Lesson 5
Using Paint, Paintbursh and PSP4
by Kathleen Kinder
k.kinder@daelnet.co.uk

"Hello Everyone - Although this lesson has been planned mainly for those who have no other paint program except the one that comes with Win95 (Paint) or Win3.1 (Paintbrush), it is of value to everyone interested in designing their own colour patterns because of the superlative free ranging, large size screen and text facilities provided by these programs. Paint actually is more versatile than PntBr even though it only imports and exports BMP (its PCX is not recognised by other programs), but we can do a lot with both these freebie programs, on their own and in conjunction with others. You can also transport patterns via the Clipboard to and from DAK and Paint/Pnt Brush and send them to Stitch Painter (which I've just put on my new computer), PSP, Corel Photo Paint/Draw etc If you want to design, copy, modify clip art, grid, annotate and print your pattern then there is something here for you. Note: screen resolution must be 640x480, 256 colours

Please save and print out this lesson.
download kk5 graphics here

I have done the exercises in Paint and Paintbrush as I write. If I sound formal, please may I be forgiven. After all, there are nearly 200 "pupils" out there on the air waves! Such a big class is a record for me.

Part 1 - We are going to use a character from the font Wingdings which, I believe everyone has, as a pattern to play around with. First go to the folder/directory Accessories and check out Wingdings in the Character Map. Notice how many interesting shapes there are, full of possibilities for knitting patterns.

From Accessories, open Paint/Paintbrush. We'll all do the exercises for both 24st Punchcard and 40st Passap. *In Paint, click on A (ABC - Pnt brush). Paint, draw a full-sized area with the Text crosshair.

Choose View/Text Toolbar, Wingdings 11 (actually measures 12 pixels across, stitches to us). Paintbrush, click on ABC, then Text/Fonts to choose the same. Both, choose deep brown from the palette (or free choice - my Paintbrush has no deep brown. I can Edit Palette (Options) and make one from a grey-R64, G0, B0 in my old PC). Now click on the flashing cursor and press ] on the keyboard. An attractive star-like shape appears. Choose magnification.
In Paint, see the grid is on (8x8) View/Zoom/Show Grid.

Fill in the background round the star with the deep orange biscuit colour so that it measures 12x12 mini grids, each a single pixel magnified. While you have this biscuit colour active, type another star following instructions from *

This time, fill in the backgound with deep brown (or similar) Leave that motif and return to the first one.

With the rectangular select tool (top left), starting at top left corner of the first motif (inside it, Paint), drag the dotted selection line across to the opposite side so that the motif is framed with a rectangular dotted line. In Paint you can do this in the grid and you can read the co-ordinates on the bottom line for accuracy.

In Paintbrush, you come out of the Magnified grid and can't really read the co-ordinates although see they are active, View/Cursor position. Therefore, you must be accurate so practise this. When the dotted selection line is all round the motif, press Ctrl with a free finger and keep it lightly pressed as you draw away a copy, and another copy of the motif. Keep/stamp one down one as a spare.

Now move one copy beside the first one making a 24 stitch repeat. Select these 2 motifs together, press Ctrl and draw away a double motif, placing it above the first. Do once more. You now have a punchcard pattern of 24stsx36rs.

In Paint, you can see the size as you select from the cursor positions on the bottom taskbar. Pntbrush, make these active (at the top) in View/Cursor position.This is a good design. Notice how attractive is the negative pattern that has appeared. To add text/save/print see below.

Find the motif in reversed colours, with biscuit as main and brown as background (or similar). Place it beside the first motif with brown as main and biscuit as background. Select these 2. With your finger on Ctrl, draw away a copy.
While the selection is still active, go to Image/Flip Horizontal, (Pntbrush - Pick/Flip Horizontal). Place this reversed double motif above the first. Select these 4. Using Ctrl draw away a copy and place above the other. You now have a punchcard pattern of 24stsx48rs (repeat for electronics =24x24). The pattern is one designers call "counterchanged", is most attractive and very different from the first one.

Now the Passap pattern - using royal blue main and turquoise background, repeat the process for one motif using Wingdings 20, but remove one width, 2 rows high at each side because 20 actually measures 21! The motif measures 19 across so add a blank, vertical, turquoise row at one side.
Select this motif, press Ctrl and draw away 2 copies placing one beside the other, making 40sts wide. Take the second copy immediately above and exactly (centrally) between the 2 motifs below. Press Ctrl, draw away a copy and place it beside the central one so that it overhangs by a half.
Do the same at the other side. Select the unwanted, overhanging halves and move them away from the central pattern which should now measure 40sts x 40rs, a rather lovely "offset" pattern ready for a Deco card.
You can do this with the 24 stitch pattern of course. By the way, the repeat for the E6000 is 20sts x40rs. Not content with that, I filled the central section of the E6000 motif making a striking 3 col pattern. In each case, 2 patterns for the price of 1!

Part 2
How to save - select each pattern with the Select tool and save in bmp by Edit/Copy To - not File/Save, because you want to load each pattern separately onto one large screen. Do this after each one is completed

How to send via Clipboard to DAK6, Creation 6, Stitch Painter

first select, then Edit/Copy one repeat of the pattern. In DAK, choose Edit/Scaled Paste; Creation 6, Edit/Paste in PSP and save s CUT; Stitch Painter, use Paste Special (you must re-colour in SP).

How to change the "mirage" grid to a "real" one - When the pattern appears on the magnified grid, press Prt Sc. The shot goes into the invisible and temporay storage we call the Clipboard. Make sure you have saved all you want before you choose File/New, then Edit/Paste.

The screen shot lands on the empty screen. Select the gridded pattern - (a large one will have to be saved and captured in sections and then stuck together before printing, or in Paint, you can rotate it to lie sideways to get all in the screen shot), then Edit/Copy, File/New, Edit/Paste. You can of course, save the whole page File/Save. The page then scrolls to show the complete grid. Erase what you do not want on the page.

How to add text- First you must decide if you want a full length paper-sized page (which you scroll). Go to Options/Image attributes. Leave the default width as it is but alter the length to measure A4 or US letter etc. In fact, it is sensible to do this before you start to design. Under File/Page Setup, I've altered margins to 0.51. You are now ready to add any text, name, size, date, suggested use etc. Choose a simple font like Arial 8-10 for clarity. In Paint, just draw the box where you want and write (this is easier than PSP and Corel). Pntbrush -just anywhere.

How to print - If you have a b/w printer, use red if you want a change from black for pattern marking. The background is best left white. For extra colour marking, choose different brush shapes, / or \ for instance. Once the grid is "real", it is truly 8x8 pixels and no longer 1 pixel. The grid lines can be rubbed out accidentally as well! Therefore to modify the design at this stage, choose a suitable brush or the Paint Can for each 8x8 mini grid.

Creative Possibilities are endless - try having the second colour as the background instead of white in the active palette (bottom left corner, 2 colours). Draw an area (24, 40 etc wide) on the magnified grid with the RMB (background) using largest brush. Now using the finest brush and LMB (left mouse button), draw a squiggle on the background colour area. Select the squiggle. With finger on Ctrl, draw a copy away onto the empty white screen. Notice it has a transparent background. You can now flip this way or that, rotate (not PntBrush). Select and dump anywhere on the background pattern area. Repeat the exercise. You have a most interesting pattern!

Now what about choosing others from the Wingdings font? I have fonts called Animals, Botanical, Music (all are True Type and therefore adjustable). What fun!

Part 3 - Alternative Pattern-making

Tracing - Trace a drawing onto a sheet of acetate (for overhead projections), using a fine felt pen. Have the magnified grid on view. Stick the acetate to the monitor top with masking tape (won't mark). Trace underneath the coloured lines with the mouse (finest brush) - (tip from a 1987 Amiga book)

Scans - you may need PSP for Paint, because DOS scanners do not use BMP.
Others can use the Clipboard so you are OK. The easiest scans are b/w line art. These have a tendency (not always) in Paintbrush to replace the default palette with one of b/w gradations and hatchings -rather nice actually, but a bit of a pain when you have to come out of the program and then re-start to get back the de-fault colours. The answer is save (then re-load) the default under Options/Save Palette - and save the other too. It's great for your own DTP clip art.

Clipart accessible in the computer - There are collections that may be with your DTP or another paint program. Select and copy to the clipboard.

It is the Internet which is most exciting hunting ground. Keep a look out for free and for small graphics. As a start, go to the bottom of the home page http://www.daelnet.co.uk (yes, they know what we are up to - no copyright problems here), until you have the little red lion in full view. right click and save as BMP. Alternatively, press Prt Sc, then disconeect from the Web and open Paint/Paintbrush. Edit/Paste, Select the Lion, Edit/Copy, File/New, Edit/Paste. There he is! On the magnified grid, you will see how large he is. Before we reduce his size, it is wise to clean him up and make the main outline more distinctive. His tail, nose and mouth need attention! Pntbrush will not recognise the colours at all, so re-colour the main pattern. Though you can use the colour pointer in Paint and the Palette looks similar to PSP's, Paint has none of the colour replacing facilities of the latter. Therefore, the only option is to do a clean-up with the Eraser etc. You can do this surprisingly quickly. Now select and save under Edit/Copy To.

How to reduce the size - In Paintbrush, you will have to guess under Options/Shrink/Grow, although the cursor position helps (have it active, under View) . In Paint, under Image/Stretch/Skew, it is spot on! Do height first. Choose 75% for 24 st punchcard Lion or 125% for 40 st Deco. Now go back and do the width exactly the same. Tidy up the Lion and save him again as FRed Lion (Finished Red Lion).

PS - I'm now working on pattern-filled garment shapes to share with you, but will be for PSP4 and Paint only, I'm afraid, but if you have DAK6 and/or Corel Draw/Photopaint 3-4 upwards - there are possibilities there and we'll look at those too.

Have fun

Best wishes Kathleen
Kathleen Kinder k.kinder@daelnet.co.uk

Feel free to make copies of the Graphic Lessons for your personal use. The following copyright notice must appear on all copies
Copyright (c)Kathleen Kinder, 1997, 1998.