Trick to symmetrical Erase and symmetrical Selections

Hi everbody

Here is a trick to symmetrical Erase and symmetrical Selections.

Because the Erase tool doesnt work in symmetrical Mode.
I hope the Develeopers whould think over this. ;-)
And i love to have selections being symmetrical too.

Well, we can create beautiful symmetrical pattern in FP4.
But if you like to delete some parts of your design you have
to do this in a tedious "part by part" way.

In the meantime i found a way to erase symmetricaly in FP4
and a way to make a kind of symmetrical selection possible.

Here we go:

You need 3 Layers.
These should stack like this.

normal layer - (3)
normal layer - (2)
Background Layer - (1)
It is important that the Background layer
have just one single color in it e.g Black.
The Background Layer would stay untouched
in this trick.

The second layer (2), is your painting layer
where you paint your design

The third layer (3) is your tricky Eraser Layer

So, lets paint a design on your second layer
with any brush you like

Now say, you want delete some parts of it
select the the "Paint Brushes" Category and than
the "Liner (Round)" Brush, like in the picture below.
I found this the best controlable Brush for this.
Switch the color of this brush, so it is the same color
as your background layer in our example color black.

Select the third layer and paint over the parts
you dont like and the parts seems to disapear.
In realty it is just a overpainting. But for the Result
this doesnt matter. It looks the same.

If you are ready with erasing, you need to merge
down the third layer to the second layer.
Select the third layer and select "merge layers"
and all changes will be transfaired to the second layer.

These are the Steps you need, no matter
how many Layers you have in your painting.
Just put a Over-Paint-Layer above the layer
you like to change and merge them down
if you are ready.

And here the symmetrical-selection Trick.
Instead of to merge down your overpaint
select the magicwand-tool and select one of
the paint areas in the third layer.
Voila that appears just like symmetrical selection.
Now you can paint with any brush you like in this selection.
If your finish you can deselect your selection
and merge the layer down.

Tip: You can duplicate your overpaint-layer
to keep it if e.g for a another selection.

Here some Pictures
Symmetrical Erase Trick

Symmetrical Selection Trick

Thats all
have fun being creative
2dpainter

Great tip, thank you

Hi Kerioak

fine if it's helpfull and leads to further ideas