Using PSD for painter?

[Aberrant]

I switch from photoshop to painter and I want one format that supports layers that both can use... are there any drawbacks to using PSDs in painter?

[rogfa]

I use PSDs for both programs. I once saved in the RIFF format and it ended up getting corrupted and I lost all my work. Since then it's all PSDs and I haven't had any problems going from Painter 6, 9 and PhotoShop CS. PhotoShop can handle a lot of layers without problem but I'm not sure the same goes for Painter. I work primarily on the canvas and only add a new layer if I want to try something. Flatten it if I'm happy and continue on the canvas.

One thing to note in Painter is to enable Pick Up Underlying Color on new layers. If you don't enable it and use a brush with bleed it will put down a color with white all around it - not nice.

[Aberrant]

Hehe, I found that out a few weeks ago, I finished half a painting like that before the light turned on. Thanks.

[Jin]

Photoshop should be able to read Painter's Default Layers (regular Layers).

However, if you have wet Digital Watercolor paint on a Painter Layer or on the Canvas (in Painter 6 and Painter 7 it would be undried Water Color paint on the invisible Wet Layer at the Canvas level), it will be dried in Photoshop and remain dry when the image is again opened in Painter.

Photoshop won't recognize:

• Painter's vector based Text Layers as dynamic (editable text size, font, leading, tracking, drop shadows, text on a curve, etc.) and they'll open in Photoshop as raster based Layers.

• Liquid Ink Layers as dynamic (adjustable Amount of depth and Threshold, or density of brushstrokes) and they'll open in Photoshop as regular raster based Layers.

• Painter's Watercolor Layers in Composite Method Gel and those will open in Photoshop as regular Layers in Blending Mode Darken. Unlike Painter, those Watercolor Layers in Photoshop cannot be made wet or painted with brushes that behave as Painter's Watercolor variants behave.

• Painter's vector based Shapes and they'll open in Photoshop as raster based Layers.

• Painter's Dynamic Plugin Layers (editable after the fact of their first creation by double clicking the Dynamic Plugin Layer and adjusting the controls) and they'll open in Photoshop as regular Layers.

• Painter's Reference Layers, low resolution stand-in versions of Layers that are Placed (File > Place) or is to be Transformed (i.e. Effects > Orientation > Free Transform) and they'll open in Photoshop as regular Layers.

• Some other Painter Layer Composite Methods, in addition to Gel, may not be available in Photoshop. For instance. Painter's Default Composite Method will open in Photoshop as Blending Mode Normal.

• If Painter's Clone feature is being used on a Layer (or even on the Canvas) you may not be able to continue the process in Photoshop as the cloning capabilities may not include everything available in the Painter Clone system.

• (This is not related to Layers, only to the Painter Canvas) Painter Mosaics will not be editable (as we do in Painter using Canvas > Make Mosaic dialog box and Effects > Surface Control > Apply Surface Texture using: Mask) in Photoshop and will open as regular raster based imagery.

• Many other features in Painter not listed above may not be possible in Photoshop.

Likewise, many Photoshop features, some Layer Blending Modes, and other cabilities will not be available in Painter.

This should not be a surprise, however, since they're too different programs designed for different purposes.

If you're not sure how something will translate, do some testing first to avoid disappointments.


Jinny

[Aberrant]

Thanks, lots more info there than I can soak up, but it's helpful.

[Jin]

You can soak it up, it just takes time.

Also, other people will read this thread and the info you didn't need, they may need.


Jinny

[dbclemons]

Also, the Impasto depth and surface lighting settings on a layer won't appear properly if going from Painter to Photoshop. I usually save those out as a non-layer format like TGA, and then load that image and place it as a layer in Photoshop as a last step.

Another thing to notice is the PSD file size. Saving the file again in Photoshop usually makes them much smaller in size; probably a compression thing.

-David