After you?ve exhausted the creative possibilities of Painter?s Image Hose Nozzles presets, it?s time to build your own. Yes, you can create a nozzle file in Painter, but because Painter?s masking tools and resizing features aren?t as intuitive as Photoshop?s, I recommend using Photoshop.
To set up your file, create 6-8 layers, trim photo objects, and put them in 2 rows. Take advantage of layer transparency to make an outstanding nozzle. I recommend at least an 800 by 600 image window; large resolution images make your Image Hose work in Painter suitable for high-quality printing. To assist you in setup, I?ve created and posted a small psd file (300K) at OurMedia for download:
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/156312
Load Painter 9 now.
1. Open the psd file in Painter.
2. On the Layers palette, Shift+click on the layer titles from top to bottom. Don?t click the Canvas layer. Hide it.
3. Press Ctrl+G to group the layers
4. Click the Nozzle Selector icon from the toolbox; click the flyout triangle and choose Make Nozzle from Group
5. Save the file to RIF file format and close it.
6. Open a new file, Click the Nozzle Selector, click the flyout triangle, and choose Load Nozzle; choose the saved RIF file.
7. Stroke away.
Thoughts:
? Click the Pattern Selector icon on the toolbox, click the flyout and choose Define Pattern to wrap nozzle strokes around, creating a seamless tiling image.
? Forget about Ranks if Painter pops you a query box about it. Ranks are used to create sophisticated nozzle characteristics such as size and rotation variations, but you have to be a math wiz to use them correctly. Instead, just click the flyout on the Brush Selector flyout and choose Show Brush Creator?you can create plenty of variations using this command.
? Use different nozzles on different layers to jazz up a composition.
? Save a seamless tile composition in which you used your nozzle(s) as a psd. In Photoshop, load the image and choose Edit>Define Pattern to be able to use a seamless Painter tile with the Paint Bucket tool and the Edit>Fill command.
? Get out of Iraq now.
My Best,
Gare
