my trouble with the pentool

[Boomslang]

allright, I've been a complaino for a while now over the pentool as a cleanuptool. Still haven't found a really satisfying solution
I shall illustrate my main problem with it with the following pictures of a doodle in the hopes that someone better understands my problem and knows a solution:

I work at 768 x 576


This is how it looks zoomed in, the zoom-rate in which I draw the thing. its not the prettiest of drawings, but to my eye it looks fairly well from this zoompoint.

this is how I want it to look like from a further distance, the lines a little bit blurry so that it looks good and solid, lines not too sharp. It looks like this when I go to "view'' and put it to ''fit''


And then... This is what happens when I just zoom out and when its rendered as a quicktime:


the lines are too sharp and it overall just doesn't look good.. [/url]

[malcooning]

some very specific zoom levels blur the image. therefore you get the softer lines (the ones you like). Check your drawing at a few other zoom levels. If the lines remain softer in all zoom levels, then maybe try to export with a different compressor, or lossless. If the lines vary in sharpness throughout the different zoom levels, then try to tweak your tool to create softer lines.

if tweaking the tool:
+try creating a custombrush with softer edges.
+try drawing with the oil brush with light turned down to 0 and mode "satin". in this brush you can tweak quite a few parameters.
+try playing with the profile of the Pentool, and set the external edges softer.

[djm99001]

Malcooning,

I am going to chime in and say that I was playing around with the oil brush on silk, because I'm always on the lookout for new sketchy brush approaches... But I encountered an issue I always seem to have with low-power brushes: What's the deal with the "sputtering?" The power seems to pulse, even when I'm trying my best to keep it constant. Is there something wrong with my tablet or can someone reproduce this?

David

[ZigOtto]

check if you have not the Paper gadget enlighted ...?

if yes, disable it and try this, as test :
draw a straight line (3rd tool of the main panel) with Power connection set to Fade.

[ZigOtto]

... the lines are too sharp and it overall just doesn't look good.. [/url]

magnific! I think you are the 1rst one to complain of too sharp result !!!
mostly, we get the oposite complaint, strokes looking to soft/blurry ...


and you are lucky, because it's much easier to soften a line than to sharpen it.



btw, I like your angel, lovely character design!

[Boomslang]

Ofcourse it musn't be TOO blurry. But I like it a bit pencilly. Sometimes you can see too obviously that animations are made in mirage. And too sharp lines make the little drawing mistakes more obvious and hurt the eye.

thanks on the angel, haha. Just a silly quick little thing for demonstration

[Boomslang]

when I use the airbrush, I experience the same problem as djm99001, the line gets ''sputtery'' when the size is small.

is there a way to soften the edges of the pentool like you can do with the airbrush and the oilbrush? There doesn't seem to be a profile editor function to smooth the edges with the pentool..

Basically I want a pentool where you can tweak the edgesoftness. I hope the Team can look at this in an updated version.

[Manuel]

Try to use the Oilbrush with light at 1%, in silk.
Then, you can edit the profile to get some blur on the edge.

[malcooning]

I am going to chime in and say that I was playing around with the oil brush on silk, because I'm always on the lookout for new sketchy brush approaches... But I encountered an issue I always seem to have with low-power brushes: What's the deal with the "sputtering?" The power seems to pulse, even when I'm trying my best to keep it constant. Is there something wrong with my tablet or can someone reproduce this?

is your paper turned on?
have you tried playing with your tablet's pressure settings?

[ZigOtto]

when I use the airbrush, I experience the same problem as djm99001, the line gets ''sputtery'' when the size is small.

a picture, as example ?

[djm99001]

No, I don't have paper turned on.
Do other people not have this happening? I think it only happens on my intuos3 and not on the tabletpc....Guess that's a clue.

David

[ZigOtto]

... Do other people not have this happening? I think it only happens on my intuos3 and not on the tabletpc....Guess that's a clue.

nothing similar here (intuos II)
do you get the same issue with AirBrush tool too ?
have you straight (or smooth) profiles in Size and Power ?
maybe you can try to set a bit higher the minimum threshold
in the Wacom tablet properties/Tip Feel setting,
and/or edit the Tip Force profile, to see if any improvement .

[malcooning]

I have intuos3 and don't have these symptoms. I get the same behavior as my TabletPC has.
Does it happen in custom brushes too?
Does it occur in other programs too?



as for the Pentool, you can workaround the lines issue and duplicate your dark lines layer, apply a little blur, and reduce layer opacity. in this way you will have control over the amount of line softening.

[Manuel]

This happens when you draw slowly, with any tool that is not opaque.
It is not related to tablet, imho, because it happens also with mouse.

Maybe a problem with the sampling rate at low speed and the way the lines are drawn... ?

[mox]

Is it about 'blur' when zooming in/out the project window or the size of the brushes?