Corel Painter Help | Adjusting Impasto lighting and depth

Quick links to procedures on this page:

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To add, remove, or modify a light source

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To modify surface lighting to adjust depth

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To adjust the intensity and brightness of a light source

Adjusting Impasto lighting and depth

Corel Painter offers surface lighting controls that let you manipulate the overall depth effect that impasto creates. The changes that you make to the surface lighting can increase or decrease the depth, or perceived thickness, of the brushstroke. These controls are global — they affect all the Impasto brushstrokes on all layers.

You can modify the impasto effect by increasing the appearance of depth.

Setting light position and color

You can adjust surface lighting by using preset (simple) lighting or custom lighting. With simple lighting, you can choose one of eight preset lights. With custom lighting, you can add more light sources, and you can move and delete light sources. The lighting sphere shows all possible surface angles and how the lights illuminate them. The light indicators on the sphere show the position of all light sources.

When you disable the Simple lighting option, the lighting sphere appears with a single light indicator. You can then add more light sources and change their position.

In addition, you can change the color of a light source. For example, you can have multiple colored lights interact with the depth to produce different textural effects. You should keep in mind that each light interacts with all the Impasto brushstrokes, so be careful not to set up colored lights that clash with the colors in your composition or light sources that create unwanted shadows.

The image above uses two different colored light sources.

Setting light properties

You can adjust the appearance of depth, in addition to the intensity and brightness of a light source. The adjustments that you make to surface lighting affect all Impasto brushstrokes. To change the depth of individual brushstrokes, you can vary stylus settings or build up media. For more information, see Blending impasto with other layers. Just as the right lighting can bring out the deep-textured look of a brushstroke, the wrong lighting can wash out the effect altogether.

To add, remove, or modify a light source

Choose Canvas

Surface Lighting.

Enable the Enable Impasto check box.

In the Light Controls area, perform an action from the following table.


To	Do the following
Add a preset light source	In the Light Controls area, enable the Simple lighting check box, and click a light indicator on the lighting sphere.
Add a custom light source	In the Light Controls area, disable the Simple lighting check box, and click on the lighting sphere where you want to add a new light source. A new light indicator (small circle) appears where you click.
Delete a custom light source	Click on a light indicator and press Delete.
Add custom lights along a circular path	In the Light Controls area, disable the Simple lighting check box, and move the Lights slider.
Change the position of a custom light source	Drag a light indicator to a new position on the sphere.
Change the light color	Click a lighting indicator, click the Light Color chip, and then choose a color.

To modify surface lighting to adjust depth

Choose Canvas

Surface Lighting.

In the Appearance of Depth area, adjust any of the following sliders:

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Amount — increases or decreases the visibility of brush striations in brushstrokes. The highest value displays more striations to create the illusion of more texture and increased depth, whereas the lowest value displays less striations to creates the illusion of a smooth texture and no depth.

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Picture — controls how much color appears in the image. At its lowest value, all color is washed out, leaving only the highlights.

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Shine — controls how much highlight appears on the surface of brushstrokes. Higher Shine values make the brushstroke look metallic.

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Reflection — maps a clone source image or pattern onto the texture at a variable percentage. For more information, see Creating reflection maps.

To adjust the intensity and brightness of a light source

Choose Canvas

Surface Lighting.

In the Light Controls area, adjust any of the following sliders:

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Brightness — controls how much light the light source contributes to the overall lighting color

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Concentration — adjusts the spread of the light over the surface

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Exposure — adjusts the overall lighting amount from darkest to brightest

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