[Fred Flick Stone]

Ok, got some questions for you painter folks...I posted this also in another thread, so ignore this if you already answered elsewhere...

Any help from anybody will do me a world of good. I just got Painter 5.0 and I am lost. How do layers work in this program.? Are they the same as in photoshop or does it have its own way of using them? Any multiply layers or anything like that so I can preserve line art without killing it?

Also, how do you apply tools such as the liquid metal render tool. I can�t seem to use them for much of anything. They aren�t painting the effects down the way I think they should, and I am not sure how to apply the effect if I can�

Thank you anyone for your help if you can give any�

[AliasMoze]

Fred,
As far as I know, the layers seem to work roughly the same as in Photoshop. I can't figure out masks, but I've gotten the layers to work with Multiply, Screen, etc. What's most useful in the layers is that they can be locked, so you don't accidentally paint on them.

Can't help you with the liquid metal tool.

[Dean Welsh]

Hmm... Since this is a painter Question I guess I'll throw my question in here too.

I read somewhere that there's a "Net-paint" function in painter. And someone Conjectured that it might be a Deal where two painters could have a go at painting a picture together over the net.

I don't know how it works or even if it's in fact IN the program. But any insight on this would be much appreciated. I have a friend who is greatly intrigued and I would love to see if two Digital Painters "Spoil the soup"

[AliasMoze]

Dean,
I believe that more than one person can connect.
I, for one, would love to sit in on a Spooge painting session. That would make my year.

I have, however, been unable to figure out the feature. I have yet to read the instructions though.

[Shane Caudle]

Fred, why didn't you get Painter 6?

Here are a few tips that are handy,

1:You can scale the brush size in real time by holding down Ctl + Atl, and click and dragging to the desired size.

2:Ctl picks colors from the screen.
3: Space Bar+Click pans the image around.
4:Ctl+Space bar zooms in.
5: Ctl+Alt+Space Bar, zooms out.
6: Ctl+H hides/unhides all tools.

Fred also, try out the scripts, this is very cool, you can record every brush stroke in a painting, and then play in back later and it will automatically re paint your image while you sit back and watch.

You can even make them resolution independent, so you could paint an image on a low res version, and then later make it re paint it at a much higher res.




------------------
Shane Caudle
Art Director/Level Designer/3D Dude
For Epic Games on Unreal and Unreal Tournament
[email protected]
http://www.planetshane.com

[Leo]

Hey Fred,
friendly speaking the realization of the layer system in Painter 5.0 is sucked. I use 6.0 and no problems with layers - standart PS commands for layers available (like Multiply, Screen etc.) As for the version 5.0 well open Window menu and select Show Objects (or press Ctrl+4). The objects window will up. Highlight floater option - so here you can play with your layers: create them, group/ungroup, turn on/off visibly and so on. For controls also use Tools window with Adjuster option - here is your composite methods: Multiply, Screen, Overlay etc. and layer opacity. But as i said before this system is kinda sucked... find Painter 6.0 !

Liquid metal plugin... don't see any problems with it. Once again goto Objects -> P.Floater -> Liquid Metal -> Apply
Now you can add fixed drops or set any params and paint like a standart brush.

Leo

[Fred Flick Stone]

Thank you very much for all the tips. To answer a few questions, I got 5.0 from a friend. I haven't been able to find any versions of this program. Is it discontinued? I would love to get my hands on a copy of 6. I am still new to painter, but I am slowly starting to like certain things about it that I haven't found in photoshop yet. And, I like the fact that you can make an image distorted enough that it no longer feels digital at all, though the process is still like smearing crisco over a windsheild, not very gritty in terms of feeling the strokes. I feel my hand moving, that is all...

Thank you again, and any other tips would be useful. Istill need to read more about this program, but it seems very cool in terms of not stepping too far from traditional. Too bad not that many other artists felt this way or the program would still be readily available I guess...

[samdragon]

You'll have to visit corel.com to find out about painter 6
I never like the "wow" books until I read the painter 6 wow book. It's a great book to help get you started with painter. It gives great info on how to create custom brushes to get the results you are wanting. I don't push books unless they are something worth reading, and this one is great.
The title is "the painter 6 wow book"
IMHO it's for people who allready have the traditional skills and are looking for ways to bring them into the digital world. I think you will like it.
As for painter 5, I think they have painter 5 wow books also, but i'm not sure of it's quality, havn't read it. I used to have the manuals for painter5, If I still do, you're welcome to em.
Good luck.

[Anthony]

I was the one who suggested the collaborative paintings, and yes, it's in Painter. I suggest everyone getting Painter6.0 if possible, to get us all on the same page. My ICQ is 892392 and my AOLIM is LordAnt11. Get ahold of me if you're interested in doing this, and I'll organize it. Spooge or Fred join and we'll be swamped!

------------------
-Anthony
Carpe Carpem

[Grant F]

I used to use Painter a lot more than Photoshop and tried my darndest to make it function like Photoshop in the layers department.

I could get Painter to do 80% of the stuff Photoshop would do, but it requires a lot of fiddl'n about.

What makes Painter cooler than Photoshop is the effects- and unfortunately utilising the cool effects in conjunction with layers is where painter falls flat on its face.

For instance:

You like the Pastel brush and you want to utilise it on a seperate layer.

In Photoshop you create a new layer and start painting on it.

In Painter, you create a new Transparent layer under the Floater menu on the Objects window.

You try and paint on the new layer and you get nothing.

What you have to do is select your pastel brush, expand your brush menu out as illustrated. (It isn't like this by default...I discovered it purely by accident )



The extra two tab menus then allow you to mix and match your brush types.

I won't describe what each one does but if you set the left on to 'Plug in' and the right one to 'Transparent Layer Brush' then your pastel will be able to paint on the transparent layer.

Joy!

Except now it doesn't recognise the canvas patterns, thus limiting its appeal. You can do this will any brush, but what you'll find is by allowing it to become a transparent layer brush, you take away some of its other funky attributes.

ie. The glow tool relies on the 'Plug In' 'Glow Tool' setting, so setting it to
'Trans. Layer brush'renders it useless.

And you cannot erase simply from Trans. layers. If you want to erase the pastel brush strokes you've just painted, you've got to go into the 'Mask' section, highlight the transparent layer mask and paint black onto the areas you want to erase as per a photoshop mask.

Annoying, no?

Once an image exists on a layer, for instance you paste a portion of an image on a new layer, or scribble some Transparent layer brush strokes, you can then play with whatever's there as if it exists on the base layer. You can apply glows or smudge it about or warp it...you just can't go beyond the borders of that image on that layer.

ie. you paste circle onto a new layer, you can play about within the confines of that circle, but not outside of it...the only way to do this is to set your brush to transparent layer mode.

As you can tell, this is a painful way of operating, and explains why my first tool of choise these days is photoshop. I'll generally rely on Painter for doing painterly images, or producing nice effects, but will always finese and finish an image in Photoshop.

Hope this helps some of you, and any additions to this information would be appreciated

Grant F.
---
Designer/Matte Painter.
Animal Logic.
Sydney, Australia.

[iska]

Here's a link to a .PDF file about the net painting feature...
http://newgraphics.corel.com/products/netpainter.pdf

--iska

[samdragon]

Hey Grant F, get painter 6, you will not have to do any of that ever again. the layers in P6 are more like photoshop layers, exactly alike actually, they are interchangable with photoshop, so you can open photoshop layers in 6 and open P6 layers in photoshop (with the exception of a couple of adjustment layers of course).
You can make a new layer and paint on it with anything except wet media. Wet media is always on the canvas, unless you know how to fool painter and make it think the wet is dry.
If you get a chance,grab painter 6, you'll be very happy

[sfr]

Granted, the layers in Painter 6 are nice and easy to use, but they're still really slow... I want to make my images hires (something like 1500-2500 wide usually), and if I try using even a single additional layer, most of the bigger brushes slow to a crawl. Maybe my Athlon 550 is getting old already... But on the other hand I don't really see any important use for layers when painting, so it doesn't really bother me

Saffron / Sunflower

[Dean Welsh]

WOO!!! thanks guys! What a wonderful place.

[Alan]

Hey Fred-
Doh! I fell ino the ceenda trap and posted this in the old thread, but anyway... here it is...

Yes, Painter can seem strange. I've pretty much stopped using it. But, as for layers, to paint on a layer in Painter you must use brushes that employ the transparent layer submethod. You can transform any brush into a transparent layer brush by changing its method to plug-in and submethod to transparent layer brushes in the brushes palette.
To add a transparent layer to an existing file, open the objects: floater list palette. To paint on the new layer, load the layer brush library, choose one of the layer brush varients, select the layer in the objects:floater list and paint.

Hope you understand this... good luck

-Alan

[ceenda]

he he he, just as well really, it seems I was completely wrong about the objects stuff...

blah blah blah blah....