[SOLVED] Paper Texture Anomaly

On my system, this one is repeatable:

• Create a blank white canvas in GIMP or Photoshop (the only two programs I tested this on) and save as PNG, JPG or BMP (only file extensions I tested.)
• Select “OPEN” from the Rebelle file drop down menu.
• Navigate to the directory where you saved your canvas. Select canvas to open.
• Within Rebelle, select any canvas to convert to. Doesn't matter which one, I bought all of your canvas' and it seems like it happens with all of them. I selected my canvas from the canvas button in layers.
• When the canvas updates it will NOT show canvas texture.

• Press the “DELETE” key and the canvas texture appears.

In the image below you can see the paint reveals paper texture. Unfortunately, applying the paint does not cause the rest of the canvas to reveal the paper texture. If I hit the delete key now, I loose my paint stroke but the paper texture will present on the entire canvas.

The image below is even more impressive as I loaded rough paper texture then applied watercolor. As you can see, the rough paper texture presents in the watercolor blob but not yet in the rest of the paper. 

So, until this one is addressed, the delete key is the workaround for revealing paper texture when starting a project with the OPEN method. The secret to success is to hit the delete key BEFORE painting. 

Hi csandnes,

after you open the blank white canvas created in Gimp or Photoshop, you can see a single white layer named "Layer 1" in the Layers Panel. Try to create a new layer (Main Menu -> Layer -> New Layer) and paint a watercolor stroke on it. The paper structure is visible only on the stroke area. Now, when you hide the "Layer 1" (or remove it, as you wrote), you should see the paper structure on the whole canvas as you expected.

The white canvas you opened had full opacity, so it covered the paper structure completely. It's similar to painting with an Acrylic brush, which also covers the paper structure underneath. The Watercolor brush is a bit different, as it is able to fully cover underlying layers, while the paper structure still remains visible on it. You can play with the Visual Settings -> Texture Visibility to see the difference.

I have three layers here: blue watercolor stroke in the bottom layer, covered with another watercolor stroke in the second layer which fully covers it in the area where the top stroke is really opaque, and a third layer with an acrylic stroke. You can see the individual strokes in layer thumbnails. With Texture Visibility set to zero:

And with Texture Visibility set to 10:

So any opened or imported picture shows up like an acrylic stroke. When it is opaque, it covers all layers underneath including the paper structure.

Michal,

Thank you for your reply.

"The white canvas you opened had full opacity, so it covered the paper structure completely. It's similar to painting with an Acrylic brush, which also covers the paper structure underneath."

So, when I open a white canvas, add a paper texture to layer one, then hit the DELETE button, it's deleting the opacity setting that was added when I opened my white canvas, correct?   

Yes, you're right.

When you hit the DELETE button, it removes the contents of the whole layer, so all its pixels disappear and the layer becomes fully transparent. It gives you exactly the same result as going through Main Menu -> File -> New, which also creates a fully transparent "Layer 1".

Circling back to my original thought.

As a user, if my expectation is to be presented with the texture of one of your canvases, when I load it over my GIMP or Photoshop canvas, why introduce an opacity that hides the very thing I'm wanting to see?

I'm happy that the delete button gets rid of the opacity so I can see the canvas features to paint on, but I'm not sure I understand why the opacity is introduced in the first place.

If it's not necessary for other features of the software, then it would be helpful to add code that automatically deletes the opacity during the process of loading a paper texture over the imported canvas.

I see what you mean. Now, when you open an image, it is loaded into "Layer 1". The paper is, however, always at the very bottom and is not replaced by the opened image. The opened image is always just stacked on top of the paper.

You would like to load the image directly to the "Paper" layer, which is not implemented yet. It might be a good idea. We will think about it :)

When you export image as .psd or other file format and then open/import it in Rebelle:

- we have no information from file format which layer is a paper layer.

- Rebelle paper is a special file format with different internal data which are not stored in .psd or other formats.

- if you open paper structure as a layer it is only "layer" with no paper structure information

That is why we have paper stored separately in "Layers" panel.

But we may find some good solution in the futore how to open external file, indentify paper layer from it and open appropriate paper if available.