The following is a screen shot of the Paint Synthesizer Evolution help page in the built in Help Browser in Studio Artist. Many people are unaware of the existence of the different paint synthesizer memories, let alone all of the different things you can use them for. So this post will take a quick look at some different things you can do with them.
The 2nd gallery image above shows the PaintSynth Evolution link you can press on the main home page in the built in Help Browser. Pressing the PaintSynth Evolution link will take you to the Paint Synthesizer Evolution help page displayed in the 1st gallery image above. That screen shot shows just the very top of the paint synthesizer evolution help page, which is much bigger and contains all kinds of different and useful active command links.
The 4 Paint Synthesizer Patch Memories can be thought of as recallable memories that store all of the editable parameter settings associated with the current paint preset. You can access the various paint synthesizer memories via the Edit : Paint Synthesizer menu commands (as shown below).
The menu structure shown above gives a nice overview of the different paint synthesizer memories available in Studio Artist. All of the different paint synthesizer memories detailed in the menu structure above are also available for use on the Paint Synthesizer Evolution help pages (via active command links).
In the discussion in this post I will use the term Patch (as opposed to Preset). Think of a preset as a specific file stored on your computer that contains all of the parameter settings for a paint tool. A Patch also stores all of the parameter settings that make up a complete paint tool, but is stored in the computers memory as opposed to in a specific file on disk. So paint presets reference a specific file on disk (containing a complete set of paint parameters), while paint patch memories are not stored in any specific preset file, nor do they reference any specific preset file by name or file location on disk. The various paint synthesizer patch memories are saved and restored when you quit and restart the program via the main Studio Artist preferences file.
When you load a paint preset into the paint synthesizer, any changes you make to the paint synthesizer controls are not made to the associated paint preset file, unless you explicicly export them to that file. You can use the File : Export : Export Paint Synthesizer menu command to export the current paint synthesizer settings to a paint preset file. You can also option click the current preset icon as a shortcut to save any changes you have made to any Editor parameters associated with a loaded preset. A dialog comes up asking you if you want to save your edited changes to the current preset file, press OK if you indeed do wish to do that.
The Pen Eraser memory stores a paint patch that is switched to when you use the eraser tip end of a Wacom pen. If you are working with a mouse or pen that does not contain an eraser tip, you can hold down the e hotkey before mousing down to draw, and the eraser patch will be temporarily loaded into the drawing tool.
The menu commands associated with all of the paint synthesizer menu’s discussed in this section have menu commands to Record and to Play. Recording a paint synthesizer memory takes the contents of the current paint synthesizer settings and stores all of the associated parameter settings in the associated paint synthesizer memory. Playing a paint synthesizer memory takes the parameter settings stored in the memory and sets the synthesizer to those settings. What I mean by this is that the paint synthesizer controls are set to those settings, and the edit status label associated with the current paint preset will change from active to edited. The settings stored in the current paint preset file remain unaffected by playing a paint synthesizer memory. You would need to explicitly export the new settings to that preset file to overwrite the old ones stored in it.
The 4 Patch Memories store a complete set of paint synthesizer editable parameters. When I say complete I mean everything needed to build the paint preset. So, you can use these 4 Path memories to flip back and forth between different paint synthesizer editing settings on the fly. This can be useful when making custom adjustments to a factory preset or when building one from scratch, because you can try out different parameter settings quickly,flipping back and forth between them.
The 2 PathMemories only store parameter settings associated with the path generation process. They don’t store any parameter settings associated with the paint brush or paint nib generation or application to the canvas.
The 2 BrushMemories store all of the parameter settings associated with the paint nib, paint brush, and application of the paint nibs to the canvas. They don’t store any parameter settings associated with auto-drawing and path generation behavior and appearance.
By working with the Path and Brush Memories, you can mix and match different automatic drawing or different brush characteristics between different paint presets. For example, say you like how a specific paint preset auto paints, and then want a different paint preset to take on the same kind of automatic drawing behavior. Load the first paint preset whose drawing behavior you like as the current paint preset, then record it into one of the Path Memories. The load the second paint preset you want to modify to use the auto-drawing behavior of the first preset. Now playback the contents of the Path Memory you just recorded. You now have created a new paint patch that paints with the second preset’s brush and nib characteristics while auto-painting with the path generation behavior of the first preset.
There are also all kinds of different randomization and evolution command options available as active command links in the Paint Synthesizer Evolution help page.
The first gallery image above shows off some of the different randomization command options available. You can randomize the settings for the complete paint preset, or just for certain sections (like color or path generation only).
The 2nd gallery image above shows different morph or mingle commands available that use the parameter contents of 2 or more different patch memories to automatically generate new paint presets. Mingle commands mean that specific parameter settings are randomly selected from the associated patch memories included in the command names. So ‘paint synth mingle 1-2‘ means that the parameters from path memories 1 and 2 are randomly mingled.
Morph commands mean that a linear interpolation of the individual parameters from the associated patch memories are generated, and those interpolated parameter values are loaded into the paint synthesizer. Morph evolution has the potential to lead to more radical changes in the behavior and appearance of a morph evolved paint patch. Mingle evolution leads to milder changes that reflect the individual characteristics of the associated presets stored in the path memories used for the mingle evolution transformation.
The 3rd gallery image above shows active commands for accessing the path and brush memories (as opposed to using the Edit : Paint Synthesizer menu commands.
The 4th gallery image above shows some additional active commands available on the Paint Synthesizer Evolution help page that actually have nothing to do with the paint synthesizer directly. They are evolution commands that let you mutate and randomize other operation mode Editor parameter settings.
