Corel Painter Help | Grain controls

Some features described in the Help are available only in Corel Painter 2018, and are not included in Painter Essentials 6. For more information about Corel Painter 2018, visit http://www.painterartist.com/. To get started with Painter Essentials 6, see the Painter Essentials 6 Quick Start Guide.

Quick links to procedures on this page:

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To set grain

Grain controls

Grain lets you control the amount of paper texture that brushstrokes reveal. You can set the level of grain that you want to reveal by using the Grain slider. You can also use the Expression settings to link grain to various stylus or mouse movements. For more information, see Expression settings. For example, if you link grain to pressure, increasing the pressure causes the pencil to "dig into" the paper and produce a grainier brushstroke. You can also link grain to audio input from your microphone, or internal audio such as streaming music. For more information, see Audio Expression.

Using Audio Expression to vary grain

You can also adjust the Min setting to specify the range of variability that you want the expression to apply. The Min Grain setting represents a percentage of the Grain setting, and it must be linked to an expression to have an effect. For example, if you choose the Pressure expression on the Grain panel and set the Grain slider to 100% and the Min Grain slider to 10%, the amount of grain revealed will vary from 10% to 100% every time you apply pressure during a brushstroke.

Normally, when you make a brushstroke, the paper grain is fixed. Strokes repeated over an area bring out the same grain, but you can specify to randomly move the paper grain for each dab of each stroke (Random Grain Position and Grain Jitter). You can also use the Smoothness slider to smooth the grain jitter in a brushstroke for a more organic look.

Brushstrokes with Random Grain Position disabled (top) and enabled (bottom)

You can also vary paper grain rotation within a brushstroke.

Select your favorite grainy brush, enable Random Grain Rotation, and Corel Painter will slightly rotate the grain in each individual stroke, creating a more natural and organic look to your work.

Image by Karen Bonaker

In addition, you can use the paper’s brightness and contrast settings to control brush–grain interaction. For more information, see Working with paper texture and grain and Expression settings.

To set grain

Choose Window

Brush Control Panels

Grain.

Move the Grain slider to adjust the penetration of a brushstroke into the grain.

You can also
Link the grain settings to a specific stylus or mouse movement	Choose an option from the Expression list box.
Set the minimum level of grain a brushstroke reveals when linked to a specific stylus or mouse movement	Move the Min Grain slider.
Specify the angle at which a brushstroke shows grain	Move the Direction slider.
Set the amount of grain variation	Move the Grain Jitter slider.
Smooth the grain jitter in a brushstroke	Move the Smoothness slider.
Vary grain rotation within each brushstroke	Enable the Random Grain Rotation check box.
Vary grain position within each brushstroke	Enable the Random Grain Position check box.

When adjusting Grain Jitter, make sure the Min Grain slider is not set to 100%. Setting the Min Grain to 100% stops Grain Jitter from occurring.

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