Movie layers provide a way to associate a Quicktime movie file with a specific Studio Artist layer. You can then work with individual frames in the movie layer like you would with any Studio Artist canvas layer, so you can paint, image process, warp, or otherwise manipulate the individual movie frames.

You can make a new movie layer or convert an existing layer to a movie layer (which will start by making a new movie file for the layer on your hard disk), or you can open a new movie layer from an existing movie file. All of these choices are available as menu commands in the Canvas : Movie Layer main menu.

In either of these cases the movie layer needs to be the same size dimensions as the existing layer stack.

You could also use the File : Import : Open Movie as New Canvas Layer menu command to close out the existing layer stack and start a new movie layer from an existing movie file. In this case the new movie layer will be sized to match the imported movie file. This would be equivalent to the old File : Open Canvas Movie menu command available in previous versions of Studio Artist.

To show off how you might use movie layers, we’re going to perform some hand painting on a simple paint animation generated in a previous tip on sequential keyframe recording. Here’s the paint animation generated at the end of this previous tip post.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I wanted to augment this simple paint animation by performing some additional hand painting on top of the existing movie frames. I started by using the Canvas : Movie Layer : Open Movie as New Layer menu command to open the movie file associated with the paint animation shown above. This generated a second movie layer in the layer stack. I then deleted my original layer 1 so that i had one movie layer in the layer stack called ex2.

As shown above, a movie transport appears at the bottom of the layers palette when the current layer is a movie layer. You can use the movie transport controls to play the movie in the Studio Artist canvas. The up down arrows associated with the current frame display can be used to move forwards or backwards through individual frames one at a time.

My goal for this simple demo was to hand paint in red dots to augment the existing painted eyes for each frame in my paint animation movie file. You could of course get much more elaborate about the kind of hand paint touchup and artistic effects you want to do when trying this out yourself. I set the source area to the fixed color picker and choose the shade of red i wanted to  hand paint with. I then used a wacom pen to hand paint in 2 red dots in the center of each eye in frame 1.

After finishing my hand paint touchup for frame 1, i then needed to record the changes i made to frame 1. Any changes you make to a movie layer are not stored in the movie itself unless you explicitly record the changes.  To do this you need to either press the R button (R stands for Record) in the movie layer transport, or run the Canvas : Movie Layer : Record to Existing Frame menu command.

If you don’t explicitly record any changes made to a frame image displayed in a movie layer, then if you change the current frame position and then change it back your frame editing changes will be gone. You can either record over the existing frame as discussed above, or you can insert a new frame after the current frame position (either by shift clicking the R button in the movie layer transport or by running the Canvas : Movie Layer : Insert as New Frame menu command).

I then used the up arrow control associated with the movie layer transport current frame display to advance to frame 2. I then painted in each eye with red paint, pressed the R button to record my changes to frame 2, then advanced to frame 3.  I continued this process for all 135 frames in the paint animation movie file. The finished result with the hand painted changes is shown below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

At any point in time you can use the movie layer transport controls to play your edited movie layer to see if the resulting motion is what you want or not. You can always go back to frames you have already edited and modify them again if you wish to.

Once you are finished with your editing, it’s a good idea to output your edited movie file as a new flattened movie file. What the flattening step does is generate a new recompressed movie file that only contains frames used in the actual movie presentation.

Movie layer editing works behind the scenes by adding a new frame image to a Quicktime movie’s media track, and then adding a nonlinear edit to the Quicktime movie’s video track that references the new frame image in the media track at a particular frame time. Any new frames added to the media track are added as single uncompressed frames.  So 2 things are going on when you make an edit to a movie layer.  First, you are adding additional frame images and an associated nonlinear video edit to reference them at the frame in the video track they should be displayed at. Second, they are added as non-temporally compressed video frames. Flattening your edited movie file when you are done with your editing will recompress the entire movie frame by frame. So you end up with a new clean flattened movie file that is temporally compressed with no extraneous frames in it’s underlying media track.

For more Information

An Overview of Movie Layers is available here.

A tip on working with Movie Layers in Depth is available here.

The simple paint animation movie used as the starting point for the hand painting performed in this tip was generated in another tip post that discusses sequential keyframe recording.

We could have added two additional action steps to the PASeq used in this other tip post to generate the red eye coloring we manually painted above as a part of the initial paint sketches used for PASeq interpolation. An advantage of this alternate approach is that we would have only needed to paint in the red dots for the limited set of keyframe sketches generated in the sequential keyframe recording process ( as opposed to hand painting each individual frame like we did above).

Building an animation sequence from hand drawn painting involves implementing a series of repetitive steps over and over. This process can get very tedious when you do it all manually. This is especially true when working with different paint presets for different stroke elements in the individual sketches, since you constantly have to switch between different paint presets while building up each individual frame in the animation.

Studio Artist provides some powerful tools and features to help you generate hand painted animations.

Keyframe Interpolation

One powerful feature Studio Artist offers is the ability to build up an animation from a series of interpolating keyframes. A paint stroke (or a collection of paint strokes) can be recorded as a single keyframe in a Paint Action Sequence (PASeq). Building a paint animation involves specifying the movement of individual paint strokes over time.  You could do this manually by hand drawing each individual frame of an animation. And Studio Artist provides onion skin tools to aid your manual drawing by showing the contents of previous animation frames or your current source image on a transparent onion skin layer that can be used as a guide for hand drawing. But a much faster approach than hand drawing each individual output frame in the animation is to specify the animation as a series of interpolating keyframe views.

Each keyframe specifies the location and appearance of one or more paint strokes at a given time. Studio Artist will then automatically interpolate the appearance and positioning of paint strokes for the subsequent frames between 2 individual keyframes recorded in a PASeq. So rather than having to hand paint each individual frame, you can just hand paint keyframe views and then let Studio Artist generate all of the tween frames automatically.  This can be a tremendous time saver when building up a hand painted animation sequence.

Keyframe interpolation also gives you the ability to interpolate the individual editable preset parameters associated with each paint stroke (color,brush size, brush texture, etc).  We won’t really get into the details of that in this tip, but it’s something to be aware of since it can be used to give you an extreme amount of control over how an animation looks and evolves over time.

Sequential Keyframe Recording

When recording a series of individual hand drawn frame sketches (either keyframe sketches or individual frame images) there is a repetitive process involved in building up the individual frame images.  Each individual paint stroke needs to be redrawn in it’s new location for each sketch.

The ordering of the individual paint strokes that builds up a frame also needs to be preserved across keyframes when working with keyframe interpolation. Interpolation takes place between individual keyframe cells recorded in the Paint Action Sequence timeline display. Each individual paint action step is a single vertical element in the PASeq list of action steps. Each paint action step in the list has an associated set of individual keyframe cells that are arranged horizontally in the PASeq keyframe timeline. The # of frame times for the keyframe cells displayed in the PASeq timeline is specified with a numeric max frame indicator control at the top of the PASeq palette (it shows 10 frames in the screensnap below).

There is one keyframe cell in the horizontal timeline for each frame in the output animation. Recorded keyframe cells are displayed with a red interior. Notice that each time you record a new action step in a PASeq a recorded keyframe cell is positioned at keyframe 1.

Individual keyframes can be recorded at frame times other than frame 1 by option clicking the appropriate keyframe cell. When a cell is option clicked, the contents of the current paint synthesizer parameters and the current source color are stored in the new recorded keyframe.  If the action step is one associated with manual pen drawing, then the last path drawn is also stored in the recorded keyframe.

So you could manually build up individual keyframe sketches by hand drawing new paint strokes for each action step in the PASeq list followed by option clicking the appropriate keyframe cell in the timeline. As mentioned above, if the paint preset associated with individual action steps changes in any way as the list progresses, then you would need to reload the appropriate paint preset prior to drawing each new individual paint stroke before option clicking the appropriate keyframe cell.

Doing the repetitive option clicking and manual preset loading for each action step can quickly get tiring, plus it’s easy to  mess up the potential preset ordering when manually loading paint presets for individual action steps as you are recording new keyframes.  Sequential keyframe recording automates both of these processes for you.

A Simple Example

Here’s a simple example of working with sequential keyframe recording to build up a short animation example from 2 different facial sketches. The sketches will be made using 2 different source images as reference images for the sketches. The source onion skin feature was used to aid in constructing the sketches. The screen snap below shows the first simple facial sketch.

Note that the simple facial sketch is composed of 5 different hand drawn paint strokes. A PASeq was recorded to capture the hand drawing associated with this simple sketch. To do this, the record checkbox in the PASeq palettes was turned on, the canvas was erased to white, and the individual paint strokes were hand drawn. The resulting recorded PASeq action list is shown below.

Note that after the initial SetCanvas-white action step there are 5 Interactive Pen action steps.  These correspond to the individual manually drawn paint strokes used to build up the simple facial sketch. As an aid in generating further animation sketches, i renamed these action steps according to the facial feature they represented as shown below.

As mentioned above, it’s important when building up new keyframe sketches that the ordering of the individual paint strokes i preserved. This is necessary so that the appropriate interpolated movement of the individual paint strokes is generated in the final interpolated animation output. Appropriate naming of the individual paint strokes can be very useful as an aid to properly match up individual paint strokes for new keyframe recorded sketches.

We’re now ready to record a second keyframe sketch using sequential keyframe recording.  To do this, turn on the rec checkbox as well as the SeqKF checkbox at the top of the PASeq palette. To record a new sequential keyframe sketch, you start by clicking the first keyframe cell at the appropriate keyframe time for the new sketch to be recorded at. For this simple example i recorded the keyframe cell for the SetCanvas -white action step at keyframe time 10 (the top right most cell in the timeline).

When i clicked on the initial keyframe cell at frame time 10 the setcanvas-white action step was run, the clicked keyframe cell turned red, and then the next keyframe cell at frame time 10 associated with the left eye paint stroke turned blue. The blue color means that that keyframe paint stroke is ready to be drawn. After the new paint stroke was drawn it is automatically recorded at the keyframe cell at frame 10,the color of the keyframe cell then turns to red to indicate it has been recorded, and the next keyframe cell at frame time 10 associated with the right eye turns blue, indicating it is ready to be drawn.

You can continue hand drawing the appropriate paint strokes for your sketch at frame time 10 until all of the vertical frame cells at frame time 10 have turned red. you can then turn off sequential keyframe recording by turning off the SeqKF and Rec checkboxes.

Note how sequential keyframe recording removed the drudgery from building up a series of keyframe recorded sketches. You can just click the first keyframe cell at the frame time you want to build up a new sketch at, and then concentrate on your drawing. When a cell turns blue (which means its ready to be drawn), Studio Artist automatically loads the appropriate paint preset for drawing that particular part of the sketch. So sequential keyframe recording automates the whole process of swapping paint presets for individually recorded paint strokes as well as automatically records the individual keyframes for the various hand drawn paint strokes that make up the sketch.

The second sketch used for this simple example is shown above (again with the source onion skin turned on that was used as a guide for building up the hand drawn sketch). Note that i used a different source image for the second sketch.

At this point i had generated a simple PASeq that consisted of a hand drawn sketch at frame time 1 and a second sketch at frame time 10. The 2 sketches were both composed of 5 individual paint strokes drawn on a white background. I then used the Action : Animate with Paint Action Sequence : to Movie menu command to generate a movie file of my simple animation example. The resulting output movie shown below is looped several times to show off the interpolated motion generated from the 2 hand drawn sketches recorded in the finished PASeq shown above.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The paint animation example above is extremely simple, and only shows off the use of 2 keyframes. The goal was to showcase a simple example to get across the mechanics of working with sequential keyframe recording. If you were generating a real hand painted animated movie you would probably use many more keyframe sketches than the 2 hand painted sketches we used in the example.

The second paint animation example below was generated using the same approach as discussed above.  After the intial 11 action step PASeq was recorded, 9 additional keyframe sketches were recorded using sequential keyframe recording.  Rather than space each keyframe sketch 15 frames apart, each keyframe sketch was initially recorded on adjacent frame times in a 10 frame timeline. The 10 frame timeline was then expanded to 135 frames using the Action : PASeq Timeline : TimeCompress/Expand menu command with a 15 frame expansion ratio.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Again, the goal of the sequential keyframe recording feature is to help automate some of the repetitive mechanical and housekeeping tasks required to build up manually painted animation recorded as a series of keyframes in a timeline. So you can concentrate on the task of physical drawing and let Studio Artist deal with recording your paint strokes as new keyframes and auto-loading any paint preset variations associated with your repetitive drawing.

For More Information

For an introduction to Paint Action Sequences check out this tip. This tip also shows off some additional simple examples of interpolating paint strokes using the PASeq timeline in addition to providing a general introduction to PASeq features.

The Studio Artist User Guide pdf chapter on Actions includes detailed information on sequential keyframe recording, the PASeq timeline, and PASeq features in general.

An alternative approach to building keyframe animations is to encapsulate bezier paths in a single paint action step. An advantage of this kind of animation approach is that you don’t need to worry about matching up paint strokes when initially constructing your sketches. You just generate a series of sketches, and then use PASeq Timeline menu commands after the fact to normalize stroke count and auto-associated neighboring paint strokes across keyframes to build smooth animations. For more information on this alternative approach to building a paint animation check out this tip.

An old Studio Artist 3.5 blog post that includes some simple examples of paint animations built using sequential keyframe recording and bezier encapsulation is available here.

Currently there’s only one PASeq Editor control panel labeled PASeq Generic, available in the Editor window when in Paint Action Sequence operation mode. All of the PASeq Editor options are stored as a part of a PASeq preset. So when you load a new PASeq preset file, the Editor will update to display the user adjustable PASeq parameter options stored in that preset file.

The actual PASeq action list and keyframe timeline are displayed and edited in the Paint Action Sequence window. So most of your normal PASeq recording and editing will actually take place in that special PASeq window. The user adjustable Editor parameters provide some additional fine tuning control over how PASeq playback interfaces to other workspace features like masking or layer adjustment.

Depending on your current workflow requirements, you might want a PASeq to remember the original state of canvas masking or which layer you were working on for each individual action step as it plays back. Or you might want the PASeq playback to ignore the original state of these workspace features when the PASeq was first recorded and just use their current state during playback. The PASeq Editor parameters give you the ability to adjust these kinds of PASeq playback behavior.

Many PASeq presets are designed to perform specific visual processing effects to your working canvas. The default off behavior of the PASeq Editor options allows you to grab a prebuilt PASeq preset effect and just run it on whatever current layer you are working on. If PASeqs always adjusted the canvas to work on the layer they were originally recorded on you would not be able to use them for visual effect processing on some arbitrary layer you might be currently working on.

However, sometimes you want to build specific processing effects that use multiple layers to build the effect. So in that case having the ability to record and playback layer changes as a part of the PASeq associated with individual action steps is very important.

The same arguments hold for other workspace features like masking, the path layer record options, or the states of the source area color memories and color palettes. Depending on your current workflow you might want the original state of these workspace features to playback or not when you run the PASeq. Studio Artist gives you the flexibility to control this fine tuning behavior of PASeq playback, and to associate it with specific PASeq presets.

Some of the PASeq Editor parameters like Mask or Layer playback were global PASeq Configuration Preferences in previous versions of Studio Artist. However, their desired state is usually associated with specific PASeq presets, so it made more sense in Studio Artist 4 to make these adjustable features directly tied to specific PASeq presets as opposed to global PASeq playback preferences.

Mask Playback

Mask Playback determines whether a PASeq adjusts the state of the canvas mask controls as each individual PASeq step is played back. When this option is turned on then the mask state is updated to match it’s state when the action step was initially recorded. When off the current state of the canvas mask is used for PASeq playback, and individual action steps will not change that current mask state.

Layer Playback

Layer Playback determines whether a PASeq adjusts the current canvas layer as each individual PASeq step is played back. When this option is turned on then the canvas layer is updated to match it’s state when the action step was initially recorded. When off the current canvas layer is used for PASeq playback, and individual action steps will not change that current layer.

Layer playback adjustment is based on the physical index in the layer stack. That index state is what was recorded and played back if this parameter is turned on.

Note that Studio Artist assumes you have the correct number of layers instantiated in the workspace before you start playing back a PASeq that references them. When Layer Playback is turned on, Studio Artist will not add new layers to the existing layer stack.

View Playback

View Playback determines whether a PASeq adjusts the current canvas view state as each individual PASeq step is played back. When this option is turned on then the canvas view state is updated to match it’s state when the action step was initially recorded. When off the current canvas view state is used for PASeq playback, and individual action steps will not change it.

PathOption Playback

PathOption Playback determines whether a PASeq adjusts the current Path Layer Record Option menu flag states as each individual PASeq step is played back. When this option is turned on then the Path Layer Record Option menu flag states are updated to match their state when the action step was initially recorded. When off their current states are used for PASeq playback, and individual action steps will not change them.

SrcColorMem Playback

Source Color Memory Playback determines whether a PASeq plays back the state of the Source Area’s color memories, color palettes, and color gradients as each individual PASeq step is played back. When this option is turned on then the state of these Source Area color memories are dynamically changed as each individual PASeq action step plays back to reflect what they were when the action steps were initially recorded.  When off then their current state is used for PASeq playback, and they aren’t changed in any way during playback (unless the action step specifically modifies them like what would occur with a generate source color gradient action step).

For More Information

An introduction to Paint Action Sequence features is available here.

The PASeq preferences tab in the main preference dialog provides access to the PASeq preference settings. You can access the main preferences dialog under the Studio Artist menu on a mac, and under the File dialog on windows.

Editor Update

The Editor Update preference option lets you control when the Editor updates during PASeq playback. The During Playback option means that the editor is updated on the fly during PASeq playback as each individual action step is executed. The After Playback option means the editor controls are not updated as individual action steps execute, so the Editor controls will not update until the end of the complete PASeq playback.

Updating the Editor controls dynamically during playback can potentially slow down processing. So if you are interested in real time video processing, real time animation generation, or movie processing then it’s best to leave it set to only update After Playback is completed.

Loop Action Canvas Update

The Loop Action Canvas Update option lets you specify when the canvas will be updated during PASeq playback. This control is associated with PASeq playback when in loop action mode, or when generating  animation or movie processing output.

Again, you can choose to update as each Action Step is individually executed.  Or you can choose to wait until Cycle End, which means the canvas won’t be updated until the complete PASeq is executed.

How you setup this preference option is a function of how you want the PASeq to update the screen when being run in a repetitive loop. If you are using PASeq presets in a live performance while running loop action, then typically you only want the canvas to update after the complete PASeq processing cycle is finished (cycle end). The same thing is true for in general for movie processing.

However, if you are trying to understand how a PASeq works, then you probably want to see the canvas update after each individual action step is executed, so you can follow what is happening. So in particular when you are building a PASeq you should set this preference to Action Step.

Interpolation Type

The default interpolation algorithm used for keyframe interpolation when a PASeq is playing back over time is a linear interpolation algorithm. However, you can use the Interpolation Type PASeq preference option to switch from Linear to a non-linear Ease In-Out option.

You can use the Ease In/Out Adjust option to adjust the degree of ease in-out curvature added to this non linear interpolation option. A setting of 50 would be a linear curve. Depending on whether you reduce this value or increase it you can pull the resulting nonlinear interpolation curve towards or away from the end points.

A simple example is shown below.  It’s based on the PASeq shown above, which interpolates between 2 hand drawn circular spots. The resulting canvas image when this PASeq is animated over 20 frames is shown below for the case of linear interpolation.

The image below shows what happens if we use this same PASeq and run the animation with a 30% Ease In-Out Adjust using the Ease In-Out interpolation type preference option.

The image below shows what happens if we use this same PASeq and run the animation with a 70% Ease In-Out Adjust using the Ease In-Out interpolation type preference option.

The 3 examples above should help make clear what the ease in-out interpolation adjustments are doing over the course of the animation while moving between the 2 keyframe settings.

For More Information

An introduction to Paint Action Sequences features tip is available here.

The Paint Action Sequence window is where you record and edit a PASeq. Like all Studio Artist windows (also referred to as palettes), it can either be docked in the main workspace, or used as a floating palette. You can display or hide the paint action sequence window using the associated menu in the main Window menu.

The Paint Action Sequence window is composed of 3 main parts.  There’s an integrated toolbar at the top of the PASeq window that contains a series of individual controls associated with playing and recording a PASeq.

Below the PASeq integrated toolbar is the main PASeq action step list (left side), and it’s associated keyframe timeline (right).  A PASeq is composed of a series of individual action steps. Each action step represents some action you can manually or automatically run in Studio Artist.  A manual action could be anything from a manually drawn paint stroke to an interactive warp to an interactive adjustment. An automatic action could be an image processing effect, or an auto-paint step, or anything run by pressing the main Action button.

Each individual action step is displayed with an associated name, status, and layer indicator.  You can adjust the positioning of their associated column displays in the action step list by dragging the list header boundaries to reposition the associated vertical columns in the list.

The status display indicates whether the associated action step will play (on) or not (off) when the PASeq is played. So, to mute an individual action step, turn it’s associated status control off. If an action step is muted then it doesn’t run when the PASeq is played. Muting an action step is useful to turn it off but still keep it in the list as a placeholder.

You can edit an action step’s name or status by double clicking on it’s display and then adjusting the activated text edit or popup control. The action step’s layer control cannot be directly edited, but will update accordingly if you run the interface to action step context menu. This menu will be discussed in more detail in the context menu commands section.

Recording a PASeq

To record a new PASeq, click on the Rec checkbox at the top of the PAseq window. This activates PASeq recording. Any individual manual or automatic actions you perform in Studio Artist will be recorded as individual action steps in the PASeq action list if PASeq recording is turned on.

For example, if we turn on PASeq recording, erase the canvas to white, and then paint a single paint strokes in the canvas, we will record the 2 action steps shown below.

The first action step named ‘SetCanvas -white’ erases the canvas to white. The second action step named ‘Interactive Multi Pen’ is associated with the single paint stroke we painted (using the ‘default : general : a gradient brush’ paint preset). Note that the name of the paint preset we used for the painting is also tagged onto the name of the recorded action step. As long as the preset we are using is active (unedited) this additional preset name tagging will take place. If we modify or edit the current preset, then the preset name is not added onto a recorded action step (since the preset is no longer active but has been edited and hence no longer specifically corresponds to the original preset file stored on your harddisk).

To play your new recorded PASeq, first turn off recording by unclicking the Rec checkbox. Then press the Play button at the top of the PASeq window.

To delete a specific action step, just select it by clicking on it and then press the delete key. To erase the entire PASeq action step list, just press the Erase button at the top of the PASeq window.

PASeq Keyframe Timeline

Each action step has an associated set of individual keyframes that are displayed in the PASeq keyframe timeline (on the right side of the PASeq window). The action step list and the keyframe timeline are separated by a vertical splitter control, which can be adjusted to determine the positioning the of the 2 component views.  If you drag the splitter all the way to the right side of the PASeq window, then the keyframe timeline will be hidden from view.  You can always mouse down in the vertical splitter and adjust the positioning of the action list and the keyframe timeline based on your current workflow. If you aren’t working to build an animation you might want to hide the timeline display for clarity when working.

Each action step has a horizontal row of individual keyframes.  There’s a numeric control in the integrated PASeq toolbar at the top of the PASeq window that can be used to specify the # of keyframes in an animation. Each vertical column in the timeline represents a specific frame time in an animation. The horizontal strip at the very top of the PASeq timeline is a frame header that displays the associated frame times of the vertical columns. Clicking on the frame header will adjust the current time to that frame time.

To play a keyframe associated with a specific action step, just click on the appropriate keyframe cell at the frame time you are interested in playing back. Playing a PASeq keyframe both resets the associated operation mode Editor controls to the settings recorded in the action step keyframe as well as runs the specific action associated with the action step’s operation mode.

A recorded keyframe is displayed with a red interior.  To record a specific keyframe, just option click on the keyframe. To erase a recorded keyframe, just hold down the command key and click the red recorded keyframe and it will be removed.  The first keyframe for each action step must always be recorded, so you can’t erase it to be empty.  But the first keyframe can be a mute keyframe if you don’t want it to playback at frame 1.

A muted keyframe is displayed with a black interior. To record a mute keyframe, hold down the m and option keys and then click the keyframe. When an action step is muted at a specific frame time, then it won’t playback in an animation until the next active recorded keyframe (a red one) is reached.

Parameter values associated with 2 red recorded keyframes for a particular action step will interpolate for frame times between the 2 recorded keyframes. This is true for editable parameters that can be adjusted in the Editor window for the action step. It’s also true for any recorded path information associated with an action step.

Keyframe interpolation is generated using a linear interpolation algorithm, However, you can adjust additional ease in and ease out PASeq preference parameters for keyframe interpolation if you want the interpolation to be nonlinear.

Here’s a simple example of using PASeq timeline keyframe to build a paint animation based on path interpolation. The variation on the initial PASeq we used for recording a single manually interpolated patin stroke is shown below.

I generated this modified PASeq by painting a second paint path with a different source color, and then option clicking the keyframe at frame 10 for my interactive multipen action step to record the second keyframe for that action step. My original paint stroke was a vertical stroke drawn on the left side of the canvas. My second paint stroke keyframed at frame 10 was drawn on the right side of the canvas with a blue source color (as shown below).

Note that i have the PASeq controls setup for a max of 10 frames in my keyframe timeline. I erase the canvas to white in the first action step at frame time 1 and then mute that step for the remaining frames in the animation. This is followed by a single interactive multi pen manual paint step that has 2 keyframes, at frame time 1 and frame time 10. If i press the Animate button art the top of the PASeq window i get the following generated canvas image.

The animation over 10 frames recreates the first manually drawn paint path at frame 1,and the final manually drawn paint path at frame 10. Additional interpolated paths are drawn for the intermediate frame times. Both the path shape and the path color are interpolated for the intermediate frame times.

If i wanted to create an animation output where the paint path appeared to move over the course of the animation without seeing the previous painted strokes in the current frame i would not incorporate a mute step in the first erase to white action step.

I could also interpolate any Editor parameters associated with the paint preset i used for the interpolated manually drawn paint path. For example, i could have edited the path randomization of the paint preset before drawing the paint path associated with the second keyframe at frame time 10. I did this by going to the Path Randomize control panel in the paint synthesizer and changing the Displace Amount option from 3 to 200 as shown below. This editing change in the paint synthesizer creates a more randomized dispersed paint path.

I then repainted my paint stroke on the right side of the canvas and option clicked the existing keyframe at frame time 10 for the interactive multipen action step. If i run the animation with this modified PASeq the result is shown below. Note how the path randomization of the manually drawn paint stroke is interpolated over time in addition to the path shape and coloring.

In the example above we only interpolated one of the editable parameters in the paint synthesizer over time. But we could have interpolated multiple parameter values in our single action step at the same time if we wanted to.

PASeq keyframing and PASeq recording in general works like snapshot automation (if you are familiar with audio mixer terminology). What the term snapshot refers to is that the entire set of interface parameters associated with a particular effect operation type is recorded in a single PASeq action step. And interpolation between individual keyframe cells in an action step also occurs across the entire range of available parameters. As opposed to other potential keyframe interpolation schemes where each individual parameter has it’s own individual horizontal keyframe track over time.

Context Menu Commands

There are a set of individual context menu commands that can be run on specific selected action steps in a PASeq.  To select a particular action step, just mouse down in it.

On a mac if you hold down the control key while mousing down on an action step then a contextual menu will appear with a series of context commands that can be run on the selected action step. On windows this is equivalent to clicking while holding down the right mouse button.

There are contextual menus to play the selected action step, or just set the interface controls to what is recorded in the action step (action step to interface), or overwrite the recorded action step with the current interface parameter settings (interface to action step).

There are also additional contextual menu shortcuts to import or export a PASeq preset.

PASeq Presets

Presets are pre-built Studio Artist effects that are stored in individual preset files on your hard disk. Synthetik provides a large set of factory presets, and you can also record or edit your own personalized presets. Paint Action Sequences have their own specific Studio Artist preset type. You can use the factory preset browser to navigate the different factory PASeq preset collections and categories when in Paint Action Sequence operation mode. Loading a specific factory PASeq preset file will overwrite the existing contents of the PASeq window with what is stored in the selected PASeq preset file.

The main Action button will run the current PASeq when in Paint Action Sequence operation mode.

For more information on working with presets and the preset browser check out this tip.

Context Action Steps

Context action steps are additional PASeq features that allow for some advanced processing capabilities. You can use context action steps to associate specific source images with a PASeq, associate unique background images with specific processing layers, associate sets of bezier paths with specific layers, and perform warps, morphs or adaptive filtering operations based on the movement of sets of bezier paths.

For more information on PASeq Context Action Steps check out this tip.

History Sequences

Studio Artist includes a History Sequence window in addition to the PASeq window. A history sequence is basically the same as a PASeq, but minus the keyframe timeline. The file format for PASeq presets and history sequence presets are the same, so you can open a history sequence in the PASeq window and vice versa.

Typically you use the history sequence to record an editable history of what you are doing in Studio Artist. So the history sequence can be used as a form of replayable undo. And you use the PASeq window to load or build PASeq presets, process movie files, or generate animations. But you can also use the history sequence as a way to build new effects from multiple PASeq presets, or as a placeholder for storing multiple action steps while editing a PASeq effect.

You can drag and drop individual action steps from a PASeq to a history sequence (and vice versa). There are also menu commands under the main Action menu for  copy replace and append between the 2 different sequences.

Movie Processing

Paint Action Sequences are the mechanism used in Studio Artist to process movie files. To process a movie with a particular effect, you first record the desired effect in a PASeq.  Or you can load a prebuilt PASeq preset if the effect you want already exists as a PASeq preset. You then run the appropriate Action : Process with Paint Action Sequence menu command to process the movie file.

You can also use a PASeq to generate animation output without necessarily processing a source movie file. You can use the Action : Animate with Paint Action Sequence menu commands to do this. Movie Streams would also be another way to generate animation from a PASeq.

There are a number of other tip posts that discuss processing movie fields with PASeqs in much more detail. Some additional tip links are mentioned below.

For More Information

There are several user adjustable parameter options available for individual PASeq presets that determine whether they playback the original state of workspace attributes like masking or layer indexing. These PASeq parameters can be adjusted in the generic Editor window when in PASeq operation mode. A tip with more information on PASeq Editor Options is available here.

There are several PASeq preference options that control how and when PASeq playback updates the Editor and canvas. There’s also PASeq preference options for controlling keyframe interpolation as discussed above. For more information on working with the PASeq preference options checkout this tip.

An introductory tutorial tip that discusses how to build a PASeq to process movie file with a single image operation effect is available here. An additional introductory tutorial on processing a movie file with a PASeq is available here.

Building more elaborate movie processing effects involves designing an appropriate paint strategy to create a particular aesthetic effect and then implementing it in a recorded PASeq. There’s a multi-part tutorial series that details how to build movie processing paint strategies available here.

Studio Artist PASeq keyframe interpolation includes the ability to interpolate collections of multiple bezier paths. What this means is that you could interpolate all of the multiple paths associated with a complete painting to a new painting using a single PASeq action step.  This approach is called working with interpolating encapsulated bezier paths. A tutorial tip that discusses working with encapsulated bezier keyframes to build paint animation is available here. Multi-step paint animations can be generated automatically using the techniques discussed in this tip.

For more information on PASeq Context Action Steps check out this tip. A more detailed tutorial on working with morph contexts for generating morph animation effects is available here.

For more information on configuring the Studio Artist workspace check out this tip.

Studio Artist provides several different ways to organize and access presets when working. Favorites folders are designed to provide an easy way for individuals to customize preset access to better serve their individual workflow needs. This tutorial will discuss how to make your own custom preset Favorites categories.

Studio Artist factory presets are organized by Collection and Category. Typically you access the factory preset collection using the Preset Browser palette shown below. The 2 popup controls below the Factory tab can be used to choose different Collections and their associated Categories. The individual presets shown in the browser’s list will change depending on which category is currently chosen.

The preset’s displayed in the preset browser’s factory set is a function of the current Studio Artist operation mode. The Image Operation, Temporal Image Operation, Texture Synthesizer, Vectorizer, MSG, Paint Synthesizer, DualMode Paint, and Paint Action Sequence operation modes all have their own individual preset file types. So if you are in Paint Synthesizer Classic operation mode, then the preset browser will only display factory paint presets like in the screen shot shown above.

You can build your own custom collections and/or categories by adding additional folders to the factory preset folder hierarchy.

Preset Folder Hierarchy

There is one main Preset folder that needs to reside in the same folder as the Studio Artist application. Inside the Preset folder are individual folders for the different types of presets as seen above.

Inside each of these individual folders the first level of folder hierarchy specifies the Collections for that preset type. The individual folder names are the individual collection names. To rename a collection, rename the associated folder.

Inside each of the Collection folders are a set of folders that specify the Categories for that particular Collection.  Each individual folder name is an individual category name. The screen snap above shows the folder hierarchy for Collections for the Image Operation presets and the Categories associated with the Default collection.

Individual preset files need to reside in a specific Category folder. Otherwise they will not show up in the Studio Artist preset browser. In previous versions of Studio Artist there was an automatically generated General folder that displayed any loose preset files at the top of the hierarchy. This is no longer the case, presets must reside in a specific Category folder to be displayed in that category, otherwise they are ignored by the preset browser.

You are free to add additional collection and associated category folders to the factory preset collection. This is a technique you can use to organize your own custom presets, or to rearrange factory presets as you see fit.

Note that most of the individual folder names inside the main Preset folder reflect a specific operation mode type of preset.  The one exception is the Favorite folder.

Preset Favorites

The Favorite folder contains a set of individual category folders. So, each folder contained inside of the Favorite folder will be a specific favorites category. Note that Favorites is unique from the other preset types in that there is only one level of folder hierarchy inside the Favorite folder that is associated with favorite’s categories.  There are no favorites collections.

You can view preset favorites in the main preset browser by selecting the Favorites tab, as shown in the screen shot below.

But preset favorites are also accessible in a new space saving preset favorites toolbar, as shown below. The Preset Browser can take up quite a bit of screen real estate, while the Favorites Toolbar is very compact and can be oriented either horizontally or vertically. So you can configure workspaces that only use the Favorites Toolbar for preset access to maximize your working drawing area.

The popup icon control at the left in the favorites preset toolbar shown above lets you select a specific favorites category. After you select a new favorites category then the individual preset icons in the favorites toolbar will update to reflect the contents of the selected favorites category. Clicking any of the individual preset icons will load that preset as the current Studio Artist preset.

Favorites presets are unique in that you can mix and match different operation mode preset types in a favorites category. For example, you could include both paint presets and image operation presets together in a single favorite category. When you click on a favorites preset icon, the operation mode will also update accordingly to match the favorite preset you selected.

Custom Favorites to Enhance your Workflow

Each artist is unique. We all have different sets of presets that resonate with our particular aesthetics.  The Studio Artist philosophy is to provide individuals with a wide range of different preset options, as opposed to restricting factory presets to a small set of generic preset effects.

The advantage of having a wide range of different presets to choose from is that you can cull through them to find individual paint tools that resonate with your particular artistic style.  And you can always edit individual factory presets to customize them even further.

The consequence of having a large number of factory presets to choose from is that there are a large number of potential preset options to choose from. Spending some time customizing your Studio Artist workspace by adding your own unique favorites preset favorites categories is a way to custom organize presets you plan on using frequently so that they are easily accessible.

Because favorite categories can include different preset types, you can group different kinds of presets together into a single accessible favorites category. To make this clearer, let’s consider a favorites category devoted to water color effects.  You could include watercolor paint presets as well as water drip or wash presets.  Some image processing effects are also great at simulating water washes or generating canvas texturing effects, so you could also include image operation presets that generate those effects in your watercolor favorites category.

The cleanup favorites category is one that i personally use all the time in my work. The cleanup category includes paint action sequence and image processing presets that are useful for adding finishing touches to paintings or processing effects. Being able to access the effects it contains quickly while you’re working is great for improving your productivity.

Spend some time trying out different Studio Artist presets and build your own favorites categories that are tied to your individual artistic workflow.

Making a New Favorites Category

You can always make a new favorites category by adding a new folder inside the Favorite folder in the main Preset folder.

There is also an edit menu you can use to make a new favorites category from directly within Studio Artist.  This is the Edit : Preset : Make New Favorites Category menu command. You can also access this menu command as a contextual menu by control clicking the preset browser (right click on windows).

Adding Presets to a Favorites Category

You can always add a preset to a specific favorites category by dragging a copy of the preset file to the appropriate category folder in the Preset : Favorite folder. Option dragging is how you drag a copy of a file in the finder on the mac.

You can also drag and drop the current preset icon in the preset browser to the favorites toolbar. Doing this will add the current preset to the current favorites category. When you do this drag and drop a copy of the current preset file is made and added to the current favorites category folder.

Live Performance Features

Custom favorites categories can be very useful when using Studio Artist in live performance situations. Live performance could mean generating live visual performance for an audience.  but it could also just mean generating effects in real time. Perhaps while spooling the visual results out to an open movie stream.

If you are running loop action, then any time you click on a favorites preset icon that preset will load and the loop action processing will continue with the newly selected preset effect.

Command keys can be used to load favorites presets in the toolbar as an alternative to clicking on a preset icon in the toolbar. Command F1-F6 will load the first 6 preset icons in the current bank. Command option F1-F6 act as bank shifts. A bank is a set of 6 presets. The F1 bank would be presets 1 through 6, the F2 bank would be presets 7 through 12, etc. These command keys can be especially useful when working with live visual performance using loop action since the Favorites Toolbar might be hidden from view when using full screen display mode during a video projected live performance.

For More Information

An introduction to preset browsing and organization is discussed in this tip.

A tip is available that discusses live performance options in more detail.

An introduction to the Studio Artist workspace is available in this tip. Information on reconfiguring the workspace, including repositioning the favorites toolbar is discussed in this tip.

A simple question that comes up when getting started using Studio Artist for the first time is how to erase the canvas. The quick answer is that you can use the eraser button in the main operation toolbar shown above to erase the canvas. This tip discusses the different options available for erasing the canvas in more detail.

Erasing the Entire Canvas

If you click on the eraser and continue pressing the mouse button a popup control will appear after a second that shows the different options you can erase to. You can then select the one you want and the canvas will be erased to what you specified.  You can also control click the eraser button (right click on windows) to immediately get the popup options.

This option is now your default erase to option. So if you now just quickly click the eraser in the main operation toolbar the canvas will be erased to your erase to option. Note that only the current canvas layer is erased when you press the eraser button or select a new erase to option.

You can also choose your default erase to option using the Canvas : Erase to menu as shown below. Using this menu is the same as using the eraser popup control.

You can also use the command b hot key menu key command to run the Erase menu command which erases the canvas to your current default erase to option. So using this menu key command is the equivalent of clicking on the eraser button.

Erase To Options

There are a number of different erase to options.

White and Black set the canvas to solid white or solid black.

Source Color sets the canvas to the current color specified in the Source Area. You can use the source color picker to adjust the current source color.

Source Image sets the canvas to the source image. If the canvas is a different size or aspect ratio than the source image the source image will be automatically adjusted to fit the canvas sizing.

You can also just drag the source image to the canvas to erase to the source image. When you do this your current erase to setting will be changed to source image.

Selection sets the canvas to the current region selection mask. You can adjust your current selection in selection operation mode, or by running one of the Canvas : Selection menu commands.

Live Video Capture sets the canvas to a live video capture. The live video capture will be generated using your computer’s iSight camera or an external firewire camera you have connected to your computer if it doesn’t have a built in iSight.

Source Alpha sets the canvas to the source images alpha channel. Note that the canvas RGB buffers are set to a black and white alpha mask image.

Canvas Alpha sets the canvas to the current layer’s alpha channel. Note that the canvas RGB buffers are set to a black and white alpha mask image.

Source Color Memory 1 sets the canvas to the current color specified in the first color memory in the Source Area.

Blanking Buffer sets the canvas to the contents of the paint synthesizer’s blanking frame buffer. The blanking buffer is a hidden frame buffer the paint synthesizer uses to keep track of paint stroke coverage.

Texture sets the canvas to the current source image’s texture visual attribute.

Full Erase

Each Studio Artist layer consists of a RGB frame buffer, an A or alpha frame buffer, and a bezier path frame. A normal erase operation only erases the RGB frame buffer. The layer’s alpha channel and bezier path frame are not erased.

Running the Canvas : Full Erase menu command performs a full erase. This means that in addition to erasing the canvas’s RGB frame buffer to your default erase to option, the alpha channel is also set to full off and the bezier path frame is erased as well. Full erase also erases the paint synthesizer’s hidden blanking buffer. The blanking buffer is used internally by the paint synthesizer to track paint stroke coverage.

Shift clicking the eraser button in the main operation toolbar is the equivalent to running the full erase menu command.

Using the Pen Eraser

Studio Artist supports using the eraser tip on a Wacom pen to interactively erase the canvas by drawing with the eraser tip on local areas of the canvas. You can also use the e hotkey to simulate working with the pen’s eraser tip when drawing with a mouse.

When drawing with the eraser tip in Studio Artist, the current preset will dynamically change to the current eraser preset. This happens when you start drawing with the eraser tip. When you finish drawing with the eraser tip the paint synthesizer reverts to the original current preset you were using before you used the eraser tip.

The current eraser preset is stored in the paint synthesizer eraser memory. You can access the eraser menu using the ‘Edit : Paint Synthesizer : Pen Eraser’ menus. Running the pen eraser Record menu will record the current paint synthesizer settings as the eraser preset. Running the pen eraser Play menu will load the current eraser preset as the current paint synthesizer preset.

The eraser tool support for the pen is totally user configurable, you can load any paint preset you want to be your default eraser tip. So the eraser tip could just be used to switch to a different paint tool, like a water wash preset for example. There’s a folder of some generic eraser presets you can load into the Pen Eraser memory in the Default :Erasers factory paint preset category.

For more information on working with a Wacom pen and tablet check out this tip.

Interface Changes

Note that the original Studio Artist 4.0 release and previous dev4 builds used a slightly different terminology in the canvas menu.  They use the term Default Color as opposed to Erase to. The terminology was changed starting in Studio Artist 4.01 to avoid confusion for beginning users.

The original Studio Artist 4.0 release and previous dev4 builds also used text buttons for the eraser and other buttons in the main operation toolbar. These buttons were changed starting in Studio Artist 4.01 to use icon buttons instead of text buttons, again to help avoid confusion for beginning users.

If you are ever confused about what a particular icon button does (or any Studio Artist control for that matter), if you hold the cursor still under the icon button a brief text help tip will appear that describes the name of the control and what the control does. A more detailed help description will also appear in the bottom left status bar in the main workspace window.

For More Information

For more information on Studio Artist Layers check out this tip.

For more information on the Studio Artist workspace check out this tip.

Studio Artist 4 lets you work off of a source image or start from scratch when building up a digital painting. For beginning users, working with a source image is the best way to get a feel for how Studio Artist works.

To get started, double click on the Studio Artist application icon. When the Studio Artist interface first launches it will be in the Paint Synthesizer operation mode. The Preset browser will display a series of factory paint presets.

The Source Area initially starts up with the Fixed Color option, displaying a color picker you can use to choose the current source color you want to paint with.

Using your mouse or pressure sensitive pen, try painting a few quick paint strokes in the canvas.

By clicking on different presets in the preset browser you can load them as the current preset.  Each preset has a different appearance and characteristic behavior when drawing.

Working with a Source Image

Studio Artist’s paint synthesizer is able to intelligently analyze a source image and then use that visual analysis to intelligently paint the source image in a variety of different styles. The visual characteristics of the loaded source image can also influence the appearance and behavior of paint presets designed for manual drawing as well. So you should try painting with a loaded source image to really appreciate the full potential that the factory paint presets have to offer.

Now lets get started by loading a source image. Use the File : Open Source menu command to open a source image.

If you are just getting started there are some source images that come with Studio Artist you can use for your first introductory painting sessions. When you run the Open Source menu command a standard file dialog will come up. Try going to the A Few Source Images folder that is in the same folder as the Studio Artist application. Choose the A Sunflower image to get started.

After you select your source image the Source Area will change to the Image tab and you will see a small representation of the source image you selected displayed in the source area.

Now try painting a few paint strokes. Note that the coloring of your paint strokes is now being chosen automatically from your source image. The color that is selected depends on where you are drawing in the canvas and is chosen to match the color of your source image in an equivalent spatial location. The source image will automatically map to the full canvas dimensions, even if they are different sizes.

Some paint presets will drag their initial coloring for the length of the entire paint stroke. Other presets may clone color, which means that the coloring of the paint stroke will adjust as you move the pen while drawing to best reflect the associated source coloring.

Automatic Painting

Studio Artist can intelligently paint a source image or a complete video file in a variety of different visual paint styles with no assistance from a user. This is called auto-painting, or auto-rotoscoping when working with movie files. Studio Artist uses the results of it’s intelligent visual analysis of the source image or source movie file to control drawing behind the scenes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you are just getting started with digital painting then Studio Artist’s intelligent assisted drawing will really open up new creative doors for you by enabling you to quickly be able to create artistic pieces without having to spend years learning to draw. Even if you are comfortable working with traditional manual painting you will find that automatic painting is an amazing source of creative inspiration, and a useful new tool for building artistic effects. And no matter what your background is, auto-painting is just plain fun.

Now, lets try automatic painting. Press the Action button.  Watch how Studio Artist automatically paints in the source image. To stop automatic painting, just press the spacebar.

Each paint preset has a different automatic drawing behavior in addition to the different physical appearance of the paint.  Try selecting different paint presets and then use the Action button to see how they automatically paint.

Paint Presets

Studio Artist presets are hierarchically organized by Collection And Category. There are 2 popup controls at the top of the factory preset browser that you can use to choose different collections of presets and the different categories associated with each collection.  Every time you load a new preset category the list of presets in the factory preset browser changes to display the individual presets included in that category.

Studio Artist ships with thousands of different factory presets. They encompass a vast range of different artistic effects. Rather than restrict your creative options to a few generic art presets we try to offer a very wide range of different aesthetic choices.

Some presets try to emulate traditional art media or techniques. Others create never seen before digital paint effects. All of the factory presets are completely editable, so you can modify and tweak them if desired to suit your own artistic needs.By editing your own presets, and building your own preset collections and categories you can totally customize Studio Artist to your own personal artistic vision.

Spend some time exploring the different factory paint presets that ship with Studio Artist 4. Some presets may have been designed primarily for auto painting or for manual painting, so it’s worth both manually painting a few paint strokes and then pressing the action button and watching the preset auto-paint to get a sense of what an individual paint preset can do.

If you do a lot of manual hand painting the CD_hand_Drawn_media collection was specifically designed for manual painting as opposed to action painting.

Working with the Source Area

The source area determines how coloring is applied to paint strokes. Depending on how you adjust the source area controls you can dramatically change the coloring behavior of your painting.

There are 4 different tab option available in the source area

• Image colors based on a loaded source image or movie
• Color allows for manual color selection using a color picker
• Palette allows for coloring based on a palette of colors
• Gradient allows for coloring based on a color gradient

Most of the main source area tab options also include a secondary coloring option you can adjust with a popup control. The Image source area tab offers the following secondary coloring options, which are all derived in some way from the source image coloring..

• Paint uses the source image directly for coloring
• Colorize maps the source image into the current source color hue
• Palettize maps the source image into the current source palette colors
• Fixed uses the current source color (but you can c click the source image to select a new source color directly from the source image)

Changing the Pen Mode

The paint synthesizer offers a large number of editable parameter options that can change the appearance and drawing behavior of any given paint preset. You can adjust all of the different editable paint synthesizer parameters in the Editor palette.

One very useful adjustable control is the pen mode. Any given paint preset will have radically different drawing behavior based on the pen mode setting. So learning how to adjust the pen mode is a great way to start to get familiar with editing the paint synthesizer to customize how paint presets look and behave.

The Pen Mode option is located in the Pen Mode control panel.

There’s a tutorial tip that discusses the different pen mode options and how to adjust them here.

Paint Synthesizer Macro Edits

There are a large number of different editable controls available in the paint synthesizer for adjusting the look, feel and automatic drawing capabilities of a paint preset. While this extreme amount of control ultimately is extremely useful for both customization and for providing the underlying capability to produce rich,lush organic paint effects, it can be somewhat intimidating to a beginning user.

Macro edits are a collection of single step editing commands that can be used to easy modify or edit paint presets. The paint synthesizer macro edits are available in the Help Browser as a series of active link commands.

To edit a paint preset with a specific macro edit command, just click the black arrow icon on the left side of the command. Pressing the arrow icon will run the active link command, which will automatically edit the current paint synthesizer settings to correspond to the editing change you requested.

The screen shot above shows a user running the Clone Source Color macro edit. Running this macro edit command will adjust the current paint preset so it clones color as opposed to dragging color.

Many macro edits adjust a series of different internal editable parameters to make the requested editing change. You could of course do this manual editing yourself by adjusting the series of editable controls in the paint synthesizer editor. The point of the macro edits is to provide an easy single click editing interface to common editing commands as an alternative to getting under the hood of the pant synthesizer.

For More Information

An introductory overview to the design philosophy behind the Paint Synthesizer is available here.

A short tip on how to change the brush size is available here.

A short tip on how to adjust the paint opacity is available here.

The Studio Artist User Guide pdf is the ultimate technical reference for all of the functionality available in Studio Artist. There’s a very detailed Paint Synthesizer chapter in the User Guide pdf that goes into great detail about all of the editable controls available in the paint synthesizer. The User Guide pdf is available in your main Studio Artist folder.

Studio Artist uses a special folder called the Brush folder as a container for storing individual image or movie files used in Studio Artist paint presets. This tip will discuss how to work with the Brush folder.

Many Studio Artist paint presets are defined computationally by the information stored in a paint preset file. However, some paint presets do reference specific image or movie files that are used to help build the paint preset. For example:

• An Image Source Brush uses an image file as a a brush source.
• A Movie Source Brush uses a movie file as a brush source.
• An Image Background Texture uses an image file to generate a texture.
• A Movie Background Texture uses a movie file to generate a texture.

These image or movie files are not stored in the paint preset file. A file path reference to the image or movie file is stored in the paint preset file. So when you open a paint preset that uses an image or movie file as a part of it’s specification Studio Artist needs to look on your hard disk for the referenced image or movie file and load it in order for the preset to paint properly.

The problem with file references is that the given image or movie file specified by the file path reference may have been moved or perhaps even deleted when you try and use the paint preset at a later date. The Brush folder provides a convenient way to store any image or movie files you use in your Studio Artist paint presets so that this does not happen.

Whenever Studio Artist is unable to find a particular image or movie file reference stored in a paint preset file during the import process, it then looks for that file name inside the Brush folder. The Brush folder needs to be located inside of the main Studio Artist folder next to the Studio Artist application and the other folders like the doc and Preset folders.

It’s highly recommended that if you build your own custom image or movie brush presets that you store their associated image or movie files in the Brush folder.  That way Studio Artist will always be able to locate the specific image or movie files used in those paint presets.  This will be true even if you move the location of your studio artist folder on your computer, or even if you move the folder to a different computer.

Terminology Confusion

Many paint programs refer to specific paint tools as ‘brushes’. So it’s easy to fall into using the term ‘brush’ to refer to some specific paint preset.

Internally, paint synthesizer classic paint tools consist of a virtual brush consisting of a source and a type.  The source is specified in the Brush Source control panel and the type is specified in the Brush Type control panel.

The Brush Modulation control panel parameter options provide additional control over the generation of the dynamic virtual brush. If you are working with an image brush for example, interactive modulators like pen pressure or tile could be used to dynamically modulate the size and orientation of an image brush.  An additional dynamic texture field could also be interactively mixed into the dynamic virtual brush.

Some brush types like the geodesic brush types ignore the brush source control panel settings since they are dynamic computational processes. Region fill as brush pen mode also overrides the brush source controls and generates a virtual source brush on the fly based on the region you specified with your manual or automatic painting. It’s also possible to construct a virtual brush by using path randomization or multi pen features to scatter a small brush nib around while drawing to simulate a larger virtual brush area.

Virtual dabs of paint are placed on the virtual brush and then applied to the draw canvas. Both how the virtual brush nib is generated, how the paint dab is generated, and how the brush nib loaded with the paint dab is applied to the canvas can all be dynamic processes in Studio Artist. By dynamic we mean they can be constantly varying and can also be interactively modulated by your mouse or pen gestures as you paint.

Many paint programs are internally based on an image brush for painting, end of story. So when they refer to a brush they are referring to the image used as a representation of a paint brush that is dragged around the canvas applying paint.

Studio Artist’s paint synthesizer has a much more elaborate and sophisticated painting engine as detailed above that is capable of creating much richer, more organic digital painting effects.  While you can certainly work with a simple image brush if you want to, many Studio Artist paint presets actually use generative computational brushes that are dynamically computed in real time as you paint.

The same is true for generating textures used for digital painting. You can generate a texture derived off of a single texture image in Studio Artist if you want to. But most presets use a combination of different computational procedural texture generators to create dynamic textures that are always changing, just like textures in the real world that are always varying and different rather than being a repeatable tiled pattern based on a single small image.

Movie brushes are a unique feature in Studio Artist that allow for collections of images to be used to build a paint tool. You can use movie brushes to build a dynamically modulatable virtual brush. You can also use movie brushes to build special effects like photo mosaic imagery.

Movie brushes can also be used in paint synthesizer time particles. The movie plays back as the painting time particle moves over time.

Movie brushes can also be used to build sophisticated hatching patterns for representing different tonal values in a sketch using the Movie Pixel Indexing feature in the Background Texture control panel.

The use of the term Brush in the first part of this tip is referring to the Studio Artist Brush folder.  Preset files you use for painting are not stored in the brush folder.  They are stored in the Preset : Paint folder. The brush folder is just used to store any image or movie files that are used internally within specific paint presets.

For More Information

A more detailed introduction into how the paint synthesizer works is available here.

More information on Studio Artist presets and how they are organized is available here.

The Studio Artist User Guide pdf is the definitive reference for all of the user adjustable parameters available in the paint synthesizer. The User Guide pdf is located in your main Studio Artist folder.

More information on how to build a movie brush is located here.

More information on working with movie pixel indexed background textures to build custom hatching patterns is detailed here.

The Paint Synthesizer can respond to your mouse or pen movements in different ways.  How the current paint preset responds to pen movement is a function of the paint synthesizer’s adjustable Pen Mode option.  Changing the pen mode is an easy way to modify the drawing behavior and appearance of any paint preset. This tip will discuss how to adjust the pen mode and the different kinds of drawing behavior you can access via the different pen modes.

Prior to version 4 the Pen Mode popup control was located above the left side of the draw canvas as shown below.

In version 4 the old pen mode popup control at the top level of the interface is gone.  In version 4 you adjust the Pen Mode in the paint synthesizer’s Pen Mode control panel. The different control panels associated with the paint synthesizer are accessed in version 4 via the Editor palette as shown below.

There are 13 different pen mode options to choose from. They all represent a unique way of drawing based on your manual pen movement. When we use the term pen in the discussion below we are referring to mouse movement or pen movement on a tablet. Pen lift also refers to a mouse up.

Many of them also have unique ways of auto drawing that mirror their manual painting behavior. Some pen modes like FreeStyle revert to Interactive Pen when they are auto-drawn because while their manual interactive drawing is unique the end result is a single paint path like interactive pen as far as auto-drawing is concerned.

Studio Artist is very unique when compared to other digital paint programs. The paint synthesizer is capable of intelligently automatically painting an image in a variety of different styles. Painting can be fully automatic, fully manual, or somewhere in between, artist and computer working together to paint and draw.

Some of the pen modes described below incorporate automatic drawing into paint presets that may still be designed for manual drawing. This is called intelligent assisted drawing. Studio Artist works as an intelligent assistant, automatically working in the background while still under interactive control by the artist as they manually direct drawing or painting.

The paint synthesizer’s automatic path generation features can be used to create a wide variety of different stylistic effects in a paint preset designed for manual painting.  This could be as simple as dynamically generating a cross hatching pattern to something more elaborate like simulating the behavior of liquid paint or ink droplets.

Interactive Pen

Interactive pen mode dynamically paints a single paint stroke as you move the pen. The paint appears in real time as you move the pen.

FreeStyle

FreeStyle pen mode dynamically draws a freestyle representation of the paint path as you move the pen.  The path can be repositioned or rotated while you are drawing by using the t or r hotkeys.  Once you lift the pen then the path representation vanishes and the actual paint stroke is drawn in with paint.

FreeStyle Autodraw

FreeStyle Autodraw pen mode dynamically draws a representation of the paint path as you move the pen.  The path can be repositioned or rotated while you are drawing by using the t or r hotkeys.  Once you lift the pen then the path representation vanishes and the path is used as a path start positioning generator to generate a series of autodrawn paint strokes that are spaced along the path you have drawn.

AutoDraw One Click

AutoDraw One Click pen mode draws a single automatic paint stroke where you click the pen.

AutoDraw Interactive

AutoDraw Interactive pen mode dynamically draws a series of automatic paint strokes as you move the pen. Auto drawing stops when you lift the pen.

The automatic painting is determined by the different adjustable parameters in the pain synthesizer associated with specifying automatic drawing. These include the Path Start, Path Shape, Path Angle, Path End, Path Randomization, and Path Application control panels.

Region Draw

Region Draw pen mode dynamically draws a representation of the regions paint path with a dynamically generated hatching pattern as you move the pen.  The paint path can be repositioned or rotated while you are drawing by using the t or r hotkeys. Once you lift the pen then the region path representation vanishes and the actual paint stroke that paints the specified region hatching pattern is drawn.

There are many kinds of different Region Fill Types that define hatching patterns for how the pen specified region is filled in. You can adjust this parameter in the Pen Mode control panel.

Bezier Curve

Bezier Curve  pen mode dynamically draws a representation of the bezier paint path as you move the pen.  The bezier path can be repositioned or rotated while you are drawing. Once you lift the pen then the bezier path representation vanishes and the actual paint stroke is drawn in with paint.

If you are using a tilt sensitive pen and tablet then the bezier curve automatically adjusts as you tilt and reorient the pen. Otherwise you can use the option hot key to adjust the shape of the curve and the pen movement to reposition the curve end point. Pressing the command hot key adds a new segment to the bezier curve you are drawing.

Particle Paint

Particle Paint pen mode dynamically draws with a stream of paint particles while you move the pen. The behavior of the dynamic painting particles can dramatically change depending on the different adjustable settings in the Particle Pen control panel.

Interactive MultiPen

Interactive MultiPen mode dynamically paints a series of multiple paint stroke as you move the pen. This pen mode is designed to simulate a brush with multiple bristles.  Each bristle paints with it’s own dynamic paint path. There are a wide variety of different adjustable controls to change the appearance and behavior of multipen paint presets in the MultiPen Mode control panel.

AutoDraw MultiPen

Works like Interactive AutoDraw pen mode, except that it autodraws with a multipen brush rather than an interactive pen brush.

RegionDraw MultiPen

Works like Region Draw pen mode except that the region is filled with a mutipen brush rather than an interactive pen brush.

Region Fill as Brush

Region Fill as Brush pen mode dynamically draws a representation of the paint path as you move the pen.  The path can be repositioned or rotated while you are drawing.  Once you lift the pen then the path representation vanishes and the path is used as the outline of a solid region. The solid region is filled in like it is a single paint nib. This pen mode overrides the normal source brush controls since the brush shape is being defined dynamically by the path you manually draw in.

The Region Fill as Brush control panel has a number of different adjustable parameters that determine how a region is generated and filled.

Auto Region Fill as Brush

Auto Fill as Brush pen mode dynamically auto paints a path that is then used as the outline for a slid painted region. The solid region is filled in like it is a single paint nib. This pen mode overrides the normal source brush controls since the brush shape is being defined dynamically by the path that was autodrawn by the paint synthesizer.

The Region Fill as Brush control panel has a number of different adjustable parameters that determine how a region is generated and filled.

For More Information

The Studio Artist User Guide pdf is the complete technical reference for information on editing all of the over 480 different user adjustable parameter options in the paint synthesizer. You can find the User Guide pdf in your Studio Artist 4 folder.

For an introduction to the paint synthesizer and how it works check out this tip.

For more information on Studio Artist’s hot key commands and hot key modifies check out this tip.