From MyPaint

This is a documentation page, a place for learning the ways of the MyPaint.

To contribute, please follow the these guidelines and help us keeping the wiki organized.

[edit] Manual

This section is supposed to be a reference on what and how you can do things in MyPaint. It does not aim to teach you how to paint.

Current status: In progress (June 2010).

[edit] Files

Formats
- Currently, MyPaint can save your work in 3 formats: PNG, JPEG, ORA (OpenRaster).
- You should always save at least in ORA to keep all the informations, so that you can continue working later, as the PNG and JPEG formats do not keep the layers information
- To open an ORA file created with MyPaint in GIMP, you must add the "OpenRaster load/save handler" plugin to GIMP (the plugin & installation procedure are detailled here: http://registry.gimp.org/node/18435)

Scraps: quick-save the current version of your work
- It's faster than saving your file under a different name when you are just experimenting

DE integration and interoperability

[edit] Canvas

[edit] Change Canvas View

Besides the actions you find under the "View" menu, you can do the following to change the view of the canvas. These are currently hard-coded and cannot be changed without editing the source code.

Pan/move freely: Hold space and drag with cursor
Pan/move in steps: Use the arrow keys
Rotate in steps: Hold shift and scroll up/down
Rotate freely: Hold ctrl+space and drag with cursor
Zoom: Scroll up/down

[edit] Brushes

Editing and creating brushes
Importing/exporting brushes
Pick context

[edit] The Brushes Menu

Note that the shortcut keys are shown in Uppercase (better readability) but must be typed in Lowercase.

[edit] Brushes handling

Brush List... (shortcut: B): toggles (on/off) the brushes selection window

Brush keys

Brush Settings... (shortcut: Ctrl+B): toggles (on/off) the brushes settings window
- This window contains all the parameters composing a brush: radius, opacity, size of the dabs comprising the stroke, etc. It displays a complex list of options.

[edit] Dynamic changes on the current brush (while painting)

Bigger (shortcut: F): makes the brush's radius wider.
- This shortcut will add 0.3 to the property "radius_logarithmic" of the brush (its range is -2.0 to 5.0). The initial value depends of the brush
- You will notice that the cursor stops growing after a few changes (up to 8, depending on the initial size for the current brush), but the strokes (the paint) radius will continue to grow
- The strokes will not necessarily respect the cursor's bondaries (contrarily to programs like GIMP), it depends on the brush parameters
- When you switch brushes, the size changes are forgotten: when you select that same brush again it will go back to its original size (create a custom brush if you want to keep a specific size handy)

Smaller (shortcut: D): makes the brush's radius narrower.
- This shortcut will substract 0.3 to the property "radius_logarithmic" of the brush (its range is -2.0 to 5.0). The initial value depends of the brush
- You will notice that the cursor stops shrinking after a few changes (up to 8, depending on the initial size for the current brush), but the strokes (the paint) radius will continue to shrink
- The strokes will not necessarily respect the cursor's bondaries (contrarily to programs like GIMP), it depends on the brush parameters
- When you switch brushes, the size changes are forgotten: when you select that same brush again it will go back to its original size (create a custom brush if you want to keep a specific size handy)

More Opaque (shortcut: S): makes the brush's strokes more Opaque.
- This shortcut will multiply 1.8 with the property "opaque" of the brush (its range is 0.0 to 2.0). This means that if the brush has an Opaque value of "0", this shortcut doesn't work (since x * 0 = 0). The initial value depends of the brush

Less Opaque (shortcut: A): makes the brush's strokes less Opaque.
- This shortcut will divide the property "opaque" of the brush by 1.8 (its range is 0.0 to 2.0). This means that the brush will never reach "0", its minimum value is "0.01". The initial value depends of the brush

Toggle Eraser Mode (shortcut: E): changes the brush's strokes to erase mode.
- This shortcut will switch the property "eraser" between 0 (paint) and 1 (erase). The brush's radius is also expanded by 0.9 (by default), if you change the radius of the brush while in eraser mode, the new value is used afterwards (so the eraser radius will grow or shrink according to this new value)
- All the other properties are kept, which means that the eraser will use the same strokes as the current brush (allowing interesting effects). This is not the same as using an eraser in programs like GIMP.
- If you need a more classical eraser, there are some specific brushes (eg: look in the "Classic" group)

[edit] Brush Settings...

This window contains all the parameters composing a brush: radius, opacity, size of the dabs comprising the stroke, etc.

Each setting is represented on a line with :

name of the parameter (radius, hardness, etc.)
current value: each setting has a value on a range that varies according to the type of parameter (0.0 to 2.0, -1.0 to 7.0, 0.0 to 180.0, etc).
slider (to modify the value)
default value button (resets the parameter to the default value indicated on the button)
[optional] extended parameters button with 2 possible values:
- "..." Add input values mapping
- "X" Modify input values mapping

The best way to understand how the parameters affect your brush is to draw a line on the canvas. Open your brushes settings window, check the "Live update the last canvas stroke" box then use the sliders to change the settings value. The changes are dynamically visible on the canvas.

[edit] Parameters list

'opaque': 0 means brush is transparent, 1 fully visible. (also known as alpha or opacity)
'opaque multiply': This gets multiplied with opaque. It is used for making opaque depend on pressure (or other inputs).
'opaque linearize': Correct the nonlinearity introduced by blending multiple dabs on top of each other. This correction should get you a linear ("natural") pressure response when pressure is mapped to opaque_multiply, as it is usually done. 0.9 is good for standard strokes, set it smaller if your brush scatters a lot, or higher if you use dabs_per_second.. 0.0 the opaque value above is for the individual dabs. 1.0 the opaque value above is for the final brush stroke, assuming each pixel gets (dabs_per_radius*2) brushdabs on average during a stroke
'radius': basic brush radius (logarithmic). 0.7 means 2 pixels. 3.0 means 20 pixels
'hardness': hard brush-circle borders (setting to zero will draw nothing)
'dabs per basic radius': how many dabs to draw while the pointer moves a distance of one brush radius (more precise: the base value of the radius)
'dabs per actual radius': same as above, but the radius actually drawn is used, which can change dynamically
'dabs per second': dabs to draw each second, no matter how far the pointer moves
'radius by random': Alter the radius randomly each dab. You can also do this with the by_random input on the radius setting. If you do it here, there are two differences:. 1) the opaque value will be corrected such that a big-radius dabs is more transparent. 2) it will not change the actual radius seen by dabs_per_actual_radius
'fine speed filter': how slow the input fine speed is following the real speed. 0.0 change immediately as your speed changes (not recommended, but try it)
'gross speed filter': same as 'fine speed filter', but note that the range is different
'fine speed gamma': This changes the reaction of the 'fine speed' input to extreme physical speed. You will see the difference best if 'fine speed' is mapped to the radius.. -8.0 very fast speed does not increase 'fine speed' much more. +8.0 very fast speed increases 'fine speed' a lot. For very slow speed the opposite happens.
'gross speed gamma': same as 'fine speed gamma' for gross speed
'jitter': add a random offset to the position where each dab is drawn. 0.0 disabled. 1.0 standard deviation is one basic radius away. <0.0 negative values produce no jitter
'offset by speed': change position depending on pointer speed. = 0 disable. > 0 draw where the pointer moves to. < 0 draw where the pointer comes from
'offset by speed filter': how slow the offset goes back to zero when the cursor stops moving
'slow position tracking': Slowdown pointer tracking speed. 0 disables it, higher values remove more jitter in cursor movements. Useful for drawing smooth, comic-like outlines.
'slow tracking per dab': Similar as above but at brushdab level (ignoring how much time has past, if brushdabs do not depend on time)
'tracking noise': add randomness to the mouse pointer; this usually generates many small lines in random directions; maybe try this together with 'slow tracking'
'color hue': color hue (the tint: red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, magenta)
'color saturation': color saturation (intensity of the color, grey being the lowest saturation)
'color value': color value (brightness, intensity)
'change color hue': Change color hue.. -0.1 small clockwise color hue shift. 0.0 disable. 0.5 counterclockwise hue shift by 180 degrees
'change color lightness (HSL)': Change the color lightness (luminance) using the HSL color model.. -1.0 blacker. 0.0 disable. 1.0 whiter
'change color satur. (HSL)': Change the color saturation using the HSL color model.. -1.0 more grayish. 0.0 disable. 1.0 more saturated
'change color value (HSV)': Change the color value (brightness, intensity) using the HSV color model. HSV changes are applied before HSL.. -1.0 darker. 0.0 disable. 1.0 brigher
'change color satur. (HSV)': Change the color saturation using the HSV color model. HSV changes are applied before HSL.. -1.0 more grayish. 0.0 disable. 1.0 more saturated
'smudge': Paint with the smudge color instead of the brush color. The smudge color is slowly changed to the color you are painting on.. 0.0 do not use the smudge color. 0.5 mix the smudge color with the brush color. 1.0 use only the smudge color
'smudge length': This controls how fast the smudge color becomes the color you are painting on.. 0.0 immediately change the smudge color. 1.0 never change the smudge color
'eraser': how much this tool behaves like an eraser. 0.0 normal painting. 1.0 standard eraser. 0.5 pixels go towards 50% transparency
'stroke threshold': How much pressure is needed to start a stroke. This affects the stroke input only. Mypaint does not need a minimal pressure to start drawing.
'stroke duration': How far you have to move until the stroke input reaches 1.0. This value is logarithmic (negative values will not inverse the process).
'stroke hold time': This defines how long the stroke input stays at 1.0. After that it will reset to 0.0 and start growing again, even if the stroke is not yet finished.. 2.0 means twice as long as it takes to go from 0.0 to 1.0. 9.9 and bigger stands for infinite
'custom input': Set the custom input to this value. If it is slowed down, move it towards this value (see below). The idea is that you make this input depend on a mixture of pressure/speed/whatever, and then make other settings depend on this 'custom input' instead of repeating this combination everywhere you need it.. If you make it change 'by random' you can generate a slow (smooth) random input.
'custom input filter': How slow the custom input actually follows the desired value (the one above). This happens at brushdab level (ignoring how much time has past, if brushdabs do not depend on time).. 0.0 no slowdown (changes apply instantly)
'elliptical dab: ratio': aspect ratio of the dabs; must be >= 1.0, where 1.0 means a perfectly round dab.
'elliptical dab: angle': this defines the angle by which eliptical dabs are tilted. 0.0 horizontal dabs. 45.0 45 degrees, turned clockwise. 180.0 horizontal again
'direction filter': a low value will make the direction input adapt more quickly, a high value will make it smoother

[edit] Color

[edit] The Color Menu

Color Triangle... (shortcut: G): classic wheel + triangle color selection

Color Ring: displays the Color Changer Wheel (see Color Changer), same as using the shortcut V twice.

Color Changer (shortcut: V & VV): displays the Color Changer, then if you press the shortcut again, displays the Color Changer Wheel

Pick Color (shortcut: R); enables the color picker (click on the screen on a color you want to use)

Color History (shortcut: X): switch between the last 5 used colors
- Every time you use a color to paint, this color is added to the left of the list, pushing the others colors to the right. The last color to the right of the list is forgotten.

Color Sampler... (shortcut: T)

The Color Selector is composed of a HSV wheel.
- The most external wheel is used to choose the Hue (the tint: red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, magenta).
- The innermost rectangle allows you to choose the Saturation & Value (Saturation: intensity of the color, grey being the lowest saturation; Value: the brightness, 0 being black).
- The inner wheel displays the main Hues with the current Saturation & Value. this is especially useful with the harmonies.

Colors History: displays the last 5 used colors
- Every time you use a color to paint, this color is added to the left of the list, pushing the others colors to the right. The last color to the right of the list is forgotten.
- You can switch between them using the shortcut X, or a mouse right-click

Details: to choose your color using the classic RGB or HSV slides

Harmonies : shows colors relationships
- When an harmony option is selected, the colors with the selected relationships are shown with a visual cue (circle, square, triangle) inside the inner wheel. This shows for instance which color is the complementary, or which colors are analogous of your current selection.
- More examples here: http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-harmonies.htm
- More details on color here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Color

[edit] Layers

[edit] The Layers Menu

Documentation/Manual