How to Make Brushes in Mypaint by Theshock-d3drejj

8/3/2019 How to Make Brushes in Mypaint by Theshock-d3drejj

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How to make brushes in MyPaint 2 de 38

How to make brushes in MyPaint

Introduction....................................................................................................................................................................3

Brushes Editor.............................................................................................................................................................. ...3

Brush Attributes........................................................................................................................................................... ...4Inputs..............................................................................................................................................................................5

Input value and Output value.........................................................................................................................................6

Practical examples.........................................................................................................................................................10

Example 1. Control the brush radius from to +, from + to by pressure and by speed................................ ......12

Example 2. Controlling spray effect.........................................................................................................................17

Example 3. Controlling the angle and appearance with directional brushes.........................................................20

Example 4. Controlling the brush colour.............................................................................................................. ...21

Example 5. Controlling how painting is mixed........................................................................................................25

Edit and save our won brushes................................................................................................................................ .....27

Handling the Brushes groups.................................................................................................................................... ....28

Change the brushes order.............................................................................................................................................29

Managing Groups by folders....................................................................................................................................... ..29

GNU/Linux ..............................................................................................................................................................30

Group structure.............................................................................................................................................................31

Change MyPaint language to Spanish...........................................................................................................................32

Appendix A. Brush attribute list....................................................................................................................... ......33

Appendix B. Inputs .......................................................................................................................................................34

Appendix C. Links to MyPaint videos............................................................................................................................34

Ramn Miranda.......................................................................................................................................................34

David Revoy........................................................................................................................................................... ..34

Mozart Couto...........................................................................................................................................................35

Tone.........................................................................................................................................................................35

BT.............................................................................................................................................................................35

Miscelaneous...........................................................................................................................................................35

Appendix D. Extended attribute list (brushlib).............................................................................................................35

Appendix E. Overall performance graph.......................................................................................................................38

Created for Aprender a Dibujar

http://aprender-a-dibujar.com/

Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike (by-nc-sa): Non-commercial use of the work any original

or derivative works, distribution of which should be done with an original and stock license or

derivative works, distribution of which should be done with a license equal to that which governs

the original work. That which governs ID equal to the original work.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0

License.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Creacin de pinceles en MyPaint 2011 by Ramn Miranda. This document may be reproduced in

whole or in part without permission from the author for any and all educational purposes. I enjoy

emails from other painters, so please let me know how youre using the tutorial.

You may not bundle this tutorial with any software or documentation that is intended for

commercial applications (marketing for a profit) without expressed written approval from the

author. Inquiries and comments can be directed [email protected]

Ramn Miranda.Blog MyPaint home
http://aprender-a-dibujar.com/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/mailto:[email protected]://aprender-a-dibujar.com/http://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/


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Introduction

I've been receiving comments and e-mails of people that wants to learn more about MyPaint but it

turns a little difficult, due to lack of information or tutorials about it. And the truth is that, at leastyou are a little freak and you like to hit your head against the wall until you understand everything,

learn how the MyPaint brushes work in depth can take some time, time you would like to invest

going to the beach, be with your couple or to put together a puzzle! So...

If you want to create your own brushes in MyPaint...

Control every parameter of the brushes editor...

And avoid that cold sweat running through your back when you see the brushes editor...

Wait no more and keep on reading. Along this tutorial we will learn to handle the brushes editor

while we have fun (finally, huh?) Our friend Stylus, whom you already knew at the cover, will

explain us the technical part... (don't confuse him with some other angry wizard) so... let's get

started.

Brushes Editor

The first thing we need to know is how to access the brush editor. It's as simple as press Ctrl+B.

Easy huh?

http://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/


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Tons of weird names, numbers and buttons... but hey, we're here to paint or not? :D. Patience...

Here we have a simple version of the brushes editor panel. We can think of it as a box where we

can keep information of the attributes of the brush we are working with.

36 output parameters or attributes and 9 input parameters

Brush Attributes

The brush attributes are the set of parameters that define the brush behaviour over the canvas.The variation of parameters makes a brush behave as a pencil, wax, smudge or an eraser; they also

determine the qualities of the brush, the size, how transparent is, or what angle does it have...

Examples ofbrush attributes are:

Opacity, radius, hardness, speed, smudge, angle... and so on until get the 36 that are displayed.

1. The slider that appears in every attribute tell us the value of that attribute.

2. The button at the right tells us the default value for the attribute.

3. The very at the right button tells us that we can add more information or get into a more

advanced panel to tell the software how we want it to be affected depending on the input.



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Inputs

What is an input? It's a way for MyPaint to get information of the external devices as a drawing

tablet ; for instance the pressure over the drawing tablet, the speed of the pencil movement, the

pencil tilt... etc.

We just click on this button and we'll see a second windows similar, but not equal, to the one

we were before. That's the input panel window. As we can see has 9 inputs + a base value.

MyPaint has 9 inputs:

1. Pressure

The pressure handled by the tablet, between 0.0 and 1.0. If a mouse is used, the value will

be 0.5 when you press a button and 0.0 when you release that button.

2. Fine Speed

How quickly the stylus is moved. This can vary quite a lot. We can "print input values" fromthe"Help" to get a rough idea of the range. Negative values are rare, but possible for very

low speeds.

3. Gross Speed

Similar to the fine speed, but it changes much slower. Is related to the attribute "gross filter

speed. "

4. Random

Fast and random noise, changes with every brushstroke. Uniformly distributed between 0

and 1. (0 = non random and 1 = maximum randomness)

5. Stroke

This input goes slowly from zero to one while the stroke is being applied. It can be set to goback to zero while we move. It is related to stroke duration and stroke hold time

attributes

6. Direction

Angle of the stroke, in degrees. The value will stay between 0.0 and 180.0 ignoring

effectively 180 degrees turns.

7. Declination

Declination of the stylus tilt. When pen is parallel to the tablet is 0.0 and 90.0 when is

perpendicular.

8. Ascension

Straight pen ascension. When the active tip points to us is 0. When the pen turns 90

degrees clockwise is +90. When it turns 90 degrees counter-clockwise is -90

9. Custom

This is a user defined input. Is related to customized input attribute.

Let's make a real example, so it's understandable. Let's control opacity (brush attribute) with the

pressure over the drawing tablet (input parameter) Easy, huh?, well let's get our hands dirty in

something more advanced.

We click on the symbol at the left of Details text, and we see a threatening and mysterious line

chart, as mysterious as Coca Cola formula or the clouds smell.



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But seriously

Author's note: We are at MyPaint's heart, these curves** define in detail the

behaviour of each brush attribute and I assure you that if you really master

these curves, you will have for you all the power of MyPaint unveiled, the rest

is much easier.

** We call it curves, although it's a poly-line actually. The curves are one of the most important

and innovative parts of MyPaint, where lies a big part of its potential.

Input value and Output value

This two funny words: input value and output value, will come out very often through this tutorial,

but Stylus will explain to us very easily with the next chart:



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This is exactly what we have in the chart that we have in every input. So in the previous example

we could say something like this: for a 0 pressure (input value = 0) it has an output value = 0, and

for a 4 pressure (or total), we have an output value = 2 (later on we will see how MyPaint

translates this output value of 2)

How does this chart works? This is what we are just about to see with the next chart:



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1. Attribute brush name that we are editing.

As we've seen, any of the 36 currently available.

2. Base Attribute value that we're editing.

Base value is the brush attribute that is independent from parameters as pressure, speed,

random, etc. Its maximum and minimum value depends on every brush attribute. It can

have positive and negative values. To the base value we have to add the other input

parameter values (pressure, speed, random, etc.)

3. Default Base valueSince we can assign a base value as we wish, this button restores base value to its default.

4. Name of the input parameter we are editing.

As we've seen, any of the 9 available at this moment.Como hemos visto, cualquiera de los 9

disponibles actualmente.

5. Default value for the input parameter

Each input has a default value that cannot be manipulated under any circumstance. This is

useful when we make tests and we want to return to initial state.

6. Graphic



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The graphic is divided in 4 horizontal sections and 4 vertical sections. The grey square that

appears approximately in the middle, is a visual reference.

7. Curve that defines all different values that input value parameter can take

It's a poly line, as we said before, and can have up to 8 control points. Defines the output

value for the input parameter that it's being edited.

8. Maximum and minimum (current) output values.

We can edit them manually. When we change maximum value, we also change the

minimum one. In the middle we'll have the 0.00 that represents the base value. But that

0.00 will not always be 0.00 although it is visually represented as such, this is very

important and could confuse us if we look at it as an absolute value.

9. Range values for input value.

We can define a range for the input value. We don't necessarily have to use the completerange. Let's give 2 examples: we can use only half of the tablet pen pressure writing 0.50

value at the right, or use just 0 to 90 degrees range instead of the 0 to 180 degrees default

value (if we would be editing the Direction input).

So, let's get into the action and we will better understand this.

Practical examples

We're going to make 5 examples that are fairly common when we want to edit brushes within

MyPaint.

1. Control the brush radius from - to+, or +to- by pressure and by

speed.

2. Control the spray effect.

3. Control the angle and appearance with directional brushes.

4. Control the brush colour.

5. Control how the paint it's mixed.

It's important to notice that we all have a different brush collection, we will use a generic brush for

all the exercises, which is a brush with all the default attributes and without control curves active.An ugly brush with all the letters... however, very useful to learn. In order for us to do that, we will

need to import the TEST brush group. We can download it from this URL.

http://mypaintatelier.googlecode.com/files/TEST.zip

(Attention! You don need to unzip it, ok? My Paint can handle this kind of zip files)

Once downloaded, we can import it doing this: We open MyPaint and press B so brushes menu

appears so we can see the different groups. We click the right mouse button and we choose

Import brush package...

http://mypaintatelier.googlecode.com/files/TEST.ziphttp://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/http://mypaintatelier.googlecode.com/files/TEST.zip


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We can also go to the MyPaint brush menu, and search for the same option. The result is going to

be the same.

We search for the downloaded file TEST.zip and we click on accept. If we have a group that

already has that name we can choose to overwrite or import with a different name.

MyPaint has more brush groups than the default ones. We can go to this official wiki address if we

want to download it for free:

http://wiki.mypaint.info/Brush_Packages

Many artists publish their own brushes under free software license. For more information it's good

to read the text file that comes with every imported brush group.

http://wiki.mypaint.info/Brush_Packageshttp://wiki.mypaint.info/Brush_Packageshttp://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://wiki.mypaint.info/Brush_Packageshttp://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/


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Example 1. Control the brush radius from to +, from + to by pressureand by speed.

We open MyPaint and press Ctrl+B so brush editor appears. Select TestBrush from the just

imported group. We make a stroke over the canvas.

We see that it is a uniform line that does respond to the stylus pressure and does not vary at all

along its route.

Step 1

If we want a bigger radius, we increase the base value, if we want a smaller radius, we decreasethe base value. Now we'll make those size variations by a pressure variation. In order for us to do

that, we display the input graphic of the Pressure input and we will see something like this:

The Pressure input value it's at 0.0, deactivated.



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As we know, each input will be added to the base value. Then at this moment the input Pressure is

not affecting the Base Value. In order for Pressure to be activated we must give it a value, for

instance 1.5 at maximum output value.

This will give us a graphic like the following one:

Now, Pressure input is activated and we can corroborate it by doing a stroke over the canvas.

Hey! Wait a minute. The stroke behaves strangely, when I put low pressure to the pen, it gives me

a smaller brushstroke. What happened Stylus?



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Which means that if we want our brush increases the radius with the pressure, only in positive

values we can create a curve like this one. (Effective pressure zone has been highlighted with dots)



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We add some middle points to make the radius growth softer. This way, we have a brush that

paints with base value and small pressure, but while we increase the pen pressure, the radius

increases. Hmmmm interesting, and the best is that this logic is applied to every graphic.

Step 2.

Now we will learn how to handle negative values of pressure.

Most graphic applications work only with positive values. The more the pressure, the more the

size, opacity, spreading... It might happen that we are interested in decrease the radius as we apply

more pressure. What do we do then? Well in MyPaint is very easy. We give a negative value to the

maximum input pressure, and that's it. We'll have a graphic as the following. The more the

pressure, the smaller the radius.

Well, this seems to work, doesn't it? We already know how to work in a basic way the input

graphic. But, what if I need to use a SINGLE range of pressure? Because I want that, when I reach

to some point, the radius starts to increase and reaching another point no matter how much

pressure the size should not change. Hmmm, it's a good question. We can use input range for that,

and cut off the values we don't need.

It's much more clear with the next graphic. Both graphics are the same, but the second one shows

the extended range. In this way we can better see were the pressure affects in the graphic.



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How MyPaint cuts off the input values

But wait, can I only modify the pressure? Didn't we say that there were 9 inputs? It's evident that

in order for us to avoid writing a book about this, we won't see them one by one, since the way to

work with them is the same. But let's see one more, the speeeeeeeeeeed!

It's a very interesting thing to control the brush attributes depending on the stroke speed.

Just like drawing with a pencil and seems that the faster we do the stroke, the softer it tends to be.Step 3

We deactivate the pressure curve setting puting the input to 0 because for now we just want to

see the speed input. We don't need to change the points on the graphic.

Author's note: By isolating each input we better understand how they behave

separately. In real life, you will use them combined.

We open the Fine speed curve input. We give it a value to the input, for instance 1.87 and we make

a fast stroke over the canvas, as we are signing a pay-check. The result will be the one shown in the

graphic. So let's see what Stylus tell us.



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We can see how the brush can be selecting Example 1 from the TEST group.

Ok, understood Stylus. So we have the same previous dynamics but with different input values. But

where are the radius values coming from? They are pixels, cm, points? Stylus, are you around?

*stroke life =stroke duration.

Example 2. Controlling spray effect.

Some times we need brushes that act as sprays to create some splatter effects or similar things.

We will see two new attributes to do that. Jitter and Dabs per second.To understand the Dab concept we will ask Stylus to help us out on this,



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Let's reset TestBrush. To do that, we select the brush and this will return to the default settings.We press Ctrl+B if we have not the brush editor visible. To see the attributes we will change we can

see the graphic at the end of the example.

Now, to get the spray effect...

Step 1

We increase the base value for Jitter to maximum. In its case 2. We make a stroke to see what

happened. Well, a little shame of a spray. But something strange happens, didn't we say Spray

effect? Well, if we press the pen against the tablet without change the place, that doesn't happen.

Step 2

To do that, we will use the Dabs per second attribute and we set the value, let's say to 50 and wepress the pen again, without changing the place (just pressing it) and let's see what happens.

That's better. That would be a basic spray but, of course, we are not happy with basic anymore.

Let's make that effect bigger. But if jitter is at highest value...

Step 3

There is where the Noise tracking attribute gets into the game. By now we can say it's a Jitter but a

little wild. Let's give it a 4 value and let's test the brush. We can see the effect is bigger. Interesting,

isn't it?

Step 4

Now, let's control the spray points size by a negative pressure curve, as we just saw. We get into

the input panel and we set Pressure input to -4. So the more we press the pen, the smaller thepoints are going to get.



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Step 5

To finish this up, we can make every point not equal We select the Radius by random attribute

and we increase it up to 0.50. If we test the brush we will see the points of the spray changing size

and also opacity randomly.

Well, this is how we make a Spray in MyPaint. We can see how a brush can be selecting Example 2

from TEST group.

*Radius by random varies the opacity and radius



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Example 3. Controlling the angle and appearance with directionalbrushes.

Up to now, we've seen how to handle rounded brushes, but there are times when we rather a

strait brush.

Let's reset TestBrush. To do that we select the brush and it will turn to default settings. We press

Ctrl+B if we don't have the brush editor visible. The attributes we are going to change can be seen

in the following graphic:

Step 1

We select Elliptical dab attribute: we set aspect rate to 5. In that way we are making the brush

more strait. If we test the brush we can see that even if we change direction, the Dabs are not

adjusted to normal (vector direction) on the brushstroke. To correct this, we use another brush

attribute.Step 2

We adjust the Elliptical dab: angle. We do that by adjust the Direction input as we can see in the

next graphic:



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We test the brush making a cricle and we see how the Dabs are better adjusted but not

completely.

Step 3

To change the time needed for the brush to adapt itself to direction input, we use the Direction

filter attribute and we set it to 0.00. This makes the brush to adapt faster, with this, we now have a

brush that turns as we change the direction... If we make a circle we will see it.

Step 4

If we want to see the effect in a better way we can reduce the number of Dabs per actual radius to

0.20 approximately and test the brush. For directional strokes is important to have a good number

of Dabs if we want a continuous stroke.

We can see how the brush can be selecting Example 3 from TEST group

Step 5

If we want to take the brush even further we can set the next values:

Hardness = 0.5

Dabs per actual radius = 3Radius by random = 0.77

Jitter = 0.4

Elliptical dab: ratio = 4

Elliptical dab: angle =45 o 135

Direction filter = 2

we can see how the brush can be selecting Example 3b from TEST group. As we can see, create all

kinds of fur is easy in MyPaint.

Example 4. Controlling the brush colour.

Let's reset the TestBrush. To do that we select the brush and this will return to its default values.

We press Ctrl+B if we don't have the brush editor visible.



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In this example we are going to see how to change the brush colour depending on the brush

pressure. Let's see what Stylus has to tell us about colour.

*CCW = Counter-clockwise

*CW = Clockwise

Also MyPaint has a very interesting colour selector which can appear pressing the V key (or the

key we have assigned to it, if we have changed the shortcut)



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It would be great if we could change this HSV values by pressure, speed or direction values, etc.

The good news is that we can do that without any problem in MyPaint. Let's get into it.

The attributes to modify are the following:

Step 1

We locate the attribute Change colour hue and we click in so we can edit the inputs.

Lets make the default wheel static (without movement), but as we change the stroke direction,

the colour starts changing counter-clockwise. This sounds weird, but it's very simple.

We edit the Direction input and we set it at 1 as base value so it turns 180 degrees. If we want the

wheel to turn in 90 degrees we just need to edit the input range.



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Step 2

Now let's make a darker colour with low pressure and lighter with more pressure.

We locate the Change colour lightness ** attribute (HSL) and we edit the pressure input. But why

HSL and not HSV? Man, that's a good question, let's see what Stylus has to tell us about this.

___

**The erudites call it luminance, :P

Once this point is clear, we adjust the maximum value for the pressure input as the follows:



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This makes our brush strokes (Dabs), no matter the picked colour, get darker reaching the black,

with small pressure. And as we increase the pressure, the colour gets lighter until reaching the

white colour.

Step 3

Let's control the colour saturation (how greyish it looks) with speed input. The faster we move the

pen, the less saturated the colour it's going to be.

We open the Fine Speed input from Change colour sat. (HSL) attribute and we give it the following

values:

As we can see, if we give it a -2 value to the speed, we get a change in the colour saturation as the

stroke gets faster.

We can see how the stroke can be selecting Example 4 from TEST group .

Example 5. Controlling how painting is mixed.

Let's reset the TestBrush. To do that we select the brush and if will return to its default settings.

Let's press Ctrl+B if we don't have the brush editor visible.

One of the strongest points of MyPaint is that we can mix the colour directly on the canvas, and we

don't need to use any other tools.



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If we have tested or are a regular user of painting software such as CorePainter or OpenCanvas

among others, you know what we are talking about. But the difference in MyPaint is that all you

have learned (base values, setting input curves, input ranges...) is usable to the way the colour is

mixed. In this example we will work with the Smudge attribute.

As default it's at 0.00, which means it's not active.

Step 1

With the test brush we make some strokes with different colours over the canvas. Something like

this:

Step 2

We set Smudge attribute at maximum, meaning 1. We test the brush and we see that apparently

doesn't paint. Is the brush broken? Nah, it's just that the pen is mixing the selected colour with the

active layer colour now. If we make the strokes over the colours we can see it clearer.

This way, as may already guessed, we can control the amount of brush mix by inputs.

With this, we get brushes that paint and mix at the same time, depending on pressure, speed, tilt

(if our pen uses tilt), etc.

We can see how the stroke can be selecting Example 5 from TEST group.



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Edit and save our won brushes

Until now, we've been playing around with the most common brush attributes. During the process

we've seen how modifying various attributes we get different results in a short time. It would be

great that when we get some effect or behaviour , we could save it to use it later, to give it to afriend or distribute it on the web and let other to share their ideas and comments. How do we do

it? With the brush editor. We press Ctrl + B so the brush editor appears. In the bottom portion we

see a small tab that displays the options as we can see in the following graphic:

1. Tab to open or close the brush options

Opens or closes the brush edition menu, but not the brush editor.

2. Brush icon

This space shows a PNG image of 128 px by 128 px in colour that works as a brush preview.

We can edit it in GIMP or any software of that nature or we can use the Edit checkbox (3)

3. Edit

Activates or deactivates the image edition of a brush. If we check this box, the buttons 4

and 5 get activates. Then we can paint inside the Brush Icon area and create our own brush

image.

4. Clear

Deletes the brush preview image. Sets the brush icon area blank. We can then paint

inside and create our own brush image.

5. Save

Saves the image found in the brush icon area overwriting the previous one.

6. (Name of the selected brush)

Shows us the name of the selected brush along with its path if the group where it comes



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has organized folders.

7. Add as New

Every brush we edit always belongs to a minimum group. This button picks all the attributes

of the brush we are editing and creates and new brush based on it, leaving it inside thegroup we are using and placing it at the beginning of the group. This way we can create

duplicates of a single brush by selecting the brush and Add it as new (b000, b001,... etc)

8. Rename...

We can rename any brush. This is very useful when we work with many versions of the

same brush.

9. Remove...

We can remove brushes. We will get a Warning message telling us that the brush will be

deleted from the disk

10. Save SettingsWhen we modify the brush attributes and we are happy with the results is a very good

practice to save the settings, since if we don't do it and we select another brush we will

loose all the editing process we did to the previous brush.

Handling the Brushes groups.

As long as we use groups and brushes, we need to put some order to all of it, erase them, import

new groups, export new groups... well, all of that can be made from the brushes panel.

1. Left mouse button(LMB)Selects a group of brushes and make them visible. If there are one or more groups selected,

it will deselect them and make visible only the group where we click with LMB.

2. Middle Mouse Button or (Ctrl + LMB)

Commutates the groups visibility, by selecting or deselecting groups every time we click

over them. If visible it makes it invisible and vice versa.

3. Right mouse button (RMB)

When we RMB over some group, the following menu opens:



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We can...

Create a new group (New group...)

Rename a group (Rename group...)

Delete a group (Delete group...)

Export a group as brushes pack. (Export group as brush package)

Import a pack of brushes (Import brush package...)

Change the brushes order

To change the order of any given brush, we just have to press LMB over a brush and drag it to thedesired position.

**Some of the groups you see here does not come by default with MyPaint, but they are easyllydownloadable from this URL:

http://wiki.mypaint.info/Brush_Packages

Managing Groups by folders

When we import groups from the MyPaint wiki or from others pages, it is convenient to know

where MyPaint is going to store that information.

In Windows we have to search for the folder that might be hidden. If so, inside the folder of our

user we have to go to Tools/Folder Options/Viewand select the option to see hidden folder as we

see on the next graphic:

http://wiki.mypaint.info/Brush_Packageshttp://wiki.mypaint.info/Brush_Packageshttp://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://wiki.mypaint.info/Brush_Packageshttp://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/


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Windows

If we use Windows Vista/7

C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\mypaint

if we use Windows 2000/XP

C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\LocalSettings\Application Data\mypaint

and the scraps or sketches go to the path

MyDocuments\Mypaint

GNU/Linux

If we use Ubuntu 10.10 as in my case, the groups go to the directory

root/home/username/.mypaint/brushes

Press Ctrl+H if the folder is hidden.

Note from the author: For other distros, I don't know if this changes, but you

can let me know sending me an email to my address.

[email protected] Thank you

mailto:[email protected]?subject=MyPaint%20Creacion%20de%20pinceles%20:http://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/mailto:[email protected]?subject=MyPaint%20Creacion%20de%20pinceles%20:http://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/


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Group structure

When we import a brush group in a Zip format, we are importing a series of files and directories

that you can see detailed in the following graphic:

Being able to edit the configuration files has some advantages over graphic mode. For instance:

Add or delete many brushes in a single operation.

Change the order of the brushes.

Change the path of the files.

Access to .PNG files so we can edit them in programs such as GIMP of Photoshop.

Look at the readme.txt when we want and being able to edit it.

When we import a group, this one adds information of its file order.conf to the oder.conf file that is

already within the directory AppData\Local\mypaint or Application Data\mypaint



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Change MyPaint language to Spanish

Every screen-shot we've seen in this tutorial have the text written in English. This just personal

choice, since MyPaint allow us to install it in Spanish. But hey, I got used to the menus and panels

in English. In case somebody is interested, here I'll explain to you how to do it.Inside the MyPaint installation directory we search for the folder /MyPaint/Share/locale/es

and we rename the folder es (which contains the Spanish information for menus, etc...) by __es in

that way we deactivate the Spanish language.

Note from the author: To finish this tutorial I would like to encourage you to

explore, avoid conformism with the default groups. Let's get our hands dirty by

manipulate inputs like tilt if your pen allows it, use the random moderately if

you want to give your brushes a traditional touch. You will find new ways to

innovate for sure, so I encourage you to share your experiments with the

community . And who knows? Maybe the next default MyPaint group of

brushes come with some of yours.

Well, that's all folks I hope this has been useful, and above all easy. There are still some things to

explain but we're going to leave it like that by now and the document might get bigger with the

time, depending on public's interest. If you have any doubt you can contact me to the followingaddress:[email protected]. I also wrote a series of appendix that might be helpful.

And a special acknowledgement to ...

Andrzej Giniewicz who was a great (vital) help to understand how input graphics work.

Thank you Andrzej! Also a big THANKS for the guys that helped me to translate the entire

tutorial ,even the SVG images. Guys ,you rocks!

Alberto Enrique Chvez from Guatemala. He translates the entire tutorial text, and also

the text of images. Big thanks.

Sam Hutchinson has done also a good work translating the text. so i can compare the 2 odt

files and choice the better for the final English release.

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://ljfhutch.deviantart.com/http://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/mailto:[email protected]://ljfhutch.deviantart.com/http://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/


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Appendix A. Brush attribute list

If you wish more information, in Appendix D you'll find the same table but with the details ofevery single attribute. Here you have it as a reference with its Spanish translation

Brush Attribute Atributo del Pincel

1 Opacity Opacidad

2 Opacity multiply Multiplicar opacidad

3 Opacity linearize Linearizar opacidad

4 Radius Radio

5 Hardness Dureza

6 Dabs per basic radius Pinceladas por radio base

7 Dabs per actual radius Pinceladas por radio real

8 Dabs per second Pinceladas por segundo

9 Radius by random Radio aleatorio

10 Fine speed filter Filtro de velocidad fina

11 Gross speed filter Filtro de velocidad Gruesa

12 Fine speed gamma Gama de velocidad fina

13 Gross speed gamma Gama de velocidad gruesa

14 Jitter Temblequeo

15 Offset by speed Desfase por velocidad

16 Offset by speed filter Filtro por desfase de velocidad

17 Slow position tracking Seguimiento de posicin lento

18 Slow tracking per dab Seguimiento lento por pincelada

19 Tracking noise Ruido en seguimiento

20 Change color hue Cambiar el tono del color

21 Change color lightness. (HSL) Cambiar la claridad del color. (HSL)

22 Change color satur. (HSL) Cambiar la saturacin del color. (HSL)

23 Change color value. (HSV) Cambiar el valor del color. (HSV)

24 Change color satur. (HSV) Cambiar la saturacin del color. (HSV)

25 Smudge Difuminar

26 Smudge length Longitud del difuminado

27 Smudge radius Radio del difuminado

28 Eraser Goma de Borrar



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29 Stroke threshold Umbral de trazo

30 Stroke duration Duracin del trazo

31 Stroke hold time Tiempo en que se mantiene el trazo

32 Custom input Entrada personalizada

33 Custom input filter Filtro personalizado de entrada

34 Elliptical dab: ratio Pincelada elptica: tasa de aspecto

35 Elliptical dab: angle Pincelada elptica: ngulo

36 Direction filter Filtro direccin

Appendix B. Inputs

Input Entrada

1 Pressure Presin

2 Fine speed Velocidad fina

3 Gross speed Velocidad gruesa

4 Random Aleatorio

5 Stroke Pincelada

6 Direction Direccin

7 Declination Inclinacin

8 Ascension Ascensin

9 Custom Personalizada

Appendix C. Links to MyPaint videos

Ramn Miranda

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QRa3sESIKcKristen Portrait

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1s6olUeGjwAnatomic arms studies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85WBgaPyJLQ--Mixed technique 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGL20ZYoIBU --MyPaint.painting flowers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rby0OB_8x-oMeditation

David Revoy

http://www.vimeo.com/6143607 --Lezard

http://www.vimeo.com/18157214 --Christmass Sintel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QRa3sESIKchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1s6olUeGjwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1s6olUeGjwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85WBgaPyJLQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGL20ZYoIBUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rby0OB_8x-ohttp://www.vimeo.com/6143607http://www.vimeo.com/18157214http://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QRa3sESIKchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1s6olUeGjwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85WBgaPyJLQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGL20ZYoIBUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rby0OB_8x-ohttp://www.vimeo.com/6143607http://www.vimeo.com/18157214http://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/


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Mozart Couto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YvD4PbfZqg&feature=player_embedded -- Arquera 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-_gofxpgNQ&feature=related --Arquera 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgC_lOv9ms&feature=related --Arquera 3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmSpePHx9k0&feature=related --head 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bigmY61TiVo&feature=related --head 2

Tone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66RBfrBgL2E --Strawberries

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4z1svphlJM&feature=related --Rose

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAUcrUO8rQQ&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL -TheBasics

BT

http://www.vimeo.com/13516509 --Mario & Luigi making of

Miscelaneous

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgEcIMzPtYo&feature=player_embedded --Sami Souza V

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNoKCkFon_0&feature=related --trisha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFAZZKwPtRs&feature=more_related --Lil Wayne

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAQv3eYgXzo --chica con gorro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqfHvLP7VnY&feature=related --space bunny 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-iwYYw3k70&feature=related--space bunny 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiWclLZz5Yk&feature=related--drawing a figurehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEIHoIudcbE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL--portrait demo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acj-xRt7XWw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL-OC Queen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=zxeLSW1Miks&feature=autoplay&list=ULFB68Fq5IlE0&index=7&playnext=1 --kaine

Thanks to all for their videos. /Muchas gracias a todos por sus videos.

Appendix D. Extended attribute list (brushlib)All the settings, default values and ranges, including descriptions is available in mypaint sources in

directory brushlib/brushsettings.py. You can read most current version online straight from git

repository:http://gitorious.org/mypaint/mypaint/blobs/master/brushlib/brushsettings.py")

# internal name, displayed name, constant, minimum, default, maximum, tooltip

['opaque', _('Opacity'), False, 0.0, 1.0, 2.0, _("0 means brush is transparent, 1 fully visible\n(also known als alpha oropacity)")],

['opaque_multiply', _('Opacity multiply'), False, 0.0, 0.0, 2.0, _("This gets multiplied with opaque. You should only

change the pressure input of this setting. Use 'opaque' instead to make opacity depend on speed.\nThis setting is

responsible to stop painting when there is zero pressure. This is just a convention, the behaviour is identical to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YvD4PbfZqg&feature=player_embeddedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-_gofxpgNQ&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgC_lOv9ms&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmSpePHx9k0&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bigmY61TiVo&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66RBfrBgL2Ehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4z1svphlJM&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAUcrUO8rQQ&feature=mfu_in_order&list=ULhttp://www.vimeo.com/13516509http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgEcIMzPtYo&feature=player_embeddedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNoKCkFon_0&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFAZZKwPtRs&feature=more_relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAQv3eYgXzohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqfHvLP7VnY&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-iwYYw3k70&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiWclLZz5Yk&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiWclLZz5Yk&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEIHoIudcbE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=ULhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acj-xRt7XWw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=ULhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxeLSW1Miks&feature=autoplay&list=ULFB68Fq5IlE0&index=7&playnext=1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxeLSW1Miks&feature=autoplay&list=ULFB68Fq5IlE0&index=7&playnext=1http://gitorious.org/mypaint/mypaint/blobs/master/brushlib/brushsettings.pyhttp://gitorious.org/mypaint/mypaint/blobs/master/brushlib/brushsettings.pyhttp://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://mypaint.intilinux.com/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YvD4PbfZqg&feature=player_embeddedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-_gofxpgNQ&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgC_lOv9ms&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmSpePHx9k0&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bigmY61TiVo&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66RBfrBgL2Ehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4z1svphlJM&feature=relatedhttp://www.vimeo.com/13516509http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgEcIMzPtYo&feature=player_embeddedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNoKCkFon_0&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFAZZKwPtRs&feature=more_relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAQv3eYgXzohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqfHvLP7VnY&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-iwYYw3k70&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiWclLZz5Yk&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEIHoIudcbE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=ULhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acj-xRt7XWw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=ULhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxeLSW1Miks&feature=autoplay&list=ULFB68Fq5IlE0&index=7&playnext=1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxeLSW1Miks&feature=autoplay&list=ULFB68Fq5IlE0&index=7&playnext=1http://gitorious.org/mypaint/mypaint/blobs/master/brushlib/brushsettings.pyhttp://ramonmirandavisualart.blogspot.com/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAUcrUO8rQQ&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL


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'opaque'.")],

['opaque_linearize', _('Opacity linearize'), True, 0.0, 0.9, 2.0, _("Correct the nonlinearity introduced by blending

multiple dabs on top of each other. This correction should get you a linear (\"natural\") pressure response when

pressure is mapped to opaque_multiply, as it is usually done. 0.9 is good for standard strokes, set it smaller if yourbrush scatters a lot, or higher if you use dabs_per_second.\n0.0 the opaque value above is for the individual dabs\n1.0

the opaque value above is for the final brush stroke, assuming each pixel gets (dabs_per_radius*2) brushdabs on

average during a stroke")],

['radius_logarithmic', _('Radius'), False, -2.0, 2.0, 5.0, _("basic brush radius (logarithmic)\n 0.7 means 2 pixels\n 3.0

means 20 pixels")],

exp(-2) = 0.135335283 exp(2) = 7.3890561 exp(5) = 148.413159

['hardness', _('Hardness'), False, 0.0, 0.8, 1.0, _("hard brush-circle borders (setting to zero will draw nothing)")],

['dabs_per_basic_radius', _('Dabs per basic radius'), True, 0.0, 0.0, 6.0, _("how many dabs to draw while the pointer

moves a distance of one brush radius (more precise: the base value of the radius)")],

['dabs_per_actual_radius', _('Dabs per actual radius'), True, 0.0, 2.0, 6.0, _("same as above, but the radius actually

drawn is used, which can change dynamically")],

['dabs_per_second', _('Dabs per second'), True, 0.0, 0.0, 80.0, _("dabs to draw each second, no matter how far the

pointer moves")],

['radius_by_random', _('Radius by random'), False, 0.0, 0.0, 1.5, _("Alter the radius randomly each dab. You can also

do this with the by_random input on the radius setting. If you do it here, there are two differences:\n1) the opaque

value will be corrected such that a big-radius dabs is more transparent\n2) it will not change the actual radius seen by

dabs_per_actual_radius")],

['speed1_slowness', _('Fine speed filter'), False, 0.0, 0.04, 0.2, _("how slow the input fine speed is following the real

speed\n0.0 change immediately as your speed changes (not recommended, but try it)")],

['speed2_slowness', _('Gross speed filter'), False, 0.0, 0.8, 3.0, _("same as 'fine speed filter', but note that the range is

different")],

['speed1_gamma', _('Fine speed gamma'), True, -8.0, 4.0, 8.0, _("This changes the reaction of the 'fine speed' input to

extreme physical speed. You will see the difference best if 'fine speed' is mapped to the radius.\n-8.0 very fast speed

does not increase 'fine speed' much more\n+8.0 very fast speed increases 'fine speed' a lot\nFor very slow speed the

opposite happens.")],

['speed2_gamma', _('Gross speed gamma'), True, -8.0, 4.0, 8.0, _("same as 'fine speed gamma' for gross speed")],

['offset_by_random', _('Jitter'), False, 0.0, 0.0, 2.0, _("add a random offset to the position where each dab is drawn\n

0.0 disabled\n 1.0 standard deviation is one basic radius away\n 0 draw where the pointer moves to\n< 0 draw where the pointer comes from")],

['offset_by_speed_slowness', _('Offset by speed filter'), False, 0.0, 1.0, 15.0, _("how slow the offset goes back to zero

when the cursor stops moving")],

['slow_tracking', _('Slow position tracking'), True, 0.0, 0.0, 10.0, _("Slowdown pointer tracking speed. 0 disables it,higher values remove more jitter in cursor movements. Useful for drawing smooth, comic-like outlines.")],



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['slow_tracking_per_dab', _('Slow tracking per dab'), False, 0.0, 0.0, 10.0, _("Similar as above but at brushdab level

(ignoring how much time has past, if brushdabs do not depend on time)")],

['tracking_noise', _('Tracking noise'), True, 0.0, 0.0, 12.0, _("add randomness to the mouse pointer; this usually

generates many small lines in random directions; maybe try this together with 'slow tracking'")],

['color_h', _('Color hue'), True, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, _("color hue")],

['color_s', _('Color saturation'), True, -0.5, 0.0, 1.5, _("color saturation")],

['color_v', _('Color value'), True, -0.5, 0.0, 1.5, _("color value (brightness, intensity)")],

['change_color_h', _('Change color hue'), False, -2.0, 0.0, 2.0, _("Change color hue.\n-0.1 small clockwise color hue

shift\n 0.0 disable\n 0.5 counterclockwise hue shift by 180 degrees")],

['change_color_l', _('Change color lightness (HSL)'), False, -2.0, 0.0, 2.0, _("Change the color lightness (luminance)

using the HSL color model.\n-1.0 blacker\n 0.0 disable\n 1.0 whiter")],

['change_color_hsl_s', _('Change color satur. (HSL)'), False, -2.0, 0.0, 2.0, _("Change the color saturation using the HSL

color model.\n-1.0 more grayish\n 0.0 disable\n 1.0 more saturated")],

['change_color_v', _('Change color value (HSV)'), False, -2.0, 0.0, 2.0, _("Change the color value (brightness, intensity)

using the HSV color model. HSV changes are applied before HSL.\n-1.0 darker\n 0.0 disable\n 1.0 brigher")],

['change_color_hsv_s', _('Change color satur. (HSV)'), False, -2.0, 0.0, 2.0, _("Change the color saturation using the HSV

color model. HSV changes are applied before HSL.\n-1.0 more grayish\n 0.0 disable\n 1.0 more saturated")],

['smudge', _('Smudge'), False, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, _("Paint with the smudge color instead of the brush color. The smudge

color is slowly changed to the color you are painting on.\n 0.0 do not use the smudge color\n 0.5 mix the smudge color

with the brush color\n 1.0 use only the smudge color")],

['smudge_length', _('Smudge length'), False, 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, _("This controls how fast the smudge color becomes the

color you are painting on.\n0.0 immediately change the smudge color\n1.0 never change the smudge color")],

['smudge_radius_log', _('Smudge radius'), False, -1.6, 0.0, 1.6, _("This modifies the radius of the circle where color is

picked up for smudging.\n 0.0 use the brush radius \n-0.7 half the brush radius\n+0.7 twice the brush radius\n+1.6 five

times the brush radius (slow)")],

['eraser', _('Eraser'), False, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, _("how much this tool behaves like an eraser\n 0.0 normal painting\n 1.0

standard eraser\n 0.5 pixels go towards 50% transparency")],

['stroke_threshold', _('Stroke threshold'), True, 0.0, 0.0, 0.5, _("How much pressure is needed to start a stroke. This

affects the stroke input only. Mypaint does not need a minimal pressure to start drawing.")],

['stroke_duration_logarithmic', _('Stroke duration'), False, -1.0, 4.0, 7.0, _("How far you have to move until the stroke

input reaches 1.0. This value is logarithmic (negative values will not inverse the process).")],

['stroke_holdtime', _('Stroke hold time'), False, 0.0, 0.0, 10.0, _("This defines how long the stroke input stays at 1.0.

After that it will reset to 0.0 and start growing again, even if the stroke is not yet finished.\n2.0 means twice as long as

it takes to go from 0.0 to 1.0\n9.9 and bigger stands for infinite")],



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['custom_input', _('Custom input'), False, -5.0, 0.0, 5.0, _("Set the custom input to this value. If it is slowed down,

move it towards this value (see below). The idea is that you make this input depend on a mixture of

pressure/speed/whatever, and then make other settings depend on this 'custom input' instead of repeating this

combination everywhere you need it.\nIf you make it change 'by random' you can generate a slow (smooth) random

input.")],

['custom_input_slowness', _('Custom input filter'), False, 0.0, 0.0, 10.0, _("How slow the custom input actually follows

the desired value (the one above). This happens at brushdab level (ignoring how much time has past, if brushdabs do

not depend on time).\n0.0 no slowdown (changes apply instantly)")],

['elliptical_dab_ratio', _('Elliptical dab: ratio'), False, 1.0, 1.0, 10.0, _("aspect ratio of the dabs; must be >= 1.0, where

1.0 means a perfectly round dab. TODO: linearize? start at 0.0 maybe, or log?")],

['elliptical_dab_angle', _('Elliptical dab: angle'), False, 0.0, 90.0, 180.0, _("this defines the angle by which eliptical dabs

are tilted\n 0.0 horizontal dabs\n 45.0 45 degrees, turned clockwise\n 180.0 horizontal again")],

['direction_filter', _('Direction filter'), False, 0.0, 2.0, 10.0, _("a low value will make the direction input adapt more

quickly, a high value will make it smoother")],

Appendix E. Overall performance graph.