How to create a dynamic marker (advanced)

[paolo.limoncelli]

Hi folks!

 

In another topic a user was asking about how to create a maker that works with some dynamic features, in particular Tilt.

So I'm going to move that tutorial here in order to share it with anybody wants to create such a tool.

 

What is Tilt

 

Tilt is usually the angle between your pen and tablet surface (or its complementary).

The one that allows you this

 

 

 

To be more precise there are three angles dealing with pen/paper interaction, using Serif's notation:

 

 

 

All Wacom pens support Tilt (that Affinity splits correctly into Tilt and Angle )

Only Wacom Art Pen support Rotation (which is basically pen's barrel rotation, so the rotation of your brush shape).

 

 

If your pen tablet supports those AP or AD allow to bind them to the different Jitters available in Dynamics Tab.

 

 

How to make this brush

 

A chisel shaped marker is a very complex tool, so complex that in the past Wacom produced it as a true accessory for its Intuos 3 series, with double nib sensors.

I think it is no more compatible with modern tablets...

 

(source Amazon)

 

There are lots of implications in this dynamic, not only the shape variation, but also a distribution of pressure along the chisel.

 

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Edit: Some more info about this tool.

A Wacom representative during an Adobe Creative Day years ago told me that the reason why they placed two sensors was to detect pressure's delta.

Recently another one told me that this feature wasn't implemented, so the double tip was there only to "hold" the massive nib.

Few days ago a developer told me that there was something available in their drivers, but no software developer decided to use this function, sales were bad so Wacom moved to the Art Pen (single nib, axis rotation).

Where is the truth?  :D 

 

------------

 

Let's go back to our tutorial: we want to replicate this behaviour

 

 

 

The best approximation for such a tool is a Square brush with a Shape jitter that stretches its shape from square to thin rectangle, but this kind of brush is not yet fully functional in AP/AD.

I've decided to use a Round Brush binding Tilt to Size, all should result in a good variant, so:

 

1) Create a new round brush

2) Double click it to make the Brush Editor open

3) In General shrink its shape to 20% and set a low spacing value (2% is the best)

4) Go to Dynamics tab

 

 

Affinity apps track the full 180° Tilt angle in its ramp, but we don't need it and in order to have a correct response we have to shrink the range as shown.

 

So if our chisel shaped "marker" is perpendicular to our canvas it will be thin, then gradually (with a linear ramp) increase its size as we tilt it.

 

This is a basic dynamic marker that works with Tilt, Rotation (Wacom ArtPen needed) and has some colour dynamic too.

Here you can find it.

 

Happy sketching!

[psaldari]

Wow, Paolo. Great post.

Thank you a lot.

 

Ciao

(one more) Paolo

[nikkilovesmac]

This is awesome. Love the GIF :) Thanks for sharing.

[ronnyb]

BOOM!