Corel Painter offers tools for creating web page backgrounds.
An effective web page background should be subtle and unobtrusive. This is particularly important if the background is used behind text. You can lighten patterns by using the Edit Fade command, to make them more suitable for displaying behind text.
Use the Fade command to lighten a pattern.
You can use any image or selection to define a pattern. An image designed for use as part of a pattern is normally created so that it tiles seamlessly. That is, the eye should not be able to distinguish the edges between tile repetitions. Corel Painter has features that can help you create seamless tiles, which you can then use as interesting web backgrounds. For information about creating, editing, saving, and filling with patterns, see Patterns.
The Glass Distortion effect, the Super Soften effect (with the Wrap Around check box enabled), and most of the Tonal Control effects preserve the seamless quality of the pattern. Some effects, such as Apply Surface Texture, can result in a noticeable seam, so experiment.
Example of using seamless and non-seamless tiles in a pattern
A way to partially avoid seams that occur with effects such as Apply Surface Texture is to apply the effect several times at lower strengths (by moving the Amount slider). Shift the pattern a little (using Shift + Spacebar) between applications. This tends to "distribute" the seams and make them less noticeable.
Web backgrounds should, ideally, be saved as GIFs, with as few colors as possible, to reduce file size. You can also use JPEGs, but they often have larger file sizes. As a rule of thumb, any background tile over 20 KB is probably too large. For more information about saving an image in GIF or JPEG format, see Saving and backing up files.
Creating tiles with fractal patterns
Another easy way to design seamless tiles is to take advantage of the effects you can create with the Make Fractal Pattern command. Make Fractal Pattern is a pattern generator that creates organic patterns, which can make interesting background tiles. The patterns it generates can be filled with color and even enhanced with a paper texture. For more information, see Creating fractal patterns.
Color Overlay, the Watercolor brushes, and Cloning are other options you can apply to a pattern. Beautiful, complex effects can also be achieved by applying Glass Distortion to a pattern created with Make Fractal Pattern.
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Some features described in the Help are available only in Corel Painter 2015, and are not included in Painter Essentials 5. For more information about Corel Painter 2015, visit http://www.painterartist.com/. |
To get started with Painter Essentials 5, see the Painter Essentials 5 Quick Start Guide. |
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