Right folks, here's a start off. It isn't incredibly organized or well written----mainly due to being the notes I've been taking for the past couple weeks. Probably various things missing too, but I'd still say it is a solid enough starting place for perusal and I aim to improve and organize it moreso somewhere down the line. Gists of Raster Art Stuff:
Raster Art stuff:
:Below sourced from GraphicsGale:
Layering: Creates layers, zones to work on part of a piece without disturbing others, like backgrounds, "items", elaborate patterns, etc. "Working with sheets of clear plastic". Very often, the "bottom layer" is the background across whatever.
Masking: Protective technique used in conjunction with Layering...transparencies a factor. Pretty much made from an Alpha channel or Antialiasing.X x Y dimensions: They are correct once you remember 0,0 exists
-More bits = More colors possible/greater potential color range
-RGB scale = Watercolor-like in nature, "pure red" and such easy but not great at gradation of colors
-HSL is the way that the values of hue, saturation, and lightness are specified. This way is suited for making a subtle gradation of colors. Select a rough color by hue, then adjust saturation. A color gets close to gray by decreasing saturation. At the last, adjust lightness. A color becomes a black when lightness is a minimum value, and becomes a white when lightness is a maximum value.
Flood fill: Envelops a targeted area with a reckoned color, preventing a need to scribble in more tool wear in many cases.
Filled Rectangle: Same as above, but rectangular in nature.
Rectangular Selector: After dragging it to the dimensions of a given piece, you have 3 principle options: (Note: Can also often use this to make a Square instead)
1.Move the object itself across to another location on the canvas screen.
2.Drag at the edge-points to work at resizing an object.
3.While selected, clone the object via ye olde Copy+Paste commands
-Frames in a sequence = Animation
-Frames can be cloned outright, removed, new blank ones generated, re-ordered in a sequence, and of course deleted. The big governing properties for them are Transparency and the "Wait time" for actively displaying a given one.
Onion Skin: Looking through time at a slate of frames with transparency to see all steps at once for the gist of things.
Alpha Blend: The opaque value of a layer. The lower the value is, the more transparent the layer is.
Opacity: Adjusts the opacity of the color. 0 opacity appears transparent, 255 opacity is completely opaque. This value is ignored when the image does not have an alpha channel. Also directly tied to the usual "Pen" mode and "Eraser" actions, as the higher the value is the more dramatic effect an Erasing action has on the area being affected in the image.
-Not uncommon for an Image Preview window to have a tendency by default to evade one's (mouse)cursor so as to not cause some manner of inadvertant disruption. Usually a trick to access it purposefully.
Oval Selector: Same general function as the Rectangular Selector and likewise can also often be used to create a perfect Circle instead.
Lasso: Free-hand Selector comparable to the fixed shape ones like Oval and Rectangular.
"Magic Wand": Such a thing is aimed at allowing for a creating a selection area bounded by similar colors, usually of varying tolerance.
"Selection By Color": Pretty much what it sounds like, same as above for similar color with nothing to do with being "bounded".
Rectangles/Ovals as is or "Filled": Same deal as the "selector' types above, but these are for actual image making.
Color Replacer: What it sounds like, perhaps as part of a primary/secondary pair you clarify at some point.
Draw Text: Exactly what it sounds like.
AntiAlias = An image will be built using neutral colors when the AntiAlias is ON. The AntiAlias is effective when stretching or rotating a selected image, or when drawing text.
Export function: If need be, you can export one's many frames as many files, or as a composite of all things on a single canvas.
Snap function: Forces the mouse cursor to only move along custom grids to allow for precise locational control
Image effect: Negative = Reverses the color and the brightnesses in the image.
Grayscale/Desaturate = Removes the color information from the image.
Enlarge Canvas = Enlarges the size of the canvas while leaving the current image size alone.
Crop = Cuts off the image except the selected area.
Resample = Changes an image's width and height.
:Above sourced from: GraphicsGale:
/Stile and Alchemy had nothing new./
:Below sourced from TwistedBrush:
Zoom 1 to 1 toggle = Allows one to temporarily view an image at standard zoom while working at a modified zoom level. Zoom itself generally doesn't modify your image, only your ability to interact with and perhaps notice the finer details.
DPI = Dots Per Inch, generally useless unless intending to print things out(as the printer is keen on this attribute)/metric is set to be Inches or Millimeters instead of Pixels.
Image Resizing: There are a variety of ways to do this that need to be kept in mind/researched further, with Bicubic being a functionally common one. It tends to change the image data on every layer of a project unless specified to do otherwise via use of Filters and the like. As always, MAKE USE OF THE PREVIEW FUNCTION WHEN POSSIBLE TO DO SO.
Brush attributes: In general, brushes have the following attributes that have the potential of being modified if the software in question supports the operation to do so: Shape, Size, Rotation, Color, Pattern, Texture/Effects.
-Some software, like TwistedBrush, has the capability of allowing you to "lift" a specific color from an external reference image for use in your own works---think well done skintones and the like.
Color Palette = Collection of 256 colors that tend to be easily selectable. Within TwistedBrush, there is the capability to generate a custom one of these from the image itself, or a spot within it, that you are currently working on---ensuring that you never wind up using an "unnatural" color.
-Color sliders can often be specified to precise values either as RGB attributes or some manner of incremental, precise Shift+clicking
Color Picker Tool/Pipette = Allows you to extract an exact color from anywhere on your canvas with a right-click to "extract" and result in it entering your active/current color pool. Tied in with the ability to extract from the above mentioned external reference images.
-All Tool use is done via Right-clicks after enabling them appropriately.
-Tools can be managed via Dynamic Hotkeys (Hold Toggles essentially) as well as normal Toggle hotkey presses.
Ellipse Tool = When enabled allows you to click-drag ellipses(filled ovals with the potential for filled circles as well) across the canvas.
Gradient Tool = Lets you create a customized gradient on you canvas between some mixture of perhaps a selection of your 4 primed colors and/or the Alpha channel to introduce Transparency into the mix. Could perhaps then "harvest" a certain very nearly transparent gold via the Color picker to use.
Rectangle Mask Tool = Creates a specific rectangular mask of a given size and intensity in terms of opacity. Can be forced to be a Square Mask as is commonly the case with many Rectangular operations.
Ellipse Mask Tool = Same exact deal as the above, only Ellipses and potential Circles instead.
Wand Mask Tool = Same deal as the other Masking tools only with this you can freehand the nature of the Mask to be whatever on top of the degree of such as is expected.
Image Warp Tool = Allows for manipulation of the image as if it were soft rubber. There is a wide selection of differing warp techniques to be studied not unlike Resizing Techniques as well as a variable strength level to impart unto each.
Script Brush Tool = Allows for the recording and playing back of either exact brush work done repeatedly, or just the brush work itself so as to open up the specific movements to being used in conjunction with differing brushes and/or colors/effects.
Unmask Grid Cell Tool = Allows you to mask everything on your canvas except a small, defined part where works shall be centered on.
Pan Tool = Grab at "spots/edges" on a given canvas/page to quick-travel to them without needing to use the scroll bar. Think a quick camera pan and that's pretty well the gist of it.
Drawing Guide Tool = Enables a WIDE variety of drawing guides from grids to 2D planes in order to aid you in reckoning your images without directly altering them. Yet another thing to investigate alongside Warping and Resizing techniques.
Filters = A way to apply any number of dramatic and subtle effects, as YET ANOTHER thing to investigate, upon an entire layer of an image. Each filter has unique controls to finetune the effect. As can they be created outright, via Lua scripting in the case of TwistedBrush.
Solutions, a Pro version only feature: Allows for a range of complex image results to be automatically generated upon a single click after setting some parameters. Could be WELL worth investigating alongside the rest.
Clips feature: Allows for an in-app image bank of fodder for copy+paste actions and all else---to the tune of up to 400 across a slate of groupings.
Layer Alpha Lock = Locks in the alpha channel transparency for a given layer so you can edit freely without worry of applying new content to transparent areas.
Layer Mix Modes = A suite of various Layer effect stylings that can be applied to a given image, including but not limited to: Normal, Multiply, Screen, Dodge, Burn----leaving the same "target" looking rather different across each of the assorted implementations.
Layer Mask: Hybrid of Masking and Layer work that can be used to keep things separate and editable via introducing an "interloper"/intervening modifying layer.
Layer Transformations = Large assortment of various Filters are used to transform the contents of a layer after the fact in an often Distortion-based fashion and manner. To be investigated.
-Alpha Filter is used to modify the Alpha level upon a singular level without messing with any other aspect at play.
Mask Filter: Allows you to use any of the image processing filters upon a given Mask. Including, but not limited to the likes of: Feathering(Softening of edges), Blending, Expanding, Shrinking. Study of Filters from above thus grants another stage upon which to manifest it, whereas other Technique Assortments seem to have only their singular niches to affect change with.
Tracing mode feature: Allows you to load in an image then activate a transparent page layer on top of it from which to trace it as best as one can.
Reference Image feature: Can import up to 9 different pictures to zone somewhere on the viewing area to harvest for color picking or just look to draw from directly.
Blob Modeler/Modeling = Method to create 3D-like organic objects using methods common to TwistedBrush and perhaps others. Done via a combination of specialized brushes and Layer mode mixing and messing with.
Paper Texture: With TwistedBrush, you can change the default "paper" upon which the canvas is generally drawn to a variety of things that will react in various ways to your brush work accordingly.
:Above sourced from TwistedBrush:
:Below sourced from Fotografix:
Adjustment layer = Special type of layer that applies an adjustment to all layers below it. Unlike a regular adjustment, an adjustment layer does not modify the underlying image itself; instead the adjustment is dynamically applied to the underlying layers. In this way, you can try various adjustments without losing the original image.
-In programs that support Undo/Redo actions, like Fotografix, there may be issue of slowdown as memory is consumed from storing such. In the case of Fotografix however, there is a handy Purge command that frees all of this up anew.
-Layers can be moved around the canvas to different selection areas as you wish. Not all file types support Layering, at least as of 7/11/2010.
-Scripts in Fotografix are constructed in simple text files saved to a certain extension upon a certain pool of rules available in the instructions---versus having to learn a scripting language like Lua to create any useful/interesting quick actions.
Clear command: Erases the selected region and makes it transparent.
Reveal All command: Extends the image canvas to reveal any hidden layers
Threshold command: Applies a threshold to the image.
Posterize command: Reduces the number of colours used in the image.
Rasterize Layer command: Rasterizes the active layer. (?)
Ruler tool: Used to measure the distance/angle between two points on an image.
:Above sourced from Fotografix:
:Below sourced from ArtRage:
-Possible Layer Blending(top-to-bottom, with it being impossible to trigger on the most base layer due to "nothing" existing under it to blend with) effects include: Tint=Adds color to a black/white image, Shadow which applies subtle shadowing to objects, and Highlight accentuating the color(s) of the Layer beneath. Can be reverted/does not inherently damage either layer involved. There are many other such Layer Blending options, commonly based upon Photoshop doings. As usual, further investigation is not likely a bad idea.
-It is possible to Merge Layers into a Group in order to enact mass transformations and the like.
-Layers can be converted to Stencils, as well as custom Stencils made outright.
:Above sourced from ArtRage:
/OpenCANVAS has nothing new, help files for Pixia and Phierha seem to not exist in any currently findable form/
:Below sourced from MyPaint:
.ORA = A burgeoning new file format intended to be used for high end info, like layers and such, to be cross-compatible across various Raster tools in order to sidestep Photoshop's .PSD which got scrappy license-wise back in 2006. Support is slim thus far, but should grow.
-Save Next Scrap feature: Handy thing that starts a 'scrapbook' operation with respect to your files, allowing for an increasing numbered iterations to where you can fork off to different ideas/methods at regular/frequent intervals.
