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Additive painting


john256

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Hi all. I'm a long-time Paint.net occasional user - I'm no artist but it's my go-to tool for rough work or mockups.

 

Anyway, I want to paint on a layer in an additive way. i.e. I set a color like (10,0,0) and if I hold down or repaint an area, it gets brighter and brighter. The idea is I want to create a texture map for a 3D model, which encodes how thick the material is based on the red channel.

 

But I can't seem to get this to work. I tried using (255,0,0,10) i.e. red with very low alpha and that sort of works, in that it looks right on screen, but it's not outputting as I expect/desire when I save to a flat file like PNG/JPG.

 

Any advice both on the exact question I've asked, and how better to do what it is I want, are welcome - there could be a much better way I'm not aware of.

 

Thanks.

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I think you're missing a small step is all...

Add a new layer.

Set layer blend mode to additive.

Set the brush color to something with low alpha.

Paint to your heart's content.

If you've already tried adding an additive layer, then post an image of what you are trying to do and we'll see what we can do from there.

No, Paint.NET is not spyware...but, installing it is an IQ test. ~BoltBait

Blend modes are like the filling in your sandwich. It's the filling that can change your experience of the sandwich. ~Ego Eram Reputo

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Do I need a layer underneath, filled with black perhaps? I want to make sure that when I export I don't get bright red with varying alpha, but the alpha and red are baked together into the red channel (as it were).

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Yes, that's what I meant when I said "add a new layer." Sorry I didn't mention the layer underneath (I was assuming you had some image you started with.)

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No, Paint.NET is not spyware...but, installing it is an IQ test. ~BoltBait

Blend modes are like the filling in your sandwich. It's the filling that can change your experience of the sandwich. ~Ego Eram Reputo

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