How do you use pen pressure in Corel Painter Essentials 4? Details inside?

Question

I heard on a tablet you can make lines thicker and thinner in one stroke by applying pressure. How can I do this in Corel Painter Essentials 4? Is there a tool I have to use?

Thanks!

Answer 1

ya i got a wacom tablet an it came with corel painter 3 but it's still the same concept of using the pen pressure on it

Answer 2

There shouldn't be anything to set up. If you're having difficulty it may rest in the type of pen/tablet you're using.  Assuming Corel Painter Essentials is the same as Corel Painter X, go up to "Preferences" then to  "Brush Tracking".  Draw a curvy line across the scratch pad, increasing the pressure as you do. You should notice a trail of purplish dots that increase in size as you increase the pressure of your pen (this is Painter's way of calibrating pen pressure and stroke width according to your personal touch).

If the dots don't increase in size with the pressure, begin looking at your pen and it's settings (there will probably be a control panel that allows you to tweak).

Answer 3

Does your tablet specify that is has pressure sensitivity? They don't all have that feature, so it would be as well to check. If so check that the feature is on in your tablet settings (you should find a control panel wherever you installed the tablet software).

There shouldn't be anything to set up in Painter, but it also depends what tool you are using. What confused me at first was that some of Painter's brushes work with pen pressure and some don't. I'm not sure if Essentials has all of the same brushes as X, but try going into the Pen group of brushes and trying different ones (make sure the brush size is large enough that you can tell when it's thick and thin). If that was your problem, you should find some that work.

You can also fiddle with the sensitivity settings by going into Edit > Preferences > Brush tracking, if you need to make it more or less sensitive to work well with you (assuming the menus are the same as my version).

Good luck. :)