Set up for sketching

You may want to customize the stylus buttons so you can easily access marking menus, camera hot keys, and vertical and horizontal constraints using the stylus.

To customize the stylus buttons on a Windows system

From the Windows Start button, choose Start > Programs > Wacom Tablet > Wacom Tablet to open the Wacom Tablet Properties window.

Click the Tool Buttons tab.

Set the Switch Function(s) to Right-Click and Middle-Click.

Click OK to close the Wacom Tablet Properties window.

2D best practices

System Setup

Use Alias-qualified hardware and graphics drivers.

Use Alias-qualified tablet driver.

Don't update graphic drivers and tablet drivers without confirming that the newer drivers have been tested and approved by your internal testing or system department. Newer, untested software may not work as expected. If in doubt about appropriate driver versions, contact Autodesk support.

Make sure that Enable overlay is turned off in your graphics card settings, for optimal performance. (Go to Start > Settings > Display, then Settings > Advanced > [graphics card name] > Performance and Quality settings. Select Advanced Settings for Global driver settings. Scroll down to the bottom of the list. If Enable overlay is turned on, create a new profile by clicking Modify Profile and selecting Save as. Enter a new name for the profile, then turn off Enable overlay and click OK. Reboot your machine and relaunch AliasStudio for the change to take effect.)

Startup

The first time you run AliasStudio, you'll be presented with a workflow selection:

Choose the Paint workflow if you want to work solely within a 2D environment. You can click the Do not show again check box so this window won't appear every time you launch AliasStudio.

If you have chosen a workflow setting and checked Do not show again, you can change the default workflow by choosing the workflow you want from Preferences > Workflows. AliasStudio will launch the application in the same workflow that was active when you last exited the application.

Choosing the Paint workflow when AliasStudio launches has the same effect as choosing Preferences > Workflow > Paint from the interface. It customizes palette, menus, shelves, marking menus, and control panel for a 2D (sketching) workflow. You can customize these further if you want, as described below).

The Palette window is closed by default in Paint mode. To open it, choose Windows > Palette.

The Paint mode also changes the behavior of File > New to behave like Canvas > New canvas

, creating a new canvas plane within its own Paint window

Customize your AliasStudio workspace and environment

Simplify the AliasStudio interface

Customize the tools you see in the Studio interface. For example, to customize the 2D tools,

Choose Preferences > Workflows > Paint

Now open Preferences > Interface > Hotkeys/Menus

Turn off every menu item you don't want to see in 2D paint mode.

This dramatically changes the way the product feels, because you no longer see the functionality you don't use. The Autodesk AliasStudio defaults should be viewed as a starting point to develop a custom setup.

> Use the different short menu sets for different workflow tasks

For example, selecting Preferences > Workflows > Paint

switches you to a 2D paint interface, which removes all modeling, rendering and animation functionality and changes the default AliasStudio colors to suit working on white paper. Switching to the paint interface also sets custom 2D marking menus and shelves.

> Customize tool and menu options

AliasStudio supports the ability to create default settings for every tool or menu item; this is very useful functionality if your requirements are different from the shipped defaults.

Open and set every tool option and choose the setting. Then choose Preferences > User options > Save options

Save the file under the name AutoStudio-User-Options.scm if you are running AutoStudio, or Studio-User-Options.scm if you are running Studio, or DesignStudio-User-Options.scm if you are running DesignStudio.

When AutoStudio is started, it reads this file and sets the defaults described in this file. Some designers like the Studio defaults for brushes; some prefer a different feel and appearance. Take the time to customize the product defaults to suit your own specific style of sketching.

> Customize the tool shelf

Customize your shelf set to streamline common workflow practices. Painting and sketching is a very artistic occupation, so it's important to spend the time to customize tools to meet your specific style and workflow.

Save your shelf set with the name User-Default.scm. When this file is present, the shelf set will always be the same when the application starts until you manually re-save this file. If this file is not present, the shelf set is automatically saved with the "last used" shelf settings. Again, some people like the shelf set to be exactly how they last used the product; others prefer to always start with the same shelf each day. You can choose your style of working.

Shelves now have cascading menus and spacers. You can create cascading menus on your shelves by adding tools above other tools. This enables you to create groupings of tools, and better organize your workflow. Cascading menus are indicated by a small yellow arrow. For further information about how to create a tool cascade, see Create a cascade in a shelf.

Spacers enable you to create visual gaps or groupings on the shelf by using non-functional icons that further help you to organize your shelf.

> Streamline your marking menus

Customize your marking menus to meet your specific workflow. Drag and drop any tool or menu item into the marking menu editor.

> Streamline your hotkeys

Customize your hotkeys to meet your specific workflow. If you're a 2D user, you may want Copy Image to be Ctrl-C instead of Shift-Ctrl-C, and Paste Image to be Ctrl-V instead of Shift-Ctrl-V. Hotkeys can be customized using the hotkey editor.

The Special:Paint section in the Hotkeys/Menus editor also contains many brush modes, brush parameters (such as radius, opacity, etc) that can be mapped to hotkeys.

In particular, if you use high resolution canvases and want your brushes to keep the same appearance as on standard resolution canvas, you can scale several properties of your brush at once, by using the Size hotkey. By default it is mapped to the letter S. Choose a brush, press the S key, and drag the mouse to scale the Min/Max Radius, and Max Opacity of the brush at once.

> Set your Wacom tablet buttons

The Wacom editor allows you to send hotkey events to the host application. Buttons 1 to 27 on the tablet can be used to quickly access common functionality like Canvas > New canvas

by mapping the tablet buttons to AliasStudio hotkeys.

> Set your Wacom stylus buttons

The Wacom editor enables you to map the stylus switch buttons to left, middle and right mouse buttons. This is very important, because the defaults set by Wacom are not optimal for working with AliasStudio.

> Screen aspect ratio issues

If you define a hotkey (see Preferences > Interface > Hotkeys/Menus

) for Windows > Control Panel, you can quickly toggle the Paint Panel on and off. This way, you have the screen aspect ratio suitable for side view sketches of long objects, like cars, and still have quick access to the paint tool options.

> Paint panel shelf tabs

Take advantage of the Paint Panel shelf tabs. Click with the right mouse button

on the Shelf Options menu, to create your own shelves. This gives you more window real estate by offering a compact alternative to the main shelf window. You can have and switch between color shelves, texture brush shelves, pencil shelves, and so on.

Remember the limitation that texture brushes saved on a default shelf will slow start-up. Consider creating your own texture brush shelf separate from your user defaults (see Customize the tool shelf), and only load the texture brushes when needed. Unload them before exiting if you have not saved your user_default.scm file, because the texture brushes will be saved automatically to your defaults when you exit if you don't have this file defined.

Application management

Try to minimize the number of running applications (for example, don't run multiple sessions of AliasStudio or have AliasStudio, Photoshop, and Illustrator running at the same time). AutoStudio, Photoshop and Illustrator are memory and graphics card intensive applications, so be sensitive to this when working with lots of large canvas layers.

If you feel the application is sluggish after working for a while, monitor the memory used in the Task Manager and/or exit/restart AliasStudio periodically and/or reboot the Windows machine.

Saving and file management

Save often; use different file names through the day. For example, HotrodSUV_1pm and HotrodSUV_2pm.

At the end of the day, clean up your disk and delete early file versions.

Try to minimize the number of paint and shapes layers. From time to time, merge layers into a logical design organization. For example, you may want different layers for different logical parts of a car: wheels, headlights, interior, exterior color, exterior highlights, and so on.

Try to separate designs or themes into different files to keep file sizes down. Avoid cramming lots of data into one file, as this can push the software to the memory limits and it takes longer to save or open these files. Loading a file with 60 to 80 layers covering six design alternatives is not the best way of working. To evaluate many different design alternatives, export the images and use a tool such as Autodesk PortfolioWall.

Set the canvas plane resolution before you start sketching. In Canvas > New canvas

options, you can set the width and height in pixels for new canvas planes. AliasStudio has a preference for default canvas plane resolution (located in the Paint section of Preferences > General Preferences

); adjust the values for default canvas width and height to your specific requirements.

Use AliasStudio projects for different design projects. A project is a collection of directories used to store files. When you start a new design project, create a new AliasStudio project and make the project current. From this point on, all import and export operations are specific to the project. Using an organized project system makes it easier to locate information in the future.

Tool management

> Brush optimization

Only set a lower spacing bias (<1.0) and turn on Rotate to stroke when they are required for a specific brush effect. If non-optimal brush parameters are used, you may see performance degradation.

The brush parameter Rotate to stroke should only be used with texture brushes, shape brushes, or elliptical brush stamps because this requires extensive computation. With all other brush strokes, the rotation of a circular brush stamp is visually meaningless.

Reducing brush stamp spacing bias can dramatically improve brush stroke quality, but at a certain point reducing the spacing bias does not improve the stroke quality - it only reduces the performance. Increasing brush stamp spacing bias dramatically improves brush speed, but the visual appearance may not be a smooth stroke if the individual brush stamps are spaced too widely.

When sketching, find the balance between quality and speed. While a small brush stamp bias may improve the smoothness, it results in slower brush performance; using a large stamp bias provides additional speed, but may not provide the quality.

Texture brushes use a 64MB cache that pre-saves brush stamps in memory. This cache is dynamically saved and overwritten during the brush stroke. If the stroke varies in orientation and radius, the cache may be rewritten before the current stamp is required again along the stroke, causing the cache to be recalculated. What does this mean for you?

Texture brush strokes are slower when you first start using the brush until the texture stamp cache has pre-saved each texture size. If you notice a performance problem with a texture brush, select the texture brush and draw for a few seconds; undo, then use the brush normally. The initial strokes will pre-save the texture stamps in memory.

Large texture brushes with rotation and radius changes need to continually recalculate the texture stamp many times per second.

Smaller texture brushes or brushes with constant radius remain fast once the texture cache has been established.

Try to avoid big texture brushes that have variable brush radius or rotate to stroke turned on, as the combination slows performance.

Brush minimum radius size should be 1 pixel; settings lower than one pixel will affect brush quality.

> Windows and brushes

Turn off all unnecessary windows before you do brush strokes. The Ctrl

-Spacebar key combination removes all floating windows, which improves brush speed and quality.

The automatic timer for hiding all the windows has a negative effect on brush quality at the start of the brush stroke. The timer can be set in the Paint section of Preferences > General Preferences

. Setting the timer to 0 and using Ctrl

-Spacebar to hide all floating windows provides the best result.

> Geometry layers

Manage NURBS curves with geometry layers when using curve snap with brush strokes. You will enhance performance when you assign logical curves sets to different geometry layers, and then use the layer visibility or layer state properties. Curve snap with many curves and geometries that can be snapped to will not provide real-time, smooth brush strokes.

Layers > Set State > Pickable

means a curve can be picked and be snapped to.

Layers > Set State > Reference

means it cannot be picked but can be snapped to.

Layers > Set State > Inactive

means it cannot be picked or snapped to.

> Snapping

Don't click on the grid

, and

snap buttons (to the right of the prompt line). Learn to use the modifier keys because you then know the snap state. It's very easy to use the persistent buttons then spend time trying to understand why the brush is drawing strange strokes. Curve snap curve

is computationally expensive, so use it only when required. Be aware that AliasStudio attempts to snap to all invisible geometry.

> Texture brush quality

Always create new texture brushes with 0 rotation and 1 aspect ratio. If the texture is grabbed, rotated, and squashed, the brush quality will degrade slightly because every pixel in the brush stamp will be resampled.

> Stroke quality using curve snap

When brushing and using snap-to-curve functionality, the brush stamp is placed in the same relative position on the curve each time you move the cursor along the same region of the curve. This can cause the finished stroke to look rough or poorly aliased. If this is the case, add a little spacing noise to the brush stroke to ensure uneven stamp spacing and decrease the stamp spacing.

> Picking and selecting

To use AliasStudio effectively, you must learn how to use the Pick tools. These tools, found in the tool palette or on the shelf, are dedicated selection tools, but they also set a selection mask that is used by the transformation tool. For example, if you want to move a CV on a curve, you should first choose Pick > Point Types > CV

, then choose Transform > Move

, and then select the CV you want to transform. From this moment on, any number of CVs can be moved until you change to another continuous tool.

The same workflow is repeated if you want to move a canvas or an image plane. Canvas planes can be picked with the Pick > Object

tool, while image planes must be picked with Pick > Object types > Image plane

. You then select a Transform tool. From now on, the system remembers the selection mask, so the transform tool will always attempt to pick either an object (including canvas planes) or an image plane.

To select a different type of object to transform, you must select a different Pick tool.

> Shapes and multiple curve regions

If you need to use two regions of the same curve to define a shape, click on each section while in the Paint > Shape tool, or choose Object edit > Attach > Detach

or Curve Edit > Curve section

to break the curve into separate segments.

In the top image below, clicking once on the circle would work, but this might not always be the case for other configurations.

> Re-use curves

Each curve can be used any number of times to form different shapes. For example, the wheel example below shows how the curves have been used to define an image shape with a ramp fill and a mask shape.

> Fast curve duplication

When repeating a design theme set Edit > Duplicate > Object

options to create the copied geometry as instances. This will duplicate the curve as an instance, which means when you edit the original curve the instances will automatically reflect the design change. In this example, only one point on the original curve is moved; this automatically updates the other duplicated curves, which in turn automatically updates the shape object and the shape mask.

> Curve creation

Use blend curves whenever possible, because they automatically produce curves with good curvature properties and these curves support relationships to other curves.

All curves drawn in Paint mode have their CVs, hulls and edit points turned off by default.

Active curves are drawn in a turquoise blue color (light green for blend curves) while in Paint mode, to contrast with the default white canvas background.

> Curve editing

Move CV

CVs are turned on when you click on a curve after choosing the Move CV tool. See Clicking on one of the tools in the bottom row of the Modeling Control Panel opens up an option sub-panel for that tool. These options are described on the following pages..

Stretch

Transform curve

See Make curves intersect for details on using these two tools.

> Curves with cusps

When you require a curve with a cusp (sharp change in direction), learn to use multiple curves. If you want a freehand brush stroke to be snapped to multiple curves, use Object edit > Attach > Attach

with the Type option set to Connect. When creating shapes (image, mask or invisibility mask) the software internally joins the curves.

Attaching curves using the connect option is not a good modeling technique if you want to create surfaces using these curves.

> Curve points: less is more

Fewer points along a curve is an excellent technique to learn. A novice user will typically use up to twice as many points along a curve as an experienced user. Always try to minimize the number of points that define a curve.

> Curve and surface fitting tolerances

Use appropriate tolerances when modeling to suit the downstream CAD system. Don't use extremely small tolerances thinking this will make the model more accurate: extremely small tolerances only create more complex geometry and make all modeling operations slower.

> Fast shape and mask creation tools

Use Auto-shapes. To quickly and easily create a simple image shape, mask shape, or invisibility mask shape, turn on Auto-Shapes in the paint panel. This will allow any AliasStudio curve tool to automatically create shapes objects. Below is a small sample of the types of curves supported by AliasStudio auto-shape functionality.

> Symmetry

When an object is symmetric about an axis, use the geometry layer symmetry option. This option automatically creates symmetric curve and shape objects.

> Curve evaluation

Use the AliasStudio curve curvature tools to improve the line quality of your design.

> Real world scale

By using the studio curve tools and dimension tools, you can create elevation sketches or tape drawing at real world scale. Import 3D package constraints from the engineers and sketch over these constraints: don't start sketching orthographic views without a concept of real world size or scale.

> Printer color space versus RGB color space

Learn what colors work well with your printer. Use the AliasStudio Print Preview window to get a better understanding of RGB and CMYK color spaces - they are different. Below is a simple example showing the difference between RGB and CMYK color spaces. Notice how switching from RGB to CMYK can make a dramatic sketch look flat and boring. Every printer in the world has a unique color space in how it deals with hue, saturation and value - learn what colors and saturations work well with your printer. Don't spend time creating a fabulous sketch on the screen that prints out or electronically projects poorly.

> Add design detail to 3D models quickly

Use the sketch projection workflow to add detail to early 3D concept models.

Set up AliasStudio for sketching

This automatically sets up the AliasStudio interface so non-sketching features are hidden and sketching features are more accessible.

To set up AliasStudio for sketching

show only sketching-related menus, tools and shelves

show the Paint Panel

turn off all view grids

See Show, hide, or change the grid

create new canvases with a white background in a special paint window.

See The Paint window.

See Set the background color

turn on sketching-specific marking menus.

CVs, hulls and edit points are turned off by default.

To set up AliasStudio for modeling, choose Preferences > Workflows > Modeling .

To hide editor windows during brush strokes

Choose Preferences > General Preferences

to open the General Preferences options.

Click Paint in the left panel, then set Hide Windows During Stroke as follows:

0-Windows are not hidden during brush strokes.

ANY OTHER VALUE-Windows are hidden during brush strokes. The value of this option is the number of seconds windows remain hidden after you complete a brush stroke. For example, if this option is set to 2, windows are hidden during a brush stroke and re-appear 2 seconds after you complete the stroke.

Click Go.

To set the main linear unit

Choose Preferences > Construction options

to open the Construction Options window.

Click Units and then Linear to show the current linear units.

Set Main Units.

To show only sketching-related menus and tools

To show or hide the Paint Panel

To turn on sketching-specific marking menus

The Paint window

A paint window shows a full screen and head-on view of the currently active canvas. This allows you to more easily focus on the task of sketching, without being distracted by the 3D modeling world.

This window is also created automatically when choosing File > New to create a new canvas while in Paint mode.

The title bar of the Paint window displays the name of the view window it is lying on, e.g. Front[Paint] or Persp[Paint].

Defaut canvases in a Perspective window (created when using a brush in a window that doesn't yet contain a canvas plane), and overlay canvases created by using Canvas > New overlay canvas

are the only two ways to create a canvas (and Paint window) in a perspective view.

You can create additional Paint windows by using Layouts > New window

and setting the Type option to Paint. Each Paint window can display any one of your canvases through the use of a lister in its title bar.

Canvas lister

Click to show a menu from which you can select the canvas to be displayed in the Paint window.

Layer lister

Click to show a menu from which you can select a layer on the current canvas. This layer becomes the active layer (i.e. the one on which you're painting). The active layer is indicated by a "*" in the lister.

Zoom factor

Click to show a menu from which you can set a zoom factor. This has the effect of moving the canvas closer or further away from you.

The canvas first appears at a zoom factor such that it fills up the Paint window (best fit).

A zoom factor of 100% means one screen pixel is equal to one pixel on the canvas layer.

Flip

View the active canvas from behind. This icon behaves as a toggle. Only the active canvas in the Paint window is affected.

Look at

Re-center and re-orient the canvas in the Paint window so that it is back to the original view, that is the one that best fits the canvas to the window. Look at effectively resets any zooming, tracking or rotation applied to the canvas.

Rotate

Rotate the canvas clockwise or counterclockwise around its center in the Paint window.

Zoom in/out

Move closer to the canvas for detail work, or move away from the canvas for an overall view.

Track

Learn about sketching hot keys

The picture below shows all the default hotkeys in the Special:Paint section of the Hotkeys/Menus editor. You can add hotkeys for the ones that are not defined, or modifiy existing hotkeys.

Sketch on a Cintiq

When using AliasStudio to sketch in conjunction with the new Cintiq 21UX screen, you can access common sketching tools directly on your display without having to reach for the keyboard.

Pressing a pre-assigned key on the Cintiq (or the Space bar on the keyboard) invokes a hot spots interface on the Cintiq screen, which is a collection of icons, each referencing a specific tool.

The center wheel consists of tools used to adjust the brush parameters: radius, opacity, aspect, etc. The top row of icons lets you choose a brush mode. The bottom row consists of frequently used sketching tools such as color editor and predictive stroke.

The hot spots interface will only work if the cursor is over a canvas and a Brush tool is selected.

As you drag the mouse over a tool, the tool highlights and a tooltip appears describing the tool.

Table 1: Brush Modes
Icon	Purpose
	paint
	erase
	hide paint
	show hidden paint
	smear
	blur
	sharpen
	dodge
	burn

Table 2: Brush Parameters
Icon	Purpose
	size
	min max radius
	rotate brush
	aspect
	color value
	opacity
	zoom
	pan

Table 3: Miscellanous Sketching Tools
Icon	Purpose
	reset brush
	last brush
	open/close color editor
	twist canvas
	predictive stroke - off
	predictive stroke - line
	predictive stroke - curvature

To sketch using the hot spots interface

Create a canvas

Choose a brush tool.

Press and hold the space bar to bring up the hot spots interface. (This key can be re-assigned to a Cintiq key).

Choose a brush mode by clicking one of the icons along the top bar of the hot spots interface. (The default is paint).

Press the stylus on a tool within the circular area of the hot spots interface to adjust the corresponding brush parameter.

Slide the stylus left and right (or up and down) to customize a brush parameter or pan/zoom the canvas.

The Brush Min/Max Radius icon adjusts the Minimum Radius with an up or down motion, and the Maximum Radius with a left or right motion. You have to release the stylus and press down again to change from one to the other (just like the R hotkey).

While you adjust a brush parameter, you receive visual feedback showing the result of your action. The current numerical value of the parameter is displayed both in the window and on the prompt line.

While still holding the space bar (or Cintiq key), draw a few strokes on the screen to test the new brush settings.

When satisfied, release the space bar (or Cintiq key) to remove the testing strokes and turn off the hot spots interface.

The hot spots interface will only work if the cursor is over a canvas and a Brush tool is selected.

Use the tools along the bottom bar of the hot spots interface to perform various other functions such as changing the brush color, turning on predictive stroke mode, etc.