Using the Corel Painter Brush Ghost for Digital Painting Feedback

One of the most unique parts of the Corel Painter program, especially in the new Corel Painter X program, is the Brush Ghost feature. The Corel Painter Brush Ghost is used to help with getting feedback when painting as brushstrokes are applied from the stylus pen onto a graphics tablet. This allows for improved control over the painter through digital painting feedback and therefore easier to use skills.

The way that the Brush Ghost works is that it is like an additional feature for the drawing cursor that was used. The Brush Ghost will stay on the screen as one draws and paints on the program. The streaks that are left by the feature are used to measure a couple of important features. It shows not only the movements that are going on with the tool but also the rotation, tilt and flow of the paint that is being used. This is based on the type of pen that is used.

The Brush Ghost feature can be easily turned on or off. The General section on the Preferences menu has this feature for being able to turn on or off. In the Drawing Cursor part of the dialog box the Enable Brush Ghosting feature should be turned on. The Enhanced Brush Ghost box should also be clicked so that the ghost will have maximum performance.

Depending on the stylus pen that is used the Brush Ghost will have all sorts of different aspects for digital painting feedback. For instance, when the shape of the brush changes the brush width will be altered according to the round or elliptical shape that is used.

Also, the line that is created from the ghost is used to represent both the tilt and the direction, or bearing, in which the pen is moving at. This includes a look at the length of the stick that is used for determining how the bearing was used. When the pen is tilted more there will be a longer stick shown by the ghost.

For stylus pens that use full circle rotation a dot will show up on the outer ring of the ghost's projections. The dot will denote the rotation that is being used for the pen. Different variants are used for different types of pens though, and it is best to go to the Brush Selection bar and the Art Pens brush category to create full optimization.

The Corel Painter Brush Ghost is one of the best features to use for digital painting feedback. It helps to allow the user to see how the user's movements in the painting are going so that it can be found as to what is going right or what needs to be worked on so that a digital painting can look its best.