Creating an Image Hose Nozzle
with Corel® Painter™ IX
by Tanya Lux - Corel Product Specialist

A milestone in the evolution of digital art tools, the Image Hose paints with a variety of changing images. To use the Image Hose, you must first load it with images, which are stored in special nozzle files. On a garden hose, you attach a nozzle to control the flow of water; with Corel® Painter™, you attach a nozzle to the Image Hose to control its medium - images. This tipwill teach you how to create your own image hose nozzle.

The first step is to create a new document. From the File menu, choose New. In the Canvas Size area of the New dialog box, type 200 in the Width and Height boxes. The unit of measurement should be pixels. Type 150 in the Resolution box, ensure pixels per inch is set, and click OK.

Next, you'll need to zoom into the canvas at approximately 270%. To do this, click in the Scale box at the bottom of the drawing window, type 270, and press Enter. From the Brush Selector bar, choose Pens from the Brush Category selector and Scratchboard Tool from the Brush Variant selector.

On the Colors palette, use the Hue Ring to set the color to black.

On the Layers palette, click the New Layer button.

With the new layer selected, draw a flower in the drawing window.

From the Brush Selector bar, choose Digital Watercolor from the Brush Category selector and Wash Brush from the Brush Variant selector. Use the property bar to set the Opacity to 5%. This particular variant allows easy buildup of color.

On the Colors palette, choose a shade of pink to paint the petals of the flower. Then, choose a shade of yellow to paint the center of the flower. When you are finished painting, click Layers menu > Dry Digital Watercolor.

Next, we'll create duplicate flower layers. On the Layers palette, right click Layer 1 and choose Duplicate from the pop-up menu. Repeat this procedure. You should now have three layers of the flower that you have drawn.

With the top-most Layer 1 selected, click Effects menu > Orientation > Free Transform. Hold the Ctrl key, and then drag one of the corner handles to rotate the layer to the right.

On the Layers palette, select the middle Layer 1, and click Effects menu > Orientation > Free Transform. Hold the Ctrl key, and then drag one of the corner handles to rotate the layer to the left.

On the Layers palette, select the top-most layer, and click Effects menu > Tonal Control > Adjust Colors. In the Commit dialog box, click Commit. In the Adjust Color dialog box, use the Hue Shift slider to choose a new color for the layer, and click OK.

Select the middle layer, and click Effects menu > Tonal Control > Adjust Colors. In the Commit dialog box, click Commit. In the Adjust Color dialog box, use the Hue Shift slider to choose a new color for the layer, and click OK.

Next, hold the Shift key to select all 3 flower layers. Click Layers menu, Group or press Ctrl + G.

From the Toolbox, click the Nozzle Selector. Then click the selector menu arrow, and choose Make Nozzle from Group from the pop-up menu.

From the File menu, choose Save As. In the Save Image As dialog box, type Flowerhose in the File name area, ensure RIFF Files (*.RIF) appears in the Save as type area, and click Save.

From the File menu, choose New. In the Canvas Size area of the New dialog box, type 500 in the Width and Height boxes. The unit of measurement should be pixels. Type 150 in the Resolution box, ensure pixels per inch is set, and click OK.

On the Brush Selector bar, choose Image Hose from the Brush Category selector and Spray-Size-P from the Brush Variant selector. From the Toolbox, click the Nozzle Selector. Then click the selector menu arrow, and choose Load Nozzle from the pop-up menu. In the Select Image dialog box, choose the Flowerhose.RIF file, and click Open.

You're now ready to paint on the canvas with your new image hose nozzle.