General Controls: Dab Types

When you choose a dab type, you’re choosing a method for applying media to the canvas. Corel Painter uses rendered dab types that are computed during the stroke.

Earlier versions of Corel Painter used “dab-based” media application, in which brushes applied small dots of media to create brushstrokes. With the spacing between dabs set small, strokes appear smooth. If you zoom in enough, you can probably tell that the brushstroke is made up of tiny dabs of color. If you make a rapid brushstroke or set large spacing between dabs, strokes can become trails of dots.

Rendered dab types create continuous, smooth-edged strokes. They’re fast and less prone to artifacts than dab-based media application. In fact, you can’t draw fast enough to leave dabs or dots of color showing in a stroke, because they’re just not there. Rendered dab types allow rich new features that were not possible with dab-based media application.

The Scratchboard Tool variant of the Pen brush category illustrates the smooth stroke that can be accomplished with the rendered dab types.


Dab-based dab type	Description
Circular	Dabs are controlled by the sliders in the Size and Angle brush control panels.
Single-Pixel	Consists of one pixel only. You can’t change its size. You use single-pixel brushes when you zoom in for editing at the pixel level.
Static Bristle	Controlled by the sliders in the Size brush control panel. When the Static Bristle dab type is selected, the preview grid displays a bristly profile.
Captured	Shapes that you create and capture. For more information, see Creating Brush Dabs.
Eraser	Dabs that let you erase parts of images
Computed Circular	Controlled by the sliders in the Computed Circular brush control panel. This dab type allows you to customize the brush dab profile. For more information, see Computed Circular Controls.


Rendered dab type	Description
Camel Hair	Creates bristle brushes with circular arrays of bristles. Individual brush hairs can have their own color, and they can also pick up underlying colors independently of the Brush loading option. By increasing color variability in Corel Painter, you can make each hair a separate color. For more information, see Setting Color Variability. The Feature slider in the Size area separates bristles. The higher the setting, the farther apart the hairs will appear. Using a low setting makes the strokes more solid. For more information about the Size controls, see Size Controls.
Flat	Creates flat brushes such as those used to apply paint to houses or walls. Brushes that use Flat dabs respond to bearing and allow for flat or narrow strokes, depending on how the stylus is held. Flat dabs are always perpendicular to the shaft of the stylus. The Feature setting in the Size area separates bristles.
Palette Knife	Creates brushes that are the opposite of Flat dab brushes. With resaturation set low, you can use these brushes to scrape, push, pick up, or rapidly drag colors along. Palette Knife dabs are always parallel to the shaft of the stylus. The Feature setting in the Size area separates bristles.
Bristle Spray	Creates brushes that can use airbrush controls. These brushes recognize tilt, which separates bristles on the opposite side of the tilt. By adjusting the Feature slider in the Size area, you can separate bristles.
Airbrush	Creates brushes that act like airbrushes. Bearing (direction) and angle (tilt) affect the eccentricity of the resulting conic section. The Feature slider in the Size area controls the size of the individual droplets of media. Setting the Feature slider too high might produce undesirable artifacts. You can reverse the spray direction when you paint by enabling the Continuous Time Deposition option in the Spacing panel, and by holding down Option + Shift (Mac OS) or Alt + Shift (Windows).
Pixel Airbrush	Creates brushes that work like airbrushes. Brushes that use Pixel Airbrush dabs cannot use the Feature slider to control the size of individual droplets of media. You can reverse the spray direction when you paint by enabling the Continuous Time Deposition option in the Spacing panel, and by holding down Option + Shift (Mac OS) or Alt + Shift (Windows).
Line Airbrush	Creates brushes that work like airbrushes. Brushes that use Line Airbrush dabs spray lines instead of droplets of media. You can reverse the spray direction when you paint by enabling the Continuous Time Deposition option in the Spacing panel, and by holding down Option + Shift (Mac OS) or Alt + Shift (Windows).
Projected	Creates brushes that act like airbrushes. Brushes created with Projected dabs work similarly to the airbrush from previous versions of the application, but react to bearing and angle data. They create conic sections with an overall softness. You can reverse the spray direction when you paint by enabling the Continuous Time Deposition option in the Spacing panel, and by holding down Option + Shift (Mac OS) or Alt + Shift (Windows).
Rendered	Creates brushes that conform the source to a stroke. Use the Source list box to control what is mapped into the computed brushstrokes. For more information, see General Controls: Source, Opacity, and Grain Settings.

Corel Painter also includes additional dab types that do not fall under the dab-based or rendered dab types.


Additional dab types
Liquid Ink	Liquid Ink dabs create liquid paint effects that simulate traditional ink-based media. You can give a Liquid Ink brushstroke the appearance of height by applying lighting effects. There are five types of Liquid Ink dab types: Liquid Ink Camel Hair, Liquid Ink Flat, Liquid Ink Palette Knife, Liquid Ink Bristle Spray, and Liquid Ink Airbrush.
Watercolor dabs	Watercolor dabs create brushes that work like watercolor brushes. The colors flow and mix and absorb into the paper. You can control the wetness and evaporation rate of the paper. There are five types of Watercolor dab types: Watercolor Camel Hair, Watercolor Flat, Watercolor Palette Knife, Watercolor Bristle Spray, and Watercolor Airbrush.
Artists’ Oil dabs	Artists’ Oil dabs produce brushes that work like real-world, high quality oil brushes.