Workspace Configuration

[Synthetik]

I'm curious how many people prefer an integrated single window workspace vs floating palettes that sit away from the main working canvas. I'd also like to get a sense of how many people are using dual monitor setups vs single monitor setups. So, feel free to describe what you optimal workspace configuration is, and why you prefer it that way. Version 4 offers a much improved single interface workspace where you can dock individual toolbars and palettes where you want to in the main workspace window. You can also nest docked palettes and access them via tabs. I've been playing around with floating palette configurations on a dual monitor setup over the last day and am looking to improve that configuration a little, so that's part of what's driving me asking this question. But i'd also like to understand people's workflows a little better. The goal for the new Studio Artist workspace is to make it as flexible and user configurable as possible. New features like Gallery show and the live performance features also open up new possibilities with associated workspace configurations. Some people are using the floating palettes options in a dual monitor setup so that they can display a live full screen canvas on a video projector in a second monitor while running their floating palettes on a main monitor. Other people draw on a cintiq tablet while putting their palettes on a second monitor. i tend to gravitate towards a single integrated workspace and use the workspace memories to switch the configuration on the fly depending on what tasks i'm currently doing. v4 offers 4 workspace memories that you can access via command key menus to instantly transform the workspace. but in playing around with the dual monitor setup recently, i am understanding the power of that approach as well.

[Joan Brader]

John,using two monitors with Painter is why I use it more than STUDIO ARTIST. I bought a small monitor so I could put the palettes I am using on the small one, and have the canvas as large as I can on my 23" Mac. I am painting(trying to)in the traditional manner..using a photo only as a reference (instead of going outside to sit with the real paints and easel..I also find the mixing pad in Painter Is much easier to get the colors I wish than trying to do this in Studio Artist.
I do like the luscious paints I get in S.A., I like it for painting to music and whatever I am imagining, but this is not my main object in painyting..
I think I use SA much differently than other artists are doing. I am trying to get the same feeling, and produce the same kinds of paintings I did when I painted in squishy paint standing at an easel..
You have always been helpful when I wrote to you,Joan Brader..I am hoping to upload something I did in S.A.
and show you how I wish you had a Text tool so I could write on the canvas.comments for myself. I am using Ultimate Pen here..rather a nuisance. in Painter I can use the text tool..in a painting as I go along..I do have my web site back up..more of a diary, and I will add to it as soon I have time. www.joansartexperiences.com.

Picture 8.jpg

[Synthetik]

You can click on the source image in Studio Artist to select colors directly from the source image to use for manual painting. This is probably faster than trying to dial something in visually in a color picker or mixing pad. You can always modify the initial color you selected from the source image after the fact if you want.

In 3.5 you just click on the source. in v4 you need to hold down the c key to choose colors from the source image (or anywhere else in the interface there's a color preview).


I'm also assuming you know you can split off the palettes in 3.5 and place them on your second monitor. You do that in 3.5 by selecting the Split Window Configuration option in the Main preferences dialog (File : Preferences : Main menu).

In v4 you just drag the various palettes where ever you want them to be. So if you drag them off the main window then they will float. Or you can drag and drop them onto the main window to dock them in various locations.


You can do text in Studio Artist, but you need to type the text into the appropriate paint synthesizer control and then paint with it. There are some text presets in Specialty : Text Brush collection - category. In 3.5 you type the text you will be painting with into a text dialog accessed via the Edit : Paint Synthesizer : Text Brush Source menu.

in v4 you type the text into the Text edit field in the Source Brush control panel in the paint synthesizer.

[Joan Brader]

Thank you, John(am in midst of moving to another house, so when will I paint?)..I will keep the note above to check it all out..Have I missed the notice that version 4 of S.A. is ready?

Joan

[Rondan]

I use a single monitor in the traditional SA set up.

I would also like the ability to have my source image in a large and or separate canvas so that I can use it as a reference for traditional style drawing and editing. The current source image is way too small for that purpose.

I would also like to see a Painter style mixing pad that allows you to dip your brush into different colors at the same time and paint with that brush showing it's multi colors.

Another good addition would be a simple way to print letters for image title and copyright info.
Now I need to go into other programs to do that.

I think a more complete set of preset blender brushes and some more vibrant watercolor brushes would also help.

[Synthetik]

The source area in v4 currently has an artificial sizing restriction that keeps it small. I could remove that so you could make it bigger if you wished to. There are a number of issues associated with resizing the source movie part of it, so that might be a limitation for doing this in the short term. Is the source area sizing an issue for other people, feel free to chime in?

Regarding mixing multiple colors via a dip, you can do that using the brushLoad capture option in v4. If you hold down the a hotkey and then mouse down in the canvas the local area of the canvas associated with where you moused down using the a hotkey is recorded as the current brush load image. now in order to paint with that you need to be using a paint brush load fill option in the paint synthesizer. So you could be using image processing brush load with the brushLoad capture source option. I should post a tip on this.

There are a number of other approaches to painting with multiple colors derived off of the source color. If you are working with multi-pen mode you can use multipen nib modulation in the paint color modulate control panel path gradient option to modulate the color of the individual paint nibs in the multipen preset. you can also use paint brushes derived off of the 2 fixed colors in the paint synthesizer to build 2 color or 2 color gradient paint presets.

You could build a text brush that prints your image title and copywrite info.

Craig Deeley put together a really beautiful set of new hand drawing presets for v4 that include vibrant watercolor and blender brushes.

[Rondan]

Thanks for the info. Does the following paragraph refer to SA 3.5?

"There are a number of other approaches to painting with multiple colors derived off of the source color. If you are working with multi-pen mode you can use multipen nib modulation in the paint color modulate control panel path gradient option to modulate the color of the individual paint nibs in the multipen preset. you can also use paint brushes derived off of the 2 fixed colors in the paint synthesizer to build 2 color or 2 color gradient paint presets."

[Synthetik]

All of the features you quoted in that paragraph are available in 3.5.

[Donna Kuhn]

i preferred the simplicity of the single window workspace

[noach]

John,

The setup I use most is dual monitor - a Cintiq 21, and a full screen canvas on an adjacent Apple 30" display.

Switching around variety of workspaces on a single screen, usually the Cintiq, is something I usually do a bit later into the detail of a project. For rapid prototyping and sketching I prefer to have the generating screen and the preview uncluttered and close by.

v4 sure sounds good - tell me, will you have a presence at SIGGRAPH2009?

Neville

[David Buckle]

I like to have the option of floating pallets. I use dual monitors and move pallets where I want them when I'm using PS.