Marking the Canvas

You mark the canvas by dragging in the document window with a Brush tool that applies media. Each time you drag, you create a brush stroke.

When you use complex brushes, you see a dotted line on the canvas before the mark appears. For example, the Gloopy variant of the Impasto brush requires complex computations that delay the stroke's appearance on the screen. When you experience a delay, you can queue up strokes, without losing any stroke data.

Freehand vs. Straight Line Drawing

You can draw unconstrained lines, called freehand, or you can draw straight lines. Options on the property bar let you choose the drawing style.

With the Freehand drawing style, you can drag with any motion or in any direction. The stroke follows your drag path.

Drag to create strokes using the Freehand drawing style.

With the Straight Lines drawing style, Corel Painter connects points with a straight line.

Click to create the first point. Click or drag to create a stroke using the Straight Lines drawing style.

To draw freehand lines

1. On the Brush property bar, click the Freehand Strokes button .
2. Drag on the canvas.

• You can use shortcut keys to toggle between freehand and straight line drawing styles. Press B to choose freehand style, or press V to choose straight line style.

To draw straight lines

1. On the Brush property bar, click the Straight Line Strokes button .
2. Click the canvas at the point where you want to start your line.
3. Do one of the following:

• Click at the point where you want to end the line.
• Drag to place the end point exactly where you want it.

Corel Painter connects the first and second points with a straight line.

4. To continue drawing from the second point, click or drag to create additional points on the canvas.

Corel Painter connects each point with a straight line.

5. To end a line, do one of the following:

• Press Return (Mac OS) or Enter (Windows) to close the polygon. The final point is connected to the origin with a straight line.
• Click the Freehand Strokes button to return to the freehand drawing style without closing the polygon.
• Press V to end the current polygon, so you can begin a new one.

Constraining Stroke Angles

In either drawing style, you can constrain your strokes to 45° increments. With the Freehand style, each stroke is constrained to a straight line with the angle depending on the orientation of the stroke. With the Straight Lines style, points are connected with lines at angles of 45° increments.

To constrain strokes to 45° increments

• Hold down Shift (Mac OS) or Alt+Shift (Windows) as you drag or click.

• In Straight Line mode, you can also constrain lines to the grid by enabling the Snap to Grid option. Choose Canvas menu > Grid > Snap to Grid.

Undoing Strokes

If you make a stroke you don't like, you can use the Undo command to remove it. Repeat the command to remove previous strokes. You can set how many individual strokes can be undone. For more information, refer to "Undo Preferences".

To undo a stroke

• Choose Edit menu > Undo.

• You can also undo a stroke by pressing Command+Z (Mac OS) or Ctrl+Z (Windows).

Fading Strokes

Sometimes you apply a stroke, but want it to be less opaque, or faded.

To fade a stroke

1. Choose Edit menu > Fade.
2. Set the undo amount for the opacity you want.

The preview shows the results of your selection.

Letting Media Pool

Corel Painter computed brushes allow media to build up or "pool" when you move a brush slowly. Pooling creates very realistic strokes, especially with airbrushes.

You can also cause media to pool by simply touching and pausing with the selected brush. You can enable this feature in the Brush Creator.

To enable media pooling

1. On the Stroke Designer page of the Brush Creator, click Spacing.
2. Enable the Continuous Time Deposition check box.

• When this option is disabled, you must move the brush (even just slightly) to cause media to be deposited.

Using an airbrush, paint pools when pausing a stroke for 1 second, 4 seconds, and 7 seconds.

Making 360-Degree Strokes

There are no restrictions on bearing (stylus direction) in Corel Painter. This lets you create full 360-degree strokes by completing the arc of a stroke, without interruption. This is true for non-computed brushes. Computed brushes use bearing, with the exception of those that use the Rendered dab type.