Paint Tools

The Paint tools are used to color individual pixels or dots on the screen. They are sometimes called bitmapped graphics. For example, when you paint a red stroke across a green area the red replaces the green. Painted graphics can be erased bit-by-bit with the Eraser tool. These are the tools used when actually creating a hand drawn picture of a house or animal or scene. Most primary students will use only the bitmapped or paint tools. The paint tools are normally used when drawing pictures. The Paint tools only affect the Paint layer (see the Layers section).

Default settings for color, transparency, line thickness etc. can be set and saved for all of Canvastic's tools. See the Preferences section for instructions.

The Paint Tools section of the Tools palette

Tool Descriptions

Brush

The Brush tool is the main picture making tool in Canvastic. It is used as a pencil, paint brush, crayon, or marker would be used on paper. With the Brush tool selected, click and drag in the canvas to paint. Release the mouse button to stop painting. Slow, careful mouse movements make it easier to control the brush.

Adjust the width of the brush stroke by moving the Line slider in the Choices palette. Set the brush stroke color and transparency by selecting the appropriate line color in the Colors palette.

Four brush shapes are available. Click the brush shape next to the line size in the Choices palette to cycle through the choices.

Eraser

The Eraser tool erases paint from the paint layer. It works like the paint brush tool except it removes color on the paint layer to reveal the background color or picture (usually white). With the Eraser tool selected, click and drag in the canvas to erase. Release the mouse button to stop erasing.

Adjust the width of the eraser stroke by moving the Line slider in the Choices palette.

Note: The eraser will only erase marks made by the other paint tools. It will not erase objects made with object tools or pixels on the background layer.

Fill

The Fill tool is used for coloring in areas of your work quickly and completely. You could use the Brush tool to color as you would with a crayon or marker on paper, but the Fill tool is faster and more accurate. With the Fill tool selected, click in the canvas with the tip of the pouring paint in the area to be colored. All of the adjoining like-colored pixels next to the one you clicked will be filled with the same color. So if you click it on a blank canvas the whole canvas will be painted the chosen color. If you click it inside a closed shape like a rectangle the area inside the shape will be colored.

Note: If there is even the tiniest hole in the border of a closed shape, the paint will flow out and into the surrounding area. The holes can be hard to see as they may be as small as a single pixel. You can magnify the canvas to better see the hole by using the Magnify commands under the View Menu. Sometimes recreating the shape is the easiest way to fix this problem.

Set the fill color and transparency by selecting the appropriate fill color in the Colors palette.

In the first example the orange fill color has completely covered the inside of the yellow drawing. In the second example the orange fill color has "leaked" out the small hold in the yellow drawing.

Rectangle

Use the Rectangle tool to create perfect rectangles and squares. With the Rectangle tool selected, click and drag in the canvas to create a rectangle. Drag in a diagonal direction. Press and hold the Shift key while you drag to create a perfect square.

Adjust the width of the shape outline by moving the Line slider in the Choices palette. Set the color of the rectangle outline and fill (inside) by selecting the appropriate line, fill color and color transparency respectively in the Colors palette.

Square

Use the Square tool to create perfect squares. With the Square tool selected, click and drag in the canvas to create a square. Drag in a diagonal direction.

Adjust the width of the shape outline by moving the Line slider in the Choices palette. Set the color of the square outline and fill (inside) by selecting the appropriate line, fill color and color transparency respectively in the Colors palette.

Ellipse

Use the Ellipse tool to create perfect ovals and circles. With the Ellipse tool selected, click and drag in the canvas to create an ellipse. Drag in a diagonal direction. Press and hold the Shift key while you drag to create a circle rather than an ellipse.

Adjust the width of the shape outline by moving the Line slider in the Choices palette. Set the color of the ellipse outline and fill (inside) by selecting the appropriate line, fill color and color transparency respectively in the Colors palette.

Circle

Use the Circle tool to create circles. With the Circle tool selected, click and drag in the canvas to create a circle. Drag in a diagonal direction.

Adjust the width of the shape outline by moving the Line slider in the Choices palette. Set the color of the circle outline and fill (inside) by selecting the appropriate line, fill color and color transparency in the Colors palette.

Line

Use the Line tool to create straight lines. With the Line tool selected, click and drag in the canvas to create a line. Press and hold the Shift key while you drag to force the line to a horizontal or vertical orientation.

Adjust the width of the line by moving the Line slider in the Choices palette. Set the color of the line by selecting the appropriate line and color transparency in the Colors palette.

Four brush shapes are available. Click the brush shape next to the line size in the Choices palette to cycle through the choices.

Connect-The-Dots

Use the Connect-The-Dots tool to create a shape comprised of one or more connected straight lines. With the Connect-The-Dots tool selected, click in the canvas to set the starting point. Move your mouse to the position of the next end point and click to set it. Repeat as many times as necessary. When you are ready to complete the shape, double-click the final point. Press and hold the Shift key while you move the mouse to force the current line to a horizontal or vertical orientation.

Adjust the width of the lines by moving the Line slider in the Choices palette. Set the color of the lines by selecting the appropriate line and color transparency in the Colors palette.

Four brush shapes are available. Click the brush shape next to the line size in the Choices palette to cycle through the choices.

Triangle

Use the Triangle tool to create triangles. With the Triangle tool selected, click and drag in the canvas to create a triangle. Drag in a diagonal direction. Press and hold the Shift key while you drag to orient the triangle in 90 degree increments.

Adjust the width of the shape outline by moving the Line slider in the Choices palette. Set the color of the triangle outline and fill (inside) by selecting the appropriate line, fill color and color transparency respectively in the Colors palette.

Clip Art

Use the Clip Art tool to add pictures to your document. With the Clip Art tool selected, click in the canvas to place a new picture. You can adjust the transparency of the clip art using the Colors Palette fill transparency control slider.

Categories: When you select the Clip Art tool, the Choices palette window display will change to show the categories of clip art. Folders within the Art folder create these categories. Clicking the disclosure triangle for a folder will show the thumbnail previews of the available clip art. Click a thumbnail preview to select it and set it as the default picture to be added via subsequent Clip Art tool clicks. The selected thumbnail will be displayed in the Preview palette. Use the up and down arrows on your keyboard to navigate through the whole clip art library. The Return or Enter key will expand or collapse a clip art category.

Canvastic comes with Arrows, Basic Clip Art, Basic Clip Art-mini (great for counting and sorting activities), Bubble Shapes (for comic book style dialog), Drawing Aids (pale gray hints of images to finish drawing), Math, and Speckles (allow you to give a hint of color without wasting expensive ink). You can extend Canvastic's clip art selection by adding your own graphics files to the Art folder in the Canvastic application folder. You can add jpeg, gif, png, tiff, pict, and bmp files to that folder.

Speckles Clip Art Example:

Note: Add new clip art to an existing folder or create a new folder.
Note: Pure white in clip art is seen by Canvastic as transparent.

Text

Use the Text tool to add text that cannot be edited to your document. . The text created by this tool just becomes painted graphics on your canvas, which cannot be changed. To add editable text, use the object Text tool or the object Word Processing tool. This tool is usually only used for creating a very large letter or number on the canvas not for real text entry.

With the Text tool selected, click in the canvas to set the upper-left point of a new text box. Click and drag to define the bounds of a new text box rectangle. When you release the mouse button, a text entry window will appear. Type your text and press the OK button. Under Macintosh pressing the Enter key will also end the text entry.

See the Spell Check section for more information on that feature.

While it is still selected, you may position the new text box. Selecting a different tool will fix the text box in its current position at the time.

All choices about font, size, style, transparency and colors must be made before you enter text with this tool since after typing your work becomes just painted graphics on the canvas.

Note: Do not use this tool for creating text that you want to edit later! Use the object Text or Word Processing tool.

Selection Rectangle

Use the Selection Rectangle tool to select or choose areas of your painting. With the Selection Rectangle tool selected, click and drag in the canvas. Drag in a diagonal direction. Press and hold the Shift key while you drag to create a selection square rather than a selection rectangle.

The area selected is shown by a magenta rectangle.

To deselect an area, click (but do not drag) outside the current selection or choose a different tool from the Tools palette.

Note: The Selection Rectangle tool will only select marks made by the other paint tools. It will not select objects made with object tools or pixels on the background layer.

After creating it, you can do several things with a new selection:

• You can erase the contents by pressing the Delete or Backspace key.
• You can move the contents by clicking, holding, and dragging from within the rectangle. Drag until the contents are in the correct spot and then release the mouse button. Press and hold the Shift key while you drag to move the selection in a purely horizontal or vertical direction.
• You can move the selection up, down, left or right 1 pixel by pressing the arrow keys on your keyboard. Press and hold the Shift key while you press the arrow keys to move the selection 10 pixels at a time.
• You can make copies of the selection three ways:
  1. Press and hold the Option (Macintosh) or Alt (Windows) key and click, hold, and drag. Drag until the contents are in the correct spot and then release the mouse button.
  2. Select Copy and then Paste from the Edit menu. The newly pasted selection will be selected so you can drag it to the correct location.
  3. Select Duplicate from the Edit menu. The newly created selection will be selected so you can drag it to the correct location.

Selection Lasso

Use the Selection Lasso tool to select an irregularly shaped area of your painting. Click and hold down the mouse button while moving the mouse. Release the button to stop selecting. The area will be drawn from your first click, in a line following your mouse moves, to the spot you released the mouse button. It is helpful to drag the mouse "around" the area you want to select. If you don't get all the way around the area, the tool will finish the area by moving in a straight line to the first click spot.

The area being selected is shown with a magenta line as you drag the mouse.

To deselect an area, click (but do not drag) outside the current selection or choose a different tool from the Tools palette.

Note: The Selection Lasso tool will only select marks made by the other paint tools. It will not select objects made with object tools or pixels on the background layer.

After creating it, you can do several things with a new selection:

• You can erase the contents by pressing the Delete or Backspace key.
• You can move the contents by clicking, holding, and dragging from within the rectangle. Drag until the contents are in the correct spot and then release the mouse button. Press and hold the Shift key while you drag to move the selection in a purely horizontal or vertical direction.
• You can move the selection up, down, left or right 1 pixel by pressing the arrow keys on your keyboard. Press and hold the Shift key while you press the arrow keys to move the selection 10 pixels at a time.
• You can make copies of the selection three ways:
  1. Press and hold the Option (Macintosh) or Alt (Windows) key and click, hold, and drag. Drag until the contents are in the correct spot and then release the mouse button.
  2. Select Copy and then Paste from the Edit menu. The newly pasted selection will be selected so you can drag it to the correct location.
  3. Select Duplicate from the Edit menu. The newly created selection will be selected so you can drag it to the correct location.

   

Re-sizing a Selection

You can change the size of a paint selection by following these directions. These same directions can be used to move any painted graphics to the object layer or objects to the painted layer.

1. Selection the area you want to change with the Selection Rectangle or Lasso.
2. Choose Cut from the Edit Menu.
3. Select one of the Object tools.
4. Choose Paste from the Edit Menu. The graphic will be pasted in as an object since an object tool was selected.
5. Click hold and drag one of the magenta handles until the size and shape is changed.
6. Choose Cut from the Edit Menu.
7. Select one of the Paint tools.
8. Choose Paste from the Edit Menu. The graphic will be pasted in as paint since a paint tool was selected.

Eyedropper V3

Use the Eyedropper tool to capture colors from the Canvastic canvas that you may want to use. Click on the color with the tip of the eyedropper to "sample" the underlying color. If it does not already exist in the Colors Palette, it will be added at the bottom. Choose your graphics tool and then pick the new color to paint it on the canvas.

This illustration shows the Eyedropper tool being used on a photo and the new color that was added to the Colors Palette.

Note: The Macintosh color picker will allow you to “get” colors from anywhere on the screen. See the Colors Palette section for more information on adding and adjusting colors.