ArtRage 1.1 Manual

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 H 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.

Getting Started.
Basic Operation.
Files.
The Name Bar.
The Menu Bar.
The Colour Picker.
The Brush Picker.
The Trace Picker.
The Canvas Picker.

1. Getting Started.

Before you start using ArtRage, weíd suggest you take a look at the following notes on system requirements and the ideal tools for using the package.

System Requirements.

ArtRage will run on a wide range of machines running OS X 10.2 or higher.

Graphics Tablet.

ArtRage has been tested primarily with Wacom graphics tablets. If you are using another brand of tablet, you may experience problems with the pressure support, particularly in the pencil tool. If you do experience such problems, you can increase the amount of pressure ArtRage applies to your strokes using the Pressure Control on the Brush Size Picker (see below). The mouse will work even in situations where the tablet does not provide pressure, doesnít provide as much control of the paint strokes (ArtRage is particularly focused on expression through pressure), though the speed of your mouse strokes will give some variation in the final look of the paint.

2. Basic Operation.

Launching The Application.

ArtRage is launched by double clicking on the ArtRage icon. 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 ëNew Paintingí from the File Menu in the top right Menu Bar, or pressing Command + 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.

Width / Height: These two text entries allow you to enter the width and height you wish the new canvas to be. You can make the image as large as you like, but remember that the larger it is, the more memory you will need. If you find your machine is slowing down when you create a large image, you may need to create smaller ones in the future.
Size to Tracing Paper: This button is greyed out until a tracing paper is loaded. When a tracing paper has been loaded using the button below, you can press this button to set the size of the canvas to the size of the tracing paper.
Size to the Screen: This button sets the width and height to the maximum size allowed for your current ArtRage Window.

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 ëSize to Tracing Paperí button in the top area of the dialog.

Load tracing paper: This button calls a file dialog that allows you to load a tracing paper. When you have selected a tracing paper, the button changes to allow you to clear it if you change your mind. The name of the tracing paper you have selected appears beside the button.

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:

The central circle represents your current colour.
The small circle at the top right contains the default canvas colour, point at this and release the mouse to select it.
he bottom circle contains a smooth white to black gradient, point at an area in it to select that colour.
The left, right, and top circles contain a spectrum of colours of varying brightness and intensity. The left circle contains the most subtle of the colours. Point at a colour and release the mouse to select it.

If you change your mind and do not wish to select a colour, point at the central circle again and release the mouse button.

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 youíre using. Some tools place matter on the canvas that can later be smeared while others simply apply colour, for example. Hereís a list of the tools and how they behave:

Oil Paint: Adds colour and matter to the canvas. Smears itself as you paint over it. Runs out of paint on the brush. Leaves the brush head dirty.
Pencils: Adds colour to the canvas. Doesnít smear. Doesnít run out of pigment. Leaves the brush head clean.
Crayons: Adds colour and a tiny amount of matter to the canvas. Smears a tiny amount as you paint over it. Doesnít run out of pigment. Leaves the brush head clean.
Felt Pens: Adds translucent colour to the canvas. Doesnít smear as you paint over it. Doesnít run out of pigment. Leaves the brush head clean.
Palette Knife: Allows smearing of existing paint. The Palette Knife also remains slightly dirty after use. This tool is going through revisions.
Chalk: Adds colour to the canvas. Doesnít smear as you paint over it. Doesnít run out of pigment. Leaves the brush head clean.
Eraser: Erases colour and paint from the canvas. Doesnít smear paint as you use it.

More details on the tools can be found in the section on the Brush Picker below.

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 Control 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 canít 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 Control Click. If you Control Click, hold the button and drag, the canvas will be moved around.

3. Files.

Loading and saving paintings is done from the File Menu in the Menu Bar.

Loading: Select Open Painting from the File Menu. This allows you to locate and open a .ptg file for loading. That file contains the painting, any tracing paper you had allocated to it, and the state of the last tool you were using.
Saving: Select Save Painting from the File Menu. This allows you to save a .ptg file for the current painting you have open.
Printing: Select Print from the File Menu. This opens a standard print properties dialogue and will print your painting scaled to fit the page.
Saving as an Image: When ArtRage saves out a .ptg file, that file contains information that other paint packages and image viewers donít understand. If you want to show your paintings to someone who does not have ArtRage, or put them up on the web, you will need to select the ëExport As Imageí option from the File Menu.

4. The Name Bar.

The Name Bar sits at the top left of the applicationís 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 applicationís 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.

New Painting: Click to get a dialog that allows you to create a new painting.
Open Painting: Click to get a file dialog that allows you to locate and open a .ptg file.
Save Painting: Click to get a file dialog that allows you to save a .ptg file of your current work, or just save if you have already saved it before.
Save Painting As: Click to get a file dialog that allows you to save your current painting as a new .ptg file.
Import Image: Click to get a file dialog that allows you to load one of your normal JPEG, BMP, or PNG images as if it was a painting.
Export as Image: Saves a copy of your painting to an image file. A file dialogue appears to allow you to select BMP, PNG, or JPG format, and where the file should be saved.
Print: Click to get a print options dialog for printing your current .ptg file.
Quit: Click to quit the application.

The Edit Menu.

Undo: Click to undo the last stroke you did. Undo can be used multiple times.
Redo: Click to redo the last stroke you undid. Redo can be used multiple times.
Clear Painting: Click to clear all paint from the canvas. This can be Undone.
Play Sounds: Used to set whether the UI produces sounds or not. This setting is remembered when you reload the application.

The Tools Menu.

Oil Paint: Selects the Oil Paint tool.
Pencils: Selects the Pencils tool.
Crayons: Selects the Crayons tool.
Chalks: Selects the Chalks tool.
Felt Pens: Selects the Felt Pens tool.
Palette Knife: This option is unavailable currently.
Eraser: This option is unavailable currently.
Select Canvas: Click to get a dialog that allows you to select the canvas on which you wish to paint.

The Help Menu.

Help: Opens this manual file.
About ArtRage: Opens the About Box.
Welcome: Shows the Welcome message that appears the first time the application is launched.

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:

Drag Button: Click this button to show the Drag controls. When you click the button, two buttons appear in the middle of your screen, click and drag on the first one to drag your canvas around, click the second one to cancel drag mode and return to painting. These controls are used mainly when you are using a machine on which it is not easy to Control-Click and drag.
Zoom Out: Click this button to zoom out of your painting (makes the painting smaller on the screen).
Zoom Amount: Click this text edit box to open it for editing the zoom amount. In the box, enter the amount you wish to zoom (5% is the smallest, 800% is the largest) and press Enter to accept the change.
Zoom In: Click this button to zoom in to your painting (makes the painting larger on the screen).

Buttons.

The buttons along the right of the bar are (in order, left to right):

Undo: Click to Undo the last thing you did.
Redo: Click to Redo the last thing you undid.
Window Size: If you are currently in Full Screen mode, clicking this makes ArtRage shrink down to a smaller window. If you are currently in window mode, clicking this makes ArtRage expand to take over the full screen again.

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 weíre 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 youíre 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 Option 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:

Eraser: Erases colour and paint from the canvas. Normal erasers canít erase oil paint, but the one in ArtRage can. The eraser does two things: If there is paint on the surface it slowly removes volume, so lump paint gets thinner and thinner. When there is no volume it removes colour, so pencils and chalks will be immediately removed.
Pencil: Sketch pencil that has two modes, tip and edge apply.
Palette Knife: Smears paint or colour over the canvas. Unlike a normal Palette Knife, the one in ArtRage can be used to smear pencil, chalk, and pen as well as normal paint. You can use it to flatten out bumpy areas of paint, or smudge pencils and other dry paint types.
Felt Pen: A chisel tipped marker pen.
Chalk: Chalk that gets thicker the firmer you press.
Crayon: Crayon that gets thicker the firmer you press. Crayon is waxy and leaves a small amount on the surface of the canvas along with its colour, so it can be smeared slightly.
Oil Paint: Oil paints that apply paint to the surface that can be smeared and blended with other paint.

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 ëholdí 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:

Pencil Tip: The Pencil is held so that the tip is used to draw.
Pencil Side: The Pencil is held so that the side of the lead is used to draw a thicker stroke.
Knife Flat: The Knife is held so that the flat of the blade smears paint.
Knife Edge: The Knife is held so that the edge is used to smear paint.

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.

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 ëpaintí images youíve 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:

Clear Tracing Paper: Removes the tracing paper and returns your colour selection mode to normal. This does not change anything you have already painted.
Load New Tracing Paper: Loads a new image to use as tracing paper. This does not change anything you have already painted.
Show Tracing Paper: Shows you the tracing paper as a faded out image over your canvas. This lets you see what areas you will be painting.
Choose Colours Automatically: Toggles whether ArtRage selects the colour you will paint from the trace image. If you have a tracing image loaded, you can turn this off and paint using colours you select, then turn it back on and paint using colours from the tracing paper. Note that the menus need ticks added to show if options are on or not. By default, this option is on, select it to turn it off but there is not yet a visual indication of this fact.
Stretch Paper To Fill Canvas: Stretches the trace image so that it fits exactly inside the canvas. If the trace image is not the same aspect ratio as the canvas, it will distort. Selecting this will not change anything you have already painted.
Fit Paper Inside Canvas: Stretches the tracing paper to fit inside the canvas but keeps its aspect ratio correct. Selecting this will not change anything you have already painted.
Let Paper Overlap Canvas: Stretches the tracing paper so that its smallest extent fits the canvas perfectly, meaning its largest extent will overlap the edges and not be visible. However, the trace image remains the right aspect. Selecting this will not change anything you have already painted.

When there is a tracing paper loaded, you can press the Spacebar or Command + 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 whoíve 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 ëChoose Colours Automaticallyí, 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 ëSelect Canvasí 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.

The different circles in the colour picker represent the following things:

The central circle represents your current colour.
The small circle at the top right contains the default canvas colour, point at this and release the mouse to select it.
he bottom circle contains a smooth white to black gradient, point at an area in it to select that colour.
The left, right, and top circles contain a spectrum of colours of varying brightness and intensity. The left circle contains the most subtle of the colours. Point at a colour and release the mouse to select it.

If you change your mind and do not wish to select a colour, point at the central circle again and release the mouse button.