Basics of Applying Effects

You apply most of the Corel Painter effects in the same manner:

• Select where to apply the effect.
• Choose a specific effect.
• Set effect options and click OK to apply it to your image.

Each effect can have several options and parameters that might require you to use other features such as selections, layers, colors, paper textures, and gradients.

In addition to working with other palettes, you can get the most out of the effects if you understand more about application methods and the Fade feature.

Selecting Where to Apply Effects

You can apply special effects to a selection, a layer, or the entire image.

• If there is no selection, the effect is applied to the entire image.
• If you want to apply an effect to a region of the Canvas, select that area before choosing an effect command. You can use any of the selection tools, including the Rectangular Selection tool, the Oval Selection tool, the Lasso, and the Magic Wand. For more information about these tools, refer to "Creating Selections".
• If you want to apply an effect to a layer, select that layer before choosing an effect. Corel Painter applies the effect to the entire layer. For more information about selecting a layer, refer to "Selecting Layers".
• If you apply an effect to a shape, dynamic layer, or reference layer, you must first commit the layer to an image layer.

Effects and Open Palettes

You can change settings such as colors, papers, patterns, and gradients while you experiment with an effect. To do this, you need to display all required palettes before choosing an effect. For example, the Color Overlay effect combines the selected paper texture and primary color to define the overlay. If the Papers and Color palettes are open when you choose the effect, you can change paper grains and colors to create different overlays before applying the effect to your image. Any changes in the paper or color appear in the preview window in the Color Overlay dialog box. You can move effects dialog boxes around on your screen, if necessary, for full access to other palettes.

Using Fade with Effects

The Fade command lets you undo a percentage of the last effect applied to the image. You can use this feature to control the intensity of an effect.

To experiment with fade

1. Open a new document.
2. Paint a colorful image or fill it with a pattern.
3. Choose an effect, adjust the settings, and click OK to apply the effect.
4. Choose Edit menu > Fade.
5. In the Fade dialog box, drag the slider.

The image in the preview window changes.

6. When you are satisfied with the settings, click OK to apply the effect.

If you change your mind, choose Edit menu > Undo.

Recently Used Effects Commands

At the top of the Effects menu, Corel Painter displays the last two effects you applied. This lets you quickly re-apply frequently used effects.

• You can also use keyboard shortcuts to apply the last two effects. Re-apply the last effect by pressing Command+/ (Mac OS) or Ctrl+/ (Windows). Re-apply the second-last effect by pressing Command+; (Mac OS) or Ctrl+; (Windows).

About the Using Menu

Many of the Corel Painter effects dialog boxes have a Using pop-up menu that lets you specify a source, or method. The source determines how an effect is applied to different areas of an image; a larger degree of change is applied to light areas of the source, and a smaller degree of change is applied to dark areas. For example, when you use the Paper method, the effect is applied based on the light and dark areas of the selected paper texture.

The choices in the Using pop-up menu vary between effects. They include:

• Uniform Color
• Paper
• Image Luminance
• Original Luminance (clone source)
• 3D Brush Strokes
• Alpha channel or Layer mask

This option is available only if your document has a channel or a layer with a layer mask.

The sections explaining the different effects describe these options.

In most cases, you can see the results of choosing different options in the Preview window of an effect's dialog. The best way to see how these options affect your images is to try them.