Tutorial 9 : PROCEDURAL TEXTURES AND THRESHOLD

This tutorial covers the following points:

Using textures 'flat'

threshold

Creating sketch style effects

This tutorial presents a number of advanced techniques to create halftones and burn effects
using textures with thresholds, and using filters.
This tutorial is a basic sample of the different effects can Piranesi. When you understand the
styles you can use them to create your own effects. For example you might try to combine other
effects Piranesi with textures and thresholds.

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Using textures 'flat'

This exercise presents a new type of texture, called "flat texture."

1. Open the file "Stein.epx"
If you use the tutorials from the CD-Rom Piranesi, tutorials .epix the files are located in \ Tutorial \ Epix at
the root of the CD-Rom. If you have them installed during the installation of Piranesi, by default they are in
C: \ Program Files \ Informatix \ Piranesi \ Tutorial \ Epix. On the Mac, they are in Hard Disk \ Applications \
Piranesi 5 \ Tutorial \ Epix.

For details on the default opening files, refer to the exercise: Setting Preferences and opening a
file from Tutorial 1: PAINTING WITH PIRANESI.
2. In the Style Selector palette, select the category "Tutorial 9: Procedural textures
and thresholding"
If you use the tutorial from the CD-Rom Piranesi Library Tutorial Library is located in \ Tutorial at the root of
the CD-Rom. If you installed during the installation of Piranesi, by default it is in C: \ Program Files \
Informatix \ Piranesi \ Tutorial. On the Mac, they are in Hard Disk \ Applications \ Piranesi 5 \ Tutorial.

For details, refer to the exercise: Added a Tutorial style library 1: PAINTING WITH PIRANESI.
3. Load style "01 Clear to white," then fill the white paint scene, as in the previous
tutorials.
4. Load style "02 Plane texture."
Flat textures styles are "procedural", similar to the noise texture (Noise) you met in the
exercise: More textures and mixing types (Blend) Tutorial 3: Photorealism. The texture is
calculated from the settings that you place in the texture parameters (Texture settings) of the
Colour and Texture palette. If the
to the right of the preview the texture.
Colour and Texture palette is not displayed, click
The result is shown in the preview box:

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Note that the three-dimensional textures are flat, and the preview shows a cross section. This
means that the style you see when you apply the effect depends on the plane of the surface you
are painting.
The flat alpha textures are textures. Therefore when applying a flat texture, light and dark areas
of style define how the paint is applied; the sector is more dark, the more paint.
5. Click anywhere in the scene.

Objects that are not horizontal in perspective, have stripes 'projected' on them, as well the
different planes of the scene are distinguishable.
Watching the style definition in the Settings palette. The texture is in the XY plane with the
standard 0.0 / 0.0 / 1.0 (see the first three Plane coordinates in the input box), and its origin and
zero (see the fourth coordinate). It therefore changes in the direction of Z.
6. Scale change to 50 and click on the icon keys Reapply
+R or +R to re apply the effect.

or press the keys

The increase in product scale larger scratches in the scene.

We now choose a plan in the scene to change the orientation of the effect.
7. Click the Pick button at Plane in textures parameters (Texture settings), then
click on the new plan:

The preview settings Texture settings now showing vertical stripes. The texture goes parallel to
the X and Z axes with normal (0.0 / 1.0 / 0.0), and it changes in the direction of the Y axis

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8. Re Apply the effect

9. Cancel the effect until the white paint via the +Z or

+Z.

Although we used the command reapply several times, only a cancellation is necessary to undo
the effect.
10. Now, load the style "03 flat Wavy texture", and click Reapply
+R to re apply the effect.

or

You can use the Apply command even when you canceled an action. (You can not reapply
canceled if you used (Undo) more than once consecutively.)
This time the stripes are wavy.

In this style, the frequency and amplitude were settled in texture parameters settings. The
frequency (Frequency) controls the number of undulations, and the amplitude (Amplitude) defines
the size of the corrugations. If either of these settings is to zero, the lines will then be flat.
The land is now spotted. This is because in terms of this style was placed in the X / Y. The earth
is horizontal (parallel to the X / Y plane) and an amplitude of 1.0 which means that the
corrugations of the style produce a grainy texture on all horizontal surfaces.

Thereafter, we will add a threshold to the flat texture, to refine the effect.

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Seuil

This exercise will demonstrate how using a threshold for defining scene areas where paint will be
applied and where it will not be applied, depending on the base color of the scene. The sectors can
be defined using the brightness and darkness of the Restore RGB RGB channel or current channel.
In this case, we will use the Restore RGB channel. The threshold is useful for creating effects with
engraving etching and halftones.
1. Load style "04 Plane texture with threshold".
This style is similar to the style "03 flat Wavy texture", except that the Enable threshold option
(allows threshold) is checked in the texture parameters (Texture settings).
2. Click to reapply

or

+R to reapply the affect

When using a threshold all sectors, darker than the setting, painted, and all the lighter areas that
the adjustments do not paint that applies. For sectors that fall between the settings of light and
shadow, the amount of paint depends on the lightness of the color pixels (and the texture itself).
In this style, the option Use Restore RGB is selected in the texture parameters (Texture settings).
That is why the RGB color restoration channel is used. The clear threshold (Light) is placed at
1.00 and dark threshold (Dark) is set to 0.0. Thus, the white pixels in the RGB restoration, such
as clouds, have no paint applied, and darker things are painted.
You can create an effect 'negative' image by reversing the light and dark values. You may also try
to change the soft value (Soft), which defines the transition between light and dark areas; a low
value gives a sharp transition, and higher value provides a more gradual transition.
3. Cancel the effect to return to the scene 'white'.
If necessary, re apply the style "01 Clear to white."
4. Load style "05 Noise texture" and click in the scene.
This style is a noise texture. Noise textures are procedural textures, but the effect is the same in
all directions. We encountered a noise texture in the exercise: More textures and mixing types
(Blend) Tutorial 3.

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As you can see, this produced a totally random effect and the image has almost disappeared. We
need to apply a threshold for defining scene sectors we want to paint and those we do not want
painted.
5. In the texture parameters (Texture settings) of the Colour and Texture Palette,
select the Enable threshold box (enable level).
Let the settings and options Light Dark respectively to 1.0 and 0.0, and adjusting the soft option to
0.0.
Re apply the effect.
Note how these settings give effect 'melange'.

6. Now change the Soft setting to 0.5 and click Reapply

or

+R.

Increasing Soft setting produces a more gradual transition between light and dark areas of the
effect.

We can control the amplitude of the texture by changing the scale of the noise texture (Noise).
Currently, the scale is set to 25.0.
7. Change the scale in the texture parameters (Texture settings) for 0.5, and re apply
the effect.

Noise grain has a much finer texture.

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8. Load style "Threshold 06 raster texture."

This is a 2D texture frame with a threshold applied. The texture has the same values in X and Y,
and the effect is repeated in the X and Y directions
9. Click in the scene to paint the effect above the noise texture.

Try changing the threshold settings for softness (Soft), for clarity (Light), and to darken (Dark)
effect. You may also scale the X and / or Y.
10. When you have finished testing the settings, save your work and close the file.

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Cration deffets style croquis

You can use the screening filters (Halftone) to create a number of texture effects. In this exercise, we
will create the impression of a sketch in pencil.
1. Open the "Gatehouse.epx" file.
2. Charge the style 07 Pencil .
This style uses the Filter tool with a paint bucket (Fill) non-continuous. We used in the exercise:
More textures and mixing types (Blend) Tutorial 3.
Look at the parameters of the Filter tool in the Tool Options palette. This time the Mode Halftone
(screened filter) is selected, with a pattern (Pattern) pencil (Pencil). You can use raster filters to
create effects with continuous tone, as in the printing process.
3. Click in the scene.
The scene is shown as if it had been drawn (sketched) in pencil.

Zoom into the scene to watch the details. All pen strokes have the same angle, which has been
indicated in the filter settings. The dark areas are painted solid black, and light areas were left
blank.
If you used the Zoom tool, remember to re-select the Filter tool, or charge the style in the Selector
Style palette.
4. Change bias (Bias) in the Tool Options Palette 0.3, then click
or +R to reapply.
Reapply
The bias (Bias) controls the contrast between light and dark areas. With a low polarization, the
scene is much darker because the filter painted more than light areas. Re apply the effect with a
bias 0.9. This time the scene is much clearer.

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5. When you finish handle, place a bias (Bias) intermediary, such as 0.65.
6. In the settings of the Filter (Filter settings) tool palette Advanced Settings, change
the angle to 0 and check the options: Align with normals (to align
normal) and Crosshatch (plaid), and click Apply to apply.
or +R to reapply

Since Align with normals checked, pencil races change with the direction of each shot. The dark
areas are squared.

Now we will attack some of the pencil lines to produce a softer effect.
7. Load style "08 Pencil smudge".
The Smudge option (smudge / blur) is placed at 30% in the parameters of the tool Filter (Filter
settings) Advanced Settings palette.
Note that channels Use Restore (restoration of channels) is selected in the Tool Options palette;
it is because we want the filter works with the original colors of the scene, rather than the pencil
marks.
The color lock is on. Open the palette lock settings by clicking
Locks of the pallet (locks). You will see that HSL is selected with a lightness (lightness) of 5,
and Use Restore channels is checked. This means that only pixels restoration channels having a
brightness within 5% of that of the selected pixel will be painted.
8. Zoom into the shadows of the ramp, and paint over the shadows.
Make sure you start painting on a shadow.

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The pencil lines are 'blurred' one by one.

You can also change the races of the pencil so that they are more distant or more 'wavy',
changing the scale settings (Scale) and frequency. Test with different painting parts of the scene
using various settings. You can change the locks. But in this case, make sure the Use Restore
RGB option is checked in the settings of the tool Filter (Filter settings) of the Tool Options palette,
otherwise the filter will work with the painted scene and you will not see any change.
Use the Undo icon

or

+Z to cancel all changes you do not like.

9. When you are satisfied with your work in pencil, apply the style "Edge 09", and
click in the scene.
This style uses the line filter (Edge) to add contours to objects in the scene.

10. Save your work under a new name.

Now we use our stage greyscale to create the appearance of a colored pencil work.
11. From the File menu, click Export, and save the channel Epix: RGB (channel
Epix) in a PNG (Portable Network Graphics Image). Name the pencilwork.png.
If you need a reminder on how to proceed, watch the exercise: Export and import color images of
Tutorial 2, or refer with Piranesi.
12. Apply directly to the "Clear to white 01" style to fill the white paint scene.
13. Load style "10 Coloured pencil grain," and, on PC only, at the prompt, choose your
PNG file.
Mac users: If you saved your pencil work.png file in the resource file, you will not be sought and
Piranesi open the file directly for you.
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If this is not the case, Piranesi display a message saying it can not find the file (Could not find file
pencilwork.png), click Browse the Grain palette and choose your PNG file.
14. Click in the scene.
The amount of color (Amount) is set to 0%, so the style restores basic color using the pencil
marks that we created earlier to create the effect of a colored pencil work.

15. Save your work and close the file.

You can also use the screening filters (Halftone filters) Piranesi to create other texture effects,
such as newsprint. Refer using Piranesi for details.

Congratulations! You have now finished the Piranesi Tutorials 5.

Finally, if you want to reset the library and the list of categories of Piranesi to these defaults, click on
the selector in the Style palette.

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