Brush Variant arrow, and
choose a variant.
Previewing Brushes
The Brush Category selector shows
you a preview of the currently selected
bru sh ca tego ry and le ts you ch o ose a
new brush category. The Brush
Variant selector does the same for
bru s h v a r i a n t s .
You can prev iew brush cat egories and
variants as thumbnails or in list
format. Brush variants can also be
previewed as brush strokes. The
Stroke view shows you both th e dab
type and brush stroke of the selected
brush variant.
To display brush categories and
variants as thumbnails or lists:
1 On the Brush selector bar, clic k the
Brush Category or Brush Variant
arrow.
2 Cli ck the selector menu arrow, and
choose List or Thumbnails.
If you’re displaying brush variants,
you can also choose the Stroke
view.
Note
The Stroke view is available only on
•
the Brush Variant selector menu.
Items in the Brush selec tor bar can be di splaye d
as thumbnails.
Core l Pain t e r 15
The Stroke view is available for brush variants.
Brush Selector Bar Menu
Commands
The Brush selector bar menu
commands are used for creating and
loading brushes, working with brush
variants, and manipulating brush
strokes. For more information, see
“M anaging Brushes” on p ag e 18 3 .
Moving and Docking the
Brush Selector Bar
The Brush selector bar is displayed at
the top-right of the property bar by
default. It can be moved to a new
location in the document window, or
it can be docked to the edge of the
document window or other palettes.
To move the Brush selector bar
• Point to the title bar of the Brush
selector bar, and drag it to its new
location.
To dock the Brush selector bar
1 Point to the title bar of the Brush
selector bar, and drag it to the edge
of the document window or a
palette.
2 When the Brush selector bar is
lined up with the edge of the
document window or palette,
release the mouse button.
The Brush selector bar snaps into
place.
Closing the Brush Selector
Bar
You can close the Brush selector bar to
hid e it from view.
To close the Brush selector bar
• Do one of the following:
•Choose Window menu >
Hide Brush Selector Bar.
• If the Brush selector bar is
undocked, click the close button on the title bar.
The Brush Creator
The Brush Creator is designed to
make the brush variant creation
process easy and fun. You can use the
Randomizer to create random brush
variants, the Transposer to blend two
brush variants, a nd the Stroke
Designer to adjust the sett i ngs of
brush variants. For more information,
see “The Brush Creator” on page 143.
To open the Brush Creator
• Do one of the following:
•Choose Window menu >
Brush Creator.
•Press Command + B (Ma c
OS) or Ctrl + B (Windows).
Working with Palettes
The interactive palettes in Corel
Painter let you access the commands,
controls, and settings available when
creating documents.
The Workspace16
Showing and Hiding Palettes
You can show or hide a palette by
choosing its name from the Window
menu, from a selector, or by using the
key combination shown on the
Window menu.
To show or hide a palette:
• Do one of the follo wing:
•Choose Window menu, and
choose the palette you want to
show or hi d e .
• Choose a selector from the
too lb ox, cl ic k the se le ct or me nu
arrow, and choose Launch Palette.
• Use the ke yb oar d s h ortcut for
the palette you want to show or
hide:
Press Command (Mac OS) or Ctrl
(Windows) +
1 = Colors
2 = Mixer
3 = Color Sets
4 = Layers
5 = Channels
6 = Text
7 = Info
8 = Gra di e nts
9 = Patter ns
Tip
You can also hide a palette by clicking
•
the close box on t he palette title bar.
To show or hide all palettes:
• Choose Window menu > Show/
Hide Palettes.
Exploring the Palettes
As you work with Corel P a inter, y ou’l l
use the following groups of palettes.
The Color Palettes
•The Colors palette lets you choose
primary and secondary colors for
painting in Corel Painter
doc uments. You can also use the
Clone Col or option on the Colors
palette. For more information, see
“Working with Color” on page 77.
•The Mixer palette lets you mix and
blend colors as you would on an
artist’s palette. It contains its own
set of tools. For more information,
see “The Mixer Palette” on
page 82.
•The Color Sets palette displays the
colors in the current color set. You
use color sets to organize groups of
colors. Some color sets are
organized by both name and color
relationship. For more
information, refer to “Using Color
Sets” on page 85.
•The Color Info palette contains
color information for the selected
color, in HSV or RGB values. You
can also use the Clone Color
option with this palette. F or more
information, see “Color
Information” on page89.
•The Color Variability palette
contains sliders to adjust color
variability values. For more
information, see “Color
Variability” on page 89.
•The Color Expression palette lets
you determine how colors are
expressed in Corel Painter
documents. For more information,
refer to “Color Expression” on
page 91.
Core l Pain t e r 17
The Papers, Gradients,
Patterns, and Weav es
Palettes
•The Papers palette lets you choose
and edit paper textures for your
document. You can preview paper
textures as thumbnails or in a list,
and see a thumbnail preview of the
selected paper. For more
information, see “Using Paper
Texture” on page61 and
“Choosing Paper Textures” on
page63.
•The Gradients palette lets you
choose and edit gradients th at c an
be applied to Corel Painter
doc uments. You can preview
gradients as thumbnails or in a list,
and see a thumbnail preview of the
selected gradient. For more
information, see “Using
Gradients” on page 93.
•The Patterns palette lets you
choose and edit patterns. You can
preview patterns as thumbnails or
in a list, and see a thumbnail
preview of the selected p attern. For
more information, ref er to “Using
Patter ns ” on page66.
•The Weaves palette lets you choose
and edit weaves. You can preview
weaves as thumbnails or in a list,
and see a thumbnail preview of the
selected weave. For more
information, see “Using Weaves”
on page72.
The Layers and Channels
Palettes
•The Layers palette contains
thumbnail previews of all the
layers in a Corel Painter
document. You can use the buttons
on the Layers palette to arrange
layers, use plug-ins, add new layers
(including Water Color and
Liquid Ink layers), create lay e r
masks, and delete layers. You can
also set the composite method and
depth, adjust the opacity, and lock
and unlock layers. For more
information, see “Using Layers
and Layer Masks” on page229.
•The Channels palette contains
thumbnail previews of all the
channels in a Corel Painter
document, including RGB
composite channels, layer masks,
and Alpha channels. The buttons
on the palette can be used to load,
save, and invert existing channels,
and to create new channels. F or
more information, see “Using
Alpha Channels” on page219.
The Text and Scripts Palettes
•The Text palette lets you perform
all tasks relating to text in a Corel
Painter document, such as
choosing fonts, adjusting opacity,
and applying drop shadows. For
more information, refer to
“Wo rk in g wit h Text” on page 385.
•The Scripts palette gives you
access to all commands and
settings relating to scripts. For
example, you can open, close, play,
and re cord scripts from t he Scripts
palette. For more information, see
“Scripting” on page 415.
The Workspace18
The Image Portfolio and
Selection Portfolio Palettes
•The Image Portfolio contains all
of the images in the current image
library. You can view the images as
thumbnails or in a list, as well as a
thumbnail preview of the current
image. For more information, see
“Using the Image Portfolio” on
page 254.
•The Selection Portfolio contains
all of the selectio ns in the current
selection library. You can view the
images as thumbnails or in a list,
as we ll as a thu m bnai l preview of
the current selection. For more
information, see “Using the
Selection Portfolio” on page 217.
The Info Palette
The new Info palette provides you
with an image preview; document
information, such as width and
height; X and Y coordinates and the
cursor position; context-sensitive
information based on the selected
tool; and unit information, such as
pixels , in c he s , and r es ol u t io n .
You can choose to view a canvas
preview , which shows you the contents
of the canvas, or a page layout preview,
which shows you the entire document.
You can also choose how RGB values
will display on the Info palette — as
actual values, a percentage of the
values, or as hexadecimal values.
The Info palette.
To choose an image preview style
on the In f o p al e tt e :
• On the Info palette, click the
palette menu arrow, and choose
Canvas Preview or Page Layout
Preview.
To choose how RGB values will
display on the Info palette:
1 On the Info palette, click the
palette menu arrow, and choose
Display RGB Values As.
2 Choose an option from the list.
The Tracker Palette
The Tracker palette temporarily st ores
brush categories, variants, and dab
types when you apply brush str okes to
the canvas. Each time you use a new
brush, the variant is saved in the
Tracker palette. You can return to a
brush varia nt you like by choosing it
from the Tracker palette.
You can view the brush variants stored
in the Tracker palette as thumbnail
images, in a list, or as strokes. The
Tracker palette can be resized to
display more or fewer brush variants;
however, it will only store up to 25
var i ants at a t i me.
You can clear selected brush variants,
clear all brush variants, and save
brush variants using the Tracker
Core l Pain t e r 19
palette. Brush variants are stored ev en
after the document you were working
on has been closed.
The Tracker pal ette.
To choose a brush variant from
the Tracker palette:
• Click the brush variant you want
to use.
To view brush variants in the
Tr acker palette :
• On the Tracker palette, click the
palette menu arrow, and choose
List, T hu m b na i l s , or S troke.
To resize the Tracker palette:
• Point to the resize handle in the
bottom-right corner of the palette,
and drag to make the palette lar ger
or smaller.
The number of variant s displayed
varies according to the size of the
palette.
To clear a selected brush variant
from the Tracker palette:
1 On the Tracker palette, click the
brush variant you want to remove.
2 Click the palette menu arrow, and
choose Clear Selected.
To clear all brush variants from
the Tracker palette:
• On the Tracker palette, click the
palette menu arrow, and choose
Clear All.
To save a brush variant on the
Tracker palette:
1 On the Tracker palette, click the
brush variant you want to save.
2 Click the palette menu arrow, and
choose Save Variant.
3 In the Save Variant dialog box, type
a name in the Save As box.
Enable the Save Current Colors
check box to retain current color
settings.
Navigating Palettes
When a palette is display ed, it must be
expanded for you to access its settings.
You can collapse palettes to save screen
real estate, while keeping them
displayed in the applicati on.
If you have many palettes displayed
and expanded, the view of other
palettes can be obscured. You can
scroll through palettes to locate the
elements you want to work with.
To expand or collapse a palette:
• Click the palette arrow in the top
corner of the palette.
When the triangle points down,
the palette is expanded. When it
points to the right, the palette is
collapsed.
To scroll through a palette:
• Do one of the following:
The Workspace20
• Use the scrollbar on the right
side of the palette to scroll
through the palette.
• Press Option + click (Mac OS)
or Alt + click (Windows), and
drag vertically inside the
palette. The cursor changes to a
hand and the palette scrolls as
you drag.
give you easy access to the tools and
controls you use most often, and to
maximize screen real estate.
You can also group and reposition
palettes according to your preferences,
and you can dock them to the edges of
the document window or other
palettes.
Using Palette Men us
Most palettes in Corel Painter contain
menus from which you can access a
series of palette-specific commands.
F or example, you can use the palette
menu on the Pa pers pa lette to capture ,
make, and invert paper textures, and
to open the Paper Mover and library.
To access the commands on a
palette menu:
• Click the palette menu arrow.
Setting Palette Layout
You can set up the palette layout in
Core l Painter to best su i t your
working style. Palettes can be
arranged in the document window to
Arranging Palette s
You can drag a palette to any location
that’s convenient for your work. Corel
Painter save s palette arrangements so
that the ne x t tim e yo u s tart the
program, the wo rkspace appears as
you left it.
You can save several different palette
layouts for future use, and you can
later delete layouts. You can also
return the palette layout to the Corel
Painter default.
Arrange palettes to create a la you t that is
convenient for you.
To save a layout:
1 Arrange your palettes the way you
want them sav ed.
2 Choose Wi ndow menu > Arrange
Palettes > Save Layout.
3 In the Palette Layout dialog box,
type a name in the New Palette
Layout box.
To use a saved layout:
• Choose Wi ndow menu > Arrange
Palettes > Name of Layout.
Corel Painter restores the saved
palette layout.
Core l Pain t e r 21
To delete a saved layout:
1 Choose Window menu > Arrang e
Palettes > Delete Layout.
Corel Painter opens a dialog box
listing all saved layo u t s.
2 From the list, select the layout you
want to delete.
3 Click Delete.
To return to the default palette
layout:
• Choose Window menu > Arrang e
Palettes > Default.
To resize palettes
• Drag the resize handle in the
bottom-right corner of the open
palette.
Grouping and Repositioning
Palettes
In Corel Painter, palettes appear by
default in small, intuitive groupings.
You can customize these groupings by
moving palettes from one group to
another. You can include as many or as
few palettes as you want in a group.
You can also reposition items to a new
loc a ti on w i thin a group.
Customized palette groupings. In this example,
the Mixer palette has been grouped with the
othe r color palettes.
To group palettes
1 Place the cursor over the palette
bar.
The cursor displays as a hand.
2 Drag the palette bar, and place it
on top of the palette with which
you want to create a group.
3 Release the mouse button.
A new group of palettes is formed.
4 Repeat steps 1 to 3 for each palette
you want to add to the group.
To ungroup palettes
1 Place the cursor over the palette
bar.
The c u r s or d i sp l ays as a h a n d .
2 Drag the palette bar away from the
group.
3 Release the mouse button.
The palette is removed from the
group.
4 Repeat steps 1 to 3 for each palette
you want to ungroup.
To reposition items in grouped
palettes:
1 Place the cursor over the palette
bar.
The c u r s or d i sp l ays as a h a n d .
2 Drag the palette to a new location
in the group.
3 Release the mouse button.
The Workspace22
Docking Palettes
If you n eed some room on your
screen, but don’t want to collapse or
group palettes, you can save valuable
screen real estate by docking palettes.
This handy feature of Corel Painter
lets them be docked into place when
they get close to the top or bottom
edge of another palette. In addition to
tidying up your workspace, this
feature can help keep a palette from
being covered u p by another palette.
To do ck palette s:
1 Place the cursor over the title bar of
the palette you want to dock.
2 Drag the palette to the top or
bottom of a second palette.
3 When the first palette lines up
with the second palette, release the
mouse button.
The palette will snap into place.
4 Repeat steps 1 to 3 for each set of
palettes you want to dock.
To undock palettes:
1 Place the cursor over the title bar of
the palette you want to undock.
2 Drag the palette to another
loca tion in th e wor kspa c e .
3 Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each
palette you want to undock.
Libraries and Movers
What are Libraries?
A library is a saved collection of
similar items that can be loaded into a
selector. For example, the built-in
brushes (and their variants) are
contained in the default brushes
library, which is loaded when you
open Corel Painter. You can find more
brush libraries in the Corel Painter
folder. As you customize brushes and
other resources, you can save them
int o y our o wn l i b rar i e s .
Libraries are available for paper
textur es , pa t t e rn s , g ra di e n t s, weave s ,
brus h e s , l oo k s, nozzl e s , layers,
selections, lighting, and scripts. You
can have any number of libraries, but
only one of each type can be open at a
time.
When you want other items, you can
load alternate libraries . Librari es allow
you to extend the Corel Painter tools
and resources, without overloading a
selector.
The methods for working with all
libraries are the same, except for
brushes . You can create new libraries,
add items, or move items between
libraries.
The methods for working with the
libraries for Brushes, their categories,
and variants are different. Brushes are
loaded into memory when you open
Corel Painter, so adding brush es to
the default brush library increases the
need for RAM. If you’re working close
to the memory threshold, you’ll want
to organize new brushes into
secondary libraries. When you want a
diff e r e nt bru s h se t , just sw i t ch
libraries. This helps Corel Painter be
more efficient with memory usage.
See “Using Brush Libraries” on
page 26 for more information.
It is a good idea to limit the number of
resources in each librar y. This makes
it easier to find a particular tool and
helps Corel Painter manage memory.
Core l Pain t e r 23
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