majenta Alias 2009 Training

Sketching guide
majenta Alias 2009 Training

Sketching

Sketching settings:

• Wacom settings
• Paint window
• New parameters and settings for the canvas
• New planes and layers distribution
• Sketching hotkeys

Sketching workflow:

• Canvas and an overlay canvas

• Paintbrush customization
• The first sketch
• 3D/2D interaction: using a packaging
• Importing images and references
• Using curves in your sketch
• Sketch deformation
• Import sketches from Sketchbook Pro
• 2D/3D workflow: projecting sketch
• Symmetric sketching
• Exporting an Sketch
majenta Alias 2009 Training
Sketching

Sketching settings:

• Wacom setting
Before starting to use the wacom we will set up all the wacom preferences:
Pen buttons can have the following layout:
Left Click: when there is a contact with the pen in the wacom tablet
Middle Click: for the first button of the pen
Right Click: for the second button.

• Paint window
F3 is the preset hotkey that shows us the paint window. There is a new 2D window in v13 that allow us to sketch
without interfere with the rest of the tools.
majenta Alias 2009 Training
When you start to sketch in this window the menu will appear enabling you to create a new canvas or you can
create it with the menu canvas>new canvas or the icon in the paint control panel:
The options for a new canvas allows us to decide
1. Orientatation on 3D Space: Top, Side, Back...
2. Background color
3. Paper size
4. units
5. Pixels per in: recommended between 150 and 200
(Pixels will be updated when we define pixels per in)

After selecting OK we have a canvas and we can control this window with the pen, with the hotkeys and with the
menus on the top.

If we have generated more than one canvas we can swap between them using the menu at the top.
Navigation in the paint window:
The paint window is a 2D window therefore it is not possible to rotate in 3D
Ctl+alt and middle bottom to translate or space bar if we have any painting tool selected
Ctl+alt and right button to zoom
Key V + left Click to control the 2D rotation of the Canvas
majenta Alias 2009 Training
Sketching hotkeys
More hotkeys: There are more hotkeys for sketching in the following path

When we work in sketching it is recommended to activate the paint control panel, in it we can find the basic tools
that we need for sketching.
We can also change the active workflow to paint workflow however this will also change also the hotkeys.
Ctrl+1 default workflow
Ctrl+2 paint workflow

• New planes and layers distribution

The layer editor in v13 is separated from the plane editor - we can open the layer editor form the menu
windows>editor>layer editors or from the paint control panel:
majenta Alias 2009 Training

Brush Edit Menu

Select any tool - Brush, Pencil, Marker or Eraser and press the SPACE bar

It will open up a circular menu with various options to edit the brush. Rolling the cursor over these options will
bring up a description which is self explanatory

Pressing SPACE at any point during your sketching process will bring up the above menu which can be used to adjust
brush size, radius, angle, shape, colour and opacity. Selecting any of these options will bring up a small preview of the
profile of your brush being changed.
majenta Alias 2009 Training

Importing a Sketch Underlay for Rendering

Alias 2009 has a drag-drop facility, which means you simply need to locate your file through windows explorer,
shrink the window so it overlaps the Alias window and drop it onto the canvas

Alias will automatically create a new layer for the image

majenta Alias 2009 Training

Masking
Once your underlay image is set up, its time to start masking. You will first have to create a path around the area
which you need to mask. This can be done by using Edit Point Curves (example shown in the figure below). In
your Paint Palette, click and hold the mouse on ‘Shape’ and select the ‘Make Masked Shape’ option.

Click on each Curve in proper order. Note that the curve will turn blue once it has been selected. Hit SPACE to
‘Accept’ if you’re happy with the selection. The canvas surrounding the masked area should turn red, as show in
the figure below. The Mask will now be saved, and can be accessed from the Canvas Layer Editor window.

If you need to invert your selection, click on Edit, scroll down and select Invert Mask.
majenta Alias 2009 Training

Curve Snap
In order to create precise lines, the brush can be snapped to a Curve. Select your sketch tool i.e. brush, marker,
pencil or eraser, press Ctrl + Alt and trace the Curve boundary

The Curve will be traced along its Centre by default. You can choose to trace your line above or below the curve
by changing the snap option to Edge. This option is located in the Control Panel on the right

Creating Custom Textures

Browse the internet and download the image of a texture that you like. You could also use any textures you may
have created. This could be leather, fabric, wood or even a wheel but it ‘has to be a jpeg image’. Open the
explorer window with the file and just drop it onto Alias. Alias will create a new layer for the image
majenta Alias 2009 Training

If you want to snap the texture along a path, then create curve. Double click on a brush which you want to select.
It will open a Brush Options window, as show in the middle figure below. Select Stamp, choose ‘Shape and
Texture’ in the 2 drop down menus and then ‘click on the texture image’. The image in the Brush Options window
should update itself with the selected texture image. Select Stroke and increase ‘Spacing Bias’ to adjust the
frequency at which the texture gets applied. You can now snap the brush along the curve created earlier

This feature is particularly useful to create patterns like leather stitches. If you wish to apply the texture to a larger
surface area, you can reduce the spacing bias to a minimum and increase the size of the brush.

The shape and angle of the brush can be changed to achieve a variety of patterns
majenta Alias 2009 Training

Sketching workflow:
• Paintbrush customization
We can save different paint brushes creating our own library, selected from the palette and saved in the shelves.
To change the properties use the parameters in the paint control panel or the hotkeys:
R for changing the radius of the paint brush. R allows us to change independently the minimum and maximum
radius
S to define the size of it. S keeps the relation between minimum and maximum radius.
P to change the aspect (Proportions)
T To rotate the brush (Turn)

• Canvas and an overlay canvas

By Creating an overlay canvas we can sketch choosing the perspective to sketch in.
1. In the perspective window select a camera from where you want to sketch
2. Canvas>New overlay canvas
3. F3 to go to the paint window
4. You can now swap between the existing canvas and choose the perspective
generated
Important: Perspective view must be activated when we generate the Overlay

• 3D/2D interactsion: using a packaging

majenta Alias 2009 Training

• Importing images and references

To import images in jpg or tiff format just drag and drop it with the active canvas where you want it imported.
Studio will automatically generate a new layer with the image.
It’s possible to position them using the layer transform layer tool:

• Using curves in your sketch

We can use curves in our canvas to magnetize the brush on it with the tool curve snap.
This function is in the palette>Paint Edit

• Sketch deformation
We can also use this curves to deform the sketch with the wrap shape tool
Also in the Palette

• Import sketches from Sketchbook Pro

When we import sketches from Sketchbook Pro we also get the layers

• 2D/3D workflow: projecting sketch

We can project our sketches in the surfaces. These sketches will be projected normal to the plane of the canvas.
In the menu Canvas>project Sketch
majenta Alias 2009 Training

• Symmetric sketching
majenta Alias 2009 Training

Exporting Sketches

We can export a Sketch form Alias and decide the resolution and the format with the function:
File>export>screen or File>Export>Make canvas picture