Amiga Workshop Special
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■■>; AMIGA WORKSHOP SPECIAL - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW! DPAINT - THE DIRECTOR'S CUT mlgo has brrn runningscrips of DPaint ■ tutorials by Petor tn n th It diewing f.itif ni'i to a clot*, n thought wg'd present Hh first to ". worth hi mini-booklet In case any readers have missed out on a particular installment. What's more, we've alto Included torn* additional material which couldn't be squeezed la the first time around, »o even if you've read each and every installment, you'll still find some useful hints and tips you've not coma across befora. Hod* you enjoy It. Dan Slingsby, Editor. November 1993. THE DPAINT STORY Lots face It. almost every Amigapossesses ownera copy of Electronic Art*1 DPaint program. Acknowledged as tho leadingpaint'n'create package on the Amiga,pro the gram has been bundled with successive generations ofcomputer tho for many years now. Although the manual that comes with DPaint is a fairly compichonslva tome, there's no way It can hope to detail every function of tha program, let alona give •■ample* «nd step-by-slep walkthroughs. That's where we coma In. or rather our resident graphics and animation expert, Peter Lee. Acknowledged as one orleading the eiperts on DPaint in the country, Pete knows more about the program than almost anyone else. And we've commissioned him to write this special booklet to help YOU get more out of on* of the finest graphics tools ever published. Take it sway... CONTENTS PAINTING MODES ....page 01 BRUSHES AND FILLS ....page 07 A DIFFERENT....page PERSPECTIVE11 A SPLASH OF COLOUR ....page 16 THE WRITE STUFF ....page 21 HAM IT UP ....page 25 ANIMATED ANTICS ....page 30 ON THE MOVE! ....page 34 ...AND ACTION! ....page 38 POT POURRI ....page 43 PART ONE PAINTING MODES Whether you own a copyof the original Deluxe Paint or one of the later revisions, you'll soon want to explore the program in greater depth than the manual allows. Fortunately help is at hand as we present the CU Amiga guide to getting the most from DPa'mt ules aresad afactlife and of you meet the major DPaint rule when you Colors: first Start the program. It's the mode/colour trade off. You car have a high resolution mode with fewer colours, orlow- a I.i t up B*312 Bj IA\ res mode with 64. Which to choose? It dearly Ml II.- HAH | Depends what youin havemind for the fin til| H.<>< HTSCIES3 ishedThe work.only time I use high res is for video titling or for creating logos which will be Loading: Siiap|».m:ffl either photographed or gen locked onto video. m:i> 1 ! Ok _| Most people gladly trade off resolution (or a ■Hi larger number of colours:and the lower your resolution and fewer your colours, the more eclllom, doc gions. Do you i pln-vharp P|J ola? Ill make out mindtime up memory1 as for any youanimations haveyou >n a* DPnint begins. might tie contemplating. The interlace option is best left to sight-impaired users (...they soon will be...) or those with monitors which don't display the irritating flicker. Overscan is smaller than pencils and paintbrushes. Always bear in mind that the opportunities offered by DPaim actually raise your artistic skill level. For instance, how many people do you know who can draw a straight line (or curve for that matter) freehand? You can probably count them on Hook's bad hand. And this is the simplest example of how using computer software can give you a real head start. But drawing lines is just the tip of the iceberg. What Happens to the image under neath asdraw you is one of the great thrills Of computer graphics. This brings us to the Mode menu, where a click of the mouse but at-a-glance-guide to the tools menu. Right ton can help unlcck the doors of your imagi clicking on several (such as symmetry or line) leadway theto even greater control of the nation, program. UNDERCOVER WORK only really useful if you are working with video DPaim IV offers ten very powerful painting in mind (it extends Ihe boundaries of Ihe pic modes. Most mode selections only take ture bejonu1 ihe screen limits so there isn't a effect if you have some artwork on screen oorder around it). If youless haveman 1Mb(they need source colours to work with) and of RAM. it's best to click on the Swap button they caneither use one of the default brush so that the program loads the information it shapes (the pens), or sometimes the shape needs when il needs it rather than loading it ofcustom a brush (one you've cut out youi- all in at one go. Well De covering HAM self). The matching commands in DPaim III 14096 colour Hold And Modify model later. work in identical ways. Here's a brief outline Right now let's think positive. After selecting of what each■ and doesan example which your screen type you get that familiar, un-nerv- shows off the technique, plus a peppering of ing blank screen and tool icon strip mat has useful tips: challenged Amiga artists since the dawn of time (or at least,since 1985 if you're being 1. Matte This uses any custom brush you oicky). decide to pick up or load in as the painting Vou may find it useful to remove this toolpen. Any background colours present when box from time lo time to reach partsyour of you picked up the brush are transparent. image which it covers up. Pressing FID tog This is the default mode when you cut out a gles the icons on and off .Right from version brush, and you use it for repositioning parts one. DPaint has had this irritating Quirk; if you of your image, or cutting and pasting in differ- draw out a shape which goes under' the toot- ent locations. bo*, the area of screen hidden by the tools will remain blank. This holds good for fills, T"e last Brush you used is always too. so get into the habitremoving of it when available (even after you've been needed. drawing with other tools such as pens or shapes) by right button clicking with the point QUICK ON THE DRAW er on the brush selector tool. If you've got an Using ordinary tools to draw with is a doddle ammbrush in memory, too, this can also be (or doocle...), but computers are a lot called back on screen in the same way. PART ONE '■ ■ 2. Colour ■ Creates a solid shape of your the drawing area and drag out a new sized brush in the current foreground colour. brush to suityour needs. Extremely useful for placing a brush's shadow before stamping down the brusha matte. as 5. Shade - For this mode to work, a range of colours should have been previously defined. While drawing with an inbuilt It allows you to pass a brush over a colour in brush, or a custom brush using the range,press the left button and replace it the matte mode, youquickly can cycle with the next highest colour. Pressing the through the palette's available foreground right button as you draw changes the underly colours by hitting the open and close square ing colour to the next darker colour. bracket keys (1. so your brush is the right colour. The greater the number of lours in the range, the better. This 3. Replc - Very similar to Matte, except there mode is wonderful for adding high are no transparent colours. lights to metallicbut don't objects;be too heavy handed or else the colours tend to Remember that using DPaint's move to the extremes of light and dark too quick Key shortcuts cuts down on Quickly. If you choose a palette colour not in a time. Pressing Fl will make the brush defined range. DPatnl will use the whole into a Malic form, and F3 will bring it back to palette, which serves no useful purpose! Replc mode. You can see the difference on screen and decide which mode suits your 6. Blend - The program will try to soften the needs beforeto commit havingthe brush to edgescolours wheremeet by adding a third. Ideal for making smooth the screen. averaged colour. transitions - as in light :o dark skies,where or 4. Smoaf - This blathers pixels around like so clouds are drawn, to softenedges. the many grams of sand. It's great too for adding granular texture to objects,but lacks finesse. DPami does its best, but if there 'f/ijj is no real average colour in the The bigger your brush, the ']/' palette, results can be unpredictable. rougher the smear gets, and Ma*e sure your palette reflects the mid-tones unless you're careful too much smear of any colour sequences to givethe software ing can destroy the shape of your original a chance. object. Incidentally, if you want to enlarge one of the program's inbuilt brushes, to smear 7. Cycle • This mode only works with a colour large areas at a time, click on an inbuilt from a previously defined cycle range, and as Brush withright thebutton, then move onto you draw the colours are cycled through in turn. A big help in drawing objects which will need smoothingsmearing later; rocks and or dir! for instance. By defining a range of five or so different greys or browns, then cycling through them as you pamt. you add light and dark elements automatically.