On-Line Study Group

Painter

Basics, continued

Start with a new canvas (File > New, or Ctrl-N).

How many images (documents) can you open at one time?

  1. Only one image can be worked on at a time.
  2. Painter will let you open two documents.
  3. Painter will let you open as many documents as you like.
  4. It depends on your computer’s memory.
How can you display the Controls palette, and what does it do? Answer: Window > Show Controls, or Ctrl-5.
Note: as you switch among the tools, check the Controls palette for settings. How do you display the Toolbox, Brush palette and Art Materials palette?

                This was covered in Lesson 1.

In Lesson 1 we looked at shortcut keys A, B, C, D, E, F. Now we’ll add some more. Press each shortcut key and note the button that is chosen on the toolbox.

G = Hand (Grabber)

H = Shape Selector

I = Rectangle

J = Ellipse

K = Bucket

  

Hand (grabber) Tool (G)

  1. Click the Hand tool, or press G.
  2. Note the Control palette. Click in the zoom level window to select a zoom setting.
  3. Press Ctrl+ (hold down the Control key and press the plus key one time, lightly. Do not use the numeric keypad to do this.).
  4. You should now see: 200% on the image’s title bar, scroll bars at the right and bottom of the image.
  5. With the hand tool, push the image around in the window.
  6. Use the scroll bars. Which method do you prefer?
  7. Press Ctrl-plus. Repeat several times and notice the zoom.
  8. Press Ctrl-minus. Repeat several times and notice the zoom.

    9. Note: it is not possible to set the zoom to intermediate values. Painter zooms in exact multiples.

  9. Switch to the Pencil (B – choose the Pencil). With Black, make a random, swirling design on the canvas.
  10. Hold down the spacebar to toggle to the hand tool. Push the canvas around.
  11. Let go of the spacebar to toggle back to the brush. Continue drawing.
The spacebar always toggles to the Hand tool.

 

Bucket (K)

  1. Switch to the Bucket tool (K). Examine the control palette.
  2. Set the tolerance to 0 and the feather to 0. Click on the canvas. Notice the amount of the fill.
  3. Click Edit > Undo (Ctrl-Z). Set the tolerance to 80 and click again in the same place.
  4. Undo again, and set the tolerance to 50 and the feather to 50. Click again in the canvas.
  5. Experiment with different settings and notice the results.
Increasing the tolerance and/or the feather increases the amount of area filled by the Bucket.

 

Rectangle (I), Ellipse (J) and Shape Selector (H)

  1. Click the icon, or press I to select the Rectangle tool.
  2. Click and drag a rectangle on a new canvas.
  3. Click the icon, or press J to select the Ellipse tool. (Note: the Rectangle and the Ellipse are on the same icon button. Click and hold the button to see the flyout icon, and select the one you want. Or just use the keyboard shortcut.)
  4. Choose the Shape Selector, or press H. Click the rectangle and move it.
  5. Click the Ellipse, and move it.
The fill of a shape is determined by the foreground color. Notice that you can move shapes with the Shape Selector, but if you select one and try to fill it with the Bucket tool, you are asked whether you want to "commit" it to a floater. Once the shape is a floater, it can be filled, but now you must use the Floater Adjuster (Finger – F) to move or size it. This will be covered in a later study guide.

Experiment with these tools until they are familiar to you! Be aware of the differences between the floaters and the shapes (not what the differences are for now, but just how they behave.)

Assignment: see what you can create using ONLY these tools.

Next: A project using various brushes

Copyright Christine Frey 1999
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