Snap-to-Path Painting with Corel® Painter™ IX

When you need to create a perfect curve or shape, Snap-to-Path Painting is a great time-saver. Snap-to-Path Painting makes it possible to constrain a brush stroke along a path or a shape by clicking a button or using a keyboard shortcut. With a simple click, you can now create a perfect, precise brush stroke. In this example, you'll create a shape and then align a brush stroke to its path. For an organic look and feel, Wacom® tablet users still have the benefit of applying varying pressure along the path.

Aligning Brush Strokes to Paths and Shapes
You can automatically align a brush stroke to a path or the edge of a shape. You do this by determining the tolerance area, or how close the brush stroke must be to the path or shape for automatic alignment to occur. If the brush stoke is within the tolerance area, the brush stroke snaps to the path or shape; if the brush stroke is outside of the tolerance area, no brush stroke is applied.

To align a brush stroke to a path or shape

1. Create the shape to which you want to align a brush stroke.

2. Choose a brush from the Brush Selector bar.

3. On the property bar, click the Align to Path button .

4. Paint on the canvas. Brush strokes within the tolerance area of the shape are automatically aligned.
   
   To quickly switch between the snap-to-path and freehand painting modes, you can use the modifier keys: Shift + Alt (Windows) or Shift + Option (Mac).
   
   
   
   In this image, the brush strokes are aligned to the shape. At any point, you can turn off the layer with the shape on it.

To adjust the tolerance area for brush stroke alignment

1. Choose one of the following:
   
   • (Mac OS) Corel Painter IX menu > Preferences > Shapes
   • (Windows) Edit > Preferences > Shapes
   
   
2. In the Align to Path area, type a number in the Tolerance box.
   The tolerance area is measured in pixels and must be between 1 and 999.