• What is it?
• How to get it/Registration
• Installing
• Using
• Version History
• More Information

---

About

Graphite is Photoshop Filter Plug-In-compatible software which provides a natural media pencil tool. The plugin functions as a mini-paint program within the host program, which might be Photoshop, Painter, or other program which supports Photoshop Filter Plug-Ins. Best results are obtained in conjunction with a pressure- and tilt-sensitive digitizing tablet. This README file assumes that you are familiar with your paint software.

With Graphite you can apply graphite rubbing with varying textures, pencil hardness, size and shape. Effects are applied in real time as the cursor is moved across the image. Eraser functionality is provided to gradually remove modifications and revert to the original image. Some of the primary features include the following:

• Apply color to the canvas with varying surface textures
• Graduallly apply surface texture/bump maps to the original image
• Selectively remove modifications with an eraser function, reverting to the original image
• Vary the width of the stroke based on the orientation of the tablet stylus, if available

This software was developed to take full advantage of the tilt and pressure sensitivity of a modern graphics tablet and stylus, and to provide a wider variety of painting tools within Photoshop. Look for additional tools coming soon.

---

Getting the Program/Registration

There is a PPC demo (BinHex/Stuffit) version of this software available for download. The demo is fully functional but limits the textures available for use. The demo can be converted into a full version of the software by registering. You can register using the Register program included in the demo download. Online registration will be available soon.

1. Run the register program and fill out the form. You need to enter your name, email, postal address, and how many copies of the program you wish to license. The form accepts several different forms of payment.

2. Send it to Kagi. Either email the data generated by the registration program or print it and mail or fax it to Kagi. The address and fax number are output by the Register program when you Print or Copy the completed form. You will receive a registration code which will make the annoying registration messages go away and fully enable the features which are limited in the demo. The addresses to send registration information are as follows:

Email:
sales@kagi.com

FAX:
+1 510 652 6589

Snail-mail:
Kagi
1442-A Walnut Street #392-1JR
Berkeley, California, 94709-1405 USA

---

Installation

Drop the Graphite filter into your paint program's Plug-Ins folder. When you start your paint program, the menu containing Plug-In filters should contain an item called Brush, and which leads to a sub-menu containing Graphite.

---

Using

This plugin brings up a moveable modal dialog displaying all or a portion of the selected image. You can immediately begin drawing in the main image. From here it should be straightforward to figure what everything does, so you joystick-heads can skip the rest of the documentation.

Next to the OK and Cancel buttons is a thumbnail of the entire current selection. Clicking and dragging on the thumbnail moves a rectangle corresponding to the area in the canvas window. You may also scroll from the canvas window by holding the Control key while dragging.

In the lower right is a dog-ear over a texture pattern. The texture pattern is the currently selected paper texture. If the texture pattern is a gray dotted pattern, then no texture is currently selected. To change textures, click on the dog-ear and the available textures will appear. Additional PICT format textures may be pasted into the window via the clipboard, or dragged there from another application which supports dragging PICTs. The demo version does not allow you to modify the texture set.

Click on the dog-ear again to confirm the selection and add the texture to the brush.

To resize the brush, hold down the Command and Option keys, then click and drag on the canvas until the circle drawn is of the desired size.

If your tablet/stylus doesn't support eraser information, holding down the Option key when you start a stroke produces the same effect as using the stylus eraser function. Clear under the edit menu will revert the entire visible image to the original.

Depending on the stylus tilt, you get a narrow or wide stroke which is darkest at the tip and gradually fades in intensity away from the tip. If you don't have a tablet, or the tablet doesn't support tilt, you can only draw the narrow strokes.

Under the Settings menu are the titles of several floating control windows which can be displayed or hidden as needed. These windows allow control over the following options:

• Hardness Affects the color and amount of texture in a stroke. Graphite H and B values from EE to 9H are provided, as well as a blank value. Selecting a blank value applies the texture/bump map to the image, similar to texturizing plugins.
• Point Angle Tilt threshold at which a wider stroke is drawn
• Tip Length Length of wider strokes
• Fade How the brush coverage fades out from center to edges; sometimes called "softness" or "hardness"
• Brush profile The shape of the brush tip, which affects the brush fade
• Dab Spacing How far apart dabs are applied in a brush stroke
• Lighting Change the azimuth and elevation of the bump map lighting; these values only take effect when the hardness is set to the blank texturizing setting.

One of the windows displays a sample stroke which is updated as the other options are modified.

Version History

• Version 1.0 July 1997
  First public release.

More information

All content herein and related software is Copyright (c) 1997 by Timothy Wall, Wall Art Software. The Register program was authored by Peter N. Lewis.

For more information, contact twall@tiac.net, and check out this web page periodically for new developments.