Corel Painter Help | Creating textures

Quick links to procedures on this page:

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To create a texture by capturing an area

•

To create a texture by using Texture synthesis

•

To import a texture

Creating textures

You can use the preset textures provided with Corel Painter. In addition, you can import or create custom textures.

You create a texture by capturing the canvas or a layer. You can also create a texture from a selected area in an image. Textures are saved in the Corel Painter texture library format.

You can also create a texture by using Texture synthesis. The effect lets you generate a new image based on elements of a source texture or document. Corel Painter reproduces the original image on a larger scale by using all the visual elements in the input sample. Use the effect to expand small textures and create textures from brushstrokes in your document.

Corel Painter generates a large texture (left) from a small sample (right) by taking into account its structural content. Image (right) by Henk Dawson

First, choose a source image. You can synthesize an image from a texture or from content in a Corel Painter document. When choosing a source image, you may find the following tips helpful.

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A big variance in color cast or brightness in the source image may result in a noticeable seam in the synthesized texture where the color or brightness varies greatly across the edge of the tiles. For best results, use images with similar color cast, brightness, and contrast across the image.

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Use source textures that are neither regular (with exact repeating patterns) nor very noisy (random), but somewhere in between.

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Use images that have some repeating similarity across the image.

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Avoid exactly repeating geometric patterns.

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Avoid very chaotic images that have little repeating similarity or pattern.

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Avoid images that have vignetting or other significant changes in appearance around the edges, or make a selection in the image to avoid the unwanted areas.

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Ensure there are many repetitions of the objects or features in an image. Avoid having unique objects and features (for example, a single green apple in a pile of red apples) or large objects and features that take up more than 10% of the image. These will not have any other features to match with and will make the resulting image fragmented and repetitive.

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Objects or features in an image should have a roughly similar size to other similar objects in the image. For example, in an image with apples and oranges, the apples should be approximately similar in size to the other apples; the oranges can be a different size as long as they are also approximately similar to the other oranges.

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Avoid images with perspective that make similar objects in the foreground and background have different sizes. You can use images with perspective provided objects across the image are similar in size.

Next, define an area within the source image that you want to use as an input sample. For best results, select a small area.

Once you decide which area you want to sample, you have to define the size of the synthesis building blocks — the tiles. The texture synthesis process works by taking an input seed — a tile — and randomizing it. The tile size you choose depends on the source image. In images with repeated shapes, lines, or colors, you can get good results with small tiles; in images without patterns, bigger tiles will allow you to include all the elements you need. Start with a tile size that is about 20% of the selection size, and experiment with increasing or decreasing the tile size until Corel Painter generates a pattern that you like.

Top: A small tile is selected in a texture with repeated elements. Artwork by Michelle Webb. Bottom: A big tile is selected in a texture without a pattern to include more details. Artwork by Michael Pierre Price.

You can regenerate a texture multiple times. Every time you apply the effect, Corel Painter creates an image with a different pattern and associates a random value — called a seed — with that pattern. You can manually enter random seed values, or you can let Corel Painter automatically generate them. The advantage of entering the seed values manually is that, as you try different values, you can choose the value that produces the desired result and reapply it. Preview the result in the document window and experiment until Corel Painter generates a pattern that you like.

When you are satisfied with the appearance, you can save the resulting image as a texture in the currently selected Texture library or send it to a new layer. You can specify the width and height of the resulting image. The maximum document size is 16 382 by 16 382 pixels; however, it may take a long time to synthesize images that exceed 2500 pixels.

All preset and custom textures are stored in libraries. For more information, see Working with Texture libraries.

To create a texture by capturing an area

1 .

Open or create an image.

2 .

Perform a task from the following table.

To create a texture from	Do the following
The canvas	Select the canvas in the Layers panel.
A layer	Select a layer in the Layers panel.
A selection	Choose the Rectangular Selection tool from the toolbox. Drag in the document window to select the area of the image that you want to capture as a texture.

3 .

In the Textures panel (Window

Media Control Panels

Textures), click the Capture Texture

button.

4 .

Enter a name in the Save As box.

The texture is added to the currently selected library.

When you create a texture from a layer, Corel Painter preserves the transparent areas.

To create a texture by using Texture synthesis

1 .

Open or create a document.

2 .

In the Texture Synthesis panel (Window

Media Control Panels

Synthesis), choose a source image by performing a task from the following table.

To synthesize an image from	Do the following
A texture	Choose Texture from the Source list box, click the Texture selector, and click a texture.
Content in the active document	Choose Document from the Source list box. Note: In a multi-layer document, all visible layers are merged, and the flattened image is used as a base for the synthesis.

3 .

Choose the Rectangular Selection tool

in the toolbox.

4 .

In the document window, drag to define the sampling area that will be used to synthesize the new image.

Note: Ensure your selection is 4 by 4 pixels or larger.

5 .

Move the Side Length slider to adjust the tile size.

Note: Tiles have a square shape.

6 .

Generate the synthesized image by performing a task from the following table.

Do the following

Generate a texture with a different pattern each time

Enable the Random Seed check box.

Note: Each time you click the button, Corel Painter creates an image with a different pattern. Experiment until an image that you like is generated.

Generate the same pattern every time

Disable the Random Seed check box. Enter a value in the Seed box.

Note:

Each time you enter a value, Corel Painter creates an image with a different pattern. Note the value that produces an image that you like and re-enter it to get the desired result.

Tip:

Click the Generate a texture with different pattern button to generate a different seed number.

7 .

Perform a task from the following table.

To send the synthesized image to	Do the following
A new layer	Enable the New Layer option.
The active Texture library	Enable the Texture Library option.

8 .

Type values in the Width and Height boxes to specify the size of the resulting image.

Note: Images that exceed 2500 pixels may take a long time to synthesize.

9 .

Click the Start button

Tip: To stop the synthesis at any time, click the Stop button

If texture synthesis doesn’t start, try one of the following:

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Make sure you select Document or Texture from the Source list box. This option is reset after each synthesis so you need to choose Document or Texture again to perform another synthesis.

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Delete the existing selection by holding down Ctrl + D (Windows) or Command + D (macOS), and then make a new rectangular selection.

If the texture that you want to synthesize is bigger than the size of your document, you will not be able to see the entire texture when sending the texture to a new layer.

For best results, use images with similar color cast, brightness, and contrast across the image. To improve the variance of an image, open the image in Corel Painter, click Effects Tonal Control Match Palette, move the Variance (Color) and Variance (Brightness) sliders to the left to reduce the color and brightness variance, and click OK.

If the colors in the source image don't match, try creating a grayscale version of the image. Click Effects Tonal Control Adjust Colors. Move the Saturation slider to the left for a less colorful image, or choose the lowest value for pure grayscale, and click OK. This is also useful for synthesizing textures that don't require color, such as images for papers and flow maps.

If the appearance of the resulting image is too repetitive, enable the Scramble option or try decreasing the tile size. If the resulting image is lacking in detail or objects or features are cut out of the source image, try increasing the tile size.

If texture synthesis is taking a long time, try making a small selection (for example, 250 pixels by 250 pixels) and choosing a small output size (for example, 1000 pixels by 1000 pixels) first.

To import a texture

1 .

In the Textures panel (Window

Media Control Panels

Textures), click the Import Texture

button.

2 .

In the Import Texture dialog box, browse to the folder where the texture is stored.

3 .

Choose a texture, and click Open.

The texture is added to the current library.

You can also import multiple textures.

Transparency is supported only for PNG images.

The size of the texture depends on the original size of the image that you import. If you prefer not to resize the texture in Corel Painter, make sure you import it at the size you need it. For best results, use high-resolution images.

The texture that you import should not exceed the maximum size of 16 382 x 16 382 pixels.

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