Painting Creator

Painting Creator is a feature of Corel VideoStudio that allows you to record painting, drawing, or writing strokes as an animation or still image that can be applied to your project as an overlay effect.

This section contains the following topics:

• Working with Painter Creator

• Switching between Painting Creator modes

• Creating images and animations

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Working with Painter Creator

The Painting Creator window contains all the tools you need to record and save your animation or drawing. The table below lists the controls and features in the Painting Creator window.

Painting Creator interface basics

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5

Part

1 — Brush

Thickness

2 — Canvas /

Preview Window

3 — Brush Panel

Description

Defines the thickness of your brush tip through a pair of sliders and a preview box.

The painting area.

Choose from a wide array of paint media, brush/tool tips, and transparency.

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Part

4 — Color Palette

5 — Gallery

Description

Allows you to choose or specify color using the

Windows Color Picker or Corel Color Picker.

You can also pick color by clicking the eye dropper.

Contains thumbnails of the animations and stills that you have created.

Painting Creator control buttons and sliders

New / Clear Button — Launches a new

Canvas / Preview Window.

Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons —

Allows you to zoom in and zoom out your view of the painting.

Actual Size — Reverts your canvas or

Preview Window to its actual size.

Background image button and slider —

Clicking on the Background Image button allows you to use images as reference for your painting and control its transparency through the slider.

Texture Option Button — Allows you to choose and apply textures to your brush tips.

Eyedropper Tool — Allows you to select a color from the color palette or surrounding objects.

Eraser mode button — Enables you to write or erase your painting / animation.

Undo Button — Lets you undo and redo actions in Still and Animation modes.

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Redo button — Lets you undo and redo actions in Still and Animation modes.

Start recording / Snapshot button —

Records your painting session or adds your painting to the Gallery. The

Snapshot button only appears if in Still mode.

Play / Stop button — Plays or stops the current painting animation. Enabled only in Animation mode.

Delete button — Deletes an animation or image from the library.

Change duration button — Changes the duration of the selected clip.

Preference setting button — Launches the Preferences dialog box.

Change to Animation or Still mode button — Allows you to switch between

Animation mode and Still mode.

OK button — Closes Painting Creator and inserts the animations *.uvp format and images in the *.png format in the

Corel VideoStudio Library.

Close button — Closes the Painting

Creator window.

To launch Painting Creator

• Click Tools > Painting Creator.

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To import animations and images into the Library

• In the Painting Creator window, choose the thumbnails you want in the Gallery and click OK.

Corel VideoStudio automatically adds your animations and stills to the Library in the currently selected folder. Animations are saved to the *.uvp format and images are saved as *.png files.

Switching between Painting Creator modes

There are two Painting Creator modes to choose from: Animation mode and Still mode.

To choose between Painting Creator modes

• Click one of the following buttons:

• Animation mode — lets you record entire painting sessions and embed your output in the Timeline.

• S till mode — lets you create image files using different sets of tools just like any digital imaging program.

Note: By default, Painting Creator will launch in Animation mode.

To change a default clip duration

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Click the Preference setting button .

The Preferences dialog box appears.

In the General tab, increase or decrease the Default macro duration.

Note: Click OK.

Creating images and animations

You can record animations or save still images in the Painting Creator window. You can play your animations and convert them to still

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images. To get different types of brushstrokes, you can adjust your brush settings. You can also use a reference image as you draw.

To record a painting animation

1 Click Start recording.

2 Using the different sets of brushes and colors, paint your still image on the canvas or Preview Window and click Stop recording when finished.

Note: Your painting animation will automatically be saved in the

Gallery.

To paint a still image

• Using the different sets of brushes and colors, paint your still image on the canvas or Preview Window and click Snapshot when finished.

Note: Your painting will automatically be saved in the Gallery.

To play your painting animations

• Click an animation thumbnail in the Gallery and click the Play button .

To convert your animation to a still image

• In the Gallery, right-click your animation thumbnail and select

Transfer animation item to still.

Note: You can use the still image as an intro or end clip of your animation.

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To specify your brush settings

Click on the Settings button .

Modify the brush properties to achieve your desired brush stroke effect.

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Note: Options vary for each painting tool.

Click OK.

To use a reference image

• Click the Background Image Option button and the

Background Image Option dialog box appears. Set the following options:

• Refer to the default background color — allows you to select a solid background color for your painting or animation.

• Current timeline image — uses the video frame currently being displayed on the Timeline.

• Customize image — allows you to open an image and use it as the background for your painting or animation.

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