Brushes Palette: Dynamics (Part 2 of 5)
The heart of Photoshop 7's
powerful new paint engine is the Brushes palette. In this
column, we'll take a look at the Color Dynamics and Other
Dynamics panes, as well as the "pane-less" options at the
bottom of the palette.
COLOR DYNAMICS
The Color Dynamics pane of Photoshop 7's Brushes palette
gives you the chance to blend the foreground and background
colors for the brush. Each instance of the brush (every time
the brush tip is applied) will use only one color, but the
proportions of the foreground and background colors can be
varied with the sliders.
The Foreground/Background Jitter slider
enables you to vary the color of the brush instances between
the foreground and background colors, using various colors
that are combinations of the two. When Control is set to
Fade, the number specified is the number of different
colored brush instances that will occur before the color
reverts to the foreground. If you leave Control set to Fade
and the Foreground/Background Jitter slider at 0%, the color
reverts to the background color after the specified number
of steps.
When the Hue Jitter slider is set to a low
percent, the hue of the stroke remains close to the
foreground color. As the percent grows, the background color
is introduced. By about 25%, some additional color can be
detected. At 100%, all the hues of the color wheel are used.
The Saturation Jitter slider affects only
the saturation of the stroke. When the slider is toward the
left (low percent), the saturation remains close to that of
the foreground color. Likewise, the Brightness Jitter slider
varies from that of the foreground color (left) to the full
range of brightness (right).
The Purity slider is not, you will note, a
"jitter" option. Rather, it works directly with the
saturation value of the stroke. Set to 0%, the slider has no
effect. Negative numbers reduce the saturation, with �100%
creating a completely desaturated (gray) stroke. At +100,
the stroke is completely saturated. Purity does not override
the Saturation Jitter slider, but rather restricts it.
OTHER DYNAMICS
The options found in the Other Dynamics pane can be
considered the paint dynamics or the tool option dynamics.
The Opacity Jitter and Flow Jitter sliders vary the
appearance of the stroke up to but not beyond the values
specified in the Options Bar for the Brush tool. Note that
these options are not available for other brush-using tools.
ADDITIONAL BRUSH PALETTE OPTIONS
The five options at the bottom of the left column in the
Brushes palette don't have separate panes. You activate them
on an on/off basis, and can click on either the box or the
name.
(The Brushes palette is shown here with the
Texture pane visible � note the "Protect Texture" option.)
The options are:
� Noise � Noise is added to gray areas of the brush. Brushes
defined as solid black are not affected.
� Wet Edges � Simulating watercolors, the
paint collects along the edges of the brush stroke.
� Airbrush � The Airbrush option in the
Brushes palette activates and deactivates the Airbrush
button on the Options Bar for the Brush tool.
� Smoothing � Designed for use with drawing
tablets, this option reduces the sharpness of some curves.
If your stroke should have sharp angles, don't enable this
option. Also be aware that it can result it a reduction in
system responsiveness � your screen redraw may be slower.
� Protect Texture � Just as the Global Light
option in Layer Style ensures consistency in lighting
effects, so too does Protect Texture protect against
anomalies in your image. Check this box and all the brushes
you use that can employ textures will use the same texture.
Remember, if you've got an under-powered
system or your video card is strained by your monitor
resolution and color depth, make sure to disable Smoothing.
The slower your system, the greater the delay you will
experience with this option.
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