Before you begin painting in 3D, you should define global scene settings and default stroke settings.
Define global scene settings
You can globally set scene lighting, scene scale, scene wrapping, and depth options from the Paint Effects Globals window. These settings are used when you paint in the scene painting view.
To set scene global options
- In the
Modeling menu set, select
to open the
Paint Effects Globals Options window.
Tip: You can assign a hotkey to open the Paint Effects Globals window (under Paint Effects in the Hotkey editor, define PaintEffectsGlobalSettings). For information on other Paint Effects hotkeys, see Use default Paint Effects hotkeys in Prepare to use Paint Effects.
- In the Paint Effects Globals window, expand the Scene section, then modify the global settings. For descriptions of these settings, see Scene in Paint Effects Globals Options.
Define default stroke settings
The stroke settings you define for the Paint Effects Tool become the default for all new strokes you paint based on the depth of the surfaces you are painting on. You can set the display quality for the stroke, the distance the stroke is offset from the surface, and whether the stroke is painted at depth. If you use a stylus and tablet, you can also map the stylus pressure to up to three attributes. With the exception of the Paint at depth option, these settings can all be modified for the stroke after it is painted.
To define default stroke settings
- Select
Generate > Paint Effects Tool >
to open the
Paint Effects Tool Options window.
- Modify the default settings, including Paint at depth, Display quality and Surface offset.
Make the brush respond to stylus pressure
With a real paint brush, pressing harder makes the brush wider and applies the paint more thickly. If you are drawing with a pressure-sensitive stylus in Paint Effects, you can achieve the same effect by setting the effect of stylus pressure for each stroke and the threshold of response to pressure. The options are described in the Pressure map section of Paint Effects Tool Options. You can map up to three values to stylus pressure. For example, if you map scale, tubes per step, and tube length to stylus pressure, increasing stylus pressure (pressing harder) increases the global scale for the brush, but it also increases the number of tubes “planted” per step and the length of the tubes. Most of the preset brushes have pressure settings defined.
You can change the Pressure Map, Pressure Min, and Pressure Max settings after painting the stroke. For more information, see Modify stroke settings for existing strokes.