Display modes

Painting basics

Display modes

A range of display mode options are available. Each display mode is designed to offer you feedback during particular operations.

The display modes available in some windows vary, depending on the task you might need to use that window for. You can use any combination of display modes at the same time in different windows; often this is the most efficient way to work.

Selecting display modes

To select a display mode, you can do any of the following:

Click on the appropriate display mode button

Press the appropriate function key. (The keys are defined in InkPaint shortcuts .)

Display mode options

Paint mode shows you the paint and region lines; it's useful for most painting operations.

Ink mode shows you the trace layer only. You may prefer to use this display when making color changes to the trace lines.

Fix mode shows you the trace lines (the lines the animator drew) and the region boundaries in red. It's useful for making changes to the region boundaries - closing or creating gaps in the boundary lines.

See-thru mode shows you paint and region layers of the current drawing and the previous drawing. It's useful when you want to pull-through paint from the previous drawing.

Check mode shows you in black all the regions that have not yet been painted. All painted regions are shown in white.

Track mode shows you the currently selected palette color, in black. It is especially useful when you use jogging in this mode, for tracking inaccuracies in painting (see Previewing a sequence).

Draft mode is similar to the final display mode, but lower quality, enabling you to get an idea what the finished drawing will look like.

Final mode shows you the final trace lines and painted regions in their highest quality. It's useful for changing the color of the trace lines; for example, for self-traced lines.

Often, you will want to have more than one display mode visible. You might, for example, want to paint with the Painting window in paint mode and the Browser window in track mode so you can see where the current color has been applied over a sequence of drawings.

Displaying regging lines

To display any regging lines in a drawing, from the Painting window choose View > Reg Layers.

For more information about the dialog box displayed, refer to Inking and painting regged drawings.

Keyboard shortcuts

There are several useful keyboard shortcuts that you can use to select various display options for the current window:

Spacebar - temporarily switch to check display mode.

Shift + spacebar - toggle between display modes instead of temporarily switching between display modes.

Shift + mouse button - a click on the Current Frame window copies what is currently under the cursor.

Painting basics

Display modes

Selecting display modes

Display mode options

Displaying regging lines

Keyboard shortcuts