In addition to the main interface with the painting tools and brush settings, the Viewport Canvas dialog includes a number of rollouts with additional settings, tools, and options. These are covered in this topic.
Brush Images Rollout
Use the Brush Images settings for painting with bitmap images and masks as opposed to solid colors. You can assign preset and custom images for brush color and masking. For example, using a mask lets you make the brush outline square instead of the default circle. You can also cause the brush rotation to follow the stroke direction or use random rotation.
Also, to avoid obvious repetition of the brush image, set Rotation (see following) to Random.
- Color
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When Use is on, Viewport Canvas paints with the specified brush image.
To set the brush image, click the thumbnail; this opens the Viewport Canvas Brush Images dialog.
- Mask
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When Use is on, Viewport Canvas uses the specified brush image to mask the brush; that is, to hide and reveal different parts of the brush image. In other words, the mask image sets the opacity based on the brightness of each pixel in the mask image. White areas are fully opaque (apply the full color of the underlying brush image); black areas are fully transparent (no paint is applied), and gray areas use in-between opacities.
To set the mask image, click the thumbnail; this opens the Viewport Canvas Brush Images dialog.
- Rotation
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Sets the brush angle. Choose one of the following:
- None The brush image is always right side up.
- Follow Stroke The software angles the brush image so the top of the image is pointed forward with respect to the stroke direction. To see the direction when using this option, drag the brush.
- Random Each painted copy of the brush image uses a different angle, chosen at random.
Brush Image Settings Rollout
- Projection
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Choose how Viewport Canvas projects the brush image:
- Hit Normal The brush image is projected onto the geometry along the normal of the geometry at the mouse location.
- From Screen The brush image is aligned to the screen and then projected onto the geometry.
- Color/Mask: Fit To Brush
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When on, the brush image is scaled so that it fits the brush’s current size. When off, making the brush radius smaller than the brush image crops the image.
- Color/Mask Tiling
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Choose a tiling option for the brush image (color or mask):
- None Areas outside the brush image are transparent.
- Tile The brush image is tiled.
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Across Screen The brush image is tiled across the screen so that the same place on screen will always have the same part of the texture. This way painting twice in the same place produces the same result.
For best results with this option, set Projection to From Screen (see preceding).
Options Rollout
- Paint On
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Choose a map type in the object’s material to paint on. Click the button to open a list of the available map types:
Choose a map type from the list. For example, to paint the object’s coloring with a Standard material, choose the Diffuse Color map.
If the map type does not have a bitmap image file assigned, choosing the map type opens the Create Texture dialog. Otherwise Viewport Canvas paints on the existing bitmap.
Note: If the assigned map type is not a bitmap, you’re prompted to choose a component of the map, typically a color, for which to create a bitmap. Viewport Canvas requires a bitmap file to work with. - Map Channel
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The channel to which to assign the map.
- Save Texture
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When on, exiting the active painting tool updates the current bitmap texture file. When off, any changes are discarded automatically. When experimenting, turn this switch off so your painting isn’t saved.
- Brush Preview
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When on, the brush image appears in the circular “brush” at the mouse cursor.
Paint Behavior Rollout
- Paint Affects
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Choose whether the brush affects a spherical or cylindrical volume:
- Spherical Radius Paint applies only to pixels within the spherical radius of the brush in the scene.
- Depth Paint is applied to all pixels "under" the brush, perpendicular to the viewing plane. In effect, paint is applied all the way through the object.
- Mirroring
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Choose whether or how painting is reflected across an axis as you paint:
- None Painting is not mirrored.
- X/Y/Z Painting is mirrored across the specified axis.
- Clone Source
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When using the Clone brush, choose where paint can be cloned from:
- Current Layer Paint can be cloned from only the current paint layer on the selected object.
- All Layers Paint can be cloned from all paint layers (that is, the composite image) on the selected object.
- Screen Any part of the screen can be cloned from, including windows from other applications.
- Fill Tool - Brush Images
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Choose the behavior of a brush image using using the Fill brush:
- Tile The brush image is tiled across the active layer.
- 3D Wrap The brush image is wrapped around the object in a way that tries to eliminate any seams.
- Stroke Smoothing
- Evens out the stroke by averaging the brush position. Possible values are 1, 2, and 3. The higher the value, the smoother the stroke, at the cost of slower painting.
Randomize Rollout
- Brush Radius
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When on, the brush radius is randomized between the Min and Max values each time the brush is applied (including within continuous strokes). The Brush Settings
Radius value is not used, except that the applied spacing is based on it (if the Spacing setting not randomized).
- Opacity
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When on, the brush opacity is randomized between the Min and Max values each time the brush is applied (including within continuous strokes).
- Eraser Opacity
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When on, the eraser opacity is randomized between the Min and Max values each time the brush is applied (including within continuous strokes).
- Hardness
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When on, the brush hardness is randomized between the Min and Max values each time the brush is applied (including within continuous strokes).
- Spacing
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When on, the brush spacing is randomized between the Min and Max values each time the brush is applied (including within continuous strokes).
- Scatter
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When on, the brush Scatter value is randomized between the Min and Max values each time the brush is applied (including within continuous strokes).
- Color
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When on, randomizes the value of each pixel in the brush based on the color of the swatch next to the Color checkbox each time the brush is applied (including within continuous strokes). This adds a speckled appearance look to brush strokes. This color overrides the standard Color setting.
Does not affect painting when using a color brush image.
Tablet Pressure Rollout
While painting with a graphics tablet (A.K.A. pen tablet), you can vary the following settings by changing the pen pressure on the tablet as you draw.
Load/Save Settings Rollout
Use these settings to store the current Viewport Paint setup to a text file on disk and reload it later. You can also make the current settings the default, so Viewport Canvas always starts with those settings.
The saved settings include the positions of the Viewport Canvas (also its size), Layers, and 2D Paint dialogs, whether Viewport Canvas rollouts are open or closed, and all numeric and other values.
- Load
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Opens a dialog for loading saved settings.
- Save
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Opens a dialog for saving the current settings.
- Save Current Settings As Default
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Saves the current settings to the file Default.txt, which is loaded automatically when Viewport Canvas starts.