Exploring the Palettes

As you work with Corel Painter, you'll use the following groups of palettes.

The Color Palettes

• The Colors palette lets you choose primary and secondary colors for painting in Corel Painter documents. You can also use the Clone Color option on the Colors palette. For more information, see "Working with Color".
• The Mixer palette lets you mix and blend colors as you would on an artist's palette. It contains its own set of tools. For more information, see "The Mixer Palette".
• The Color Sets palette displays the colors in the current color set. You use color sets to organize groups of colors. Some color sets are organized by both name and color relationship. For more information, refer to "Using Color Sets".
• The Color Info palette contains color information for the selected color, in HSV or RGB values. You can also use the Clone Color option with this palette. For more information, see "Color Information".
• The Color Variability palette contains sliders to adjust color variability values. For more information, see "Color Variability".
• The Color Expression palette lets you determine how colors are expressed in Corel Painter documents. For more information, refer to "Color Expression".

The Papers, Gradients, Patterns, and Weaves Palettes

• The Papers palette lets you choose and edit paper textures for your document. You can preview paper textures as thumbnails or in a list, and see a thumbnail preview of the selected paper. For more information, see "Using Paper Texture" and "Choosing Paper Textures".
• The Gradients palette lets you choose and edit gradients that can be applied to Corel Painter documents. You can preview gradients as thumbnails or in a list, and see a thumbnail preview of the selected gradient. For more information, see "Using Gradients".
• The Patterns palette lets you choose and edit patterns. You can preview patterns as thumbnails or in a list, and see a thumbnail preview of the selected pattern. For more information, refer to "Using Patterns".
• The Weaves palette lets you choose and edit weaves. You can preview weaves as thumbnails or in a list, and see a thumbnail preview of the selected weave. For more information, see "Using Weaves".

The Layers and Channels Palettes

• The Layers palette contains thumbnail previews of all the layers in a Corel Painter document. You can use the buttons on the Layers palette to arrange layers, use plug-ins, add new layers (including Water Color and Liquid Ink layers), create layer masks, and delete layers. You can also set the composite method and depth, adjust the opacity, and lock and unlock layers. For more information, see "Using Layers and Layer Masks".
• The Channels palette contains thumbnail previews of all the channels in a Corel Painter document, including RGB composite channels, layer masks, and Alpha channels. The buttons on the palette can be used to load, save, and invert existing channels, and to create new channels. For more information, see "Using Alpha Channels".

The Text and Scripts Palettes

• The Text palette lets you perform all tasks relating to text in a Corel Painter document, such as choosing fonts, adjusting opacity, and applying drop shadows. For more information, refer to "Working with Text".
• The Scripts palette gives you access to all commands and settings relating to scripts. For example, you can open, close, play, and record scripts from the Scripts palette. For more information, see "Scripting".

The Image Portfolio and Selection Portfolio Palettes

• The Image Portfolio contains all of the images in the current image library. You can view the images as thumbnails or in a list, as well as a thumbnail preview of the current image. For more information, see "Using the Image Portfolio".
• The Selection Portfolio contains all of the selections in the current selection library. You can view the images as thumbnails or in a list, as well as a thumbnail preview of the current selection. For more information, see "Using the Selection Portfolio".

The Info Palette

The new Info palette provides you with an image preview; document information, such as width and height; X and Y coordinates and the cursor position; context-sensitive information based on the selected tool; and unit information, such as pixels, inches, and resolution.

You can choose to view a canvas preview, which shows you the contents of the canvas, or a page layout preview, which shows you the entire document. You can also choose how RGB values will display on the Info palette - as actual values, a percentage of the values, or as hexadecimal values.

The Info palette.

To choose an image preview style on the Info palette

• On the Info palette, click the palette menu arrow, and choose Canvas Preview or Page Layout Preview.

To choose how RGB values will display on the Info palette

1. On the Info palette, click the palette menu arrow, and choose Display RGB Values As.
2. Choose an option from the list.

The Tracker Palette

The Tracker palette temporarily stores brush categories, variants, and dab types when you apply brush strokes to the canvas. Each time you use a new brush, the variant is saved in the Tracker palette. You can return to a brush variant you like by choosing it from the Tracker palette.

You can view the brush variants stored in the Tracker palette as thumbnail images, in a list, or as strokes. The Tracker palette can be resized to display more or fewer brush variants; however, it will only store up to 25 variants at a time.

You can clear selected brush variants, clear all brush variants, and save brush variants using the Tracker palette. Brush variants are stored even after the document you were working on has been closed.

The Tracker palette.

To choose a brush variant from the Tracker palette

• Click the brush variant you want to use.

To view brush variants in the Tracker palette

• On the Tracker palette, click the palette menu arrow, and choose List, Thumbnails, or Stroke.

To resize the Tracker palette

• Point to the resize handle in the bottom-right corner of the palette, and drag to make the palette larger or smaller.

The number of variants displayed varies according to the size of the palette.

To clear a selected brush variant from the Tracker palette

1. On the Tracker palette, click the brush variant you want to remove.
2. Click the palette menu arrow, and choose Clear Selected.

To clear all brush variants from the Tracker palette

• On the Tracker palette, click the palette menu arrow, and choose Clear All.

To save a brush variant on the Tracker palette

1. On the Tracker palette, click the brush variant you want to save.
2. Click the palette menu arrow, and choose Save Variant.
3. In the Save Variant dialog box, type a name in the Save As box.

Enable the Save Current Colors check box to retain current color settings.

Navigating Palettes

When a palette is displayed, it must be expanded for you to access its settings. You can collapse palettes to save screen real estate, while keeping them displayed in the application.

If you have many palettes displayed and expanded, the view of other palettes can be obscured. You can scroll through palettes to locate the elements you want to work with.

To expand or collapse a palette

• Click the palette arrow in the top corner of the palette.

When the triangle points down, the palette is expanded. When it points to the right, the palette is collapsed.

To scroll through a palette

• Do one of the following:

• Use the scrollbar on the right side of the palette to scroll through the palette.
• Press Option + click (Mac OS) or Alt + click (Windows), and drag vertically inside the
  palette. The cursor changes to a hand and the palette scrolls as you drag.

Using Palette Menus

Most palettes in Corel Painter contain menus from which you can access a series of palette-specific commands. For example, you can use the palette menu on the Papers palette to capture, make, and invert paper textures, and to open the Paper Mover and library.

To access the commands on a palette menu

• Click the palette menu arrow.