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Changing stroke width after drawing?

Posted: 21 Mar 2010, 09:40
by Math
Hi,

Im quite new to TVPaint. Well knew it from the Amiga in ancient history, but rediscovered it recently.

One thing i stumbled upon and trying to find if its possible is the following.
Suppose you have drawn something and you want to change the stroke-width after drawing?

I was looking for this feature and found a option with which you could draw with a special brush over the lines/strokes and it would widen/narrow there...
Actually im not sure it was in TVP or some other tool... so is it possible?

regards,
Math Notermans
http://www.mathnotermans.nl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Changing stroke width after drawing?

Posted: 21 Mar 2010, 11:53
by slowtiger
FX Stack, Border. The opposite would be Erode.

Re: Changing stroke width after drawing?

Posted: 21 Mar 2010, 12:41
by malcooning
FX Stack, Gaussian Blur + Alpha Control.

Re: Changing stroke width after drawing?

Posted: 21 Mar 2010, 14:00
by Paul Fierlinger
This is very helpful, Asaf. Now it would be really, really helpful if TVPaint would offer a bunch of presets. I've played with this in the past and got nowhere with, gave up, and forgot about the whole FX, deciding that this stuff is way over my head. Now seeing this one example has turned on a light switch in this corner of TVPA for me and now I know how to use it. Thanks.

Re: Changing stroke width after drawing?

Posted: 21 Mar 2010, 15:25
by slowtiger
This effect very much depends on the ratio between project size and line width, so I doubt that presets are really useful.

I used this in PS for years in special cases where line quality was very bad, but only as a last resort because the result always looks a bit like a maladjusted photocopy. With a combination of enlarging the image, then apply the FX, then reduce the image again I am able to produce smoother lines.

Re: Changing stroke width after drawing?

Posted: 21 Mar 2010, 15:29
by Paul Fierlinger
I never expect presets to be the lazy solution but a guide and pointer in the right direction -- as was the case here.

Re: Changing stroke width after drawing?

Posted: 21 Mar 2010, 17:56
by malcooning
Paul Fierlinger wrote:This is very helpful, Asaf.
cool :)
you're welcome.

I agree that presets will be good here. Not as a quick solution, but, as you mentioned Paul, a guide and pointer to a helpful direction. In the case here, it's enough if there was a preset named "Thicken Stroke", which simply brought Gaussian Blur and Alpha control into the FX stack, in the right order, with some general settings. this would have sent any user exploring the setting further to see how they affect the result. But without this preset users often are never aware of such combined effects.

Re: Changing stroke width after drawing?

Posted: 21 Mar 2010, 18:18
by Peter Wassink
Math wrote:...
I was looking for this feature and found a option with which you could draw with a special brush over the lines/strokes and it would widen/narrow there...
Actually im not sure it was in TVP or some other tool... so is it possible?
...l
hallo Math,

You probably mean the warp brush, if you use warp-in the stroke does get thinner but also its position is altered, so i'd recommend either the erode FX or Asaf's method

Re: Changing stroke width after drawing?

Posted: 22 Mar 2010, 00:55
by ZigOtto
well, the best result will be always when you draw with a thicker brush from start ... :mrgreen:

but if you need for some reasons to make your lines thicher after the drawing executed, of course some FXs can help (a bit),
but afaik, no FX will be perfect in this task (depending also of your drawing style, details, sharpness, ...)
firstly, don't forget to duplicate your original line-layer, so you can perform your FX on the duplicated one,
then merge the 2 line-layers (original + FX/thicker), the result will be better in many cases, (you can see in asaf's exemple
how the gaussian blur have eaten the thiner (faint) part of his original stroke).
I remember I used a Medium Blur/ LightMark FX in some occasion for the past ...

to make it thicker f.i., here's a FXs comparison :
thickness.png
note : you can make a sort of line thickness variation by increasing+eroding with different values for X (horiz) and Y (vert).

Re: Changing stroke width after drawing?

Posted: 22 Mar 2010, 10:27
by Math
First of all thx for all the quick responses :-)
Getting me in the right direction for this for sure..

Gonna try and test the several mentioned options.

One thing i see in most options (and since im rediscovering TVP, im not sure if its possible or not) is that the FX change the line-width allover the stroke/drawing.
I actually want to partially change it. Gonna make some samples and show you guys what i mean exactly.

Math

Re: Changing stroke width after drawing?

Posted: 22 Mar 2010, 10:53
by Peter Wassink
Math wrote:First of all thx for all the quick responses :-)
Getting me in the right direction for this for sure..

Gonna try and test the several mentioned options.

One thing i see in most options (and since im rediscovering TVP, im not sure if its possible or not) is that the FX change the line-width allover the stroke/drawing.
I actually want to partially change it. Gonna make some samples and show you guys what i mean exactly.

Math
create new layer, name it mask. paint with airbrush where you want the line altered. (less transparency is more alteration,more transparency is less change, no pixels is no change)
then check stencil for this mask layer(the grey square in the s colomn becomes yellow) and apply the FX on the line layer.
the fx will only be applied where there are pixels in the mask layer, the less transparent the stronger the fx.... cool or what?