Working with Painting Tools

Apply color, make selections, edit, retouch, color-correct, and clone images with Painting tools. For some tools, you can adjust opacity, pressure, exposure, or other settings. See the specific tool entries in this section for details. These tools are located in the Painting tools palette.

These tools can be used to place paint objects into Paint Edit mode. Point to a selected paint object with a painting tool, the pointer becomes a hand. Click the cursor on the paint object to enter Edit mode.

To Use a Painting Tool:

1. Double-click on a paint object to place it in Edit mode.
2. Select a foreground or background color for painting. (See Selecting Colors for Painting.)
3. Select a brush shape in the Brushes palette located in the Properties bar. You can also choose a mode or other option for most tools.

You can start dragging outside an image; a tool’s effect begins when the pointer is inside the image.

4. Click in the image to apply a spot of color, or drag to paint a brush stroke, depending on the tool.

To constrain a brush stroke to horizontal or vertical, press Shift as you drag.

Paint Tool Options

Painting Opacity

Painting opacity affects the intensity of painting. Adjust this setting in the Properties bar for the following painting tools: Eraser, Marker, Paintbrush, Bucket, Blend, and Rubber Stamp.

For the other painting tools, Opacity is replaced by either Pressure, Glow, or Exposure.

Painting opacity can be set from 1 to 100%. Higher opacity makes the color more opaque. Lower opacity makes color appear more transparent. Painting opacity works with painting modes. (See Painting Modes.) If you use the Paintbrush tool to apply black at 100% opacity in Normal mode, black replaces the original color wherever you paint. At 50% opacity, the strength of the black is reduced, so it mixes with the underlying color. If you also use a different painting mode, the strength of the mode’s effect is reduced.

To quickly change the opacity setting, you can press a number key; “1” equals 10%, “2” equals 20%, “3” equals 30%, etc. “0” equals a setting of 100%.

To Set Painting Opacity:

1. Select a painting tool that uses the opacity setting.
2. Move the Opacity slider or enter a percentage in the text box.

Canvas X Draw remembers each tool’s painting opacity setting; e.g., if you use the Blend tool at 30% opacity and then use the Paintbrush tool at 100% opacity, the setting changes back to 30% when you select the Blend tool again.

The Opacity slider in the Brushes palette affects subsequent brush strokes by the current painting tool only. It is not the same as the Opacity slider in the Toolbox and the Transparency palette, which are linked and control overall opacity of selected objects.

Fade Settings

The following tools have Fade settings: Paintbrush, Airbrush, Blur, Dodge, Burn, Eraser, Marker, Sponge, Smudge, Sharpen, and Rubber Stamp.

Select the options you want to use in the Fade area. In the Fade within field, enter the distance in which Canvas X Draw will complete the fade.

To Gradually Diminish the Brush Size as You Drag:

Select the Size checkbox.

To Fade the Color to Transparent:

Select the Opacity checkbox. Depending on the selected tool, the checkbox may be labeled as Pressure or Exposure.

Painting with the Paintbrush Tool

The Paintbrush tool applies the foreground color. Apply a soft (anti-aliased) brush stroke by choosing a soft-edged brush in the Properties bar or Brushes palette. Use the settings in the Properties bar to configure this tool.

Spraying Soft Strokes with the Airbrush Tool

The Airbrush tool applies the foreground color with a very soft (anti-aliased) stroke. The Airbrush tool paints as long as you press the mouse. The Pressure setting in the Properties bar and Brushes palette controls how fast the Airbrush applies color. Use the settings in the Properties bar to configure this tool.

Painting with the Marker Tool

The Marker tool paints with the foreground color, applying a hard-edged stroke. Use the options in the Properties bar to configure the Marker tool.

Painting Individual Pixels with the Pencil Tool

Use the Pencil tool to apply the foreground color to a single pixel or create a one-pixel, freehand line. If the pixel already uses the foreground color, the Pencil applies the background color instead. You can use the Pencil tool for precise image editing at high magnifications. (See Fat Bits.)

To Paint a Straight Line:

Shift-drag the Pencil to confine the line to 90° angles.

Painting Two-Toned “Neon” Strokes

Use the Neon tool to paint a neon-tube stroke, with the foreground color inside and the background color outside. Use the Glow setting in the Properties bar and Brushes palette to adjust the color ratio. Painting modes are not available with the Neon tool.

Filling Areas with Color

Use the Bucket tool to pour color on an image. The Bucket applies the background color where you click. You can adjust its tolerance so the color covers adjacent pixels of the same color only, or adjacent pixels of similar colors.

Tolerance

The Tolerance setting is located in the Properties bar.

To Affect Only Identically-Colored Pixels:

Type 0 in the Tolerance text box.

To Affect More Pixels:

Type a larger number.

To Soften the Edge of the Filled Area:

Turn on Anti-Aliased.

Painting in the Background Color with the Eraser Tool

Paint with the background color using the Eraser tool. If a paint object has a visibility mask, the Eraser clears the pixels it touches, revealing a clear background. If the paint object does not have a visibility mask, the Eraser applies the background color.

Opacity and paint mode options are not available with the Eraser.

Painting with the Blend Tool

Paint a blend of colors in an image with the Blend tool. The default behavior (Foreground To Background) creates a blend of the foreground and background colors. This tool is very useful for creating blends from black to white in channels, to make selection masks that fade gradually from full selection to no selection.

Set the style and behavior using the settings in the Properties bar.

To Create a Linear Blend:

Enter a Skew value and select a Behavior. Drag in the direction of the blend. Shift-drag to confine the blend’s direction to a 90° or 45° angle.

To Create a Radial Blend:

Enter both a Skew and Offset value. Drag from the center of the image.

Blend Options

Example of a blend used to vignette a photograph. The following Blend options were used:

Radial-style blend
Behavior = Transparent to Foreground
(Foreground color white)
Offset = 10
Skew = 70

Copying Areas with the Rubber Stamp Tool

Make a copy (“clone”) of an image area with the Rubber Stamp tool. This tool is very useful for retouching scanned photographs, removing lines and scratches, as well as hiding seams when compositing images. Use the settings in the Properties bar to configure the Rubber Stamp tool.

Cloning Styles

The effect of dragging the Rubber Stamp tool in an image depends on the option you choose in the Style menu in the Properties bar.

• Clone (aligned): The first time you drag the Rubber Stamp tool in the image after setting the reference point, Canvas X Draw establishes a fixed direction and distance from the reference point to the pointer. The Rubber Stamp tool copies any area of the image that is this distance and direction from the pointer.
• Clone (non-aligned): Dragging the Rubber Stamp tool always begins copying the image from the same reference point.
• Impressionist: This option smears pixels to create an impressionistic effect. You don’t need to set a reference point to use this effect.

To Use the Rubber Stamp Tool:

1. Configure the tool using the settings in the Properties bar.
2. Option-click in the image to set the reference point for sampling an image area.
3. Drag in the image to paint a copy of the sampled area around the reference point.

Smudging Colors

With the Smudge tool, pull color from one area of an image and drag it into adjacent areas. Use the settings in the Properties bar to configure the tool.

To Use the Smudge Tool:

1. Configure the tool using the settings in the Properties bar.
   • Select a brush size and shape from the Brushes palette. (See Selecting Brushes and Painting Options.)
   • Adjust the Pressure setting. A setting of 1 affects the image slightly; 85 drags the color through many pixels.
2. Drag the Smudge tool in the image area you want to edit.

To Smudge the Foreground Color into the Image:

Choose the Finger Painting option.

Lightening (‘Dodge’) Areas

The Dodge tool lightens specific areas of an image. Use the settings in the Properties bar to configure the tool.

To Use the Dodge Tool:

1. Configure the tool using the settings in the Properties bar.
   • Select a brush size and shape from the Brushes palette. (See Selecting Brushes and Painting Options.)
   • Adjust the Exposure setting. Increasing the Exposure increases the lightening effect of the tool. Decreasing the setting decreases the effect.
   • Choose Shadows, Midtones, or Highlights from the Mode menu. The Dodge tool lightens pixels that fall within the selected range only.
2. Drag the Dodge tool in the image area you want to edit.

Darkening (‘Burn’) Areas

Darken specific areas of an image by dragging the Burn tool over the pixels you want to darken. The tool’s effect can be controlled by your selection of brush and adjustment of the tool’s Fade setting. Use the settings in the Properties bar to configure the tool.

To Use the Burn Tool:

1. Configure the tool using the settings in the Properties bar.
   • Select a brush size and shape from the Brushes palette. (See Selecting Brushes and Painting Options.)
   • Adjust the Exposure setting. Increasing the Exposure increases the darkening effect of the tool. Decreasing the setting decreases the effect.
   • Choose Shadows, Midtones, or Highlights from the Mode menu. The Burn tool darkens pixels that fall within the selected range only.
2. Drag the Burn tool in the image area you want to edit.

Blurring Areas

Soften specific areas in an image with the Blur tool. The Blur tool decreases the contrast between pixels the tool drags over. Use the settings in the Properties bar to configure the tool.

Select the Blur tool and click a paint object to put the image in Edit mode, if necessary.

To Use the Blur Tool:

1. Configure the tool using the settings in the Properties bar.
   • Select a brush size and shape from the Brushes palette. (See Selecting Brushes and Painting Options.)
   • Adjust the Pressure setting. A setting of 1 affects the image slightly; 85 softens the image greatly.
   • Choose Normal, Darken, or Lighten from the Mode menu. The Blur tool darkens pixels that fall within the selected range only.
2. Drag the Blur tool in the image area you want to edit. Canvas X Draw applies the effect to pixels touched by the tool.

Sharpening Areas

Increase the contrast between specific pixels in an image with the Sharpen tool. Use the settings in the Properties bar to configure the tool.

To Use the Sharpen Tool:

1. Configure the tool using the settings in the Properties bar.
   • Select a brush size and shape from the Brushes palette. (See Selecting Brushes and Painting Options.)
   • Adjust the Pressure setting. A setting of 1 affects the image slightly; 85 dramatically sharpens the image.
   • Choose Normal, Darken, or Lighten from the Mode menu.
2. Drag the Sharpen tool in the image area you want to edit. Canvas X Draw applies the sharpening effect to pixels touched by the tool.

Saturating and Desaturating Colors

With the Sponge tool, add or remove gray content from specific areas of an image. Use the settings in the Properties bar to configure the tool.

To Use the Sponge Tool:

1. Configure the tool using the settings in the Properties bar.
   • Select a brush size and shape from the Brushes palette. (See Selecting Brushes and Painting Options.)
   • Adjust the Pressure setting. Increase the pressure to increase the effect.
   • Choose Saturate or Desaturate in the Mode menu. Saturate removes gray; desaturate increases the amount of gray.
2. Drag the Sponge tool over the image area you want to edit.

See Also:

• Selecting Colors for Painting
• Painting Modes
• Painting Context Menu
• Selecting Brushes and Painting Options