Corel Painter 8 Water Color Visual Guide

Corel Painter 8

Contents
Welcome to Corel Painter 8. 3 Water Color Controls in Corel Painter 8. 4
General Area: Water Color Dab Types. 5 Size Area : Continuous Stroke Control. 5 Water Section: Water Controls. 6 Papers Palette: Grain Control. 13 Layers Palette: Water Color Commands. 13
Resizing Water Color Images. 15

www.corel.com

Welcome 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. 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. The application features a redesigned user interface, including a new toolbox, Brush selector bar, property bar, Info palette, and new palette design and behavior. Corel Painter also includes a Mixer palette that realistically mimics the 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 Adobe Photoshop.
Water Color Controls in Corel Painter 8
One of the main features in Corel Painter 8 water color technology is the Water Color layer. Unlike the wet layer found in previous versions of the application, the Water Color layer allows artists to use multiple water color layers in their artwork and to more closely simulate the effect of a dye suspended in an aqueous medium. In addition to correcting the absence of multiple wet layers, the Water Color layer allowed developers to change the diffusion model used by earlier versions of the application. Previously, the diffusion of water color strokes was visible only after a brush stroke was complete. This reduced the control artists had over their water color strokes. Now, with the creation of a Water Color layer and an expanded set of Water Color controls, artists can see their water color strokes as they are applied. They can control the wetness, absorption, and evaporation rate of the paper, as well as the spreading, migration, and drying of the waterborne dye. This ensures that Corel Painter water color technology provides a much more realistic simulation of traditional water color techniques. Corel Painter treats the canvas and Water Color layer as separate entities, letting artists edit the canvas and apply surface textures to it after having applied water color strokes. In addition, because water color effects occur on their own media layer, only brushes specific to the layer can act upon it. The following areas on the Stroke Designer page of the Brush Creator contain the Water Color controls for Corel Painter:

General Size Water

You can also modify the settings on the Papers palette and on the Layers palette.
General Area: Water Color Dab Types
Water color dab types are found in the General section on the Stroke Designer page of the Brush Creator. The dab is responsible for the shape and behavior of the tool used to create a stroke. Corel Painter includes a set of water colorspecific dabs:
Water Color Camel Hair Water Color Flat Water Color Palette Knife Water Color Bristle Spray Water Color Airbrush
Corel Painter Water Color brushes use water colorspecific dabs. Other dab types and brush methods are not compatible with the Water Color layer.

Size Area : Continuous Stroke Control
Continuous stroke controls are found in the Size section on the Stroke Designer page of the Brush Creator. The density of the bundle of hairs that compose a continuous stroke is controlled using the Feature slider in the Size section. Moving the Feature slider to the left or right decreases or increases the number of hairs. Increasing the brush hair density tends to decrease how quickly the brush applies strokes. Artists can offset this tendency by decreasing the brush hair density. The optimal setting that will balance brush hair density and stroke speed will vary according to the processor speed of artists computers.
Water Section: Water Controls
Water controls are found in the Water section on the Stroke Designer page of the Brush Creator. The Water controls determine how media in a Water Color layer appear. The water controls are as follows: Wetness controls the dilution and spread of the dye so that as wetness increases, the stroke expands across a larger surface area

Wetness slider

Pickup controls how much dye gets picked up as water diffuses into the paper. If the pickup rate is set to zero, the colors do not mix or leach. If the pickup rate is set to a high value, the paint strokes mix together as one is applied over the other.
Pickup slider Dry Rate controls how quickly the water dries as brush strokes are applied to the paper. If the dry rate is set to a low value, the brush strokes take longer to dry and diffuse more widely into the paper. If the dry rate is set to a high value, the brush strokes take less time to dry and diffuse less.

Dry Rate slider

Evaporation Threshold controls the minimum amount of water that can diffuse into the paper. If the evaporation threshold is set to a high value, the brush strokes diffuse less into the paper. If the evaporation threshold is set to a low value, the brush strokes diffuse further.
Evaporation Threshold slider
Diffuse Amount controls the amount of dye diffused and the contrast of the grain as a brush stroke diffuses into the paper. If the Diffuse Amount slider is set to a low value, a small amount of dye diffuses into the paper. If the Diffuse Amount slider is set to a high value, a larger amount of dye diffuses.

Diffusion Amount slider Accurate Diffusion controls the diffusion boundaries for a brush stroke
Accurate Diffusion option
Grain Soak-In controls the graininess of the brush stroke as it dries. If the Grain Soak-In slider is set to a low value, the brush stroke appears less grainy. If it is set to a high value, the graininess of the brush stroke increases.

Grain Soak-In slider

Wind Direction controls the direction of the wind as the water color diffuses into the paper. This control can be used to simulate tilting a wet water color to let gravity affect how the dye runs.

Wind Direction slider

Wind Force controls the force exerted as the water color diffuses into the paper in the wind direction specified. If the Wind Force slider is set to a low value, the water color stroke diffuses less in a given direction. If the Wind Force slider is set to a high value, the water color stroke diffuses more.

Wind Force slider

Papers Palette: Grain Control
Grain controls are found on the Papers palette. The Papers palette is closely associated with the Water Color layer, as the luminance of the paper grain determines the capillary channels of diffusion and modulates the soak-in of dye. The appearance of the paper grain can be controlled using the adjustment sliders on the Papers palette. The Papers palette includes the following controls:
Paper Scale slider adjusts the size of the paper grain Paper Contrast slider controls the height of the grain surface. Reducing contrast minimizes the appearance of the grain; increasing contrast increases the appearance of the grain. The ability to control grain height is useful for controlling the appearance of Water Color layers. Paper Brightness slider controls the luminance of the paper
Layers Palette: Water Color Commands
Water Color commands are found on the Layers palette. The Layers palette menu contains three commands specific to the Water Color layer:
Lift Canvas to Water Color Layer picks up any pixel information from the canvas and transfers it to a new Water Color layer as dye. Water Color brushes can interact with this dye, producing some interesting visual effects when combined with a photographic image. Wet Entire Water Color Layer wets a Water Color layer randomly based on the Wetness setting on the Stroke Designer page of the Brush Creator. Once wet, the Water Color layer diffuses until it dries. Dry Water Color Layer stops diffusion in a Water Color layer, fixing the current appearance of an image. When applying water color strokes with slow-drying brushes, it is a good idea to wait for the

drying process to finish before applying further strokes. This optimizes brush performance. In addition, the Water Color layer drying process is area-sensitiveall areas of the Water Color layer bounded by the water color strokes the farthest apart are processed. To optimize brush performance, it is best to keep new water color strokes in close proximity to recently applied strokes.
Resizing Water Color Images
To optimize the performance of the Water Color layer in Corel Painter, artists can work with water color images at a doubled screen magnification. This is easily accomplished by adjusting the image Zoom slider to 200%. By enabling the Accurate Diffusion check box in the Water area on the Stroke Designer page of the Brush Creator, artists can improve the rendering quality of the magnified image. It is sometimes necessary to adapt water color images to applications that require a higher native resolution. This is done by resizing an image. However, resizing an image introduces interpolation artifacts, which tend to soften the detail of the original image. To add detail to an image that has been affected by resizing, artists can rewet the image using the Wet Entire Water Color Layer command, keeping the same or different water color and paper grain settings. The following image illustrates how rewetting a Water Color layer reintroduces high resolution detail into an interpolated image.
Resizing water color images
Copyright 2001-2003 Corel Corporation. All rights reserved. Corel, the Corel logo, Corel Painter, Natural-Media, and "The ultimate digital sketching and painting tool" byline are trademarks or registered trademarks of Corel Corporation and/or its subsidiaries in Canada, the U.S. and/or other countries. Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Other product, font, and company names and logos may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Corel Painter 8 Tinting Visual Guide

Corel Painter 8

Contents
Welcome to Corel Painter 8. 3 Introduction. 4 Tinting Concepts in Corel Painter 8. 5
Layer Compositing Methods. 5 Brush Methods. 6 Buildup Method. 6 Cover Method. 7 Wet Layer and Water Color Layer Brushes. 8 Auto-Detection of Buildup and Cover Method Brushes. 9
Tinting Tools in Corel Painter. 10 Advanced Techniques in Corel Painter. 18

www.corel.com

Welcome to Corel Painter8
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. 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. The application features a redesigned user interface, including a new toolbox, Brush selector bar, property bar, Info palette, and new palette design and behavior. Corel Painter also includes a Mixer palette that realistically mimics the 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 Adobe Photoshop.

Introduction

Tinting is a layer-based artistic technique in which transparent brush strokes are applied over existing grayscale artwork to add color. Tinting is based on the Gel compositing method, which allows artists to add transparent layers of color to an image without opaquely covering it. In earlier versions of Corel Painter, tinting was accomplished using the water color brushes on the wet layer. To provide artists with a much more realistic simulation of traditional water color media, Corel Painter 8 contains a Water Color layer. However, many artists are accustomed to using the wet layer for tinting and are unsure how to obtain the same tinting effects using the more advanced Water Color layer in Corel Painter. The purpose of this document is to describe how tinting can be accomplished in Corel Painter without using the wet layer. This document is divided into two main sections, Tinting Concepts and Tinting Tools. The first section describes the concepts underlying Corel Painter tinting; the second describes the brush variants and techniques artists can use to add tinting effects to their images.
Tinting Concepts in Corel Painter 8
Layer Compositing Methods
The Layer Compositing methods control the manner in which the pixels on a layer blend with the pixels beneath it, and let artists create a wide variety of visual effects. The Composite Method pop-up menu is found on the top-left side of the Layers palette.
Some methods in the Composite pop-up menu A pink layer icon distinguishes a layer that has been set to the Gel compositing method, enabling tinting.

Brush Methods

The Method pop-up menu is in the General section of the Stroke Designer page. It lets artists choose the Cover or Buildup method to mix colors. Each method depends on the tool being simulated and has a set of subcategories that give artists greater control over how the method behaves.

Brush Method pop-up menu

Buildup Method
The Buildup method of color mixing produces brush strokes that get progressively darker as they are overlaid and saturation increases. This method is useful when simulating dye-based media, such as art markers.
Buildup method color strokes

Cover Method

The cover method of color mixing produces brush strokes that cover underlying strokes as they are overlaid. This method is useful when simulating pigment-based media, such as opaque paint.
Cover method color strokes
Wet Layer and Water Color Layer Brushes
Earlier versions of the application used the Cover method to mix colors on the wet layer. Corel Painter 8 uses the Buildup method to mix colors and uses the Water Color layer instead of the wet layer. Layer Type Brush Method Layer Compositing Method Wet layer Water Color layer Cover Buildup Default Gel

The Cover method and wet layer model used initially was a simplistic approach to simulating traditional water color, made necessary because most computers of the era lacked the processor bandwidth to power truly realistic water color simulation. With advances in processor speed and power, Corel Painter is now able to incorporate a more realistic physical modeling approach to simulating water color. The Buildup method used in this new model more faithfully simulates the behavior of water color dye.
Auto-Detection of Buildup and Cover Method Brushes
With the introduction of layers in an earlier version of the application, it became necessary to distinguish between Buildup and Cover method brushes, which do not both correctly display on a single layer. Buildup brushes require a Gel layer Composite method to composite images properly. Cover brushes require a Default layer Composite method. If both Brush Method types are applied to the same layer, one or both of the types will not composite underlying images properly. Corel Painter solves this problem by comparing the current layer with the selected Brush Method. By default, the New Layer command creates a default layer. If a Cover brush is selected and applied to the new layer, the layer remains a default layer. However, if a Buildup brush is selected and applied to the new layer, the Layer Composite Method automatically changes to a Gel method. Once a layer has been touched by a Cover or Buildup brush, the selection of a variant with an incompatible Brush Method will activate an alert icon on the Layers palette. It is important to note, however, that artists are not prevented from using an incompatible Brush Method on a layer; the alert icon merely informs them of potentially incorrect results. Clicking the alert icon displays a dialog box explaining the incorrect results. Because artists are not prevented from mixing Cover and Buildup Brush Method types on a layer, it is still possible to simulate the tinting effects made possible by the wet layer in earlier versions of the application.

Tinting Tools in Corel Painter
Corel Painter includes a suite of brushes called the Tinting category. The number of brushes in the Tinting category is small. This is intentional, as many brushes in Corel Painter can be used for tinting once the behavior of a Cover method brush on a Gel layer is understood. In addition, the XML-based brush library in Corel Painter means artists can easily duplicate Cover method brushes from other brush categories and place them in the Tinting category for quick retrieval. The ability to use Cover method brushes on a Gel layer dramatically increases the tinting capabilities of Corel Painter. The following guidelines help artists create an effective tinting technique. 1) To create a tinting layer, make a new layer and set its compositing method to Gel. 2) Ignore the alert icon on the Layers palette. 3) Use Cover Method brushes on the Gel layer. The following images have been created using the Corel Painter Tinting category variants. The variants work best with underlying imagery that showcases the transparent nature of the Gel layer.

Basic Round

The Basic Round variant is a smooth tinting brush with no grain in the strokes. At lighter pressures, the brush picks up and mixes color. As greater pressure is applied, the brush applies color without mixing it.

Blender

The Blender variant softens and blends existing color. In the above example, color has been applied with the Basic Round variant. The right half of the image has been softened and blended with the Blender.

Diffuser 1

The Diffuser 1 variant softens color boundaries and diffuses color edges. Continued application of Diffuser 1 strokes increases color diffusion. It is also pressure-sensitive: more pressure yields more diffusion.

Diffuser 2

The Diffuser 2 variant applies an aggressive diffusion effect to color and closely approximates water color diffusion. Continued application of Diffuser 2 strokes increases color diffusion. It is also pressure-sensitive: more pressure yields more diffusion.

Directional Diffuser

The Directional Diffuser variant approximates smearing by applying a directional diffusion effect to color based on stroke direction. Continued application of Diffuser 2 strokes increases color diffusion. It is also pressure-sensitive: more pressure yields more diffusion.

Hard Grainy Round

The Hard Grainy Round variant applies color while interacting with the paper grain. This variant is useful for applying secondary colors over existing color. It is also pressure-sensitive. Light pressure applies a minimal amount of color and corresponds to the height of the paper grain. Increased pressure fills the paper grain and produces a solid fill.

The Salty variant applies a random and circular erasure effect to color. The effect is similar to the water color technique in which salt is sprinkled onto wet water color areas, repelling the dye and creating white areas on the canvas.

Soft Eraser

The Soft Eraser variant erases color.

Soft Grainy Round

The Soft Grainy Round variant applies a pastel-like stroke that interacts with the paper grain. Light pressure smudges existing color and heavy pressure applies color, filling the paper grain.

Softener

The Softener variant blurs existing color. Light pressure applies a minimal amount of blur and heavy pressure applies a strong blur.

Other Brushes

The Tinting Category includes a number of Tinting variants, but any Cover Method brush can be used as a tinting tool on a Gel layer. The following images provide examples of brushes that can be used as tinting tools.
Brush Category: Smeary Bristle Spray
Airbrush Category: Fine Spray
Liquid Category: Turbulence

Liquid Category: Furry

Advanced Techniques in Corel Painter
Artists can use a technique to avoid accidentally painting on the canvas when tinting images: 1) Select the entire canvas containing the artwork, and click it with the Layer Adjustor tool. This floats the canvas as a new layer. 2) Lock the new artwork layer by clicking the layers lock icon on the Layers palette. 3) Position the tinting layer above the artwork layer. 4) Select the tinting layer, and use the tinting or Cover Method brushes to paint on it. If the hidden canvas layer is inadvertently selected, the tinting will be applied under the artwork layer and not to the artwork itself. To apply tinting to the artwork, select the top tinting layer.
Transferring Artwork to Adobe Photoshop
Images containing Gel composite method layers can be saved in Adobe Photoshop format for export. The Gel layers are converted to the Darken composite method used by Photoshop. The visual difference between the original image and the Photoshop image is minimal.
Copyright 2001- 2003 Corel Corporation. All rights reserved. Corel, the Corel logo, Corel Painter, Natural-Media, and "The ultimate digital sketching and painting tool" byline are trademarks or registered trademarks of Corel Corporation or Corel Corporation Limited in Canada, the United States and/or other countries. Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Other product, font, and company names and logos may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.