Redesigned User Interface

Corel Painter features a redesigned user interface, which is based on the following new elements.

Toolbox

The toolbox has been redesigned vertically and, by default, is docked to the top-left corner of the document window. The toolbox lets you access the tools in Corel Painter, as well as the primary and secondary colors, and provides easy access to the Paper, Pattern, Gradient, Nozzle, Weave, and Brush Look libraries.

The toolbox can be undocked and moved anywhere inside the application window, or it can be turned off.

Property Bar

The property bar replaces the Controls palette. The property bar is context-sensitive depending on which tool is selected, providing commonly used controls for each tool.

The property bar is docked below the menu bar by default, but it can be undocked and moved to any location in the document window, or turned off.

Brush Selector

The Brush Selector lets you choose a brush category, using the Brush Category picker, and a brush variant, using the Brush Variant picker. The name of the selected brush category and variant is displayed on the right side of the Brush Selector. You have the option to view the categories and variants by a thumbnail or list view.

The Brush Selector is docked, by default, to the top-right corner of the document window, beside the property bar. It can be undocked and moved to any location in the document window, or it can be turned off.

Palettes

The palettes have been redesigned for this version of Corel Painter, and they include the following new features:

• Group/Ungroup - You can group and ungroup palettes by dragging them together or apart to create any combination of palettes.
• Resizeable - You can increase or decrease the size of list palettes, such as the Layers, Channels, and Scripts palettes.

Info Palette

The new Info palette provides access to the following information:

• Image size preview
• Document information, such as width and height
• X and Y coordinates and the cursor position
• Context-sensitive information based on the selected tool. For example, if the Eyedropper tool is selected, the HSV and RGB information is displayed.
• Unit information, such as pixels, inches, and resolution

Mixer Palette

The new Mixer palette lets you mix colors interactively. The Mixer palette contains a Brush tool and a Palette Knife tool for applying and mixing colors, mimicking the traditional experience of mixing two or more colors on a palette.

The Mixer palette also includes an Eyedropper tool for sampling specially mixed colors from imagery, as well as Zoom and Pan tools for easy navigation in the palette. You can choose to save your Mixer palette settings for future use, and you can create a custom color set from the colors in the Mixer palette.

Digital Water Color

Digital Water Color is a simple, transparent medium that is ideal for hand painting line drawings, touching up photographs, or creating simple water color washes.

Sketch Effect

The new Sketch effect in Corel Painter lets you convert images or photographs to simple pencil drawings, while providing controls for the amount of paper grain being applied, the heaviness of the pencil line, and the desired level of detail.

New Brush Variants

Corel Painter includes over 400 new Brush variants. New brushes are included in the following categories:

• Acrylics
• Airbrushes
• Artists
• Blenders
• Calligraphy Pens
• Chalks
• Charcoals
• Colored Pencils
• Conte
• Crayons
• Digital Water Color
• Distortion
• Erasers
• Felt Pens
• F-X
• Gouache
• Image Hose
• Liquid Ink
• Oil Pastels
• Oils
• Palette Knives
• Pastels
• Pattern Pens
• Pencils
• Pens
• Photo
• Sponges
• Sumi-e
• Tinting
• Water Colors

Brush Creator

Corel Painter features a Brush Creator, which is designed to make the brush variant creation process easy and fun. The Brush Creator includes three key features:

• Randomizer - The Randomizer lets you choose an existing brush variant and randomize its properties to create a new variant. You can set the amount of randomization to determine how much of the original brush's properties remain-a low amount will result in variants that are very similar to the original, while a high amount will result in variants that are radically different. To help you visualize how the new brush variants will look, the Randomizer provides a brush stroke preview of each new variant.
• Transposer - The Transposer lets you change the properties of one brush variant using the properties of another. For example, you can choose the 2B Pencil and create brush variants that are mutated toward another variant, such as Charcoal. To help you visualize how the new brush variants will look, the Transposer provides a brush stroke preview of each new variant.
• Stroke Designer - The Stroke Designer lets you modify the properties of brush variants using advanced controls. The Stroke Designer has 16 different sets of controls: General, Size, Spacing, Angle, Bristle, Well, Rake, Random, Mouse, Cloning, Impasto, Image Hose, Airbrush, Water, Digital Water, and Liquid Ink. To make the brush creation process more visual and interactive, the Stroke Designer includes a live preview that updates each time you make changes to the brush variant.

Industry-Standard Masks, Layer Masks, and Channels

Layer Masks: The redesigned layer masks let you hide and reveal areas of layers without making permanent changes to an image.

Channels: The Channels palette lets you use alpha channels to create and store masks to modify, separate, and preserve specific areas of an image.

And So Much More...

• Thumbnail previews for Layers, Layer Masks, and Channels
• Brush cursor preview that lets you see the size of the brush you're painting with
• Enhanced keyboard shortcuts to make it easier to transition between Corel Painter and other applications
• Enhanced file compatibility with Adobe Photoshop
• New paper textures, patterns, Image Hose nozzles, brush looks, gradients, and more!
• Extra content CD, including 100 pictures from
  http://www.brandxpictures.com, hundreds of brushes, paper textures, and more!