Tool Palettes Paint > Pencil > Stroke tab

Paint palette

Paint > Pencil

Applies pencil strokes to the active image layer.

Not all options are available in SurfaceStudio.

In most packages, the pencils provided include Pencil and Pencil Round. In SurfaceStudio, the pencils provided are: Black Pencil, White Pencil, Red Pencil, Blue Pencil, Green Pencil, Yellow Pencil.

To select a brush and sketch with it

Choose a brush tool (Paint > Brush type > Brush name).

You can also select a brush from the default Sketching or Annotate shelf.

The Pencil, Marker, Airbrush, and Solid tools let you drag the stylus to apply strokes of paint to a sketch image plane.

The Eraser tool lets you drag the stylus to remove paint from a sketch image plane in strokes.

When a brush tool is active, the cursor becomes a crosshair with the letter P (for paint) or E (for eraser).

When you hold the cursor over a sketch image plane, the cursor also displays a preview image of how the brush will apply paint to the sketch.

In the Paint Panel or Brush Options box, adjust the Min Radius and Max Radius sliders or enter values in the Min Radius and Max Radius fields. These values are measured in pixels (of the sketch image plane). The maximum brush size is 255. Max Radius is displayed in a solid line and Min Radius is displayed in a dotted line.





Drag the stylus on the sketch image plane to begin sketching.

Notes and tips

To erase, use the eraser on the stylus.
To make any brush erase paint, set the Brush Color to black and set the Color Opacity to 0. (To keep these settings for the brush, turn on Preserve Color.)
To create a horizontal brush stroke in an orthographic window, drag the (or the equivalent stylus button).

To create a vertical brush stroke in an orthographic window, drag the (or the equivalent stylus button).

To snap a brush to a curve, click the button to the right of the prompt line (or hold down the and keys).



To draw a curve or straight line with more precision, use the predictive stroke hotkeys. (See Sketch using predictive strokes)
Brushes are most responsive when you are viewing the sketch image plane at its actual size (1:1).

Brush strokes may appear slow when you are zoomed out of a sketch image plane; however, this is because the stroke is actually very large relative to the sketch image plane.

Brush Options

Some of these options are also available in the Paint Panel when this tool is active.

Reset

Resets all Brush Options to their default settings. If brushes have been saved to the shelf, reset will reset to those settings at the time the brush was saved to the shelf.

Properties tab

Brush Mode

Controls whether the brush will:

apply paint as a brush (Paint) (see Paint and erase
erase paint (Erase) (see Paint and erase
hide paint (Hide)
show hidden paint (Show)
smear paint (Smear) (see Smear paint
blur paint (Blur) (see Blur paint
sharpen paint (Sharpen) (see Sharpen paint
lighten paint (Dodge)
darken paint (Burn)

See also Set brush mode to paint, erase, hide, or show.

Brush Color

The color of the brush's paint. See Set brush paint color.

Color Opacity

Controls how see-through the paint applied by the brush is. If Color Opacity is less than 1, and you sketch several times in the same spot, the paint will not build up and become more opaque. The valid range is 0 (entirely clear and invisible) to 1 (entirely opaque). See Set brush and paint opacity.

Preserve Color

Check-When you save the brush to a shelf, its current color is saved with it. When you later select the brush from the shelf, its color will be the same as when you saved it to the shelf. When you save the brush to a palette, its current color is not saved when exiting AliasStudio.

No check-When you save the brush to a shelf, its current color is not saved with it. When you later select the brush from the shelf, its color will be the current color.

See Set brush paint color.

Min Radius

The radius of the brush (measured in pixels) when you press the stylus lightly against the tablet. The valid range is 0 to 255. See Set brush size, shape, and profile.

Max Radius

The radius of the brush (measured in pixels) when you press the stylus strongly against the tablet. The valid range is 0 to 255. See Set brush size, shape, and profile.

Min Opacity

Controls how see-through the paint applied by the brush is when you press the stylus very lightly against the tablet. If Min Opacity is less than 1, and you sketch several times in the same spot, the paint will build up and become more opaque. The valid range is 0 (fully transparent) to 1 (fully opaque). See Set brush and paint opacity.

Max Opacity

Controls how see-through the paint applied by the brush is when you press the stylus very strongly against the tablet. If Max Opacity is less than 1, and you sketch several times in the same spot, the paint will build up and become more opaque. The valid range is 0 (fully transparent) to 1 (fully opaque). See Set brush and paint opacity.

Aspect

Controls how flat or circular the brush stamp is. The valid range is 0.01 (very flat and thin) to 1 (circular). See Set brush size, shape, and profile.

Rotation

The angle (measured in degrees) of the brush stamp. If Aspect is less than 1, changing Rotation makes the brush stamp more horizontal (0) or more vertical (90). The valid range is 0 to 360. See Set brush size, shape, and profile.

Stamp tab

> Texture and Shape

Capture Mode

Off - No capture will take place.

Shape - The next click of the mouse on the image will capture the Shape (the alpha channel) directly beneath the brush as a snapshot to use for a brush stamp.

Shape and Texture - The next click of the mouse on the image will capture both the paint and the Shape directly beneath the brush as a snapshot to use for a brush stamp. Any transparency on the image layer will be captured, as will the colors.

Use Stamp

Off - Do not use any stamp. Use the regular brush.

Shape - Use the captured shape (alpha channel) for the brush.

Shape and Texture - Use the captured shape (alpha channel) and texture (color) for the brush.

Profile

> Brush Profile

Controls the softness or hardness of the brush stamp edges. See Set brush size, shape, and profile. Select one of Regular, Solid, Hard Solid, or Buzz from the pop-up menu to obtain the following brush profiles.

To use a brush profile you have customized, select the Custom menu item. To create a custom brush profile, double-click any brush icon in the Sketch#2 shelf to open the brush editor.

Stroke tab

Changing these settings changes the appearance of a sequence of brush profiles laid down by dragging the stylus or mouse across the image layer.

Spacing Bias

Controls the space between stamps in a stroke. Low values produce smooth strokes with no spaces between stamps. Higher values produce strokes that appear as a series of dots. The valid range is 0 to 255. See Set brush stroke properties.

Spacing Noise

The amount of random variation in the space between stamps in a stroke. The valid range is 0 (no random variation) to 25 (high random variation). See Set brush stroke properties.

Rotate to Stroke

Check-The brush stamp rotates in the direction of the brush stroke as you sketch.

No check-The brush stamp always remains in the same direction and does not rotate in the direction of the brush stroke.

See Set brush stroke properties.

Rotation Jitter

The amount of random variation in the brush stamp direction. The valid range is 0 (no random variation) to 255 (high random variation). See Set brush stroke properties.