Opening Documents

The first step to creating an image in Corel Painter is opening a document. You can open a blank Canvas by creating a new document, work with an existing image by opening a file, place a file into a document, or acquire an image from a scanner or digital camera to place directly into a document.

Creating New Documents

The New command creates a blank, untitled document based on the specifications you set in the New dialog box.

• Canvas Size shows the RAM requirement for creating the document at the specified width, height, and resolution. This number does not reflect the file size for the saved document. A saved Corel Painter file is usually 25% to 50% of the size of the working document, depending on the number of colors it contains.
• Width and Height determine the dimensions of the Canvas. You can change the unit of measurement using the menu. Choose from pixels (the default), inches, centimeters, points, picas, and columns (2" wide).
• Resolution is the number of pixels per inch (ppi) or centimeter that make up an image. In the New dialog, setting the document's pixels per inch is the same as setting its dpi. Refer to "Understanding Resolution" for detailed information about document, screen, and print resolutions.
• Paper Color lets you select a background paper color-or Canvas color-when you create a new document. The default is white.
• Picture Type lets you set up a document to contain a single image frame or multiple frames for a movie. The default is single frame.

To create a new document

1. Choose File menu > New.
2. In the New dialog box, enter values for the width, height, and resolution of the document.

Change the unit of measurement by choosing an option from the menu.

3. Click in the Paper Color box to set the document's background to a color other than white.

Choose a color from the system color picker that appears.

4. Choose a picture type.
5. Click OK.

A new document appears in the workspace.

Opening Existing Documents

You can open documents from other graphics applications and use Corel Painter to add brush strokes, tints, or paper textures. Or, you can clone a document to re-create it in a different medium.

Corel Painter lets you open the following file formats:

• RIFF-Corel Painter native format (RIF)
• TIFF (TIF)
• CMYK TIF (TIF)
• Photoshop formats (PSD)-Corel Painter preserves layers and alpha channels. Layer effects and adjustment layers are not supported and should be merged or flattened in Adobe Photoshop.
• Windows Bitmap (BMP)
• PC Paintbrush (PCX)
• TARGA® (TGA)
• GIF-Corel Painter does not convert GIF animations to frame stacks.
• JPEG (JPG)
• Frame stacks (FRM)-Corel Painter animation files.
• QuickTime™ (MOV), Video for Windows (AVI), and numbered files. For more information, refer to "Opening a Movie" or "Working with Numbered Files".

• Corel Painter does not support LZW compressed TIFF file format. Only uncompressed TIFF files open into Corel Painter.

To open an existing document

1. Choose File menu > Open.
2. In the Select Image dialog box, use the dialog controls to locate the file you want to open.

Corel Painter lists every image's file size, file format, and dimensions in pixels. In addition, files saved in Corel Painter include a thumbnail image for browsing purposes.

3. Click Browse.

The Browse dialog box shows thumbnails for all the RIFF files in a folder.

4. Double-click the file name, or select a file and click Open.

• The File menu also offers you a shortcut to previously opened documents. Before choosing Open in the File menu, check the recently opened files list at the bottom of the File menu.

Placing Files

Placing a file lets you import an image into an existing Corel Painter document. The placed image becomes a new reference layer in the document-you can transform (resize, rotate, slant) it on screen by dragging its handles. A placed file maintains its link to the source file until you commit it to standard layer format.

Refer to "Working with Reference Layers" for general information about working with reference layers.

To place a file

1. Choose File menu > Place.
2. Select an image file and click Open.
3. In the Place dialog box, set the options:

• Horizontal and Vertical Scaling suggests a scale to fit the image in the current document. To change the size, enter a scaling percentage in the Horizontal Scale and Vertical Scale fields.
• Constrain Aspect Ratio maintains the proportions of the image. Disable this option to distort the image.
• Retain Alpha retains the file's mask. When the image is placed, the image mask becomes the layer mask. Disable this option to discard the mask.

4. Do one of the following:

• To place the image in a particular location, click on that location in the document.
• To place the image in the center of the document, click OK.

Acquiring Images

You can acquire images for Corel Painter directly from an external device-such as a scanner or digital camera-if the device provides a:

• Photoshop-compatible plug-in module (Mac OS)
• TWAIN driver (Windows)

Before acquiring images

• Install the device plug-in module on your computer.

This plug-in module is provided by the manufacturer of your scanner or digital camera. Refer to the device documentation for installation instructions.

Corel Painter can access plug-ins from any single folder on your computer. This location can be inside the Corel Painter folder, in a generic plug-ins folder on your hard drive, or in the Photoshop Plug-Ins folder.

• Make sure your TWAIN driver is properly installed.

Understanding Resolution

When working with images in a digital workspace, it is helpful to understand the concept and applications of resolution. Resolution refers to how Corel Painter measures, displays, saves, and prints images-either as small squares of color known as pixels or as mathematical objects known as vectors.

A document's resolution affects both its appearance on your computer screen and its print quality. You can specify a document's resolution when you create a new document, acquire an image, and save/export a file.

Resolution and Screen Appearance

Most monitors have a resolution of 72 dpi (dots per inch). Because of this, the Corel Painter display default is 72 ppi (pixels per inch). This means that each pixel in the Corel Painter image occupies one pixel on your monitor. The display resolution does not affect the document's actual ppi-only how the image is displayed on the monitor.

For example, a 300 ppi document displays at approximately four times its actual size. This happens because each pixel in the Corel Painter image occupies one pixel on your monitor, and the monitor's pixels are four times the size of the image's pixels. Put another way, at 300 pixels per inch, your document will be approximately a quarter of its on-screen size when printed. In this example, if you want to view the image at actual size, set the zoom level to 25%.

Keep in mind that if you leave the dimensions in pixels and then change the pixels per inch (resolution), the actual printed size will be affected by the change. If you set your document size in inches, centimeters, points, or picas and change resolution, the dimensions will not be affected by the change.

Resolution and Print Quality

The resolution of output devices (printers) is measured in dpi and, in the case of halftones, lines per inch (lpi). Output device resolutions vary depending on the type of press and paper you're printing on. Generally, a photograph will be output at a crisp 150 lpi if printed on glossy magazine stock and at 85 lpi for more porous, and therefore more forgiving, newspaper stock.

If you are using a personal laser printer or inkjet printer, set your document size in inches, centimeters, points, or picas at the dpi specific to your printer. Most printers will produce excellent output from images set to 300 ppi. Your file will be output correctly, at the best resolution for your laser printer and at the proper size. Increasing the file's ppi setting does not necessarily improve the output, and can make for a larger and sometime unwieldy file.

If you are using a commercial printer or a more sophisticated output device, the dimensions of the image should always be set to the actual size it will appear in the printed piece. For the resolution, a good rule of thumb is to set your document's pixels per inch to twice the desired lpi. So, when lpi is 150, the pixels per inch should be twice that, or 300; if the lpi is 85, the pixels per inch should be 170. It's a good idea to check with your service bureau if you have questions about output device resolution.