painter seven and watercolor

[Eric Woodward]

I have been doing watercolor architectural renderings with painter for a few
years and love the product. Unfortunately after working with painter 7 for
a week I have decided it is unusable. I have not tried to call for help yet
but I have tried detailed work-arounds for my problems. I think Corel will
need to issue a patch very quickly to deal with these issues or lose a lot
of painter 7 sales.
First problem: speed of the watercolor brushes is unacceptably slow. To do a
simple water color wash over an area(something I'm sure many people need to
do) takes three or four times longer with painter 7 than painter 6. This is
even after I created a new brush library containing only one watercolor
brush, the painter 7 version of simple water. With painter 6 the image
appearing on the screen keeps up with the cursor as you paint so that you
can see what you're doing; with 7 the image on the screen lags so far behind
that you can no longer see what you are doing.
Second problem: with painter 6 win creating a wash over an area the density
of the color stayed consistent even if you overlapped strokes. With the
basic watercolor brush in 7 the density builds up wherever you overlap a
stroke, making it almost impossible to create an even color wash. I
recognize this is more like true watercolors but there needs to be some way
to turn this feature off. I tried many combinations of brush type and
category and none could duplicate the soft even washes that I got with
painter 6.
Third problem: a previous post suggested switching back and forth between
painter 6 and painter 7 to get the desired effects. I do not think this is
practical because if you save a painter 6 drawing with wet paint and open it
in painter 7 the paint unexpectedly changes.Also,what happens to the wet
watercolor layers created in painter7 when you open them in painter 6? (by
the way, the ability to have separate watercolor layers and paint on them is
a fabulous addition to painter 7.)
Does anyone agreed these problems require a significant patch?
Eric Woodward

[Carl Gordon]

I agree. I use Painter on a daily basis using the watercolour brushes. In
some respects the new watercolours look more real but with a considerable
compromise in speed. If painter were to release patch so I could import my
old brushes and use them in the same style I was used to, then that would be
perfect. Until then I shall continue to stick with 6.

Carl Gordon

[Matt McElligott]

Eric,

I (along with just about everyone else on this list, it seems) have run into
the same problems you have. We're all waiting to see what Corel/Procreate is
going to do about it.

> Second problem: with painter 6 win creating a wash over an area the
density
> of the color stayed consistent even if you overlapped strokes. With the
> basic watercolor brush in 7 the density builds up wherever you overlap a
> stroke, making it almost impossible to create an even color wash.

This was the thing that almost made me return the software. Through some
experimenting, I was able to come up with a variant that mimics the old
"Simple Water" variant to a small degree. The colors stay consistent, even
if the strokes overlap, and you can erase with white. You can download a
copy (with instructions) at www.mcegraphics.com/illustration/watercolor

Hope this helps!

Matt

[t labarbera]

Eric...as to the speed of the brushes...try adjusting the 'feature'
slider to the right--a larger number--this adjusts the speed of the
brush stroke and it also adjusts the build-up qualities for lack of a
better term, downward...

Also...you might want to check out Jinny Brown's site for John Derry's
PDF on the wc brushes...see these 2 pages:

http://www.pixelalley.com/tutorials/tuthome.html

http://www.pixelalley.com/tutorials/jderry-guide-pdf-downloads.html

Terrie

[Jinny Brown]

Eric,

I agree that we either need to find a way to paint a simple water color
stroke that doesn't build up either within the first stroke or when a
second stroke is passed over it... or Corel needs to create some brushes
that do what so many people are wanting.

Several of us are working to find some brushes that come closer and if
you stick around, you'll probably see them posted. Also, in the Painter
Forum at In Depth Discussions and on the Painter list at Topica.com
you'll find that people are coming up with some new variants that are at
least better if not perfect yet. If you want information to sign up to
either of the above, you'll find it on the bottom half of this page:

http://www.pixelalley.com/tutorials/tuthome.html

Jinny Brown
http://www.pixelalley.com
_________________________

[Raghavendra Chandrashekara]

Hi Eric,

I just got Painter 7 yesterday and I took it out for a spin. Because I upgraded
from Painter 5.5 I was impressed by many features such as the ability to use
layers (much better than floaters) and the incredibly wide variety of new
brushes. One thing which I was really looking forward to was using the new water

colour brushes. Only one thing which I can say about this: What a big
disappointment! I much preferred the Painter 5.5 brushes let alone the Painter 6

brushes that everybody seems pleased about. Unfortunately I don't have Painter 6

so I can't use it. With Painter 7 all the water colour effects seem to produce
yuck, unusable strokes. Also they are very slow.

I do hope that Corel do something about the Painter 7 water colour brushes. They

should get a patch out to us and soon! Why haven't we heard from any of the
C_Tech volunteers about our concerns? Maybe we should all get together and sign
a petition or something and send if off to Corel?

Raghavendra.

[Jinny Brown]

Raghavendra,

When you find problems or bugs in Painter 7, please send full reports
for each of them including system specs, steps taken prior to a problem
occurring, Painter version, and anything else you can think of that will
help Corel reproduce the problem directly to Tanya Staples:

tan...@corel.com

In the meantime, check these pages for Painter 7 information, including
some custom Water Color brush demos and .XML download files:

Painter 7 Findings - Tips and Facts
http://www.pixelalley.com/tutorials/painter7-findings.html

Painter 7 Tutorials - A Beginning
http://www.pixelalley.com/tutorials/painter7-tutorials.html

Visual Guides for Pianter 7 Keyboard Strokes, Liquid Ink, and Water
Colors by John Derry
http://www.pixelalley.com/tutorials/jderry-guide-pdf-downloads.html

Painter 7 Water Color Custom Brushes
http://www.pixelalley.com/Painter7/painter7-water-color-brushes.html

Thanks for your help in encouraging Corel to release a patch,

Jinny Brown
http://www.pixelalley.com

Please visit PixelAlley's new Memorial home page
________________________________________________

[Raghavendra Chandrashekara]

Hi Jinny,

Thanks for setting up a great website with some really useful resources for Painter
users! I will follow your advice and send my thoughts on Painter 7 directly to Tanya
Staples.

Raghavendra.