Brushes for Boris RED 3.0.4

[Peter Mcauley]

Hi,

You can use any bitmap or vector image as a brush for the paint system in RED. Simply create the look that you want, and then save this off using an image format that RED will read, such as psd, tiff, ai, eps etc etc or even a quicktime movie clip. Or you can nest any track in RED and use that as a brush. And when you have a look that you like, you can save this off to the Style palette for later retrieval and use on other projects.

Let me know if you need a step by step on this – I’d be happy to oblige.

Cheers,

Peter.

[John Mecklenborg]

So I can make a .psd of some of the brushes I am familiar with in Photoshop and import them for use with Boris. That’s great news. Do you suggest a size and resolution of the image I use, say 50px/50px @ 300dpi (I typically work with 1080i projects), or should I make it larger/smaller? Would it be better to work with .ai? And if you wouldn’t mind posting the steps that would be a great help.

Thanks,

John Mecklenborg

[Peter Mcauley]

Yep – you can do that alright. I’d suggest maybe 100×100 px because you have to realize that these are bitmap brushes and that as you scale the brush size over 100 percent you’ll see jaggies in the brush detail. Here are the steps to get them into RED:

• with RED launched, create a new paint layer
• click on the paint path sub-track in the RED timeline
• in the controls window, set the Color Source pop-up to Image + Image Alpha
• in the brush Image sub-track in the timeline click on the V1 icon beside the eyeball
• select the psd file of your choice
• now when you make a paint stroke, the brush will be the psd image
• next open the style palette window
• go to the brushes tab
• click on the icon at the left with a blue + sign – the brush is now saved and can be used on other projects.

Cheers,

Peter.

[John Mecklenborg]

I may just be blind, but I am not finding the option to set the color source to anything other than a solid or gradient. Where exactly is the option to change it to an image + image alpha?

[Peter Mcauley]

It’s the second pop-up from the top in the paint tab in the controls window. Remember, this is only available when you have a paint path sub-track selected in the timeline.

I hope this helps.

Peter.

[John Mecklenborg]

I think the problem lies in my version of RED. I’m working with 3.0.4. Is this a new feature of 4? I talked with another editor in town far more skilled than I, and he tried it on 3 & 4. He said 4 actually creates a specific paint layer track where as a paint layer in 3 is merely a spline object on a 3D plane. Is this still an option in 3, or am I going to have to somehow convince management to upgrade?

[Peter Mcauley]

Hi,

Yes, the raster / vector paint engine was introduced to the product line with RED version 4 almost 2 years ago. You friend is correct – the paint in RED 3 is a stroked or filled spline shape only and offers no pressure data nor does it work with image or other media as a paint dab. I’m afraid that the only option for you is to upgrade to RED 4 to get this feature.

Thanks,

Peter.

[John Mecklenborg]

So it goes, I appreciate your help regardless. When we finally upgrade I will definitely revisit this.

Thanks,

John Mecklenborg

[Peter Mcauley]

Hi John,

And had I read the title of this thread a little more carefully I would have realized that you were working with RED 3 and not RED 4. 🙂 I apologize for that oversight – it’s just that I saw the numeral 4 in the thread title and when you asked about the paint I automatically (and incorrectly) jumped to the assumption that you were using RED 4.

Cheers,

Peter.