|
|
|
|
||||
|
© 1998 by Mike Bresciani. All Rights Reserved.
If you are anything like me, when you first got Photo-Paint you had to try out the Image Sprayer. After all Corel made sure to bring it to our attention with an awesome looking picture and bright red lettering. Well I tried it, and thought, "Well that's neat, but what do I do with it?" Since there were so many other things to master in the program I put it away and forgot about it. Until later when I saw some effects made with other graphic programs using a similar tool. Then I thought, "Hey, I bet I could do that with the Image Sprayer!" So I got it back out and explored it some more. In this tutorial I will share with you some of the results of that exploration.
Lets start by going over the settings available with the tool.
You can find the tool on the flyout of the brush tool. It's the one on the end.
When you open the Tool Settings you can see three tabs in the dialog box. Under the first tab you can find a picture of the Image List you are currently using. The Paint control allows you to change the Paint mode. It lists the usual choices that are available in many places throughout the program. Size allows you to change the size of the objects in the list and Transparency allows you to determine how transparent the objects will be. When you make a combination that you really like, you can save it by clicking on the plus sign near the bottom. Of course, there are some default presets to give you an idea of some the possible effects. The small triangle brings up a menu that allows you to load a new Image List, Reset the current list, and Edit or Create you own Image Lists. To load a new Image List click on the triangle. Then select Load an Image List. The Image Lists can be found in the photopnt folder in the directory called ImgList. Additional Image Lists can be found on the CD.
On the second tab you have control of the spacing of the objects and which objects are drawn. The Number of Dabs controls how many objects are drawn with each click or stroke of the brush. Spacing controls the space between the objects along the length of the brush stroke. A small spacing will almost give you a solid line.
Whereas a larger spacing will give you a separation between the objects.
The spread controls how far the objects are drawn from the baseline you draw. This is good for creating a more random effect.
The Image Choice area allows you to determine which image in the Image List the program selects. You can limit the choices to a part of the list, a single element of the list, or use all the elements.
Also you can cycle through the list Randomly, Sequentially, or choose an element based on the Direction you are drawing.
Fadeout will cause the objects to fade as you get farther away from the starting point. For example I created the horizontal rule below by drawing with the fadeout at about 65. I set up a grid and snap to grid, and drew from the center toward the left edge then from the center toward the right edge.
The last tab allows you to draw using Orbits. For any of the choices to be available you have to select the Enable Orbits check box. Otherwise they will be grayed out. The Number of Orbits determines how many orbits you have revolving around the center line. The Radius determines how large the orbit will be, or how far away from the center line it will orbit. Rotation Speed does just what you would expect, the larger the number the quicker it will make an orbit. The Grow Rate works together with the Grow Amount. This causes the orbit to move closer and farther away from the center line. Include Center Point will draw a center line inside the orbit.
So what can you do with the Image Sprayer? Well for one thing it can create interesting web page elements. All the Horizontal Rules on this page were created using the Image Sprayer.
You can use it to create logos, like the one below. This was created by painting with the Butterfly Image List and Stroke to Mask along a rectangle mask. Then masking the text and painting with the Image Sprayer in the mask.
The various Image Lists can be used to create semi photo-realistic art. Sort of like painting with objects. In general, I created this one by drawing with the various Image Lists on different layers. That way I could control the density, lighting and position of each object to give the picture more depth. I made the ground by cloning from a picture of a large grassy field and adding a few highlights and shadows with the Dodge/Burn brush.
It is possible to make your own Image Lists. I found the help file to be of minimal use in explaining how to do this, though. Here is what I discovered about making Image Lists.
You can make an image list in four different ways. You can create one from an image, from selected elements in an image, from objects, or you can make a directional list. Creating an image list from objects is the simplest way, but I will cover all the methods in this tutorial.
When you save the image list from an image, the program will ask you how you want to divide up the image. Think of the area in each part of the image as part of a grid or a cell. When you save the Image List, Photo-Paint will evenly divide the image into areas similar to this grid. Using the stock photo (only supplied with the standalone version of Photo-Paint), Photos\Celebrtn\633027.wi, I created an image list. Now anytime I need a small crowd I just use the image sprayer.
To create the list make sure you have the Image Sprayer tool selected. Then, select the small right pointing triangle from the Tool Settings roll-up. This will give you a flyout menu where you can choose 'Save Document as Image List'.
After you choose this, you will then be asked how many images you have per row and column. For the image above I would enter 3 per row and 2 per column to get my six images into an image list.
You can also make an image list from smaller separate images in the larger image. Photo-Paint will still divide the image evenly just like in the first method. So it's important to make sure each image is in its own area similar to the picture below. To define the images you will need to make a mask around each image. If you don't, Photo-Paint will use all the area in the 'cell' which leaves a large white square around each element. One method you can use to mask each separate image is to use the Magic Wand. Set a low tolerance, 1 or so, then click on the background. This will select the white background, now invert the mask using CTRL - I or the Property Bar. A good mask is important. The better your mask, the better the images will look when used. You can also run into problems with anti-aliasing. When you use images created from a white background on a dark background you can see a white 'halo' around each image.
After you have the image prepared, click on the small triangle on the first tab of the Image Sprayer Tool Settings roll-up. That will bring up the menu shown at left where you choose to 'Save Document as Image List'. You will be asked for the number of horizontal images then the number of vertical images. The program then uses this information to divide up the image.
This is the easiest way to create an image list. For this example I used some of the objects from the CD. In the standalone version of Photo-Paint they are located on CD#2 under Objects\Nature (CD#3 for those of you with CorelDRAW). I used the deciduous trees DECTRE01 through DECTRE05. I opened each object, then dragged the object into a single image. I just stacked them in. It didn't seem to matter that they weren't spread out.
Then select each object in the docker window. I used Shift-select. To do that, click on the first object, hold down the Shift key, then click on the last object in the docker window.
Make sure you have the image sprayer tool selected, then click on the small triangle in the Tool Settings roll-up. Choose 'Save Objects as Image List...'. The menu choice will be dimmed if you don't have an object selected. Or you can click on the button in the Property Bar as shown at left. When you save the image list every object you have selected will be included in the image list. So if I had only selected the first three objects, I would only have an image list of three images.
Directional image lists are also easy to make. Create or use an object that has some directional property.
Note: It's important to have your image pointing straight up, to the 12 o'clock position. If it isn't, then your images won't point in the correct direction as you paint with the image sprayer.
Make sure the image sprayer is selected. Select the object you want to use in the Docker window. Then save using 'Save Objects as Image List'. Since you only have one object selected the program gives you the option to save a directional list. Choose Yes. Then answer the next message box with the number of objects you want in your list. The program will divide the number you give it into 360 degrees and make an object for each of the divisions. If you answer 36, you will get an object for each 10 degrees. If you answer 4, you will only get an object for up, down, left, or right.
Here is an example of a interesting use for a directional list. I created a list from this tree, with 36 images. I set the spacing to 25, and reduced the size a little from 192 to 150. Then I drew a circle with the image sprayer. Some ribbons, a few nuts, and you would have a nice wreath for your door.
If you like what can be done with image lists, you've just got to check out the Garden Hose collection of image lists. They'll let you paint with all kinds of objects from nature.
Using CorelDRAW to Make Quilting Blocks · Creating a Painted Effect from a Photograph · Using Grayscale Masks in Corel PHOTO-PAINT · Adding Color to Black and White Photos With Corel PHOTO-PAINT · Fun With Photos -- Selecting Objects Part II · Fun With Photos -- Selecting Objects · Using Corel PHOTO-PAINT's Image Sprayer · 3D Web Buttons with Rolled Edges Tutorial · 3D Web Button Tutorial
Copyright © 1995–2013 Unleashed Productions, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
