How do you use the Smeary Bristle Spray?

[Jinbrown]

Hi,

It's painting correctly, just not the way you expect it to paint. You need to understand the brush variants and use them appropriately or you'll run into situations like this.

It does that because the Smeary Bristle Spray variant has blending characteristics. Thus the word "Smeary" in its name. It's best used to paint over existing color and pull that color along with the brushstroke, just as if you used a real paint brush with a second color on it and painted over existing wet paint of a first color.

If you paint with this brush variant on a transparent Layer, or over transparent areas of a Layer, it will paint with white at the beginning of the stroke whether or not you apply a lot of pressure. If you continue painting in same brushstroke, using more pressure, it will paint with color.

If you apply light pressure on a new brushstroke, and throughout the brushstroke, it will remain white.

Painting on the Canvas, it paints color no matter how light your pressure is.

There are a few ways to eliminate the white problem and all have side effects so you'll need to consider them and choose the best method:

1. In the Brush Creator's Well section, move the Resat slider to 100%.

Side Effect: This removes the brush variant's blending characteristics and you may not want that to happen.

or....

2. In the Layers palette, check the Pick Up Underlying Colors box. This makes the brushstroke pick up colors below the Layer, where the brushstroke passes over transparent areas of the Layer.

Side Effect: If you ever decide to add another Layer below that Layer and paint using other colors, the areas on the first Layer where color was picked up from Layers and the Canvas beneath the Layer will very likely look pretty awful above the new colors added on the new Layer.

or....

3. Do all painting with the Smeary Bristle Spray variant (or any other variant that has blending or smearing characteristics) on the Canvas.

Side Effect: Obvious limitations of working on the Canvas such as no transparency even if you lift the Canvas to a Layer. Even if you make a selection of the background, invert the selection, and lift contents of the selection to a Layer, it will be difficult to make a clean selection with painting done with this brush variant as it doesn't paint solid areas of color with clean sharp edges.

or....

4. Do all painting with the Smeary Bristle Spray variant on existing color on a Layer where there is no transparent area of the Layer within those areas of color.

Side Effect: If there are transparent areas within the colored areas and the Smeary Bristle Spray variant brushstroke passes over them, it will pick up white and pull it onto colored areas, even though there is no white on the Layer. You still have to be careful not to paint over transparent areas of the Layer and remember to either adjust the Smeary Bristle Spray variant's Resat slider when painting near transparent areas, or remember to switch to another brush variant that doesn't have blending characteristics when painting near, or over, transparent areas of the Layer.
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Taking all that into account, and planning your image carefully, you can choose which method works best, or which combination of methods works best.

[Rhs_CG]

Great! This is really informative. Thanks Jin!

[Jinbrown]

Originally posted by Rhs_CG
Great! This is really informative. Thanks Jin!

Hi,

You're most welcome.

Hang on to that info as it'll come in handy more times than you probably imagine right now.

It applies to any brush variant that has blending, smearing, smudging characteristics.

You'll find some of them in the Painter 7 and earlier Liquid category or, more obviously, in the Painter 8 Blenders category but there are brush variants like this scattered throughout the Painter Brushes library and in other libraries on the Painter CD's.

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