Tools & Brushes

You create and modify images by applying inks to the canvas through Tools and Brushes. N-Paint's built-in ToolBox contains several basic tools, which you can use to create your own custom tools.

• The Tools menu
• Brushes and Shape tools
• Creating and saving custom tools

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Tools & Brushes

Each of the tools in the default toolbox is described later in this chapter, while inks are covered in Chapter 6.

To select a tool or a brush, (CLICK-L) on the tool's icon in the toolbox.

Figure 5.1 The default toolbox

To use the tool or brush, move the cursor over the canvas and use the mouse or pen in the manner described for that tool.

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Using Brushes

Ink

Texture Options

Figure 5.2 Fields exposed by toggling Use Texture

Image

Brush Offset Options

Figure 5.3 The Brush Texture pop-up menu

Tiled

Random

Dragged

Make Texture

Figure 5.4 The Generate Texture pop-up menu

Figure 5.5 shows the appearance of these textures as applied through the round brush.

Figure 5.5 Texture options as they appear applied through the round brush

Drawing Options

Figure 5.6 Drawing Options menu

Track

Figure 5.7 The Tracking Mode pop-up menu

(CLICK-L) on the desired tracking mode to select it.

Point

Continuous

Stamp

Smooth

Line

1. (CLICK-L) to define the starting point.

2. Move the mouse and (CLICK-L) again to define the endpoint.

The line is drawn between the two points.

When a brush is using Line tracking mode, the Space parameter determines how often the brush is stamped along the specified line.

Figure 5.8 Spacing parameters

Rubberband

1. (CLICK-L) to start the line.

2. Move the brush and (CLICK-L) again to draw a segment.

The brush is applied to that segment; the brush is still in rubberband mode.

The brush is applied again, for each segment you define.

Spline

1. (CLICK-L) to start the line.

2. Move the brush and (CLICK-L) again to draw a segment.

Continue the move and (CLICK-L) process until you've drawn the path.

The brush moves along the defined path.

This parameter controls which elements of the image will be affected by the operation. When you (CLICK-L) on Channels, the Components pop-up menu appears.

Figure 5.9 The Components pop-up menu

This controls what color components of the canvas are affected by the ink.

The options in the left column assume an RGB color model; the column on the right assume an IHS model.

• RGB is the default mode. All components of the picture (red, green, and blue) are affected by the ink.
• Red, Green, or Blue-depending on which is selected, only the red, green, or blue component of the image is affected by the ink.
• Intensity-only the intensity (brightness) component of the image is affected by the ink.
• Hue-only the hue (color) component of the image is affected by the ink.
• Saturation-only the saturation (depth) component of the image is affected by the ink.
• Hue & Saturation limits effect of the ink to the hue & saturation components of the image.

(CLICK-L) on an image component to select it. For example, if you select Red, then the paint operation will only affect the red component of the image. RGB is the default selection.

SubPixel

N-Paint performance may be affected if you select Subpixel mode-the interactive anti-aliasing for brushes is very calculation intensive.

Pressure

Shadow

Note: The shadow toggle is located in the Drawing Options section of the menu, just to the left of the commands section.

Figure 5.10 Shadow parameters

• Shadow draws a normal drop shadow behind the shape.
• Extrude draws an extruded (solid) drop shadow behind the shape.
• PatExtrude draws an extruded shape. No shadow is drawn.

Figure 5.11 Left, shadow; middle, extruded; right, PatExtruded

Angle

Shadow

• Color specifies the color of the shadow.
• Opacity specifies the opacity of the shadow.
• Distance specifies the length of the shadow from the shape.

Highlight

Note. If you define a shadow for a shape that uses filter or other non-coloring inks, the shadow is still applied. If, for example, you sharpened an image by applying a Sharpen filter ink through a rectangle, but forgot to turn off the shadow effect, the shadow would be drawn around the area you sharpened.

Paths

Paths lets you save the path of a brush's movement across the screen. This is useful if you want to use two different brushes or two different inks along the exact same path in N-Paint.

You could, for example, paint along a path with the round brush using a simple color ink, then move a filter brush along the same path to blur that line.

When you (CLICK-L) on the Paths button, the Brush Path Operations pop-up menu appears:

Figure 5.12 The Brush Path Operations pop-up menu

• Start New Path starts a new path.
• End Path ends the current path.
• Draw brush on Path applies the currently selected brush and ink to the highlighted path.
• Edit Path lets you edit the path's shape using the shape editor, as described in the section "Shape Tool Commands," on page 5-21.
• Reverse Path changes the direction in which the brush stroke is applied to the canvas (when using the Draw brush on Path command).
• Smooth Path adds more intermediate points to the path; when Draw brush on Path is used, a smoother line is produced.

Show Paths

This group of controls allows you to display wire frame outlines of previously drawn brush paths on the canvas.

Figure 5.13 Show Brush Paths

Accumulate

Controls whether an image processing effect (e.g., the filter ink) affects the current canvas or the copy saved in the image processing buffer.

When Accumulate is off, a saved version of the canvas is used as a source, so that no matter how much you paint, the canvas is affected only once. With Accumulate off, you can use the SaveBuf command to process the image more than once.

When Accumulate is on, the canvas is changed more and more the longer you paint, because the brush is affecting the modified canvas rather than the copy in the image processing buffer.

LoadBuf

Loads the version of the image currently saved in the image processing buffer to the canvas. If you apply an image processing effect to part (or all) of an image, use LoadBuf to retrieve the version last saved to the image processing buffer (either the original image, or the last version saved with SaveBuf described below). This is available only if Accumulate is off.

See the section "Managing Images in N-Paint," on page 1-12 for more about the image processing buffer.

SaveBuf

Saves the current version of the image to the image processing buffer. This saved version can be retrieved with the LoadBuf command after an unwanted image processing function (such as a filter or recolor operation) has been applied to a canvas. This is available only if Accumulate is off.

See the section "Managing Images in N-Paint," on page 1-12 for more about the image processing buffer.

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Brushes for Editing Images

Cutout Brush

Figure 5.14 Cutout brush icon

The cutout brush lets you create custom brushes, selecting the pattern directly from a region of the canvas.

Figure 5.15 Cutout brush parameters

Create Cutout

Figure 5.16 Create Cutout pop-up menu

• Using Matte lets you create a brush using the matte. When you select an area to cutout, only the part of the cutout that has a matte is actually moved into the cutout.

To see the effect clearly, open an image with a clearly demarcated matte. Turn View on under the Matte section of Commands so you can see the part of the matte you are selecting. Drag the cutout rectangle half-on and half-off of the matte, then look at the brush.)

• Using Rectangle allows you to select the cutout directly from the canvas. Move the rectangle tool over the image and select the area that you want to copy into your brush.
• Using Polygon allows you to select the cutout directly from the canvas using a polygonal shape, which you define. The behavior of the polygon, (e.g. spline) is governed by the current settings for the polygon tool.
• Using Line allows you to define the cutout using the line tool.
• Symmetry Brush creates a rectangular brush that is folded over (and put in tile mode) so that it creates a seamless tiling pattern.

Edit Cutout

Figure 5.17 The Edit Cutout menu

• Abort leaves Cutout Edit mode without saving changes.
• Exit leaves the Cutout Edit mode, saving any changes.
• Reset returns the shape to its original form.
• Composite adds the shape directly to the canvas and exits the cutout edit mode.
• Finalize attempts to anti-alias any effects caused by the reshaping of the brush.
• Set Offset lets you reposition the shape on the foreground. If you (CLICK-L) on this button, the following pop-up is displayed:

Figure 5.18 Setting the offset for the cutout brush

(CLICK-L) on either the X or Yvalue to change the position of the shape on the pasteup layer (using the numerical keypad which appears).

If the shape on the pasteup layer is non-rectangular, the X and Y values determine the position of the object using the upper left corner of a virtual "bounding box" around the shape:

Mode options allow you to specify what you want to do to the cutout shape. Note that changing the shape of the brush distorts the contents of the brush as well.

• Position lets you change the position of the cutout (useful when using the Tile option, described below).
• Scale changes the size of the brush. (HOLD-L) and drag the pen to the left or right to decrease or increase the size of the brush.
• Rotate changes the angle of the cutout. (HOLD-L) and drag the pen to the left to rotate clockwise, or right to rotate counter-clockwise. Note that the indicated center of rotation is the center for the bounding box of that shape.
• Move Point lets you (HOLD-L) and drag on a point (such as a corner on a square) to move it. The shape of the brush is distorted, as are its contents.

Opacity sets the opacity for the cutout brush.

Detail determines the amount of anti-aliasing employed when showing the distorted image in a brush whose shape you change. A higher factor produces a lower quality (but faster) preview.

Cutout Operations

Figure 5.20 Cutout Brush Operations

• Symmetrify creates a symmetrical brush from the cutout area.
• Invert turns the brush "inside-out," so that the pixels at the center of the brush move to the outside and vice-versa.

Figure 5.21 Inverting a cutout

Opacity

Preview

Round Brush

Figure 5.22 Round brush icon

Use the Round brush to draw with a round shape on the canvas. The Round Brush has three parameters, Size, Opacity, and Hard(ness).

Size

Opacity

Hardness

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Using Shape Tools

• Editing tools, which apply inks to an image.
• Utility tools, which do not apply inks, but perform other useful functions like panning and zooming.

Most of the Editing tools share three basic parameters, Ink, Texture, and Drawing Options.

Ink

Texture

Figure 5.23 The concept of an ink opacity map

To select an ink texture, (CLICK-L) in the Texture edit box:

Figure 5.24 Ink textures

Each of these mattes is described below.

Opaque

Constant

Figure 5.25 Constant ink texture parameters

The constant value specified affects the opacity of the matte; if you specified a value of .50 for the matte, for example, the specified ink would have only a 50% affect on the image.

Gradient

Figure 5.26 Gradient ink texture parameters

Refer to the section "Multi Grad," on page 6-5 for a description of the gradient patterns.

Edge key

Figure 5.27 Edge Finder ink texture parameters

If selected, applies ink only through selected areas of the canvas, determined by the results of an edge detect filter operation.

By default, ink is applied to the non-edge portions of the image; Invert causes ink to be applied only along the edges of an image.

Grain

Figure 5.28 Grain texture parameters

• Min specifies the minimum opacity of the grain pattern.
• Max specifies the maximum opacity of the grain pattern.

Grid

Figure 5.29 Grid ink texture parameters

• Width determines the horizontal spacing of the grid.
• Height determines the vertical spacing of the grid.
• Left determines the grid's offset from the left of the screen. A value of 0 starts the grid at the left side of the screen.
• Top determines the grid's offset from the top of the screen. A value of 0 starts the grid at the top of the screen.
• Size specifies the thickness of the lines on the grid.
• Invert switches how the grid is used. Rather than protecting the area under the lines on the grid, this is the unprotected area.

Drawing Options

Shadow

Mixing

The Mix Mode controls how colors applied to the canvas are "mixed" with colors which are already on the canvas. (CLICK-L) on the Mixing edit field to reveal the Mix Mode pop-up menu.

Figure 5.30 The Mix Mode pop-up menu

• Cover uses normal color mixing mode. The foreground pixels cover the background pixel.
• Additive mode simulates the additive color mixing property of light. If you paint a red pixel on top of a blue one, the result will be magenta.
• Subtractive mode simulates looking through a colored piece of cellophane, or a colored gel. It filters out light.
• PixAdd numerically add pixel values together. It is useful in combination with PixSub (see below).
• PixSub subtracts the two pixel values. This mode is useful for creating a "difference matte" between two images. When the two image are "pixel subtracted," the result will be black in regions where the images are the same.

Channels

Channels work in exactly the same way for shape tools as for brushes. To review how Channels affect tool performance, see "Channels," on page 5-7.

Clear

Shape Tool Commands

Shape Edit commands appear at the bottom of the each tool's parameter menu:

Figure 5.31 Shape Edit commands

Using Repeat vs. Undo

1. (CLICK-L) on the Undo key in the Commands section of the menu.

2. Select the Reveal Image ink.

3. (CLICK-L) on the arrow to the left of the Show button, in the Tool Parameters section of the menu.

(CLICK-L) on the arrow until the shape you want to edit is highlighted on the canvas.

N-Paint applies the current ink (the Reveal Image ink , in this case) to the image through the highlighted shape.

Shapes vs. Custom Tools

• A Shape is just that, a shape. Shapes contain no information about the types of inks applied through them in the past.
• A Custom Tool can include both shape and ink information. For example, you can save custom decals consisting of a shape tool and an image (as in the Reveal Ink example above).

Abort

Show

Figure 5.32 Displaying other shapes

• For the left arrow:


• (Click-L) to see the previous shape.

  
  

• (Click-R) to see the first shape.

• For the right arrow:
• (Click-L) to see the next shape.
• (Click-R) to see the last shape.

Repeat

Edit

Figure 5.33 The Shape Edit menu

• Abort exits from Shape Edit mode without saving any changes.
• Exit exits safely from Shape Edit mode after you have made changes.
• Composite draws the pasteup scene on the canvas and exits from Shape Edit mode
• Reset undoes any shape modifications you have made in this session.
• Set Offset lets you reposition the shape on the foreground. If you (CLICK-L) on this button, you get the following pop-up:

Figure 5.34 Setting the position of a shape numerically

(CLICK-L) on either the X or Y value to change the position of the shape on the pasteup layer (using the numerical keypad which appears).

If the shape on the pasteup layer is non-rectangular, the X and Y values determine the position of the object using the upper left corner of the bounding box around the shape:

Figure 5.35 Bounding box

Mode

Figure 5.36 Shape editing modes

• Position repositions a shape. (DRAG-L) on the shape to move it.
• Scale reduces or enlarges a shape. (DRAG-L) to the left or right to shrink or enlarge the shape.
• Rotate lets you rotate a shape. (DRAG-L) to the left to rotate the shape clockwise or to the right to rotate it counter-clockwise.
• Move Point lets you redefine the shape. (CLICK-L) and drag on one of the points defining the shape.

Note. Whenever entering a shape edit mode (e.g., editing a polygon or text), you can hold down the SHIFT key to temporarily change to Position mode; let up on SHIFT to return to the previously selected mode.

Draw

Figure 5.37 Selecting which portion of the shape to draw

• Element draws the elements in the pasteup scene in normal color mode.
• Outline draws the elements in the pasteup scene as wireframe objects.
• Both draws both the wireframe outline and full-color representation of the objects on the pasteup scene.

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Shape Tools For Editing Images

Quad Tool

Figure 5.38 Quad tool icon

Use the Quad tool to apply inks to rectangular regions of the canvas. To abort specifying a rectangle and reset the tool, (CLICK-L) on Abort, or (SHIFT-L), or (TABLET-ABORT).

Figure 5.39 Rectangle parameters

• Abort terminates the definition of the rectangle.
• Do Full Canvas applies the current ink to the entire canvas rather than to a selected rectangle.
• Show shows one of the shapes you've drawn on the canvas. N-Paint remembers the last few shapes you define. You can browse through these shapes by clicking on the left and right arrows.

Rect

• Outline draws only the outline of the rectangle on the canvas.


• Width specifies the width of the rectangle's outline, measured in pixels. This applies only when the rectangle is being drawn in outline mode.

• Soft specifies the softness of the rectangle's edges, measured in pixels. Use a value higher than 1.

Size

• W (Width) specifies the width of the rectangle.
• H (Height) specifies the height of the rectangle.
• Outline draws only the outline of the rectangle on the canvas.


• Width specifies the width of the rectangle's outline, measured in pixels. This applies only when the rectangle is being drawn in outline mode.

• Soft specifies the softness of the rectangle's edges, measured in pixels. Use a value higher than 1.

Ratio

• W/H is the ratio of the width of the rectangle to its height.

Figure 5.40 Rectangle ratio

• Outline draws only the outline of the rectangle on the canvas.


• Width specifies the width of the rectangle's outline, measured in pixels. This applies only when the rectangle is being drawn in outline mode.

• Soft specifies the softness of the rectangle's edges, measured in pixels. Use a value higher than 1.

Quad

Polygon Tool

Figure 5.41 Polygon tool icon

The polygon tool allows you to specify areas on the canvas which are not shaped like regular polyhedrons. To use the tool, you (CLICK-L) on successive points to form the perimeter of the polygon.

Figure 5.42 Polygon parameters

Sketch

Figure 5.43 Left, sketch mode selected; right, not selected

• If selected, lets you define a shape in a "freehand" manner, by drawing its path on the canvas, much like a brush.
• If not selected, (CLICK-L) to start the shape, then (CLICK-L) for each point on the polygon.

To close the shape, (CLICK-L) on Do It or (CLICK-M) or (TABLET-EXIT).

To abort the drawing of the shape, (CLICK-L) on Abort or (SHIFT-L) or (TABLET-ABORT).

Spline

Figure 5.44 Left, spline mode selected; right, not selected

Outline

Figure 5.45 Left, outline mode selected; right, not selected

Width

Specifies the width of the polygon's outline, measured in pixels. This parameter appears only when the polygon is being drawn in outline mode.

Soft

Line Tool

Figure 5.46 Line tool icon

Figure 5.47 Line parameters

Separate

Figure 5.48 Separate lines can be only one segment long

Connected

Figure 5.49 Connected mode lets you draw a series of connected lines

Sketch

Spline

Figure 5.50 Splined connected line

Width

Soft

Oval Tool

Figure 5.51 Oval tool icon

This tool allows you to specify and apply operations through any oval shape. To abort out of specifying an oval and reset the tool, (CLICK-L) on Abort, or (TABLET-ABORT).

Figure 5.52 Oval parameters

Circle?

Outline

Softness

Width

Text Tool

Figure 5.53 The Text Tool icon

If you (CLICK-L) on the text tool, the following menu appears:

Figure 5.54 Text parameters

Text

Font

Figure 5.55 Selecting a font

At the bottom of the menu is a list of the fonts currently loaded into memory. The first two options allow you to load fonts using different methods.

• Read Other Fonts displays a list of any fonts that have not yet been loaded into memory. (If you know which font you want to use, select this option rather than Browse (below), as it is faster.)

Figure 5.56 Fonts in the default fonts directory not yet loaded into memory

If more fonts are available than can be displayed on one screen, use the paging controls at the bottom of the menu to view a list of more fonts.

• Browse also displays a list of all fonts in the default fonts directory. Select this option if you want to see an icon preview of each font.

Figure 5.57 Browsing font icons

If Confirm Enabled is selected in the Setup menu, you are prompted to verify that you want to load the icons; the time necessary to load the icons depends on the number of fonts installed in your default font directory).

If a font has not yet been loaded into memory, the words "not loaded" appear over the sample letter.

To use one of the displayed fonts, (CLICK-L) on its icon. If it has not been loaded to memory, (CLICK-L) on Yes when prompted whether or not to load the font from file.

Rot

Skew

Although you can specify any value for skew, typical values are approximately between -2 and 2.

Space

XScl

Table 5.1 Effects of X scale on fonts

Value	Font Reads	Description
0 to 1	Left to right	Font is compressed by the specified factor.
1 or higher	Left to right	Font is stretched by the specified factor.
-1 to 0	Right to left (mirror image)	Font is compressed by the specified factor.
-1 or lower	Right to left (mirror image)	Font is compressed by the specified factor.

Outline

Width

Soft

Figure 5.58 shows the various text effects:

Figure 5.58 Font effects

Curve

Compositing Text onto an Image

(CLICK-L) on the image to apply the text to the image as displayed. This combines the text directly onto the canvas.

If you want to further edit the text before applying it to the canvas, follow the instructions in the section below to enter text edit mode, which allows you to interactively change the characteristics of the shapes and position of the letters being applied.

Text Edit Mode

If you decide that you want to make some modifications to the text before applying it to the canvas, you can enter text edit mode and change a number of characteristics.

To enter text edit mode:

1. Enter the text you want to add in the Text box.

2. (CLICK-L) on the Edit button.

Suppose you entered the letters "Xyz" in the Text box. When you entered text edit mode, an outline looking something like that in Figure 5.59 would be displayed:

Figure 5.59 Text with control points

3. Note that the text edit menu also appears across the bottom of the screen.

Figure 5.60 Text edit menu

You use the commands in the text edit menu to specify how you want to manipulate the individual letters or the entire bounding box, as described below:

Abort

Exit

Composite

Reset

SetOffset

Mode

Figure 5.61 Text edit menu (modes)

Note. Hold down the SHIFT key to temporarily change to Position mode. If, for example, you are rotating a letter and want to move it, (SHIFT-L) and drag the character control point to move the letter, then let up on SHIFT to return to Rotate mode.

• Position lets you position character or curve control points or the entire bounding box (which is useful when compositing text directly onto an image). Curve control points are described in the section "Placing Text along a Curve," on page 5-40.


• (CLICK-L) and drag on the selected point to change its position. If you are modifying a character's control point, this lets you modify both the X and Y position of the character with respect to the baseline. (See below for a description of both of these parameters.)

• Scale lets you change the size of an individual character (character control point) or all characters in the box (bounding box control point).


• (CLICK-L) and drag left to decrease the size of the character(s).

  
  

• (CLICK-L) and drag right to increase the size of the character(s).

If you change the size of an individual character in a string of text, N-Paint attempts to kern the space between the character and any adjacent characters appropriately. (This amount of space can be modified using either the Kern or X-Position commands, described below.)

• Rotate lets you rotate an individual character (character control point) or the entire bounding box (bounding box control point).


• (CLICK-L) and drag left to rotate the character(s) clockwise.

  
  

• (CLICK-L) and drag right to rotate the character(s) counterclockwise.

• Kern lets you adjust the space between two adjacent characters. Adjusting the space between two characters using Kern causes all characters to the right of the character to shift along the baseline as well.
• X-Position, like Kern, lets you shift an individual character along the defined baseline. Unlike Kern, however, characters to the right of the character being moved are not affected. This effectively allows you to move the selected character anywhere along the baseline.
• Y-Position lets you shift the position of a character perpendicular to the baseline or curve.


• (CLICK-L) and drag up to move the character(s) upward.

  
  

• (CLICK-L) and drag down to move the character(s) down from.

Draw

Figure 5.62 Text edit menu (draw options)

• Element shows only the actual characters while in text edit mode.
• Outline shows only the outline of the characters while in text edit mode.
• Both shows both the actual character and the outline.

Undoing Changes

Figure 5.63 Text operations

• Reset Characters undoes any individual character manipulation you have done, but does not affect any changes you made to the object as a whole. For example, if you rotated an individual letter, then scaled the entire text object, only the rotation would be undone.
• Reset All undoes both individual character changes and changes made to the block as a whole. (The only exception to this is scale, which must be undone manually.)
• Define Curve lets you define a curve to place text along. (See the following section for more information.)

Placing Text along a Curve

1. (CLICK-L) on TextOps>Define Curve.

The following menu appears:

• Three, Four, and Five draws a curve with the specified number of control points.
• Specify Graphically lets you draw the curve along which the currently specified text is drawn. You draw the curve as a series of segments, which are smoothed into a Kochanek spline.


• (CLICK-L) to draw each point on the curve.

  
  

• (CLICK-M) after you have drawn the final point on the curve.

In Edit mode, a drawn curve with three characters on it might look something like this:

Figure 5.65 Text along a spline curve

To modify the curve, first go into Edit mode:

• (CLICK-L) and drag a bounding box control point to modify the entire curve.
• (CLICK-L) and drag a curve control point to change the shape of part of the curve.
• (CLICK-L) and drag a character control point to change an individual letter (as described in the section "Mode," on page 5-38).

Where are Fonts Located?

/usr/local/ngc/fonts/bitstream/

If you want to physically store the fonts in another location, you must create a link between the two directories. Suppose, for example, that you want to keep your fonts in a directory called /usr/fonts. From a UNIX shell on the machine on which you are running N-Paint, you must create a symbolic link:

ln -s /usr/fonts /usr/local/ngc/fonts/bitstream

ln -s actual_directory expected_directory

For each font, there will be two files:

fontname.bsfont

fontname.icon

Fill Tool

Figure 5.66 Fill tool icon

This tool allows you to specify and apply operations through any region defined by area filling. The area to be filled is specified by clicking on a "seed" point on the canvas. The seed color and any parameters you have specified are then used to compute the extent of the area to be filled.

If you hold the CTRL key down when moving the fill tool over the canvas, the hue of the color under the tool is displayed in full saturation and brightness in the center of the tools color box. This is useful when the selected color is too dark or desaturated to see well.

Note. You may specify any ink to be applied through the fill tool. This means that any of the operations you might apply as an ink through either a brush or a polygon may also be applied to an irregular area through the fill tool.

Draw

• While finds all pixels connected to the seed point. Whether or not a pixel is connected is determined by the parameters under Test.

Figure 5.67 Fill parameters in While mode

Note. The fill tool in color mode can be used to create mattes based on picture color. Put the matte in Add mode and use the fill tool in While mode. Use an appropriate Test and Range, then (CLICK-L) on the colors for which you want to create the matte. The newly filled area is added to the matte every time you (CLICK-L) with the tool. This is similar to generating a matte using a chroma key, as described in the section "Chroma Key," on page 6-24.

• Until finds all pixels within a closed boundary defined by Border. Whether or not a pixel is considered to be part of the boundary is determined by the parameters under Test. All the colors within the boundary region are included in the fill area.

Figure 5.68 Fill parameters in Until mode

Note. When Draw is set to Until, and Range is 0, it is important that the boundary region be of a single color. If not, the fill will leak through the boundary. If you draw a boundary with an airbrush, you will get a wide variation in color since the airbrush has soft edges and will blend with the background to various degrees and the fill will leak through. Therefore, you should paint your boundaries slowly with a fairly-hard edged round brush of 100% opacity.

Test

• Canvas compares the RGB values of selected pixels to the RGB value of the seed pixel.
• Matte compares the matte value of selected pixels to the seed pixel.

Border

Range

Soft

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Shape Tool Utilities

Pasteup Tool

Figure 5.69 Pasteup tool icon

The Pasteup tool lets you use the layering capabilities of N-Paint to do both compositing and shape manipulation. When you select the Pasteup tool, you go directly into pasteup mode. There, you may edit any shape you draw just as you did in the shape editor, described in "Shape Tool Commands," on page 5-21. In pasteup mode, there are two layers; a foreground layer (also called the "pasteup layer") and a background layer (typically the canvas).

Think of the foreground layer as an overlay for the current canvas. The objects you manipulate may then be applied directly to the canvas.

Figure 5.70 Working in pasteup mode

When you select the pasteup tool, the following menu is displayed:

Figure 5.71 Pasteup mode parameters

Operation

• Cutout puts you onto the pasteup layer, where you may modify the shape.
• Load FrGrnd loads an image from memory into the foreground layer.
• Save FrGrnd saves the contents of the pasteup layer to an image. (You are prompted to give the image a name.)
• Composite permanently composites the pasteup layer onto the canvas.
• Reset undoes any modifications you have made to the shape since you selected the pasteup tool.

Figure 5.72 Bounding box

Tool Mode

• Position changes the position of the shape on the foreground layer. (DRAG-L) to reposition the shape.
• Scale changes the size of the shape. (DRAG-L) to the right or left to grow or shrink the shape.
• Rotate changes the angle of the shape. (DRAG-L) and drag the pen to the left to rotate clockwise, or right to rotate counter-clockwise.
• Move Point lets you (DRAG-L) on a point (such as a corner on a square) to move it.

Background/Foreground Layer Display

Figure 5.73 Control of the foreground display

• Layer specifies which layer to perform the pasteup operation on:


• Foreground performs operations on the image on the foreground layer.

  
  

• Background performs operations on the image on the background layer.

• Draw specifies which parts of the foreground element are to be displayed.


• Element draws the element on the pasteup layer using its normal color.

  
  

• Outline draws only the wire frame of the object.

  
  

• Both draws both normal color and the wire frame visible.

• Opacity controls the opacity of the object on the pasteup layer.
• Use Matte if selected, causes only the portion of the image on the foreground layer to be displayed.

Compositing in Pasteup Mode

Try the steps below to get used to the tools in N-Paint:

1. Load the Canvas.

Choose an image from either disk or memory.

The parameters menu shown in Figure 5.71 appears.

Note. The Pasteup button in the commands section of the menu toggles the visibility of the foreground (pasteup) layer.

3. (CLICK-L) on Load Foreground.

4. Select an image from memory from the list box that appears.

The image in the foreground is displayed.

Because the foreground image is loaded into a shape, it can be moved, rotated, scaled, or stretched using any of the tools you use to manipulate other shapes.

7. (CLICK-L) on Use Matte.

If there is a matte associated with the image loaded into the foreground, only the portion of the image that has a matte is displayed.

This chooses which layer you want to draw on.

The Color Picker Tool

Figure 5.74 The Color Picker tool icon

You can use the color picker to pick a color from the canvas. The color you pick becomes the active color. You can also use the color picker to capture all the colors in the current image and add them to the pallette.

To use the color picker tool, (CLICK-L) on its icon. The Color Picker menu appears:

Figure 5.75 Color Picker tool menu

Using the mouse, move the color picker tool over the area of the canvas with the color you want to capture.

Figure 5.76 The Color Picker cursor

The selection point captures the color of a single pixel. This color is displayed in the larger selection box, which is connected to the selection point by a thin line. When you see the color you want in the box, (CLICK-L) on the canvas. That color becomes the current color until you change it.

Adding a Captured Color to the Palette

1. (CLICK-L) on the Palette Scroll bar to find an empty palette slot.

Figure 5.77 Palette with empty slots

2. Move the cursor over an empty slot, and (CLICK-L).

The current color (which is the color you just picked) is added to the palette.

1. (CLICK-L) on the Get Canvas Colors button under the palette.

N-Paint prompts you to select a rectangular area on the canvas.

(CLICK-L) on opposite corners to define the rectangle.

The Pan/Zoom Tool

Figure 5.78 The pan/zoom tool icon

You use the Pan/Zoom tool to move the image around on the canvas, or to zoom in or out from the image. The Pan/Zoom menu appears when you (CLICK-L) on the Pan/Zoom tool icon:

Figure 5.79 The Pan/Zoom tool menu

Use the green buttons to zoom in and out from the image.

• 1:1 - Select 1:1 zoom mode. This is the default display mode for an image; an image is displayed at its actual resolution.
• Magnify lets you select a rectangular area of the canvas, which is expanded to fill the available space in the N-Paint window.
• Letterbox the entire image is scaled to fit the available space in the N-Paint window.
• Zoom In/Zoom Out zooms in or out on the selected area; unlike Soft Zoom, any brushes are resized by the same factor as the canvas.
• Soft Zoom/Exit Soft Zoom

When you select soft zoom, the Tools menu disappears and the cursor changes to a rectangular shape. (CLICK-L) and drag to select the portion of the image you want to zoom in on.

Zooms in on the selected area. In Soft Zoom, however, the brushes retain their actual size (they are not zoomed with the image). This mode is great for detail work where you need an extremely fine brush.

If you have made changes while in soft zoom mode, the following dialog box is displayed when you (CLICK-L) on Exit Soft Zoom:

Figure 5.80 Soft zoom dialog box

• Save changes to exit Soft Zoom mode and save your work.
• Exit without saving if you decide you don't want to add your changes.

Panning

1. (CLICK-L) on the Pan/Zoom tool icon.

2. (DRAG-L) the image in the direction you want to move it.

Say you have a piece of paper on your desktop. You can move it by putting your finger on a certain spot, then moving your finger around, dragging the paper across your desktop. The Pan tool works in exactly the same way.

To view the contents of the currently loaded custom toolbox, (CLICK-L) on the arrow next to the Tool Box label.

Figure 5.81 Custom tools

The custom toolbox is divided into a grid, just like the default toolbox; each square on the grid represents a space in which a tool can be stored. You may have more than one page in a custom toolbox.

Adding and Removing Tools

• (CLICK-L) on an empty square to save the current tool, along with its settings, to the custom toolbox.
• (CLICK-R) on a tool to delete it from a custom toolbox.

When you add a tool to the custom toolbox N-Paint asks you to name your new brush. This name appears across the top of the custom tool in the toolbox.

Saving Custom Tools

Copyright © 1996, Nichimen Graphics Corporation. All rights reserved.