Painting with the brush and palette tools

Painting in VizPaint2D is a lot like working with traditional artist's tools. You choose a brush and a color, then paint on a canvas. Unlike traditional tools, VizPaint2D lets you paint different layers and create sophisticated effects.

To sample the brushes:

1. Make sure the brush tool is displayed in the lower-left corner of the VizPaint2D window.

   The brush tool (shown in figure 63) is displayed when you start VizPaint2D. Use the settings as shown in figure 63.

   If you have tried other tools since start-up, display the brush tool by selecting paint(TM)brush.

   Figure 63 Using the brush tool

2. Using the mouse, bring the pointer onto the canvas. Click the left mouse button and drag the mouse to paint a line. Release the mouse button to end the line.

   You should have painted a white, opaque, airbrushed stroke.

3. Click on the halfway mark of the opacity slider in the brush tool.

   The current value changes from 100 to 50.

   Figure 64 Brush tool opacity slider

4. Paint a new line using the opacity setting you just set.

   Instead of being opaque white, this new line looks gray because it is more transparent than the first.

5. Click on the color selector in the brush tool.

   A white highlight appears around the color selector, showing that the color selector is activated.

6. Click anywhere in the color area of the continuous palette tool to choose a new color.

   The color selector in the brush tool and the color swatch in the continuous palette tool update to match the color you selected.

7. Set the opacity back to 100.
8. Paint a new line using the color you just selected.
9. Click on the pull-down menu at the top of the palette tool and select hsv slider.

   The palette tool updates to display the sliders for hue, saturation, and value as shown in figure 65.

   

   Figure 65 Using the HSV slider palette

   The left slider specifies the hue of the color (green, blue, yellow, and so on). The middle slider specifies the saturation. As you move this slider down, the color becomes paler, as if you were adding white paint. The right slider specifies value. Sliding it down is like adding black paint to the hue.

10. Use the hsv sliders to select a new color.
11. Paint a new line using the color you just selected on the hsv slider palette.
12. Select special effects(TM)transfer from the menu (the far right button in the top row of the brush tool).

    The transfer function lets you clone any element or design on the canvas.

13. Click anywhere on the line you want to transfer.
14. Click again on the area of the canvas you want to transfer to.

    The pointer becomes two small circles, one on the original line and another with a cross in it on the area where you'll do the transfer.

15. Click and drag in the new area, following the path of the original line.

    As you drag the mouse, notice that the new line is painted over anything that is already on the canvas.

    Figure 66 Using the transfer brush

On your own

Before you move on to the next section, try experimenting with other palettes (including block, rgb slider, and cmy slider), brushes, strokes, or special effects. Also, see what happens when you adjust the size and opacity sliders.