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Contents 1 Frequently Asked Questions 1.1 New questions 1.2 Answered questions 1.2.1 1. How do I know how large my image is? 1.2.2 2. Why does MyPaint not implement resizing, selection manipulating, color adjustments etc.? 1.2.3 3. Can I get OpenRaster image previews in my file browser? 1.2.4 4. Is there no MyPaint for Mac OS X? 1.2.4.1 4.1 The Mac OS version does not work! 1.2.5 5. How do I reset all settings to the installation defaults? 1.2.6 6. How do I customize shortcuts? 1.2.7 7. When I use my tablet, the cursor is trailed by a line when it's not pressed down: can I fix this? 1.2.8 8. How do I exchange my work with other applications? 1.2.9 9. How do I print the work I created using MyPaint? 1.2.9.1 9.1 Why does not MyPaint have printing functionality? 1.2.10 10. Can MyPaint save in Gimp XCF format so layers can be preserved when the canvas is ready to be moved to it? 1.2.11 11. Does MyPaint rotate the image itself or just the view? 1.2.12 12. Do you plan support tilt sensor for advanced wacom like intuos and cintiq? 1.2.13 13. Sometimes i need several views of one image with different zooms you can support these in next launch? 1.2.14 14. Is it possible to move/reposition layers on the canvas? 1.2.15 15. What do i do when mypaint brush list will not show up or is completly gone? 1.2.16 16. I know MyPaint is for painting, but what exactly are it's goals? To be simple and intuitive? To only create, never edit? To be easy for beginners or a professional-quality tool? Please explain your ideals for this program. 1.2.17 17. How can I save some colors I use often between sessions? 1.2.18 18. Can I make the brush thumbnails bigger?

[edit] Frequently Asked Questions

[edit] New questions

Feel free to add questions here!

[edit] Answered questions

[edit] 1. How do I know how large my image is?

As of November 2010 there is no tool in MyPaint that can tell you this directly. This is something we want to improve, see this bugreport for progress.

• If you want a fixed size image your best bet is to make an image of the desired size (in GIMP or similar) and open that before you start to draw.
• If you often use the same fixed size, you can make a background pattern (with frame). Make sure its size is a multiple of 64, and drop the PNG into ~/.mypaint/backgrounds.
• If you only want to know the rough size, know that MyPaint starts in 100% zoom and that zooming two steps out is 200%

[edit] 2. Why does MyPaint not implement resizing, selection manipulating, color adjustments etc.?

We are not planning to implement these features in the forseeable future, simply because we think there are a lot of things that makes more sense to focus on. If you consider such features to be absolutely essential to your workflow, consider using Krita or GIMP instead.

If you only use them for part of the workflow, you can change applications for these actions, see question 8.

[edit] 3. Can I get OpenRaster image previews in my file browser?

As of February 2010 this is possible for most GNU/Linux desktop environments with some work. We are hoping to make this "just work" on all platforms with time. For more information see OpenRaster Desktop Integration @ Create.

[edit] 4. Is there no MyPaint for Mac OS X?

MyPaint can be used on Mac OS X! See Development/Packaging#OSX

[edit] 4.1 The Mac OS version does not work!

Please check the forum thread and/or report your problem there. The MacOSX port is still experimental.

[edit] 5. How do I reset all settings to the installation defaults?

This can be done easily by removing MyPaint's setting folder. Either delete the entire folder (this will also remove any custom brushes etc.), or just the relevant file found in the folder (windowpos.conf or settings.conf or brushes/order*.conf for instance).

On GNU/Linux this folder is called .mypaint and is found in your home directory (~). Please note that on such systems folders that start with . are hidden. On Windows it should be "C:\Documents and Settings\YOURUSERNAME\.mypaint"

[edit] 6. How do I customize shortcuts?

Hover the cursor over the menu entry and click the shortcut you want to assign. This is also documented under the "Help" menu in the application itself.

[edit] 7. When I use my tablet, the cursor is trailed by a line when it's not pressed down: can I fix this?

Sometimes a tablet might be sending false pressure data from the stylus: maybe the sensor is constantly pressed a tiny amount, or there is a configuration glitch. Sometimes it helps to replace the nib of the pen with a spare one. If this doesn't work, you can fix this by adjusting the Global Pressure Mapping setting in Edit > Settings.

• Adjust Global Pressure Mapping in Edit > Settings.
  • Click on the line to create a new node.
  • Move the node to the bottom of the coordinate system.
  • Move the node on the left-right (horizontal) axis while alternatively testing your tablet on the canvas.

Tip: If you find it hard to find the right setting, you can get the pressure values MyPaint (in version 0.9.0 and newer) sees by going to Help > Debug > Test Input Devices... In older versions of MyPaint you can run it from a commandline, and enable Help > Debug > Print Brush Input values to stdout. The value of press= shows how much pressure MyPaint is registering from your stylus, which you can use to

[edit] 8. How do I exchange my work with other applications?

There are two main ways of exchanging your work with other applications.

1. Exchange the working document, perserving all attributes like layers, etc. For this we support the OpenRaster file format, which you can use with several other applications.
2. Exchange a pre-rendered image. For this we support JPG and PNG like most other applications. Using PNG is recommended as it is lossless, and very fast.

[edit] 9. How do I print the work I created using MyPaint?

As of December 2010, there is no "Print" functionality in MyPaint, so you will have to use another application. For instance GIMP, or a image viewer with printing functionality.

[edit] 9.1 Why does not MyPaint have printing functionality?

Creating a good print dialog is a lot of work. And since not that many use printing, and it is very easy to use another application for this operation we do not see a good reason to implement this. People also like to do post-processing before printing, and might expect things to be color managed, all things we do not plan to support in the short term. Better to focus on the drawing/painting part of our painting application. ;)

[edit] 10. Can MyPaint save in Gimp XCF format so layers can be preserved when the canvas is ready to be moved to it?

Mypaint can't save in Gimp XCF format yet, but it's possible to save as *.ora and preserve all layers. A plugin for Gimp here [1] makes the communication through *.ora files possible between Mypaint and Gimp. Good luck.

[edit] 11. Does MyPaint rotate the image itself or just the view?

MyPaint only rotates the view (which is why the rotate actions is found under the view menu), and not the image data. This means that if you actually do want to rotate the image, you will need to use another application. See question 8.

[edit] 12. Do you plan support tilt sensor for advanced wacom like intuos and cintiq?

MyPaint has supported tilt since the version 0.8 . In MyPaint 0.9, you can try it with 'marker-flat' and 'marker-small' in the brush presets bundled with MyPaint at installation. ( little arrow in the top-right corner of the brush icon is a symbol to indicate the usage of tilt ).

[edit] 13. Sometimes i need several views of one image with different zooms you can support these in next launch?

A feature for splitting viewport is actually in development by Andrew Chadwick. You can follow the branch , or compile to test it here : [2], an early test screenshot can be seen here [3] . As for many development branch of the project, it's difficult to say if this code will be merged in 1.0 or above for the moment.

[edit] 14. Is it possible to move/reposition layers on the canvas?

No. Right now, MyPaint is focused on painting, not editing. Moving, resizing, cropping, skewing, stretching, and rotating layers all fall under the umbrella of image manipulation, not image creation. Currently, MyPaint is a tool for sketching and painting. If you want to edit images, there are other programs for that. I recommend GIMP Maybe in the future this will change.

[edit] 15. What do i do when mypaint brush list will not show up or is completly gone?

You reset the window positions to the default.

[edit] 16. I know MyPaint is for painting, but what exactly are it's goals? To be simple and intuitive? To only create, never edit? To be easy for beginners or a professional-quality tool? Please explain your ideals for this program.

Try this page.

[edit] 17. How can I save some colors I use often between sessions?

A color palette function is in the works. For now, though, you can update to the [development version] of MyPaint. It has a scratchpad that is saved independently of the image you're working on. The scratchpad is essentially a mini canvas. You can add your preferred colors to it using any brush and then save it. You can later reopen it for use with other images. (Note: Sometimes the scratchpad is accidentally overwritten. Be sure to back up the "scratchpads" folder in ".mypaint" periodically.)

[edit] 18. Can I make the brush thumbnails bigger?

At the moment, the only way is to edit code. Open gui/brushselectionwindow.py around line 106 change the numbers 48 to something larger. If you have installed mypaint via package, the file is usually in /usr/share/mypaint/gui. No need to recompile.