Painter 2018, New Thick Paint Palette Knives
Hello Everyone,
Corel Painter has released its newest version today. As usual, I will have a “What’s New” class which will start on Saturday, July 8th. Register here for Painter 2018: Is It Real Paint?
Paint in the latest version of Corel Painter is better than ever. It is stunningly luscious. The new “Thick Paint” will surprise everyone. I used to say I could smell the paint when using Corel Painter, now I am concerned I will need to clean paint off my screen. You are going to love “Thick Paint.”
As in previous what’s new classes, Painter 2018: “Is It Real Paint?” will focus on the new or enhanced features. The class is primarily for intermediate or advanced users, but I still encourage beginners to join. With a new version, we are all beginners, right? I cannot cover all the older functions of Painter in a class like this, but if anyone, beginner or advanced user alike, has a question about some earlier function that helps you understand a new feature…no problem…I will help. So…let’s talk about what is new in Painter 2018?
I think everyone is going to be very excited about the new “Drip and Liquid Technology.” Remember how the Sargent Brush could only be used on the Canvas Layer…or a layer that already had pigment…well…not any more. We can now use Drip and Liquid Brush methods on any layer. I can’t wait to show you the ton of possibilities this added feature allows us to do.
Do you love to clone? Oh my gosh, wait till you see the “Enhanced Cloning Features.” Remember how you hated to clone an object that had blank space around it…remember…it cloned white…yuck. Not any more, Painter recognizes transparent areas…and more.
And then there are “2.5D brushes!” What are those? Well, they are almost 3D brushes…get it…2.5D. OK, I didn’t get it at first. These are basically like the texture brushes introduced last year but with added depth…sort of like a 3D effect. These are going to be to fun play with especially when used in conjunction with other variants.
“Texture Synthesis” is surprising. Basically, you can take any photo, texture image, whatever, and select part or all of it, and then have Painter repeat the texture in a larger area. And you can paint with the texture using a texture variant. Gosh…this one is hard to explain. You will have to join the class to see this one in action, but I will tell you this, I have a secret use for the technique that I think is going to be very useful.
Oh boy…one of my favorite new things, ”Selection Brushes.” Ready for this, you can turn almost any variant into a selection brush. When you paint with it, it will create a selection based on the properties of the variant. If you are using a brush that shows a lot of grain, then your selection will show a lot of grain. I am going to use this feature a lot.
Also new is “Fill with Texture.” Remember how we can fill with patterns, gradients, clone source, color and even weaves. Well, now we can fill with Textures. And since we can make neat selections with the Selection Brushes and create new textures with Texture Synthesis, filling with texture is even more powerful and useful.
Then there is this new feature called “Random Grain Rotation.” When activated, Painter rotates the paper grain just a bit with each stroke. It is cool…the effect is subtle but adds just a bit of spice to the image. Of course, it only works with variants that show paper grain, which are many.
There are many new brushes, too. As a matter of fact, there is even a completely new library dedicated to “Natural Media Variants.” If you are a traditional painter, this library is of special interest and may be your favorite new feature.
And that brings us back to “Thick Paint!” As you can imagine, there will be lots of bristle type brushes using thick paint, but what I really love are the palette knives. Yes, Painter has palette knives truly emulate traditional palette knives.
Enjoy,
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