SketchBook Express V6.2 Line and Shape tools Resize a brush Change your view Move, rotate, or scale a selected area How do I use layers? Tool selection Tool summary Save location options Reset Preferences
Copyrights and Trademarks Autodesk SketchBook Express v6.2 2012 Autodesk, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Except as otherwise permitted by Autodesk, Inc., this publication, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose. Certain materials included in this publication are reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder. Trademarks The following are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and other countries: SketchBook, SketchBook Copic Edition, SketchBook Designer, SketchBook Express, SketchBook Express for ipad, SketchBook Express for Android, SketchBook Ink, SketchBook Pro, SketchBook Pro for ipad, and SketchBook Pro for Android. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Disclaimer THIS PUBLICATION AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS MADE AVAILABLE BY AUTODESK, INC. AS IS. AUTODESK, INC. DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE REGARDING THESE MATERIALS. Published by: Autodesk, Inc. 111 McInnis Parkway San Rafael, CA 94903, USA
What s New This chapter introduces new features and a list of improvements & enhancements that can be found in this release of SketchBook Express. Improvements have been made in the following areas: Canvas - The grey border that appeared when rotating the canvas has been removed. The canvas no longer enters into a frozen state. Color Picker - It now consistently picks the correct color. Surface Pro users - Users will not experience refresh issues with high DPI settings.
Introduction Tool selection Pick a tool using one of the following methods: Flick toward an icon to select it. Touch the stylus to an icon and hold, then flick through a tool. Tap a tool the toolbar to select it. Tool summary 3 4 5 1 2 9 6 7 8 1. Brush Palette (shows current tool) 2. Color (shows current color) 3. Interface controls 4. View controls, canvas transform, selection, & layer tools 5. Brushes & palette 6. Colors & editor 7. Editing tools 8. Open, save, new, next, & previous image 9. Undo/redo Choose a brush In the Brush Palette or from the lagoon, tap a brush and start sketching. Select an eraser for modifications. Blurring an area Blur - Paint over an area to soften it, making the area appear out of focus. Note - To change its size or strength, either double-click the brush or tap to access Brush Properties. Sharpening an area Sharpen - Paint over an area to makes it look crisper; sharpening the areas. Note - To change its size or strength, either double-click the brush or tap to access Brush Properties.
Change brush properties In the Brush Palette, dbl-tap a brush to access the Brush Properties window and change brush settings. Resize a brush In the Brush Palette, tap to access a puck. Then, tap-drag to the right to increase a brush s size or left to decrease it. Changing brush opacity Use the O key to change the amount of paint applied by a brush. Tap a brush, then press-hold the O key as you drag up to increase a brush s opacity or down to decrease it. Undo or redo a brushstroke To undo the previous action, tap or press Cmd+Z for Mac. To redo an action, tap or press Shift+Cmd+Z for Mac. Note - You can change the number of undos in the General tab of the Preferences. Clear brushstrokes Flick toward or press the Delete or Backspace key. Color Editor Tap to access the Color Editor. Note - If you flick 1, your brush will erase existing color pixels on that layer. 1. Tabs (various methods for picking colors): 6 5 2 3 4 2. Swatch (current color) 3. Slider 4. Customized palette 5. Color Wheel 6. Magnifying glass (color picker) Choose a hue or tints and the value (light). Specify a color using color gradients, such as gray scale, RGB, CMYK, or HSB values. Choose from a lists of colors (Apple, Developer, Crayons, Web Safe), or create your own list of colors. Choose a color from a spectrum of hues and values. Pick from 48 colors displayed as a box of crayons.
Pick a color from the screen Tap to change the cursor to. Move over and tap a color on your screen. Set the RGB In the Color Editor, tap the RGB fields and add numeric values. The color in the Color Wheel changes to display a color with those RGB values. Create a customized color palette Drag a color chip from the swatch to the palette at the bottom of the Color Editor. Saving a customized color palette The next time SketchBook opens, your customized color palette appears. Swap between two brushes Use one brush, then return to a previous one. After using a brush, select another, then flick toward or press S to move between them.
Tools for Sketching Line and Shape tools In the toolbar, tap a Line and Shape tools, Line, Rectangle, Polyline, or Oval, to help create shapes and lay down lines. Lines To draw a line, either tap or for a horizontal or vertical line, hold down the Shift key. Then, tap-drag. See Free for drawing diagonal lines. Rectangles To draw a rectangle, tap and tap-drag to draw the shape. Polylines To draw a polyline, tap and tap to place each point. Dbl-tap the last point to change the line to a solid line. Ovals To draw an oval or circle, tap and tap-drag to draw the shape. Free To return to freestyle stroke mode, tap. To draw a diagonal (45-degree angle) line, hold down the D key. Then, tap-drag. Flood fill an area Fill the active or visible layers with color. Flood fill an active layer In the Brush Palette, tap that area on that layer. Flood fill visible layers In the Brush Palette, tap that area in all visible areas., then tap an area to fill, then tap an area to fill Penguin (c) 1296613 Ontario Inc.
Change Flood Fill properties Change the tolerance to determine the range of color values affected when flooding a region with paint and fill gaps between the fill paint and the pixels creating the boundary of the fill. The minimum tolerance, 0 (zero), selects and fills only pixels of that color value. The maximum tolerance, 255, selects and fills all pixels regardless of the region. Dbl-tap or and tap to change flood fill tolerances.
View, Edit & Save your Sketch Change your view Zoom in and move about Tap and flick toward or press-hold the spacebar to access the puck. To zoom in and out, move your stylus to the center to zoom and tap-drag. To reposition your sketch on the canvas, move your stylus to the outer ring and tap-drag. Zoom using a touch strip Cintiqs and some tablets have a touch strip for zooming. Position your cursor over the area you want to zoom in or out of. Move your finger along the touch strip in an upward motion to zoom in or a downward motion to zoom out. View an image s actual size For the actual pixel size of an image, tap and flick toward or press Option+Cmd+0 (zero). Fit an image in the display To expand or shrink an image, tap and flick toward or press Cmd+0 (zero).
Select an area Tap to access some of the Selection tools. Select (M) Lagoon Lasso Select (L) Toolbar Use one of the following methods: To select an area, do one of the following, then tap-drag to select the area you want: tap in the toolbar or press the M key tap in the toolbar or press the L key To select everything, select Edit > Select all or press Cmd+A. Deselect an area To de-select the area: 1. Tap outside the area. 2. Flick toward one of the other selection tools. 3. Press Cmd+D. 4. Select Edit > Deselect. Copy your sketch Use the Selection tools to select everything or just an area, then use one of the Copy tools. To copy: everything on a layer, select Edit > Select All or press the A key. a rectangular area, use or press the M key, then click-drag to surrounds the area you want to copy. an irregular area, use (or press the L key), then click-drag to surrounds the area you want to copy. the contents from the current layer only, flick toward or press Cmd+C. To paste, flick toward or press Cmd+V.
Move, rotate, or scale a selected area Use the Transform Layer puck to move, rotate, and scale content. Use one of the Selection tools, then the Transform Layer puck appears. Note - To move, rotate, or scale a selected area for all layers, merge the layers first. To move a selection, highlight the move outer circle. Tap, then drag to move the layer around the canvas. To rotate a selection around its center, highlight the rotate middle circle. Tap, then drag in a circular motion in the direction you want to rotate. To scale a selection bigger or smaller, highlight the scale inner circle. Tap, then drag to scale up or down to display the percentage scaling. To non-proportionately scale a selection, highlight the upper part of the inner circle. Tap, then drag in the direction you want scaled. Crop Select Image > Crop or Crop to Selection, then tap-drag to surround the area. Anything outside the selection is deleted. Tap to remove unselected parts of the sketch. Crop makes a square or rectangular crop selection. Crop to Selection crops irregular, square, and rectangular selections. Crop the canvas Use Image > Canvas Size to set size of the canvas, using inches, cm, or mm. Tap the Anchor interface to specify how to crop the canvas. Fit a resized image onto the screen To expand or reduce an image to fill the screen, flick toward (zero). Fit to View or press Cmd+0
Rotate canvas To rotate the canvas, hold down the Spacebar, mouse over the rotate ring of the puck, then click-drag to freely pivot the canvas. Rotate or flip your sketch Rotate Image CCW Rotate Image CW Flip canvas Vertically Mirror Canvas Flip Layer Vertically Mirror Layer To rotate an image counter-clockwise, select Image > Rotate Image CCW. To rotate an image clockwise, select Image > Rotate Image CW. Note - Keep selecting either of these to rotate the image 180 or 270 degrees. To flip an image vertically, select. To flip an image horizontally, select.
Add an image An image, such as a PXD from Pixlr, can be inserted onto the current layer or imported onto a new layer. To add an image, select File > Add Image, then select a file. Note - When adding a PXD image to a sketch, SketchBook flattens the file, without making any visual changes. If you do not like its placement, choose to undo it and try again. Create a new sketch To create a new sketch, flick toward or press CMD+N. Note - Use the Preferences window to set the default canvas size opened when you create new sketches. Save your sketch When saving a file, you can set the format of the saved file. Save your sketch as an Adobe Photoshop file When saving, select the Adobe Photoshop PSD file type option. When importing the PSD SketchBook file to Photoshop, no white background layer is added. Save your sketch as a PXD Save images as PXDs to work on them in Pixlr. For images with colored text, to preserve the color, SketchBook converts the text to an image. To save a sketch that can be opened in Pixlr, select File > Save as type > PXD Files (*.pxd). Save your sketch as an image file When saving, select the type of image you want saved. Note - Only the TIFF and PSD image formats preserve layers. Saving them as any other image format flattens them. Only use Autodesk SketchBook Express to read TIFF files containing layers. We do not advise you to open these images in other programs because we cannot guarantee layer preservation. Save location options Choose where a project is saved - locally or to icloud. Save to icloud Save a project to icloud to access it from anywhere and any device or platform. In the Save or Save As dialog, tap Go to icloud Gallery. The file is saved as a PSD. Save locally Save a project to the computer you are using. In the Save or Save As dialog, browse to a location on your machine and tap Save. Files can be saved as any format.
Open a saved sketch To open sketches of various formats, flick toward or press Cmd+O. Open a PXD Open an image from Pixlr in SketchBook. If the image uses a blend mode not supported by SketchBook, the Normal blend mode is used to replace it. To bring an image from Pixlr into SketchBook, select File > Open, then select a PXD file. Open a sketch stored on icloud Access a project stored on icloud from anywhere and with any machine. In the Open dialog, tap Go to icloud Gallery. Move files between icloud and your local machine Move files from your local machine to icloud to access them from anywhere with an internet connection. Move files from icloud to your local machine to access files when you won t have internet access. When you have a connection, move them back to icloud. Move to icloud Move a local project to icloud. In the Open dialog, select a file and tap [X] Move to icloud. Move from icloud to the local browser Move a project from icloud to your local machine. In the Open dialog, tap Go to icloud Gallery. Select a file and tap [X] Move to Local Browser. Delete from icloud Remove a project from the SketchBook icloud Gallery. In the Open dialog, tap Go to icloud Gallery. Select a file and tap [X] Delete.
Use Layers Use layers to make changes to an image without midifying the content on other layers. Use multiple layers for drawing complex sketches or to test variations of a design. How do I use layers? 1. Flick toward to open the Layer Editor. 2. Tap-hold the middle of a layer to show /hide or rename a layer. Select a layer In the Layer Editor, tap a layer to select and highlight it. All actions are applied to this layer, until another layer is selected. Note - Only one layer can be selected and active at a time. Persistent selection After selecting a region on the canvas, you can add, delete, or switch layers, while the marching ants created by the Select/Lasso/Crop tools stay active. Your selection is maintained. Edit a layer With a layer selected in the Layer Editor, move, rotate, or scale the layer, mirror or flip its content, use the color correction tools, or add text. Note - Moving, rotating, and scaling a layer only affects the current layer. To move, rotate, or scale the entire canvas, merge all the layers first. To move, rotate, or scale a layer, flick toward or press-hold the V key and use the Transform puck. To do this to another layer, select a new layer and repeat. Note - If using the V hotkey, press and hold it down, as you tap the top of the middle circle, and drag up, down, right, or left. To mirror or flip a layer, see Rotate or flip your sketch. Clearing an area from the current layer 1. Flick toward or, or press the M key, then drag over the area you want to clear. 2. Next, either flick toward or press the Delete key to remove the selected area.
Organize layers Drag layers and reposition them and change the spacial position of objects and how they combine to create the overall composition. Once satisfied with layer order, they can be combined by merging two or all of them. In the Layer Editor, pen down on stylus to drop the layer into position. to drag the layer up or down. Release the Change the transparency of a layer Full opacity Medium opacity (translucent) Transparent Blend a layer with other layers using transparency. In the Layer Editor, with a layer selected, drag the slider to the opacity. Note - If a layer is not visible, check to see if the opacity is at 0%.
Annotate, Send, Print & Present Print images or email them. Annotate sketches. Present sketches to colleagues, clients, or friends. Text Use to create simple RTF text objects. Set the font, size, style, and color. Adding text 1. To add text, in the toolbar, tap. 2. Start typing in the Edit Text Layer window. 3. Use the editing tools to make changes to the text. 4. Tap OK when finished. Editing text In the Edit Text Layer window, select the text and do any of the following: Tap the Font menu to set the text font. Tap the Size dropdown to set text size. Tap to bold the text. Tap to italicize the text. Tap to underline the text. Tap to strike out the text. Tap to set the text color. Changing the transparency of text The opacity of the text can be changed using the layer s opacity slider. Click-drag the opacity slider to change the transparency of the text. Note - The opacity of all content on the layer will be affected by this change. We recommend the text be on one layer and other content on another. A A A Email a sketch Email a sketch to someone by selecting File > Send Mail.
Troubleshooting If you get a message that you cannot email the image, check that: You have an email account set up on your computer. You have selected a default email application. You can launch your default email program from outside SketchBook. If your email program creates the email message, but cannot send the message, ensure that your email service provider is operational. (Refer to the documentation of your email program for further information.) Print a sketch Make printouts of your sketches by selecting File > Print. Flip through your sketches View the images in a folder. To move to the next image in the current folder, tap, then flick toward. Images are displayed in increasing order by file name. For example, HOUSE1, HOUSE2, HOUSE3. To move to the previous image in the current folder, tap, then flick toward. Images are displayed in decreasing order by file name. For example, HOUSE3, HOUSE2, HOUSE1. Note - If you mark up the images, a prompt to save your changes when you go to the previous or next image appears. To preserve the original image, save the marked-up image under a different file name. Present images Organize and determine their order, then hide the interface to make the images the focal point. Put your images in order for presentation - Create a folder containing the images you want to include in the presentation. Rename the images in the folder in alphabetical or numerical order you want to present them. Presenting images - Browse to the folder containing the images you want to present. Open the first file in the folder. To show the next image, tap, then flick toward. To go backwards, tap, then flick toward. Hiding the interface for a bigger viewing area To view a full-size display with no title bar or tools, tap, then flick. To move back and forth between images, use the Page Up and Page Down keys. To view all the tools again, tap, then flick.
Hide or move the interface Use these tools to set what interface elements are visible. Displays the toolbar and lagoon and flips it to the left corner of the canvas. Display the toolbar and lagoon and flips the lagoon to the right corner of the canvas. Hide the toolbar and lagoon. Display the toolbar, but hide the lagoon. Hiding or showing scroll bars In the Preferences, tap the Canvas tab. Turn off Enable canvas scroll bars. Note - You can still use the Zoom and Move tool to view those parts of the image that are off the screen. Changing the behavior of Page Up and Page Down Some machines use the Page Up and Page Down keys differently for browsing to previous or next files. Tap the General tab, in the Page Up section, tap one of the following setting to set up the program behavior that works best for your system. Open next image Open previous image
Adjust System & Program Settings Create your own marking menus and populate the lagoon with the options you use most frequently. Right-tap to access a virtual floating lagoon. Changing the Maximum Number of Undos Changing the number of undos only takes effect once a file is created or another one is imported. We recommend you restart SketchBook. Tap the General tab. Enter the number of undos in Maximum undos. The maximum value is 50, but we recommend a lower value for optimal speed and performance. Change the brush cursor In your Preferences, set the type of display for the brush cursor. Remove the brush outline By default, a brush outline appears for the sharpen, blur, and smear brushes, eraser, and other low-opacity brushes such as the airbrush. This outline lets you see the size of the brush before you start drawing. In your Preferences, this can be turned off. Improve performance Some users may experience slower performance when Enable Rotate Canvas is enabled. This can be corrected by changing a setting in the Preferences General tap, which turn off Enable Rotate Canvas. Optimize your files to work across devices If you intend to work between your Mac and SketchBook Mobile or SketchBook Pro for ipad, under File Format, select SketchBook ios, then tap Options and select a device to create a canvas size to ensure best results.
Wacom tablet troubleshooting For users of either the Wacom Cintiq or Intuos tablet devices, who have experienced any of the following issues: Cursor offset (Cintiq) Cursor acceleration (dual monitor setups) Erratic pen input You may want to also read these articles at visit the following links: http://www.wacom.com/faqs/view.php?id=289 http://www.wacom.com/faqs/view.php?id=115 Default hotkey mappings Due to a Wacom driver issue, some users may not find the default hotkeys mapped. Through your Wacom Tablet Properties, manually set the hotkeys to correct this. Installing the latest drivers If your Wacom device seems to work when you first plug it in, but you experience erratic behavior (for example, problems with stylus pressure or with drifting or offset of the brush stroke), you need the latest tablet driver. Note - If you switch from serial to USB devices, try uninstalling the tablet driver and reinstalling it. For the latest Wacom drivers, go to the Support area of http://www.wacom.com. Install a tablet driver only after you have plugged in the Wacom device, uninstalled the previous driver, and restarted.
Using default tip pressure feel If you find that brush strokes change abruptly from too light to too dark as you vary the amount of pressure you apply to your stylus: 1. Find the installed Wacom drivers and double-clicking the Wacom Tablet icon to access this window. 2. To customized settings for other applications, add Autodesk SketchBook Express to the list of applications with customized tool settings, which applies the changes only to it. 3. Move the Tip Pressure Feel slider to half-way between Soft and Hard. The shape of the pressure curve in the More Options display must be a diagonal line. It takes this shape by default when you move the Tip Pressure Feel slider to the middle. For information about using SketchBook with Wacom tablets, see the section to follow, Adjusting stylus responsiveness. Adjusting stylus responsiveness Styli (pens) for various systems each respond differently to the pressure you apply. Stylus responsiveness can be changed. Keep in mind, this setting affects brushstrokes for all pressure-sensitive brushes. If you dislike the feel of your current stylus, do the following: 1. Select a pressure-sensitive brush, such as the pencil. Note - You cannot adjust stylus responsiveness, unless the current brush is pressure-sensitive. 2. Select Edit > Stylus Responsiveness. The Stylus Responsiveness window appears. 3. Move the slider to the right to increase the responsiveness of the stylus. As you move toward the Less end of the scale, the feel of the stylus becomes softer. You do not have to press hard to get dark and thick strokes. As you move toward the More end of the scale, the feel of the stylus becomes harder. Press hard to get dark, thick strokes. 4. Test your stylus on the canvas. Experiment with different types of brushes. Note - The Stylus Responsiveness window stays up while you test. Keep testing with different responsiveness values until the marks on the screen look and feel right. With heavy pressure, the markers and other heavier brushes tend to make dark, thick strokes. With light pressure, the pencils tend to make light, but visible strokes. Note - You may need to adjust the pen responsiveness each time you use a different tablet or stylus. Adjusting stylus responsiveness for one brush The Stylus Responsiveness window applies to all brushes. To create a brush that responds differently to the pressure you apply to the stylus, create a do-it-yourself brush and change its size and opacity levels. Note - Brushstrokes can change abruptly from too light to too dark as you vary the stylus pressure. Setting the tip pressure feel to its default value corrects the abrupt changes. Reset Preferences Reset your preferences to their default state. Select SketchBook Express > Preferences and tap Factory Settings, then tap a Reset button and OK.
Hotkey shortcuts Use this list to see the hotkey assignments in SketchBook. Lagoon Icon Icon Name and location Hotkey Mac Tools/Views Lagoon 1+tap-hold Zoom/Rotate/Move Canvas Lagoon: Tools/View marking menu Spacebar Fit to View Lagoon: Tools/View marking menu +O Actual View Lagoon: Tools/View marking menu Option+ +O Select Lagoon: Edit marking menu M Lasso Select Lagoon: Edit marking menu L Move/Rotate/Scale Layer Lagoon: Edit marking menu V Brushes, Fills, Tools Lagoon Swap Between 2 Brushes Lagoon: Brushes, Fills, Tools marking menu 2+tap-hold S Resize a brush B+tap-drag
Lagoon Icon Icon Name and location Hotkey Mac Colors Lagoon Edit Lagoon Clear Lagoon: Edit marking menu Edit menu Copy Lagoon: Edit marking menu Image menu Paste Lagoon: Edit marking menu Edit menu Cut Lagoon: Edit marking menu Edit menu Edit Lagoon Save Lagoon: File marking menu File menu New Lagoon: File marking menu File menu Open Lagoon: File marking menu File menu 3+tap-hold 4+tap-hold Del +C +V +X 4+tap-hold +S +N +O Undo / Edit menu Under the Lagoon +Z Redo / Edit menu Under the Lagoon +Y
Right-click marking menu Zoom/Rotate/Move Canvas (Spacebar) Actual Size (Ctrl+Alt+O) Fit to View (Ctrl+O) Select (M) Move/Rotate/Scale Layer (V) Lasso Select (L)