sandman
February 26th, 2006, 04:38 PM
I have been working on a texture brush library for Painter to supplement some of the default brushes which give textured effects in conjunction with paper grain etc.
The LE version which is now available, has ben developed to work in Painter 7 through IX. The library comprises of five brush categories, which are described as follows, along with a few brief instructions for use.
1. Cover Grain
These variants are set to behave like texture airbrushes, which derive texture from the currently selected paper grain. Both the current foreground and background colors (selected in the Colors palette) will correspond with the light and dark areas of the paper texture selected (adjust paper contrast to suite).
The 'GS' variants in this category are preset for WYSIWYG application (when full opacity is reached) in conjunction with the Paper Preview Window in the Papers palette. However, to achieve this, the foreground color had to be preset to white, and the background black, so remember to adjust the foreground color if you subsequently use a non GS variant afterwards (unless you actually want to paint with white).
There are also two Toothbrush (splatter) variants which also interact with the current paper grain.
Note that with the variants in this category, any underlying imagery will be completely covered at full opacity.
2/3. Sampling 1 and Sampling Impasto.
Although I believe the 'raw material' to build these brushes has been there since at least Painter 6, the concept of sampling color and imagery already present on the canvas or layer, then creating unique textures with it, will be something very new to most of you. The technique of using the Sampling variants is described below;
First, open an image in Painter (or paint a few lines, splashes of various colors etc on a new canvas).
Next, ensure brush ghosting is enabled in the Painter preferences, select either the Rectangular Selection, Oval Selection or Lasso tool from the Tools palette and create a selection (taking up a small to medium sized area of canvas).
Create a new default layer, and ensure that 'Pick up Underlying Color' is checked and 'Preserve Transparency' is unchecked. With the new layer still selected;
Select the Bacteria Sampler from the Sampling 1 brush category, and with your tablet stylus, hover over an area of interesting, contrasting imagery by holding the stylus approximately 1 cm above the tablet surface. You should be able to see the brush outline ghosting while you are doing this.
When you have an area of contrasting imagery within the brush ghosting outline, press down with the stylus, and make contact with the tablet surface (the brush ghosting outline should have now changed into a cursor). Now, without lifting the stylus tip off the tablet surface, drag the cursor inside the selection (unless you chose to initially select imagery which was already inside the selection).
Move the cursor around, within the selection (again, without lifting the stylus tip away from the tablet drawing surface). If all has gone to plan, you should now be seeing your first sampled texture. Repeat the same steps with the other Sampling variants and source imagery.
There is currently a limitation with this technique, which is that the initial sampled imagery (on the brush) is lost the moment the stylus tip is lifted off the tablet surface. If any of the Painter developers are reading this, I would like the facility to sample globally from anywhere on the monitor and perhaps hold down a key, so that as long as the key is pressed, my sampled imagery remains on the brush even if I lift the stylus away from the tablet surface.
4. Transparency Grain.
Unlike the Cover Grain category, the Transparency Grain variants allow some underlying imagery to show through (particularly in conjunction with high contrast paper textures). Note that the HTGRN and STGRN variants work inversely to each other, in relation to the light and dark areas of the paper grain. Adjust paper contrast to suite.
The beauty of layers is that it is possible to place the imagery created by these variants on different layers and move them over each other to create yet more textures. Don't forget also that any textures created may be added to an Image Portfolio library and saved for later use.
5. TX_FX
The Canvas Relief variant gives a three dimensional (non-impasto) canvas texture look as a post-painting effect. Just rub the variant over small areas of imagery, two or three times over the same area, and watch the effect. You may need to adjust stylus pressure applied to the tablet, and opacity setting.
As the name suggests, the Comb variant produces a directional post-painting combed effect.
The Tex Straight Cloner variant can be used to transfer existing texture to other areas in the painting. Hold down the Option/Alt key, click on the initial clone source position, release the key and paint in the desired area.
Tex_Neg Depth GRN and the associated eraser are impasto depth variants. The Depth GRN variant works in conjunction with the currently selected paper texture.
Sorry I have not had time to produce any supporting images,
Let me know if they are of any use.
Oops, I almost forgot to provide the download link here (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.gell/Download_Files/Tex_Studio_LE.zip)
The LE version which is now available, has ben developed to work in Painter 7 through IX. The library comprises of five brush categories, which are described as follows, along with a few brief instructions for use.
1. Cover Grain
These variants are set to behave like texture airbrushes, which derive texture from the currently selected paper grain. Both the current foreground and background colors (selected in the Colors palette) will correspond with the light and dark areas of the paper texture selected (adjust paper contrast to suite).
The 'GS' variants in this category are preset for WYSIWYG application (when full opacity is reached) in conjunction with the Paper Preview Window in the Papers palette. However, to achieve this, the foreground color had to be preset to white, and the background black, so remember to adjust the foreground color if you subsequently use a non GS variant afterwards (unless you actually want to paint with white).
There are also two Toothbrush (splatter) variants which also interact with the current paper grain.
Note that with the variants in this category, any underlying imagery will be completely covered at full opacity.
2/3. Sampling 1 and Sampling Impasto.
Although I believe the 'raw material' to build these brushes has been there since at least Painter 6, the concept of sampling color and imagery already present on the canvas or layer, then creating unique textures with it, will be something very new to most of you. The technique of using the Sampling variants is described below;
First, open an image in Painter (or paint a few lines, splashes of various colors etc on a new canvas).
Next, ensure brush ghosting is enabled in the Painter preferences, select either the Rectangular Selection, Oval Selection or Lasso tool from the Tools palette and create a selection (taking up a small to medium sized area of canvas).
Create a new default layer, and ensure that 'Pick up Underlying Color' is checked and 'Preserve Transparency' is unchecked. With the new layer still selected;
Select the Bacteria Sampler from the Sampling 1 brush category, and with your tablet stylus, hover over an area of interesting, contrasting imagery by holding the stylus approximately 1 cm above the tablet surface. You should be able to see the brush outline ghosting while you are doing this.
When you have an area of contrasting imagery within the brush ghosting outline, press down with the stylus, and make contact with the tablet surface (the brush ghosting outline should have now changed into a cursor). Now, without lifting the stylus tip off the tablet surface, drag the cursor inside the selection (unless you chose to initially select imagery which was already inside the selection).
Move the cursor around, within the selection (again, without lifting the stylus tip away from the tablet drawing surface). If all has gone to plan, you should now be seeing your first sampled texture. Repeat the same steps with the other Sampling variants and source imagery.
There is currently a limitation with this technique, which is that the initial sampled imagery (on the brush) is lost the moment the stylus tip is lifted off the tablet surface. If any of the Painter developers are reading this, I would like the facility to sample globally from anywhere on the monitor and perhaps hold down a key, so that as long as the key is pressed, my sampled imagery remains on the brush even if I lift the stylus away from the tablet surface.
4. Transparency Grain.
Unlike the Cover Grain category, the Transparency Grain variants allow some underlying imagery to show through (particularly in conjunction with high contrast paper textures). Note that the HTGRN and STGRN variants work inversely to each other, in relation to the light and dark areas of the paper grain. Adjust paper contrast to suite.
The beauty of layers is that it is possible to place the imagery created by these variants on different layers and move them over each other to create yet more textures. Don't forget also that any textures created may be added to an Image Portfolio library and saved for later use.
5. TX_FX
The Canvas Relief variant gives a three dimensional (non-impasto) canvas texture look as a post-painting effect. Just rub the variant over small areas of imagery, two or three times over the same area, and watch the effect. You may need to adjust stylus pressure applied to the tablet, and opacity setting.
As the name suggests, the Comb variant produces a directional post-painting combed effect.
The Tex Straight Cloner variant can be used to transfer existing texture to other areas in the painting. Hold down the Option/Alt key, click on the initial clone source position, release the key and paint in the desired area.
Tex_Neg Depth GRN and the associated eraser are impasto depth variants. The Depth GRN variant works in conjunction with the currently selected paper texture.
Sorry I have not had time to produce any supporting images,
Let me know if they are of any use.
Oops, I almost forgot to provide the download link here (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.gell/Download_Files/Tex_Studio_LE.zip)