Creating Channels

You can create a channel from a selection or create a new, blank channel.

You can also create a new channel by copying an existing channel. For more information, refer to "To copy a channel:".

To save a selection to a channel

• Choose Select menu > Save Selection.

For additional information, refer to "Saving Selections".

To create a new, blank channel

• On the Channels palette, do one of the following :

• Click the palette menu arrow and choose New.
• Click the New Channel button .

Generating Channels Automatically

Corel Painter lets you generate a channel based on the light and dark areas of a number of sources, including paper, pattern, and clone source.

You can also create a channel based on a range of colors.

To generate a channel based on luminance

1. On the Channels palette, do one of the following:

• To generate a new channel, choose the RGB channel from the list.
• To replace a channel, choose it from the list.

2. Click the palette menu arrow, and choose New From.
3. In the New From dialog box, choose one of the following options from the pop-up menu:

• Paper creates a channel using the current paper texture.
• 3D Brush Strokes creates a channel based on the difference between the current image and the clone source. If no clone source is selected, Corel Painter uses the current pattern. For information about clones, refer to "Cloning and Tracing".
• Original Selection imports the selection from the clone source document. You can use this feature to transfer a selection from another document. For best results, the dimensions of the source and working document should match. You must establish a clone source file, and create a selection in this file, for this option to be available. For information about clones, refer to "Cloning and Tracing".
• Image Luminance creates a channel based on the current image's light and dark areas. For Image Luminance to be effective, the image must have high contrast. Images with low contrast will produce a semi-solid channel, without clear delineation between the selected and protected areas.
• Original Luminance produces a channel based on the clone source's light and dark areas. This option lets you import an image to the channel. If no clone source is selected, Corel Painter uses the current pattern.
• Current Color creates a channel based on pixels of the current primary color. Areas of the current color are protected; the rest of the image is selected. You might want to use the Dropper tool to pick a color from the image before using the Current Color option.

If you want to invert the channel, enable the Invert check box.

• A channel can have 256 values in it, like a grayscale image. Inverting a channel is equivalent to creating the negative of a grayscale image. For example, a pixel with 80% luminance will have 20% luminance when inverted. A pixel with 30% luminance will have 70% luminance when inverted.

An image (above) and the channels created using image luminance (bottom-left) and inverted image luminance (bottom-right).

To generate a color-based channel

1. On the Channels palette, do one of the following:

• To generate a new channel, choose the RGB channel from the list.
• To replace a channel, choose it from the list.

2. Click the palette menu arrow, and choose New from Color Range.
3. With the Color dialog box open, click in the document window to pick a color.

The color you select is the middle of the range of colors used to create the channel.

4. In the Color dialog box, adjust the H Extents (hue), S Extents (saturation), and V Extents (value) sliders.

These sliders control the selected range. You can drag the limits of the range in either direction.

5. Adjust the H Feather (hue), S Feather (saturation), and V Feather (value) sliders to control the feathering at the edges of the color space extents.

This helps soften the edges of the channel.

If you want to invert the channel, enable the Inverted check box.

• The preview window in the Color dialog box shows the channel as a red overlay on the image. You can drag in the preview to see other parts of the image.

Importing Channels from Other Programs

When RGB files that were created in Photoshop are opened in Corel Painter, anything in the alpha channels (#4 and above) will appear as a channel in Corel Painter.

Conversely, when you save your Corel Painter file in Photoshop format, all channels are placed into channels #4 and above.