How to draw STRAIGHT lines on Painter 8 (now with LEGO!)

[malandrage]

Hi this is my first post here, i don´t know if this belongs to tut section or here. Anyway.....

Using the straight line tool produces ugly lines, and holding alt+shift only make 90 or 45 degrees strokes. Drawing using your elbow instead of the wrist is great, but it´s hard to make parallels and manga speed lines (maybe i need practice, but i use this for inking comics and i have to be fast!).

I had an idea last week. It's a way to make straight lines on painter 8 very fast and natural. I´m still testing it, so this tut is BETA VERSION. Give me your feedback so we can make this better! or bury it....

Basically, you stick a ruler on the tablet, 90 degrees. Then you mark it´s position on the screen. And then you use space and alt+space to rotate and move your canvas, while you make vertical strokes with your ruler.

I have a 21" monitor with res 1600x1200. I´m working on Painter 8, with a graphire 2. It didn´t work as well on Painter 6 because the rotate canvas tool is not real time (i don´t have other versions to test...)

At first, i did this:

1)Ruler (using a real ruler doesn´t work fine, it´s too shorty)

CHOPSTICK:



TAPE:



STICK THE CHOPSTICK IN YOUR TABLET:



2)Screen Marker:

Open your file, and make a stroke with the fixed ruler:



Open a new file (i´m calling it TATA because of my cat's name), 1x1 pixel, and stretch the window to cross your working file, like this:



Then move TATA to calibrate it with your ruler, placing one side over your stroke:



Now you know where is the ruler on your screen. Use SPACE and ALT+SPACE to move and rotate canvas while you draw straight lines guided by Tata and your chopstick:



Now you have senseless lines, but all straight, natural and in any direction:




I´m not using the chopstick anymore, i made a design using some old LEGO i have, and now i can remove and place the ruler over my tablet without having to tape it all the time. UPTADE, got the camera:

Lego design:




Questions? ideas?

[Jin]

Hi malandrage,

Clever plan!

I don't get why you'd need the assistance of "Tata", though.


If you're having problems making the Rotate Page tool work in "real time" in Painter 6, something's wrong.

I just tested it in all of the following Painter versions and it works exactly the same way, fast, in "real time":

Painter 5.0.3
Metacreations Painter Classic 1
Painter 6.1
Painter 7.1.357
procreate Painter Classic 2
Painter 8.1

The quickest way (for me) to use the Rotate Page tool is to click the E key, then click and hold on the image while dragging to rotate.

Click the B key to activate the Brush tool.

Click the E key again to rotate to another angle.

With the Rotate Page tool active, click in the image to return it to its normal upright position.

P.S.

You might want to change the title of this thread a little to say "... in Painter 8 (beta version tutorial)".

The way it is now, the title sounds like you're using a Beta version of Painter 8, which would mean someone violated the Non Disclosure Agreement after working on the Painter 8 Beta team.

I doubt that's what you meant, but the title does read that way.



Jinny

[malandrage]

hey Jin,

Thanks for the input!

I need Tata to know where my ruler is exactly in the screen, Tata is my virtual ruler. Since I use painter more for inking, is good to have a reference point so i can place the pencil trace fast and vertical (looking at the bottom and the top of tata), in the right position for a stroke, specially when making speed lines (i have to rotate-move-stroke, rotate-move-stroke, rota.... hundreds of times). Is a 2 point reference guide. I could use painter rulers, but when i zoom in and out i lost my ref....

It would be GREAT if we could lock the grid so it wouldn't be affected by the rotating tool. That would be a perfect virtual ruler.

About painter 6, when i rotate, my picture remains still on the screen, while an ugly arrow appears and you rotate it. When you drop, your picture moved, but you didn´t saw the movement, and that is not good for placing pencils, it makes the process slow.

-mal

[Jin]

Hi,

I see what you mean!

Both about Painter 6.1 non-"real time" Rotate Page tool function, and about why /how you're using "Tata".

Thanks for 'splainin' it to me.


Yes, we need a rotatable semi transparent grid that can "hang" above the working image but can't be edited while we paint or draw on the working image. Like we can reach through it but still have it as a moveable, rotatable guide.

A thought for the next Painter version. Too late for Painter 9, probably, since it's due to be released sometime later this year.

In the meantime, we could use the Pen tool to make an adjustable guide. Since that would make a Painter Shape, it could easily be rotated to any degree, either using Effects > Orientation > Rotate, or by highlighting the end points and moving them (after the Rotate Page tool is used).

Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles.


Jinny