Trouble with "Pick Up Underlying Color"?

[zookman]

I was checking out the latest Painter video tutorials on www.lynda.com and ran through a lesson entitled "painting with pick up underlying color". In it, they demonstrate this Layers palette feature:
1) Created a new default layer and added a patch of red to it with the Acrylics brush, Captured Bristle variant.
2) Created another default layer (on top of the previous one) and added a patch of yellow to it using the same brush. This was painted directly over the red patch. The yellow was completely opaque.

That's because, as the instructor pointed out, the "Pick Up Underlying Color" checkbox was *not* checked. She then turned on Pick Up Underlying Color and applied more yellow paint. This time, the yellow blended with the underlying red, producing a kind of orange. Very cool.

The problem is: when I tried to duplicate this very simple task, I could never get the top layer to blend with the layer underneath, as if the Pick Up etc. option was never checked. Am I missing something?

For the record, I *am* using IX.5 on a Windows XP Pro platform with gobs of RAM memory.

[Jinny Brown]

Hi,

I haven't seen the Lynda.com tutorial and can't say if you missed anything but from your description of the steps you followed, I get the same result as you did.


Try this, with your Canvas white and a default Layer with red painted on it:

1. Choose the Acrylics' Captured Bristle variant.

2. In the Brush Selector menu, choose Restore Default Variant to return the brush variant to its installed/default state.

3. In the Brush Controls' Well palette, move the Resaturation slider to 20% and the Bleed slider to 100%. Now this brush variant has blending and smearing characteristics.

4. Create a new Default Layer, choose yellow, and paint back and forth above the red area on the first Layer, smearing paint off the red area onto the transparent area above the white Canvas.

5. With the Brush tool still active, hold down the Alt/Option key and click in the painted area to pick the picked up/mixed color.

6. Paint on the transparent area of the Layer and you should see the new brush stroke is orange.

http://www.tutoralley.com/ubb/jins_i...ed_bristle.jpg

[zookman]

Jinny,
Thanks for that detailed reply. Layer blending certainly works by reducing the resaturation and upping the bleed for good measure. I'll become a Painter meister yet.

I went back to the lynda.com tutorial to see what their brush settings were when the "Pick Up Underlying Color" feature was demonstrated. They all appear to be set to default (I clicked on the Brush icon in the Property Bar to restore my own brush default settings just to double-check). But if you're getting the same results as I am (with the default settings for Acrylics/Captured Bristle), then it may not be me......hmmmm.....the video tutorial was using a Mac......wonder if there's something arcane in the difference between Macs and PC's......

(actually, I did see one tangible difference -- in the Mac's Preferences->General... dialog box, there is a color well where you can change the color of the Drawing Cursor. My PC version doesn't have this feature Foo!)

[Jinny Brown]

Hi,

Occasionally we do find small differences between Mac and Windows but I think this one might just have been an omission in the tutorial since I believe the brushes work the same on both platforms.

In any case, I'm glad to be able to help you find a way to do what you wanted.