Brush size, flow, opacity question

[im140.6]

I know it's user error, just can't seem to figure it out. In my example, I used a big brush on the right side set to opacity/flow 100%, hardness 0%.  The darker middle line, same settings just a smaller brush. Why do I get such strong/hard lines when I have a small brush? In a photo, it's very obvious I used a hard brush when compared to the surrounding softer area. I'm just not understanding. TIA for your help - this is a great community!

[RichZep]

Hi im140.6,

Welcome to Affinity forum.

I was a bit confused by your explaination and I am also unsure what you are trying to achieve but I hope I have it.

If you set the hardness of a brush at 0% that is the softest and 100% is the hardness. The softer the brush, the further it will 'fade'. So if you want an edge with a sharp defined edge use 100%.

Now to the bit as to why it looks harder when using a small brush. It's to do with the 'feather' or softness as a  percentage of the brush stroke. If you set the hardness to 0% and brush to 2000px you will see the feathered edge but if the brush size is 80px it looks solid.

Hope this makes sense. Sorry if it doesn't

[Ray S.]

Maybe you have set "wet edges" on, it's on the  right side of the context-tool-bar.

[im140.6]

8 hours ago, RichZep said:

Hi im140.6,

Welcome to Affinity forum.

I was a bit confused by your explaination and I am also unsure what you are trying to achieve but I hope I have it.

If you set the hardness of a brush at 0% that is the softest and 100% is the hardness. The softer the brush, the further it will 'fade'. So if you want an edge with a sharp defined edge use 100%.

Now to the bit as to why it looks harder when using a small brush. It's to do with the 'feather' or softness as a  percentage of the brush stroke. If you set the hardness to 0% and brush to 2000px you will see the feathered edge but if the brush size is 80px it looks solid.

Hope this makes sense. Sorry if it doesn't

Hey @RichZep I think I understand. In the attached screen capture, the upper part of the background was done with a large brush, 100% opacity/flow, 0% hardness. When I got to the tall grass between both dogs, all I did was decrease brush size but, as you can see, it's very noticeable. 

How do I decrease brush size to get my detailed brush work done without having to deal with the hard edges? Thanks for your help!

[im140.6]

8 hours ago, Ray S. said:

Maybe you have set "wet edges" on, it's on the  right side of the context-tool-bar.

I double-checked and "wet edges" isn't checked. Thank you for your reply too, I really appreciate it.

[Dan C]

Hi im140.6

Are you referring to the following stroke?

This may be caused by the Spacing of your brush - can you please select this small brush using the Paint Brush Tool, then select More on the context toolbar to open the brush editor and provide a screenshot of your settings here?

Many thanks in advance!

[im140.6]

58 minutes ago, Dan C said:

Hi im140.6

Are you referring to the following stroke?

This may be caused by the Spacing of your brush - can you please select this small brush using the Paint Brush Tool, then select More on the context toolbar to open the brush editor and provide a screenshot of your settings here?

Many thanks in advance!

Hey thanks for your reply @Dan C!  For the sake of illustration, I used a big brush, about 400-500px, 100% opacity & flow on the trees in the background. Since the "softness" of that huge brush won't get the detail around the dog's head, I decreased the size to 18px to work around the head. In my 2nd post in this thread (above), you can see I blurred the background but when I tried refining my brush around the tall grass between the dogs, it's clearly masked.  

How do I get a smaller brush to act like the larger brush in terms of softness? Or am I asking the impossible? Apologies, I'm still learning everything so I may be requesting a workaround that's not possible.

 

 

Yellow #1 is the huge brush, yellow #2 is the smaller brush:

 

[RichZep]

Hi @im140.6,

Sorry but I'm still confused. Firstly are you using a layer mask? it looks like it but you didn't explain that in the original post but not  a problem. 

I think you are wanting a large bush with 0% hardness to behave the same as a small one with 0% hardness. That won't happen.

Let's pretend that if you set hardness at 0% the soft edge, or feather, it is 10% of the total brush size. So, a large brush of 4000px would have a soft edge of 400px which you could easily see. If you then change the brush size to 20px the soft edge would still be 10% therefore 2px which you would not see so it looks like a 100% hard brush.

After studying your sceen shots, thank you, I believe you are changing the background with a gradient light and or a blur, which you have put on a layer below and then add a mask to the top layer and 'paint' in the new background. Hope I'm right on this. Suggestion: Start around the dogs, not the sky and trees.  Start with 1000px 0% hardness brush and adjust as required. It's a bit of trial and error. When you happy with the result around the dogs finish the rest off with a brush 100% hardness, size to suit. If I am right you could also try putting the background to the top, masking that and 'paint' in the dogs. it may be easier.

Masking round fur can be blinking difficult so you may want to try 'cutting' the dogs out using the Selection Brush Tool and the Refine facility then put them on a layer(s) on their own on the top.

HTH, sorry if I got it all wrong.

 

 

[im140.6]

18 hours ago, RichZep said:

Hi @im140.6,

Sorry but I'm still confused. Firstly are you using a layer mask? it looks like it but you didn't explain that in the original post but not  a problem. 

I think you are wanting a large bush with 0% hardness to behave the same as a small one with 0% hardness. That won't happen.

Let's pretend that if you set hardness at 0% the soft edge, or feather, it is 10% of the total brush size. So, a large brush of 4000px would have a soft edge of 400px which you could easily see. If you then change the brush size to 20px the soft edge would still be 10% therefore 2px which you would not see so it looks like a 100% hard brush.

After studying your sceen shots, thank you, I believe you are changing the background with a gradient light and or a blur, which you have put on a layer below and then add a mask to the top layer and 'paint' in the new background. Hope I'm right on this. Suggestion: Start around the dogs, not the sky and trees.  Start with 1000px 0% hardness brush and adjust as required. It's a bit of trial and error. When you happy with the result around the dogs finish the rest off with a brush 100% hardness, size to suit. If I am right you could also try putting the background to the top, masking that and 'paint' in the dogs. it may be easier.

Masking round fur can be blinking difficult so you may want to try 'cutting' the dogs out using the Selection Brush Tool and the Refine facility then put them on a layer(s) on their own on the top.

HTH, sorry if I got it all wrong.

 

 

Hi @RichZep! Thanks again for your reply!

Yes, I'm using a layer mask. I applied a field blur to the entire photo, masked it and using my brush to reveal the blur (in the background trees). So I used a large brush to cover the big areas but when I went to brush around the detailed area, that's where the brush became "hard" and really shows the strokes.

Quote

I think you are wanting a large bush with 0% hardness to behave the same as a small one with 0% hardness. That won't happen.

Yep, I think I was trying to do something that can't be done - the way I'm trying to do it. I'm sure there's a better way though and I'll keep looking.

Your explanation and suggestion(s) are excellent and I'm going to give those a try! You've been very helpful and just one more reason I'm glad I invested in Serif instead of the "other" apps.

I hope you have a great day!