[Ice Blade]

All right. I've had the trial version of Painter 7 on my computer for two weeks now and I *still* am no closer to figuring this thing out than I was when I downloaded it. (...All right. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but not much.) I don't get it - I taught myself how to use Painter 5 in fourty five minutes! Why must Painter 7 be so endlessly arcane and *impossible to use*??

I realize that they want me to spend money on their book as well as the program. But I'm not going to spend 219 dollars for a program if I'm going to wind up tossing my computer out the window because I can't figure out how to use it!

I've started looking for copies of Painter 5, but apparently they don't sell it anymore. If anyone knows where I could buy a copy... *sigh*

Is this just me? Am I simply too retarded to work this program? Or are other people having problems too?

Are there ANY decent tutorials online on how to use Painter 7?

Sorry for whining, but I'm pretty frustrated. I'll stop asking questions and shut up now.
--
Ice Blade

[Anthony]

Coming from Painter 6 I found 7 much easier to use. It took me about 5 minutes to figure out the new layers and brush settings, so I dunno what's up. Wish I could help more, its pretty straight forward! What aspect are you confused about?

[Jin]

Hi,

There are a lot of Painter 7 tutorials at PixelAlley.

In the older tutorials section (upper left link) on the PixelAlley Section Links Page at ...
http://www.pixelalley.com/pixelalley-sections-pages.html

... look for tutorials with a purple dot. That means they're useable in Painter 7.

On the right side of the PixelAlley Section Links Page (link above), there are more Painter 7 tutorials and other information that will be helpful.

If you can tell me specific areas of Painter 7 you're having trouble understanding, I'll be happy to help, so you can make the most of the trial period you still have left.

In the meantime, brush settings are made in the Brush Controls palette's sections. Use Ctrl/Command+7 to open this palette, then click the small triangles on the left end of each section to open the sections and take a look and the various sliders and other brush setting options.

In the Objects palette (Ctrl/Command+4), you'll find the Layers section. In the upper right corner, click the small triangle to open the Layers section menu.

Also, take a look at this set of two pages to get an overview of the Painter 7 Interface:
http://www.pixelalley.com/painterforum-indepth/Ptr7-scrnprt-pg1.html

Click the NEXT link below the screen print to go to the second page. There are also links to sets of two pages each for Painter 5 and Painter 6 so be sure you're reading the info for Painter 7.

[Ice Blade]

I guess it was the fact that the Painter 7 interface behaves a lot more realistically than Painter 5 that threw me off. There are a lot of variables to take into consideration - and when I messed with the brush settings I didn't really understand what it was that I was changing about the brush I was using a lot of the time.

Jin: Thank you for posting the link to those tutorials! They really helped me figure out how to customize Painter to the way I was used to using it. And it helped that there were links to some custom brushes. I think that those tutorials got me started in the right direction.

Thanks.

[Jin]

Ice Blade,

The best way to learn how the Brush Controls work is to open the Brush Controls palette sections one a time, choose a brush, then adjust the sliders and other settings each time making a brush stroke to see how it changes.

Working on a reasonably large blank white Canvas (but not so large that it slows things down) will give you a lot of room to test brush strokes.

After a while, you'll begin to see what each control does, and pretty soon you'll be able to adjust settings to get the results you want, deliberately.

Remember, too, that how the brush paints color can also be controlled in the Art Materials palette's Color Variability section where Hue, Saturation, and Value variability are set and there are options to paint color in HSV, in RGB, from Gradient, or from Color Set.

How the brush interacts with Paper texture is controlled in the Papers section as well as with the Brush Controls palette General section's Grain slider (or with the Controls:Brushes palette's Grain slider) and Expression section options.

It would also help a lot to spend some time reading the Painter 7 User Guide, Chapter 8 Customizing Brushes. This will at least give you an idea where to look for specific information when you need it.

It does take a while to get used to the brush controls, but it's not hopeless, so just dig in and play.

Have fun!

[ceenda]

I was about to say what Jin said, albeit in less detailed prose.

The key to Painter is to really take a brush and play with the brush controls dialog. It's complexity is it's selling point. I'm still discovering new brush variations a year after using Painter.

[Jin]

ceenda,

One can become addicted to creating new brush variants! I'm still discovering new variants after using Painter since about 1995. Granted, Painter 6 and 7 have made it a lot more fun, especially Painter 7 since we can now share brushes across platforms.

I forgot to mention a tutorial at PixelAlley that Jeremy Sutton wrote and kindly let me post there. Judy Miller on the Painter list at Topica.com figured out how to make Dry Media brushes interact with Paper textures like they did in earlier versions and Jeremy wrote the tutorial.

For anyone new to Painter 7, it would be a good idea to read this one:
http://www.pixelalley.com/tutorials/jeremys-texture-test.html

[Egg Beater]

I nominate Jin for CEO of Procreate. Yes, that'll do.

[Jin]

Egg Beater,

Oboy! Does this mean I'll get paid now?

(I'd settle for Painter Lover of the Decade.)

Like your name, by the way.

[suleman]

I just recently aquired paiter 7, and i got a problem, but since there was already a painter 7 thread i thought it'd be better to just post my question in here instead of getting flamed :X.

I'm pretty well aquainted with the interface now, so im moving on to learning the basics of 'coloring'...ya know. And its kinda hard.

I tried using the tutorial at cyberphobia, who uses painter 6; he says that the waterbrush system is different between these two. tutorial=http://www.arnistotle.com/painter.htm

So far ive seen that there isnt a simple water brush.. so i guess they just changed the name to simple wet or whatever it was... and whenever i go from 'dark to light' like he says the colors just get darker.

So what i need are either some settings... i think, a new tutorial, or just a few words to help me get started... please

I did notice the tutorials already posted, but those werent exactly what i had in mind... i want something more comic book related so i dont have to use my brain too much, and can just jump in.. or something.

thanks

[ October 25, 2002: Message edited by: suleman ]