Corel Painter Help | Spacing controls

Spacing controls

When a brushstroke uses a stamp-based dab type, Corel Painter creates the stroke with a series of dabs. By adjusting the spacing between those dabs, you can control the continuity of the brushstroke.

The Spacing control allow you to set the distance between brush dabs in a stroke. The Min Spacing slider specifies the minimum number of pixels between dabs. If you don’t want a continuous stroke, you can adjust the Min Spacing to create a dotted or dashed line. Each dot or dash represents one brush dab.

Brushstrokes with Min Spacing set to 2.0 (top) and 10.5 (bottom)

Continuous Time Deposition controls whether you must move a brush before a medium is applied. With Continuous Time Deposition enabled, the medium begins flowing at the first touch.

Brushes that use rendered dab types take full advantage of this setting, which causes the medium to pool realistically when the stroke is slowed or paused. Brushes that use stamp-based dab types require a full pause in the stroke before the medium begins to pool. You use Continuous Time Deposition mostly with airbrush tools.

With Continuous Time Deposition disabled, you must move a brush before the medium flows.

Boost allows you to optimize the performance of brushstrokes. However, a high-boost level may produce a less accurate brushstroke that appears a little jagged. This setting applies only to specific brush dab types, such as Flat and Camel hair.

To set spacing between brush dabs

1 Choose Window

Brush Control Panels

Brush Shape

Spacing.

2 Perform a task from the following table.

To	Do the following
Increase the distance between dabs	Move the Spacing slider to the right.
Decrease the distance between dabs	Move the Spacing slider to the left until the dabs begin to overlap. Overlapping increases the density of the stroke and makes it look more continuous.
Set the size of the dab to equal the spacing	Move the Spacing slider to the right to 100%. For example, a dab that is 10 pixels across is repeated every 10 pixels.

To set minimum dab spacing

1 Choose Window

Brush Control Panels

Brush Shape

Spacing.

2 Move the Min Spacing slider to the right to increase the minimum spacing between dabs. Move it to the left to decrease the minimum spacing between dabs.

To set continuous time deposition

1 Choose Window

Brush Control Panels

Brush Shape

Spacing.

2 Enable the Continuous Time Deposition check box.

To boost brushstrokes

1 Choose Window

Brush Control Panels

Brush Shape

Spacing.

2 Move the Boost slider to the right to increase brush performance. Move it to the left to decrease brush performance.

Starting with low boost values (under 10%) can significantly increase brush performance.