Creating an Impasto Effect

You can apply a variety of Impasto brush strokes using an Impasto variant. These brushes simulate different types of Natural-Media effects with depth, such as thick oil paint.

You control the Impasto effect by changing the paint thickness, or depth. Refer to "Adjusting Impasto Depth" for more information.

You can also set how light sources shine on the Impasto brush strokes, add or delete lights, and change light color and position. Refer to "Adjusting Surface Lighting" for more information.

If you want to create your own custom variants, use the Brush Creator to adjust brush properties. Refer to "Creating Custom Impasto Brushes" for more information.

To create an Impasto effect

1. Click the Impasto icon on the top-right corner of the document window.
2. On the Brush selector bar, choose Impasto from the Brush selector.
3. Choose an Impasto variant from the Variant selector.
4. Choose Canvas menu > Surface Lighting.
5. In the Surface Lighting dialog box, set the depth attributes.
6. In the same dialog box, set light source attributes.
7. Paint on the canvas or layer.