User Guide

142 Corel Painter User Guide
Using a Stylus or Mouse
When you reach for a wide, flat brush, you expect the stroke you make to depend on
how you hold the brush. A stroke using the face of the brush comes out wide. A mark
using the edge is narrow.
Paint with the face of a flat brush for a wide stroke; use the edge for a narrow stroke.
Corel Painter produces realistic brush strokes that fade in and out; change width, tilt,
and angle; and penetrate based on the stylus input. Brush variants that use computed
brushes, such as the Smeary Flat variant in the Oils category, also react to stylus tilt
(how close to vertical the stylus is held) and bearing (the compass direction in which
the stylus is pointing).
Tilt can significantly affect brush strokes. If you get unexpected results, especially with
bristle-type brushes or airbrushes, you can try reducing the tilt of your stylus. Extreme
tilt angles are usually undesirable.
Many Corel Painter brushes also respond to stylus pressure (how hard you press with
the stylus). Depending on variant settings, greater stylus pressure can increase the
width of a brush stroke, the penetration of color, or the degree of other effects. The
Corel Painter airbrushes also respond to the fingerwheel on the Wacom Intuos
airbrush, simulating a needle control that adjusts how much ink is sprayed.
You can link brush settings (such as size, opacity, and angle) to stylus input data (such
as velocity, direction, pressure, airbrush fingerwheel, tilt, and bearing). Refer to
“Expression Settings” on page 262 for more information about linking brush settings
to stylus input controls.
In theory, a mouse has no pressure information. A mouse button is either “on” (button
down) or “off” (button up). Corel Painter introduces mouse controls that let you
simulate stylus pressure, tilt, bearing, and fingerwheel settings.