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• Hardness — determines the sharpness of the brush edges. A
setting of 100 produces the sharpest edge; lower values produce
an increasingly softer, fading edge.
• Step — determines the time interval that elapses between
applications of paint, with each application defined as a single,
continuous brushstroke. Lower values produce a smoother, more
continuous appearance; higher values create a choppier
appearance.
• Density — determines the evenness of coverage produced by the
brushstroke (or for the Eraser tool, the evenness of the erasure).
Higher values produce more even coverage; lower values produce
spottier coverage, which resembles a spray-painted effect. When
using the Airbrush tool, you should set Density to values lower
than 100.
• Thickness — determines the width of the brushstroke. A setting of
100 produces a brush tip that is completely round or completely
square, depending on the Shape setting. As the Thickness setting
decreases, the brush becomes increasingly narrow.
• Rotation — applies rotation to a noncircular brush tip
• Opacity — determines how well the paint covers the image
surface. At 100% opacity, the painted brushstroke completely
covers the surface beneath it. At 1% opacity, the paint stroke is
almost completely transparent. For the Eraser tool, this setting
determines the level of erasing, so that a setting of 100%
produces the most transparent result.
• Blend mode — determines how painted pixels are blended with
pixels on underlying layers. The blend modes are the same as layer
blend modes. With the Paint Behind blend mode, for example,
painting is done behind the image on the active layer. No paint is
visible when the topmost layer and the active layer are both fully
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opaque. For more information about blend modes, see “Blending
layers” on page 365.
• Rate — determines the rate at which the Airbrush tool applies
paint (from 0 to 50). A value of 0 applies a consistent amount of
paint even when the speed of the brushstroke varies. Higher
values apply more paint when the brush slows down or pauses.
• Stroke — lets you build up paint on existing paint strokes that
were applied with the Continuous check box marked. If the
Continuous check box is not marked, or if the check box is marked
but no strokes have been made, the Stroke button is grayed
(unavailable).
• Continuous — specifies whether paint builds up when multiple
brushstrokes are applied over the same area with opacity set at
less than 100%. If this check box is marked, painting produces a
continuous color, and repainting an area has no effect. To repaint
an area, you must click the Stroke button. If the Continuous check
box is unmarked (the default), each brushstroke over the same
area applies more paint; the color darkens until it reaches 100%
opacity.
• Wet Look Paint — mimics wet paint, with soft color inside and a
darker ring near the edge. The effect is more visible with lower
values for the Hardness setting.
• Smart Edge — uses content-aware technology to sample the
brush stroke area and apply a brush stroke only to areas that
match the underlying pixels. This makes it easier to apply brush
strokes to or around specific elements in your image. For example,
you can use Smart Edge with retouch brushes, such as the Dodge,
Burn, or Sharpen, to help you edit specific areas of the face, lips,
or eyes. Note: Enabling Smart Edge can affect the brush speed.
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Using brushes
When you choose a brush, you can modify its settings to achieve the
effect you want. You can also reset the brush to its default settings.
When applying paint, you can undo and redo multiple brushstrokes.
To use a brush
Edit workspace
1 On the Tools toolbar, choose a brush tool.
2 On the Materials palette, choose the foreground and background
colors and materials.
3 On the Tool Options palette, choose a tool from the Presets drop-
list.
4 Choose a preset brush tip from the brush tip drop-list
.
5 Specify the brush options, such as shape, size, opacity, hardness,
thickness, and rotation.
6 Do one of the following:
• To apply the foreground color or material, drag in the image.
• To apply the background color or material, hold down the right
mouse button, and drag in the image.
With the Airbrush tool, you can build up color in one area by
clicking and holding the mouse at one position.
To paint a straight line, click once at the beginning point, press
Shift, and then click the end point. To continue the straight line,
move to the next point, press Shift, and then click again.
To reset a brush to its default settings
Edit workspace
1 On the Tool Options palette, click the Presets drop-list.
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2 Click the Reset to Default button
.
To undo the most recent brushstroke
Edit workspace
• Click the Undo button
on the Standard toolbar.
You can also press Ctrl + Z or use the History palette to undo
the stroke.
To undo multiple brushstrokes
Edit workspace
• Click the Undo button
on the Standard toolbar multiple
times.
You can also press Ctrl + Z multiple times or use the History
palette to undo multiple strokes.
You can redo strokes by clicking the Redo button
on the
Standard toolbar, by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Z, or by using the
History palette.
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Customizing brush settings
The Brush Variance palette lets you customize the settings in the Tool
Options palette for particular brush options. You can also make
random adjustments by increasing the Jitter percentage.
You may find the most benefit to using Brush Variance palette settings
if you use a pen tablet or a 4D mouse.
To customize brush settings
Edit workspace
1 Choose View Palettes Brush Variance.
2 On the Tools toolbar, choose a brush tool.
3 On the Tool Options palette, set the brush options.
4 On the Brush Variance palette, set the brush variance for each
option (Color Blend, Hue, Saturation, Lightness, Size, Opacity,
Thickness, Rotation, Density):
• Normal — applies no variance
• Pressure — applies variance to the selected brush attribute
according to the pressure from a tablet stylus
• Tilt Angle — applies variance based on the angle between the
tablet stylus and the tablet
• Tilt Direction — applies variance based on the rotation angle of
the brush tip
• Orientation — applies variance based on the rotation angle
around the stylus (for 4D mouse only)
• Fingerwheel — lets you control the variance in the brush
attribute by using the wheel on an airbrush stylus
• Z-Wheel — lets you control the brush attribute by using a 4D
mouse wheel that is set to behave according to the current
application
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• Direction — controls brush variation based on the angle
between consecutive mouse points on a path
• Fade In — fades the brush impression from small to large
• Repeating Fade In — repeatedly fades the brush impression
from small to large
• Fade Out — fades the brush impression from large to small
• Oscillating Fade — repeatedly fades the brush impression in and
out by oscillating between small and large
Note: Options marked with an asterisk (*) in the Brush Variance
palette are available only to users with pressure-sensitive tablets.
The options available depend on the type of tablet being used.
5 Type or set a value in the Fade rate (pixels) control to select a
threshold for the number of pixels over which the fading in and
fading out occurs.
Lower values produce faster fading; higher values produce slower
fading.
6 Type or set a value in the Position Jitter (%) control to select a
percentage for randomly adjusting the brush impression location.
Mark the Scale check box if you want the jitter to scale
proportionally when you change the brush size.
7 Type or set a value in the Impressions per step control to indicate
how many brush impressions per step are made of the
brushstroke
To reset brush variance options to their default values, click the
Reset Brush Variance palette button
.
If you have a variance loaded with a brush and then load
another brush without loading its variance, the new brush can
take on the variance settings from the previous brush. Click the
Reset Brush Variance palette button
to clear any leftover
variance settings.
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You can save your modified brush as a brush tip or as a preset.
For more information about saving brushes and presets, see
“Creating brush tips and presets” on page 626.
Creating brush tips and presets
By modifying the brush options, you can create your own brush tips to
use with the painting tools. When you create a brush tip, all options
selected for the brush are saved, including the brush shape, step,
density, thickness, size, hardness, and rotation settings. You can also
include the variance settings in creating a brush tip. The settings that
you save can be applied to any tool that has a brush tip control in the
Tool Options palette.
You can also make a selection, and then use the selection to create a
custom brush with a width and height of up to 999 999 pixels.
In addition to brush tips, you can create brush presets. When you
create a preset, all settings specified for a particular tool are saved,
including all of the parameters and variance settings. The tool preset is
available only when you select that particular tool.
To create a brush tip
Edit workspace
1 On the Tools toolbar, choose a painting tool.
2 On the Tool Options palette, modify the settings for the brush.
3 Click the brush tip drop-list
to display current brush tips.
4 Click the Create Brush Tip button in the brush tip drop-list.
5 Complete the fields in the Create Brush Tip dialog box.
6 Click OK.
Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested
