ArtRage 1.1 Manual.
Welcome to ArtRage 1.1. In this manual you will find information on what the controls in the product do, and how to use the paint tools. Any time you need to see this manual you can open it by pressing F1 inside ArtRage.
ArtRage is a free painting package intended to give everyone a chance to play around with realistic paint tools on their computer. ArtRage was designed and developed in house at Ambient Design. For more information on the product, please visit http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html, where you will find samples of things people have done with the product, and information that may help if you are having problems running it.
If you wish to make a donation to Ambient for the development of ArtRage, or future developments on the package, you can find a PayPal donation link inside the About Box, or at the site above.
Thanks for downloading ArtRage, we hope you enjoy it!
Index.
1. Getting Started.
System Requirements.
ArtRage should run well on the minimum spec Tablet PC, but if you are running it on a desktop or other non Tablet machine, we suggest an 800mhz or faster machine for good operation. On slower machines, the paint strokes may take longer to apply to the canvas, and that can spoil the feel of real painting.
Graphics Tablet.
During testing, conflicts were found with some other tablets such as Wacom Graphire tablets from around 1999/2000, so older tablets may display some problems when using ArtRage. Some non Wacom tablet users have reported incompatibilities, we are looking in to these issues. Similarly, some tablets have a smaller range of pressure detection than others, which can reduce the smoothness of the paint strokes.
2. Basic Operation.
Launching The Application.
ArtRage is launched by double clicking ArtRage.exe. When the package launches, a new painting is created that fits roughly in to your screen. When the application opens, all of the panels are visible, and the Menu Bar is extended. The Name Bar at the top left is collapsed. The last paint tool you used is remembered.
You can also launch the application by double clicking one of your Painting project files (.ptg files), or dragging one on the ArtRage icon.
Creating A New Painting.
When you launch the application, a canvas is already prepared for you to paint on. However, if you wish to create a new painting or replace the default one with a canvas of a specific size, you can do so by selecting ‘New Painting’ from the File Menu in the top left Menu Bar, or pressing Ctrl + N. When you select this option, a dialog appears presenting options for the new painting.
The top area of the dialog allows you to set the width and height of the painting. This is limited to the area of screen you have available.
The second area of the dialog allows you to load a tracing paper for the painting. This paper will be available when the painting is created, and sized to fit the canvas. If you want to make sure the canvas is the same size as the tracing paper, use the ‘Size to Tracing Paper’ button in the top area of the dialog.
The third area of the dialog allows you to select which paper type to use for painting. The paper type defines how the paint strokes look as you apply them, and can be changed later if you wish. By default, the Fine Paper type is selected, but you can also select (in order left to right), Fine Canvas, Coarse Paper, or Coarse Canvas. Single click to select a paper to use.
In the middle of these paper types is a circular colour thumbnail that allows you to select a colour for the canvas you wish to paint to. Click and drag this colour thumbnail and a set of colour pickers will appear, allowing you to select a colour.
The different circles in the colour picker represent the following things:
If you change your mind and do not wish to select a colour, point at the central circle again and release the mouse button.
Tablet PC Note: Some Tablet PCs interpret a click and hold as a right mouse click. If you find that you click and hold on the central circle and no colour circles appear, click, hold and drag off the central circle and the pickers will appear.
When you have selected settings for the new painting, click OK to create it, or Cancel if you have changed your mind.
Basic Painting.
Painting in ArtRage involves selecting a tool and using the pen/mouse to stroke on the canvas that appears in the middle of the screen. In the case of the pen, simply pressing and dragging will apply the tool to the canvas. In the case of a mouse, left clicking and holding the mouse button while you drag applies the tool.
The results of painting vary depending on the tool you’re using. Some tools place matter on the canvas that can later be smeared while others simply apply colour, for example. Here’s a list of the tools and how they behave:
Painting An Image From Outside ArtRage.
If you want, you can load an image in to ArtRage that was created elsewhere. JPEG, BMP, and PNG images can be loaded in this manner. From the File Menu, select Import Image, and your picture will appear in ArtRage. When it appears, you can paint on it as if it was made up of oil paint, so it will smear with the Palette Knife, and blend with the Oil Paint tool.
Note for more advanced users that you can load a PNG that contains an Alpha Channel, and paint will only be added to the canvas where there is something in that channel.
Tip: Try loading the same image in to the Tracing Paper, that way you can repaint parts of it and blend them in with the original!
Choosing Colours.
The colour picker (detailed below) allows you to select colours for painting.
Hiding The Controls.
At any time, you can right click on the canvas, or press Enter to hide all of the tools or return them to visible state if they are already hidden. While you are painting, if your brush goes within the region of one of the panels, that panel will vanish from sight to clear the canvas for painting. It will reappear when you release the mouse button or lift the pen from the tablet. You can also press the Hide buttons on any of the panels to collapse the panel down. On the Brush picker panel, the Hide button is the grey circle at the bottom left. On the Colour Picker panel the Hide button is the coloured circle at the bottom right. For the two menu bars at the top, the Hide buttons are the blue grips at the end of the bar. More details are found below. Zooming.
If you have created an image that is bigger than the screen, you will need to be able to zoom in and out so that you can see all of it. You will also need to be able to move it round to get to bits you can’t currently see. Zooming and dragging in ArtRage is done using the tools in the Menu Bar (see below). Dragging the canvas around can also be done using right click. If you hold down the right click button and drag, the canvas will be moved around (if you are using a Tablet PC or some non Wacom tablets, this may not work, use the controls on the Menu Bar instead). 3. Files.
Loading and saving paintings is done from the File Menu in the Menu Bar.
4. The Name Bar.
The Name Bar sits at the top left of the application’s window. It is collapsed by default, but can be opened by clicking the blue grip. This bar extends to display the name of the current painting and has no other operational use.
5. The Menu Bar.
The Menu Bar sits at the top right of the application’s window. It is open by default, but can be closed by clicking the blue grip. This bar displays the menus, and a number of controls for Undo/Redo, sizing your window, and zooming in and out of your painting.
The File Menu.
The Edit Menu.
The Tools Menu.
The Help Menu.
Zoom Controls.
Next to the Menus you will find a set of controls for Zooming and Dragging. These controls consist of three buttons and a text entry box.
From left to right, these controls are:
Buttons.
The buttons along the right of the bar are (in order, left to right):
6. The Colour Picker.
The Colour Picker sits at the bottom right of the screen and provides controls for selecting colours and managing how colours behave.
The colour picker is split in to a number of important sections. The bottom right circle indicates the currently selected colour. The bar and colour arc above give control over the three components of colour. The HS/L indicator in the image indicates the colour mode we’re displaying (in this case, Hue and Saturation in the arc, Luminance in the bar). The Auto Clean button indicates if a brush that dirties itself automatically cleans itself when you mouse up. The eyedropper icon lets you select colours from the canvas. The glass to the left is used to clean the brush head if it is dirty.
Colour Wheel.
The colour wheel consists of the colour arc and the bar to the right of it. The arc displays 2 components of colour, the bar displays the third. Clicking the indicator beneath (the one that indicates HS/L by default) toggles which components are visible in which element. The colour picker can display combinations of HLS colour, or RGB colour.
You may find that some colour modes have a better range of colours for the painting you’re doing.
To use the components of the wheel, just click and drag inside them. As you drag, the current colour indicator will update to display the colour you have selected.
Eyedropper Button.
The Eyedropper button at the top of the colour wheel lets you select colours from the canvas. To use it, click and hold down on the eyedropper icon and drag over your canvas. When you click and hold down, all of the controls vanish except the bottom right colour sample, and while you are dragging colour is constantly sampled from under your mouse pointer. When you are happy with the colour you have sampled, release the mouse and the controls will appear once more.
Quick Tip: You can also sample colours by holding down the Alt key and clicking or click/dragging in the canvas.
Hide Button.
You may wish to hide the Clean button and the big colour arc, for example if you are painting at the bottom corner of the painting you may want more space. If you wish to do this, click the very bottom right circle of the Colour Picker, the one with the rainbow gradient on it. This will hide the big colour arc and the Clean button. Click it again to show them once more.
Auto Clean.
The only tool that currently needs auto cleaning is the Oil Paint tool. If the Auto Clean control is checked, the brush will clean itself when you mouse up or the pen leaves the tablet. If it is not checked, you will find that the brush head remains dirtied by the paint you have previously painted over on the canvas. Selecting a new colour always cleans the brush head. You can toggle Auto Clean by clicking the Auto Clean button under the colour arc.
If you want to manually clean the brush head, click the glass of water next to the colour picker.
Note that if you are using a tool that does not get dirty, or have Auto Clean checked, the glass of water slides off the bottom of the screen out of view.
7. The Brush Picker.
The Brush Picker sits at the bottom left of the screen and provides controls for selecting which tool to use.
The Brush Picker is used to select which tool to use, set the size and pressure range of that tool, and in some cases set a style for it. To select a tool, click its icon in the Picker.
The tools are, in clockwise order from the outer circle:
Oil paint sits right at the corner next to the grey Hide button.
Hide Button.
You may wish to hide the Brush Picker items at some point, if for example you are painting at the bottom left corner of your canvas. To do this, click the Hide button, the grey circle at the very bottom left of the Brush Picker. This will hide the main picker arc and the Size picker until you click it again.
Tool Modes.
Some tools have more than one mode. The Pencil and Palette Knife tools both allow you to select how you ‘hold’ them while painting. When you select one of these tools, a Mode button appears next to the brush picker.
Clicking on this button changes the mode. The modes are:
Size and Pressure.
The Brush Picker allows you to change the size of your brush and the pressure value it has. Pressure value can be useful if you are using a Mouse, which has no pressure of its own. It can also be useful if you are using a graphics tablet that does not have a large range of pressure support. If you find that you are using a tool and it is not dark enough, you can increase the pressure of the tool. If you find that you are using a tool and it is too dark, you can decrease the pressure of the tool. This can be particularly useful with pencils.
To change the size of your brush, you can click on the + or - buttons and add/subtract 1% from the size. If you prefer, you can click and drag inside the brush size preview, which makes faster changes to the size.
To adjust the pressure value of a tool, you need to use the Pressure button, which is at the right hand side of the brush size panel, and looks like a down pointing arrow. Clicking this tool brings up the Pressure Slider.
You can click and drag inside the slider grip to change the pressure adjustment of the tool. When the grip is in the centre of the slider, no pressure adjustment is applied. Move it left to reduce the pressure of the tool, move it right to increase the pressure of the tool. When you let go of the grip, the slider closes. If you decide you do not wish to adjust pressure, just hit Escape or click outside the slider to dismiss it.
Quick Tip: You can quickly adjust the pressure clicking, holding, and dragging on the pressure button rather than just clicking it to bring up the slider. Note that on some Tablet PCs and non Wacom tablets this may not work, just click the button and adjust the slider manually.
8. The Trace Picker.
The Trace Picker is only partially visible by default, at the bottom centre of the screen. It contains controls for loading and manipulating Tracing Paper.
Pointing at the Trace Picker causes it to slide on to the screen.
When the Picker is visible like this, you can click it to load a tracing paper.
Tracing Paper Mode.
Tracing Paper Mode allows you to use ArtRage to ‘paint’ images you’ve already got such as photos. When you load a tracing paper, ArtRage selects the colour to paint on to the canvas by looking at the tracing image beneath and selecting the colour under the start of your mouse stroke.
When you click to load a tracing paper, a file dialog appears and allows you to select an image to load for tracing. Once you have done that, a small preview of the image appears in the Trace Picker.
Clicking in the Trace Picker again opens up a menu containing Trace Mode options:
When there is a tracing paper loaded, you can press the Spacebar or Ctrl + t at any time to show or hide it.
Tips On Tracing.
Tracing Paper Mode can be good as a guideline when you are trying to paint something. For people who’ve got no experience painting it can also work well to give a hint as to what colour something will be.
Whether the colours are chosen automatically is important. If you wish, you can load a trace image, turn off ‘Choose Colours Automatically’, and sketch in the outline of the areas you wish to paint using a black pencil. Then you can turn the colour selection back on and ArtRage will choose the colour from the trace image below.
You can load different tracing images without losing anything you have already painted, which lets you blend images together.
9. The Canvas Picker.
When you choose the ‘Select Canvas’ item in the Tools Menu, a dialog appears that allows you to select which canvas type you wish to paint on to.
This dialog contains four thumbnails relating to the type of canvas that can be selected. You can either click a thumbnail to select the canvas type, then click OK, or double click the thumbnail you wish.
Note that when you change the type of canvas, paint strokes that you have already applied will not be adjusted. So, if you have applied a number of light chalk strokes, picking up the peaks in your old canvas, the new canvas will not change the look of your old strokes.
In the middle of these paper types is a circular colour thumbnail that allows you to select a colour for the canvas you wish to paint to. Click and drag this colour thumbnail and a set of colour pickers will appear, allowing you to select a colour.
The different circles in the colour picker represent the following things:
If you change your mind and do not wish to select a colour, point at the central circle again and release the mouse button.
Tablet PC Note: Some Tablet PCs interpret a click and hold as a right mouse click. If you find that you click and hold on the central circle and no colour circles appear, click, hold and drag off the central circle and the pickers will appear.