GENERAL
The Vector Paint plug-in has two tabs with controls: the first allows you to select a brush, a paint mode and a color, on the second tab you create custom brushes.
BRUSH, MODE AND COLOR SELECT
Brush Selection
By default the plug-in has six standard brushes to select from, differing in the level of softness. Any created custom brushes will be included in the list. Next to selecting a brush you can select a predefined size from the numerical buttons below the brush list or set a custom size with using the Brush Size numerical slate.
Paint Brush Mode
Normal paint mode using the color, color channel and blend mode selection.
Copy Mode
The Copy Mode allows you to select a color using Quick Key: Ctrl + left mouse click. This will select a position in the image which is marked with a yellow cross overlay. Any strokes made will use the color marked. Optionally you can use the X- and Y- Offset numerical slates to change the selected position.
Clone Mode
With the Clone mode you make a select a position in the image by using Quick Key: Ctrl + left mouse click. The position will be marked by a yellow cross overlay. Then, by holding down the mouse key and dragging to a second position you set an offset to clone the paint stroke from. You can also use the X- and Y-Offset numerical slates to change the offset between the paint position and clone source.
Reveal Mode
To use the reveal mode you need to add a second input to the plug-in in the Input menu panel of the Matrix. There you can set the Reveal Source input shot. When set, the Reveal Mode will paint the source clip, using the offset values set in the X- and Y-Offset numerical slates.
Preview
When using the Clone or Reveal mode you can enable the preview which will show the source image mixed in with the current image, using the opacity level set in the Preview numerical slate.
RGBA
You can paint on all or specific RGB and Alpha channels only. For both RGB and Alpha multiple blend modes are available.
RGB Blend Modes
The same blend modes are available as discussed in Chapter 8 - Layers.
Apply to single Frame / All
This button allows you to set per stroke if the stroke is applied to the current frame only or to all frames of the current clip. With the All button next to it you can apply the setting to all strokes you did so far.
Color Selection
You can select a color by clicking the Color-pod to the right of the Brush Selection List. Alternatively you can click the color-pod, hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse cursor to the desired color in the image. Next to a color you can set the Opacity level, using the corresponding numerical slate. The Gradient control to the right of the Opacity control allows you to select a color at each side and generates all gradients in between.
By clicking on one of the cells of the color palette that color becomes the current. By using Quick Key: Ctrl + click you can select a different color for that cell.Alternatively you can click the cell, hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor to a specific color in the image.
The Gradient button below the Palette will update the Palette by calculating all gradients between the four corner cells of the Palette. Alternatively clicking a color in the Hue color-control below the Palette will use the color in the left upper corner of the Palette and show gradient of that color towards white and black in the Palette.
The scratch-pad to the right of the Palette allows you to try-out colors and brushes. Using Quick-Key: Ctrl+click on the scratch-pad will clear it to the default color -being the color of the right color-pod of the gradient control just above the pad.
Similar to brush settings, the palette is stored at the system level. In addition a Palette can be exported / imported using the generic Save and Load buttons in the Process menu. This allows you to create or load a Vector Paint Palette (*.vpp) file
CUSTOM BRUSHES
With the controls on the second tab of the Vector Paint plug-in you can create custom brushes.
The menu shows the shape of the current selected brush. With the Clone and Delete buttons below the preview of the brush you can make a copy of the current brush for customization or remove the current brush. If the current brush if one of SCRATCH's predefined brushes you can not remove it and altering any of its properties will automatically create a copy first. A Brush is stored at the System level - meaning that new brushes are available to all projects. The controls next to the preview represent the properties of the brush.
Brush Properties