FIG 1.1 Sailing ship – painted with the Square Chalk brush
The first part of this chapter is intended for complete beginners to Painter and contains simple exercises to guide the user in identifying the key areas of the workspace. If you have previously used Painter you may wish to skim this section or just pick up on the newer features.
The second part of the chapter contains information to enable you to customize the program to your own requirements and covers the use of graphic tablets and setting preferences to make the work process smoother and quicker.
Both sections can be used as a quick reference guide to the key elements as you work through the step by step examples in later chapters.
Information on printing and color management can be found in Chapter 12.
Many readers will have already used and be very familiar with Adobe Photoshop, and for them I have included a section highlighting the differences between the two programs: sometimes the naming of techniques differs and of course the location of particular commands. There are also tables of file compatibility, tools and keyboard shortcuts.
The Painter 11 workspace
Default view
Figure 1.2 shows the default view of Painter 11 with the File bar at the top of the screen and the Properties bar just beneath, leading to the Brush Selector on the right. The tools are on the left and a selection of palettes on the right beneath the Brush Selector.
FIG 1.2 The default view of Painter 11
FIG 1.3 The Toolbox with hidden tools shown to the side. The Library palette icons at the bottom of the Toolbox are shortcuts to the following palettes: Papers, Gradients, Patterns, Weaves, Brush Looks and Image Nozzles
New tools added in Painter 11 are the Transform tool, which is behind the Layer Adjuster tool, and the Polygonal Lasso, which is behind the Rectangular Selection tool
Painter is unable to read RAW files, so they will need to be opened first in a RAW reader such as Adobe Camera Raw or Aperture
Toolbox
The Toolbox is where all the tools are stored (no surprise there then) and Figure 1.3 shows the Painter 11 Toolbox with all the hidden tools revealed and shown alongside.
To access the hidden tools, click and hold the visible tool and the other options will appear to the side – just click the one required. Some of the important tools which are being used in this book are detailed in this chapter, but most are very obvious by their icons.
Keyboard shortcuts are set up for many of the regularly used tools and others can be customized in the Preferences menu. A full explanation of all the tools can be found in the Painter program under Help > Help Topics.
Opening a picture in Painter
Painter is able to use several different types of pictures. If you are bringing in pictures from a digital camera, the most common file types are JPEG or TIFF format. If you are importing a picture that has been saved in Adobe Photoshop the file type is likely to be PSD. Painter will happily use all these file types and several others. Painter does have its own file type called RIFF, however when importing photographs it is not necessary to use this in the majority of cases. It is generally desirable not to use very large image files as they will slow the program down and some of the complex brushes in particular can be very slow.
If the image is to be printed then a resolution between 150 dpi and 300 dpi is preferable, which means a file size of between 10 and 20 mb is suitable to print up to A4 and A3. For web use a much smaller file size can be used: in most cases around 1mb. More information on file sizes and printing can be found in Chapter 12.
Open ‘ Boots ’ from Chapter 1 folder on the DVD, or use your own photograph to try these procedures.
Brush Selector
The Brush Selector is where the type of brush is chosen. Brushes are at the heart of everything in Painter and are dealt with in a lot more depth in Chapters 3 and 4.
On the right of the Properties bar is the Brush Selector. Click the brush icon on the left and the drop down menu will reveal the extensive range of brush categories that are available. Click and drag down the bottom right corner of the menu to see the full list of brush categories. Select the Oils category.
Click on the right-hand icon to reveal another drop down menu that shows the list of variants for the Oils brush category. Once again you will need to drag down the list to reveal all the variants. This is a very large category and will give some idea of the huge number of brushes available. Click on the Bristle Oils 30 brush as illustrated in Figure 1.4.
Picking a color from the Colors palette
To choose a color go to the Colors palette, which should be visible on the right of the screen. If this is not the case go to Window>Color Palettes>Colors and it will appear.
Figure 1.5 shows the Colors palette. Click in the outer colored circle to choose the hue or color. The inner section defines the brightness of the color – the pure color is on the right, the darker colors bottom left and lighter at the top – click within the triangle to choose the tone. The orange square (lower square on the left in Figure 1.5) is the Main color and confirms which color has been chosen. The Colors palette is explained in more detail in Chapter 7. Draw some lines on the picture to get a feel for the brush. If you are using a graphic tablet you will see that the brush responds differently depending on the angle used – this is common to many of the brushes. I recommend that you use a graphic tablet as it is essential for getting the most out of the program. At the end of this chapter there are some tips on setting up your graphics tablet for Painter.
Now try a brush from the Chalk brush category; click on Square Chalk 35 which is very different to the Oil brush. Try some of the other brush categories yourself but for the moment avoid the Watercolor and Liquid Ink categories as they need a special layer to work on. Get rid of the brush marks by using Ctrl/Cmd Z.
The Colors palette is much improved in Painter 11. The addition of the RGB and HSV sliders is a great help, as is the ability to enlarge the palette to make choosing colors easier.
It is also now possible to make small adjustments by pressing the arrow keys on the keyboard; this will move the Color palette cursor by precise amounts
Properties bar
Figure 1.6 shows the Properties Bar. This is a context sensitive bar and changes to whatever tool is currently active. In the example shown it is relevant to the brush and this is where the brush size is usually changed. Alongside this is the Opacity setting that adjusts the density of color being put onto the paper. The other settings will be dealt with in more detail in Chapter 4.
Correcting mistakes
Your image will now be covered with paint strokes (Figure 1.7) so this is a good point to show how to correct mistakes and, if necessary, return a picture back to its original state.
The very valuable Undo command is found in the Edit menu and as we have been using a brush the line will read Undo Brush Stroke. Click on this and the last brush stroke will be undone; click on it again and the previous brush stroke will also be undone. As you can see, the command works backward and continues to remove the last action taken until you reach the maximum numbers of Undo, which is 32 steps. This number can be changed in the Preferences menu which is covered later in this chapter. Rather than go to the menu every time you want to use Undo, it is much quicker to use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl/Cmd Z. If you are a Photoshop user you will need to be aware that the Undo command in Painter works differently and is not a toggle action.
To redo an action, go to Edit>ReDo or use the shortcut Ctrl/Cmd+Y.
If you want to get back to the original, go to File>Revert. Confirm you want to do this by clicking Revert in the pop up dialog box and the picture will return to its original state. This will work provided the original picture is still in the same place from which it was loaded, either on your computer or on the DVD.
Moving around the picture
FIG 1.8 Magnifier options on the Properties bar
One of the great advantages with all graphic programs is the ability to enlarge the picture to work at a more detailed level. The quickest way of doing this is to use the keyboard shortcuts, but I will mention the Toolbox method as well.
Click on the Magnifier in the Toolbox and click in the picture; this will enlarge the picture by 25% each time you click. To reduce the magnification, hold down the Alt/Opt key and click in the picture again. When the Magnifier tool is active there are three buttons on the Properties bar that give preset views, as shown in Figure 1.8.
Actual Pixels shows the image at 100% enlargement, which is very useful for checking detail.
Fit on Screen will show the whole picture on the screen as large as possible without being hidden by anything else.
Center Image will return the image to the center when it has been magnified.
Another way to change the magnification is to use the slider at the base of the document window (Figure 1.9). The percentage number shown on the right of the bar is the current magnification of the picture. Type in an amount and press Enter to go to a specific magnification. Increase the magnification significantly then click on the binoculars icon shown in Figure 1.9 to the left of the slider; this will show you which part of the image is being magnified.
FIG 1.9 Using the slider to magnify the picture
The screen is shown in Figure 1.10 with the full picture in the small rectangle bottom left and a red rectangle showing the part of the picture that is being shown on screen. Click and drag inside the rectangle to move the area being magnified.
Click the Grabber (Hand icon) in the Toolbox and the cursor will change to a hand; click and drag in the window to move the image. Double-click on the Grabber icon in the Toolbox and the picture will change from a magnified view to the full picture being visible on screen.
Rotating the canvas
The Grabber is one of several tools that have alternative options in the Toolbox. Click and hold the Grabber and select the second icon with a circular arrow. This is the Rotate Page tool and allows the picture to be rotated to make it easier to paint with certain brushes. Click and drag in the document window to see the image rotate. To return to the original position click once in the image or double-click on the Rotate Page icon in the Toolbox. Don’t confuse this with the Rotate Canvas command in the Canvas menu; Rotate Page simply turns the picture around in the same way a traditional artist might move a canvas around to get a better angle. Figure 1.11 shows the rotated image.
Normal view
The Normal view is shown in Figure 1.12 with the picture contained within its document window. The Full Screen option frees the image from the confines of the document box and fills the entire screen including behind the palettes and Toolbox. This is a good way to work as it allows more freedom to move the image around on screen and removes much of the clutter.
Full Screen view
Figure 1.13 shows the Full Screen view. To use this mode either go to the Window menu or click on Screen Mode Toggle, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl/Cmd+M.
This is a toggle action so pressing the keys again will revert to the Normal view.
Keyboard shortcuts for the screen
Ctrl /Cmd ++ will magnify the image.
Ctrl /Cmd +- will reduce the magnification.
Ctrl /Cmd + Alt/Opt + 0 will show the picture at 100% (actual pixels).
Ctrl /Cmd + 0 will make the image fit on the screen.
Pressing the Spacebar while painting will activate the Grabber to enable the image to be moved. When the Spacebar is released the current tool will be active once again.
Using and organizing palettes
There are over 30 palettes in Painter 11 and even though they will collapse and stack very neatly they do take up room on the screen that could be used for the image. Many of them are not usually needed when working with photographs so fortunately they are easy to organize and unwanted ones can be removed.
To remove a palette from the screen, click on the cross in a square on the palette header. To show palettes not visible on the screen, go to the Window menu and click on the name of the palette you want. Some of the palettes such as Brush Controls are arranged in groups for convenience.
FIG 1.14 Some useful palettes to keep on screen
To expand or collapse a palette click either on the triangle on the left, or on the name of the palette itself. To move and link palettes together click on the blank area to the right of the palette name and drag the palette over another palette and they will dock together.
Figure 1.14 shows the palettes that I keep on the screen and use regularly; they are usually kept collapsed as shown and opened when required.
Creating custom palettes
It is often very useful to create custom palettes – some to use on a regular basis and others just for a particular picture or project. Here is a quick guide to creating a custom palette with a variety of shortcuts.
Select a brush variant from the Brush Selector; click on the variant icon and drag it out into the main workspace. A Custom menu will be immediately created as in Figure 1.15; you can now add further items to the palette. Select a brush from another brush category, drag that onto your new custom palette, and position it to the right of the original icon.
FIG 1.16 Add Command dialog box for the custom palette
The icon can be positioned anywhere on the custom palette, alongside or below. If you want to rearrange the icons hold down the Shift key and drag the icon to where you want it to be. To delete an icon hold down the Shift key and drag the icon off the palette.
Now add a paper texture. Open the Papers palette or use the quick icons in the Toolbox and drag the paper icon from the palette onto the Custom palette.
FIG 1.17 A custom palette for cloning
Menu commands can also be added. Go to Window>Custom Palette>Add Command and the dialog box shown in Figure 1.16 appears; select the name of the palette you are working on. To add the Tracing Paper command, go to Canvas>Tracing Paper then return to the Add Command palette and click OK; the shortcut will appear on the new palette.
To delete or rename custom palettes go to Window>Custom Palettes>Organizer, highlight the palette you want to change, and click the relevant button. Painter will remember this palette each time you open the program, but to save a really useful palette permanently it can be saved as a file by pressing Export. The Import button will add palettes previously saved. Figure 1.17 shows an example of a completed custom palette.
FIG 1.18 The extended palette menu
Palette menu
One further note regarding palettes – on the right side of the palette name is a small triangle (circled in Figure 1.18) which indicates that the palette contains a Palette menu. This is a further selection of options relevant to that particular palette – click and hold on the triangle to see the drop down menu. The various palettes will be looked at in more detail as you work through the step by step examples in the book.
Brush Creator
The Brush Creator is covered in some detail in Chapter 4 but gets a quick mention here as it is used in a few step by step examples in earlier chapters. This palette, which is accessed by the Ctrl/Cmd+B shortcut or from Window>Show Brush Creator, houses the controls for customizing brushes. Clicking on a category from the list on the left opens the relevant sub palette and reveals the sliders and options available. On the right is the Scratch Pad where brushes can be tried out prior to use; we will return to this palette later.
In Painter 11 all the sub palettes are also available as separate palettes that can be brought on the screen individually, which is very useful as many of the palettes are rarely used. One palette I recommend you keep on screen is the General palette; this is available from Window>Brush Controls>General. In some earlier versions of Painter this is not available separately but it can be accessed from the Brush Creator.
Using a graphic tablet
A graphic tablet with a pressure sensitive stylus is a must to obtain the full potential from the brushes in Painter. Wacom are the leading brand of tablets and have a large range from small to very large sizes. I personally find the A5 (6 × 8 inch) size ideal – it is large enough to have ample room for brush strokes yet not take up too much space on the desktop. Widescreen versions are now available which are excellent for modern widescreen monitors.
How you set up the button configuration for your pressure sensitive pen is a matter of personal preference. Once the software has been installed on your computer the controls can be accessed via the Control Panel for Windows or in System Preferences on Mac computers.
All the brush and opacity settings used throughout the book are for use with a graphic tablet. If you are using a mouse you will need to reduce the specified opacities quite considerably.
FIG 1.20 Brush Tracking in the Preferences menu
Brush Tracking is a control within Painter to adjust the sensitivity of the pen to suit your own hand. In the Edit menu go to Preferences and select Brush Tracking in the dialog box.
Make a few sample strokes pressing at various intensities in the Scratch Pad as in Figure 1.20 and Painter will automatically adjust the pen sensitivity to your own hand pressure. It is good practice to make strokes using variations in pressure and speed to ensure you get the full range of both. It is also a good idea to revisit the Brush Tracking control frequently as at different times you may feel differently – with more or less pressure, faster or slower – so if you go into this and make a few strokes to let Painter know how you are feeling it will react better to your hand at any given time. Brush Tracking can be accessed via the shortcut Ctrl+Al+K.
Saving images
There are three options for saving images available from the File menu.
‘Save’ will save the image, overwriting the original file.
‘Save As’, will save a copy under a different name if required.
‘Iterative Save’ is very useful when you need to keep interim versions of the image showing different stages of completion. Each time the image is saved Painter adds an incremental number to the file, for example 001 then 002 and so on. This is a very useful option for returning to an earlier stage, and if you do not need them you can delete these interim saves when the image is completed.
Painter will save images in several file formats, but generally it should be saved in the same file type in which it was originally opened. In the case of photographs this will usually be PSD if it has come via Photoshop, or JPEG if from a digital camera.
Images that started as JPEGs should be saved as a PSD, or RIFF (see below) while being worked on in Painter, as continually saving in JPEG format will degrade the image quality.
The native file format for Painter is RIFF. If you are only using Painter then this is the file format to use; if you are using Painter in conjunction with Photoshop then Photoshop PSD may be preferred as the files can then be opened directly in Photoshop.
It is however advantageous, indeed essential, to use RIFF when particular brush categories are being used, mainly Watercolor and Liquid Ink. In RIFF file format these can be saved and reopened at a later date and brush strokes can be edited. Mosaics are another case where it is useful for RIFF to be used for the same reason. If you are a Photoshop user it is easy to think of these as adjustment layers, which are permanently editable until the file is flattened. Dynamic Plug-in layers, which are available from the bottom of the Layers palette, are also very similar to Photoshop adjustment layers and are not editable once the file is saved in any format other than RIFF.
Brush default settings
As you continue to use Painter you will change the settings of many brushes. Painter remembers these from session to session, which is very useful, however it is often desirable to return to the default settings from time to time.
To return an individual brush variant to its default setting either click the brush icon on the far left of the Properties bar or click the palette menu triangle in the Brush Selector and choose Restore Default Variant. The option to restore all of the brushes to their defaults is in the same place.
Should you wish to restore all of the Painter defaults to their original settings then hold down the Shift key when you open the Painter program and this will give you the option of returning all the defaults to factory settings. You will of course lose ALL of your changes throughout the whole program so think carefully before doing this!
It is a good idea to keep a back-up of any custom brushes that you make as these will also be lost when you restore to factory defaults.
Setting up Preferences
Preferences – General
Apart from the Brush Tracking already mentioned, there are a number of other important and useful settings to be found in the Edit Preferences menu.
Figure 1.21 shows the controls under the General heading – the top left controls the appearance of the cursor.
FIG 1.21 Preferences, General section
The Cursor type is usually best set to Brush, but other shapes can be selected from the drop down menu on the right.
Enable Brush Ghosting means that the size of the brush can be seen on screen before painting – it changes to the cursor during actual painting.
Enhanced Brush Ghosting stays as a circle but also has a point/line to indicate the centre and in which direction the brush is painting. This is particularly useful when using large brushes as you can identify very precisely the point at which to paint.
Brush size increments control the amount of increase or decrease in brush size when the square brackets keyboard shortcut is used.
The Quick Clone options control the steps that are carried out when Quick Clone is used. I suggest that you set them as in Figure 1.21 to start with.
All other options can be left on the default settings.
Preferences – Operating System
Tick both boxes in this dialog box. The No Device Dependent option is for Windows users who use 16 bit monitors; if you use other monitors it will not have any effect.
Preferences – Undo
In this dialog box the number of steps of ‘ Undo ’ Painter will remember is specified. The decision on the number to set will be based largely on the amount of RAM that is installed on the computer. The higher the number, the more flexible the Undo is, but the downside is that this uses more memory as Painter keeps track of the Undo steps. The maximum number is 32 which is the default.
Preferences – Customize Keys
For those people, like myself, who use keyboard shortcuts a lot the Customize Keys option is superb. It allows shortcuts to be made for all the main functions in Painter and you can also change the default ones if you wish. It is particularly useful if you use another program like Photoshop for instance, as you can use the same shortcuts in both programs.
FIG 1.23 The Customize Keys dialog box
To bring up the dialog box, go to Edit>Preferences>Customize Keys. Figure 1.23 shows the dialog box at this stage. It is all very easy to follow, but here is an example of how to make a shortcut for the Revert option (which has the Function key F12 in Photoshop).
Open the dialog box and click on the plus sign to the left of the word ‘File’; this will bring up the list of commands in the File menu. Highlight Revert and as you will see there is no shortcut allocated to it. Press the F12 key to set this as the shortcut, make any more shortcuts in the same way, then press OK to accept all the changes you have made. It is that simple.
Apart from commands in the Menu bar, keyboard shortcuts can be set for the Palette menus and tools; change the option in the Shortcuts dialog box to access the other areas.
The changes you have made will be saved for immediate and ongoing use, but if you have to reload the program they may be lost; you can therefore save your own set by pressing the save icon. You can also save and load different sets for specific types of usage.
Customize workspace
In Painter 11 you have the ability to create and save custom workspaces and to share created workspaces with other people. For more advanced users this can be particularly useful when you want to do a particular type of work, for instance you may want to create a workspace for cloning pictures in which you have particular papers or brush libraries on view while others are hidden.
To create a new workspace go to Window Workspace New Workspace and give your new workspace a name (Figure 1.25).
Arrange the palettes and tools how you want them – you could make a custom palette with favorite brushes and papers as shown earlier in this chapter.
FIG 1.25 Naming a new workspace
Photoshop – Painter 11
This book has been written so that no knowledge of any other program is necessary, however I am well aware that many readers will already be very familiar with Adobe Photoshop as it is the premier professional image editing program. Therefore this section aims to explain the main differences between the two programs, how the name for the same procedure differs, how the files can be interchanged and the consequences of doing so, and supply some workarounds to make life easier.
Terminology and usage
| Photoshop | Painter 11 | Comments |
| Actions | Scripts | Work in a similar way |
| Background | Canvas | Similar but does not always work in the same way |
| Background Color | Not available | What looks like the Background Color is actually the Additional Color which is used for two color brushes |
| Color Picker | Color Picker | Single-click in Toolbox in Photoshop, double-click in Painter |
| Duplicate Canvas | No option – see right for workaround | Activate Canvas, Select>All, Edit>Copy, Edit>Paste in Place to make a copy at the top of the layer stack |
| Duplicate Layer | Duplicate Layer | Right-click layer in Painter |
| Fill | Fill | Under the Fill menu in Painter (previously in the Effects menu) |
| Flatten Image | Drop All | Available from the Layers palette menu |
| Foreground Color | Foreground Color | Work in the same way |
| Filters menu | Effects menu | Filters are in the Effects menu |
| Image adjustments menu | Effects menu | Image adjustments are in the Effects menu |
| Layer blending mode | Layer Composite Method | Work in the same way but not all layer modes are compatible – see below for more details |
| Merge Visible | Collapse | Select all the layers to be merged by holding down the Shift key and clicking on each layer Click the layer command icon which is bottom left in the Layers palette and select Collapse to merge the layers |
File compatibility
| Photoshop to Painter 11 | |
| Adjustment layers | Effect ignored, opens as an empty layer |
| Alpha channels | Compatible |
| Layer | Compatible |
| Layer blend modes | The modes which open correctly are: Normal, Dissolve, Darken, Multiply, Lighten, Screen, Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Difference, Hue, Saturation, Color and Luminosity. All other layer blend modes will change to Default |
| Layer effects | Ignored |
| Layer masks | Compatible |
| Layer groups | Compatible |
| Smart layers | Converts to normal layer |
| Text layers | Converts to normal layer |
| Painter 11 to Photoshop | |
| Alpha channels | Compatible |
| Dynamic Plug-in layers | Converts to normal layer |
| Layer | Compatible |
| Layer blend modes | The modes which open correctly are: Normal, Dissolve, Darken, Multiply, Lighten, Screen, Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Difference, Hue, Saturation, Color and Luminosity. All other layer blend modes will change to Normal |
| Layer groups | Compatible |
| Layer masks | Compatible |
| Liquid Ink layers | Converts to normal layer |
| Mosaics | Converts to normal layer |
| Text layers | Converts to normal layer |
| Watercolor layers | Converts to normal layer |
Tools
| Photoshop | Painter 11 | Comments |
| Eyedropper | Dropper | Same usage |
| Hand | Grabber | Same usage but has an additional tool to rotate the canvas |
| Move | Layer Adjuster | Same usage |
| None | Selection Adjuster | A useful tool; Photoshop has the command under the Select menu |
| Selection Tool | Marquee | Same usage |
Some useful keyboard shortcuts in Painter 11
| Change Brush Size | Ctrl/Cmd+Alt/Opt and drag in the document – the circle shows the brush size |
| Increase Brush Size (Incremental) | Square Brackets – Left (The incremental amount can be set in the General Preferences) |
| Decrease Brush Size (Incremental) | Square Brackets – Right |
| Change between active documents on screen | Ctrl/Cmd+Tab |
| Select All | Ctrl/Cmd+A |
| Deselect | Ctrl/Cmd+D |
| Copy | Ctrl/Cmd+C |
| Paste | Ctrl/Cmd Shift+V |
| Paste in Place | Ctrl/Cmd+V |
| Save | Ctrl/Cmd+S |
| Save As | Ctrl/Cmd Shift+S |
| Incremental Save | Ctrl/Cmd Alt/Opt+S |
| Undo | Ctrl/Cmd+Z |
| ReDo | Ctrl/Cmd+Y |
| Tracing Paper | Ctrl/Cmd+T |
| Adjust Opacity | Numbers on keyboard, i.e. 2 for 20% |
| Remember that you can change any keyboard shortcut and create your own in the Preferences>Customize Keys | |