Painter IX5 Advice

[Steve Conway]

Need some input from those using Painter IX5.

My thing is not brush and palette, I leave that up to my artist brother.

I want to know if Painter IX5 allows you to paint other than with brushes from scratch, similar to Gertrudis.

Is there a steep learning curve etc.? Any info you can give, as I have a chance to save a little money on the purchase now.

There are tutorials that I have seen that allow you to use filters, clone brushes etc, in IX5 but I never did get anything decent out of Painter Elements 3. So I need comments on IX5.

All help appreciated.

Steve

[byRo]

With the exception of very few members, Raniday and Kiska maybe (but I haven't seen them around for a while) nobody actually Paints much.

Usually folks will just use the clone brushes to copy and "artify" an existing photographic image. If you have used the Art-History brush in Photoshop it's pretty similar (but a lot easier).

Cloning in Painter (IX) is very easy, there is a Quick Clone feature that sets everything up for you.
You do have to learn how to manipulate the brush parameters, but for any one who has been around Photoshop for a while that's no problem. Besides "Size" and "Opacity" the new guys are "Resat", "Bleed" and "Feature".

Resat: is how much "paint" you're going to pick up from the original;
Bleed: is how much a new paint stroke will mix with the old;
Feature: for a bristle brush this will control the bristle density.

On the other hand if you just want to try something different - but which can give results often as good as Painter, then try Deep Paint 2 - which is free.
It is a discontinued product, there is no official support, but if you run into any problems just ask around here. Quite a few members have already used it.

Rô
(oops, I wrote about Photoshop - now I saw that you are using PSP.)

[MargaretM]

Hi Steve. I use Painter quite a bit and like it a lot. It took a while to get use to, but uses layers, opacity etc. As Ro mentioned, it has a quick clone feature, where you get tracing paper turned on and puts you in the clone brushes. These clone brushes are a good place to start, since the choice of brushes is overwhelming at first for a non-artist. Almost all the brushes can be used to clone.) I like the textures and image luminance effects a lot. It is not quick, since you are making each stroke but I sure am glad I persevered. Gives a much more arty look than filters. Hope this helps - MargaretM

[Steve Conway]

Yes, PSP is my basic software. but also have PS 6. Got it for the PS tutorials I run into a lot. Also some good actions are floating around. Anyway I am familiar with the tools in PS pretty much altho I don't profess to be able to use it like I can PSP.

Since I used Painter Essentials 3 and got nowhere, how will IX5 compare?

I will probably use the cloning mostly, especially at first. I often do touch-up with brushes on images, but don't do a lot of brush work.

Thanks for a lot of very good advice. I'll take a peek at Deep Paint, if it's not a "paint from scratch" program then it might work for me.

Your thoughts are much appreciated.

Steve

With the exception of very few members, Raniday and Kiska maybe (but I haven't seen them around for a while) nobody actually Paints much.

Usually folks will just use the clone brushes to copy and "artify" an existing photographic image. If you have used the Art-History brush in Photoshop it's pretty similar (but a lot easier).

Cloning in Painter (IX) is very easy, there is a Quick Clone feature that sets everything up for you.
You do have to learn how to manipulate the brush parameters, but for any one who has been around Photoshop for a while that's no problem. Besides "Size" and "Opacity" the new guys are "Resat", "Bleed" and "Feature".

Resat: is how much "paint" you're going to pick up from the original;
Bleed: is how much a new paint stroke will mix with the old;
Feature: for a bristle brush this will control the bristle density.

On the other hand if you just want to try something different - but which can give results often as good as Painter, then try Deep Paint 2 - which is free.
It is a discontinued product, there is no official support, but if you run into any problems just ask around here. Quite a few members have already used it.

Rô
(oops, I wrote about Photoshop - now I saw that you are using PSP.)

[Steve Conway]

RP is the place to be if you need advice.

Thanks for your comments on the program.

It looks good from the tutorials I have read, and from a friend of mine who is really doing some nice things with it after a really short time.

He and I both tried Painter Essentials 3 and hated it. I didn't manage to get a single image that I liked enough to keep. So that makes me a bit leery of anything with Painter from Corel in the name.

Thanks again.

Steve

Hi Steve. I use Painter quite a bit and like it a lot. It took a while to get use to, but uses layers, opacity etc. As Ro mentioned, it has a quick clone feature, where you get tracing paper turned on and puts you in the clone brushes. These clone brushes are a good place to start, since the choice of brushes is overwhelming at first for a non-artist. Almost all the brushes can be used to clone.) I like the textures and image luminance effects a lot. It is not quick, since you are making each stroke but I sure am glad I persevered. Gives a much more arty look than filters. Hope this helps - MargaretM

[pavel123]

Steve, I started using Painter recently and I like it. The program was designed to emulate the traditional artistic media; it is doing a pretty good job…at least much better then Photoshop brushes. It is a pretty complex program; I’m barely scratching the surface so far; it will take some time to get to terms with the soft.
You can download a trial version from Corel cite…

Pavel

[Steve Conway]

Thanks for your input.

I am just trying to avoid programs for folks who like to paint from scratch. I get nowhere this way.

Since the program allows you to do this or "paint" by other means...cloning etc...then it might be a good purchase for me.

Although my PC will handle them with no trouble, I always hesitate to install programs of that size, then try to get it all off my hard drive if I don't want to use it. Can be a pain sometimes. So I try to get as much info from users as possible before buying.

Appreciate the help.

Steve

Steve, I started using Painter recently and I like it. The program was designed to emulate the traditional artistic media; it is doing a pretty good job…at least much better then Photoshop brushes. It is a pretty complex program; I’m barely scratching the surface so far; it will take some time to get to terms with the soft.
You can download a trial version from Corel cite…

Pavel