Painting Tutorial
by Michael Hirsh
Efficient Use of
Layers, the No-Mask method.
You can download
the Satori cvs
file of the finished
image.
Page 1 of 2
Introduction.
An understanding of how to use layers
is central to getting the most out of Satori.
Layers are the real workspace of the program. They offer
the key to its flexibility, editability and speed.
Think hard about which layer should contain a specific part of
the picture. The principal reason for separating a picture
element onto its own layer is to allow you to change that element
alone, without affecting any other part of the picture.
For example, if you are painting a landscape, you’d place
the sky on the bottom layer, then maybe put the clouds on the
next layer. Splitting the clouds onto their own layer, or
even two or three layers, will allow you to play with the clouds’
transparency later.
As you dig deeper into Satori’s layered structure,
you will discover the fine degree of subtlety that inserting
layers allows you. Let’s carry on with the example
of painting clouds, because it will show how one of the controls
that affects layers can give you an increased creative freedom
that is impossible with real world media: Transparency.
Step One
Paint a sky, by using the Geometry/ Shape/ Rectangle /Box
corner fill.
Put four different colours in the paint
pots to give added realism
Here's the Box Corner option.
Keep to just one layer to start
with.
Then use either the Airbrush or even the Cloud
brush to build up some distant high clouds.
Step Two.
Copy layer 1, by selecting the Layers
tab on the Actions Palette. Press the Copy Layer button.
This will make an exact
copy of the layer, Objects and all.
Then paint the foreground cloud/s using
big, fat airbrushes. Your cloud will have rounded edges, so we'll
now make them a bit ragged by setting up an airbrush to subtract
alpha.(The "Alpha Channel" contains information about
the opacity of objects in the layer, rather than colour information.)
Go into the Brush Setup.../ Styles tab,
and check the Remove Alpha check box.
The Remove Alpha check box
Go into Brush Setup/ Styles and check the Remove Alpha box.
This will allow you to alter the outline of the top cloud layer.
Your first layer will then be visible through the "holes"
you are painting.
In this picture, I've used
the edit tool to select and show these Remove Alpha brush marks.
Here you can see the holes
punched in the alpha channel (the white panel) of the top layer;
Copy of Layer 1.
