retired_tenkst

:B

I found Healing Brush to be a tricky tool, after choosing the sample area and applying it to a large area I released the mouse key and only a certain amount of the area I had applied the sampled area too had actually been affected, is this merely a tolerance thing??What am I not getting??

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Rantin Al

That's the way it works!
The healing brush works on the texture of the image.

If you need more 'repair' area, use the clone stamp tool.

Don't try to work on large areas as this will introduce patterns into the image. Sample small and often with a soft brush to build up an area.

Al.

Bacardi

Best is to make a selection where you want to use it. When there are contrasting pixels in its "field of action", it diplomatically tries to find a mean value, meaning that you don't heal, but infect the healing with the unwanted influence.
You can also work on a new layer when you activate "use all layers".

This said: the tool has its limits, as has the clone stamp tool. Sometimes you will have to use a fine paintbrush (use alt to sample your colour) to restore.

retired_tenkst

[righton]
Thankyou very much, after posting, I played around some more and realized i just had to keep sampling small areas closer to the area being "healed". Thankyou so much for your replies, they have given me a better understanding of how the tool is used.
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:B

Bacardi

Thanks, but my answer was quite short. Too short in fact.

I usually start with making a copy of the background (original layer), and then I add another empty layer to work on. This way I always have the original open, and I can work with the copy, and whatever I heal, clone or paint happens on other layers, so it can be turned on or off, and many more things can be done.

Then I make shure that the 'use all layers" on the option bar is turned on. Otherwise I cannot clone as my layer is empty.

Then I try to do as much as possible with the healing tool, the patch tool and the clone tool. Sometimes, the area that can serve as source for the clone tool is so small that a repeated pattern is as good as unavoidable. That is when I use a small painting brush to paint in pixels. When you have selected the paint brush, you can set the size with the [ and ] shortcut (if you have an English keyboard that is, or if you can set your keyb to English. In the latter case: don't use the Shift-Alt shortcut as it is the cause of many problems!), you can use your numbers to set the opacity, you can use the Alt key to temporarily switch to the sample tool. This is very handy as you can at any moment, whilst painting, choose the colour with which you want to paint by just pressing Alt.

If your monitor allows for it, I also recommend opening a second version of your image (Window menu>Documents>New Window). You can leave this at 100% while you zoom in on the one you work on. This way you can always see what you are really doing without getting lost in the details of your zoom. If you are hesitant to paint, just turn your image upside down, and zoom in. The you only see pixels and patterns, not eyes and lips. In fact: even if you're an accomplished painter: this is a good technique to work on what you "see", instead of working on what you "know".

Have fun!

Bubble

Fantastic tips as usual Erik... I've only just learnt about the second window one, but I never thought to flip my source image upside down. Makes perfect sense though, and i will do this from now on [righton]

docilebob

Don`t forget with the patch tool, you can select whether you define source, or destination.




and with the healing brush, you can choose to sample from a source in the image or a predefined pattern (like clean skin).




and with the align checkbox, you can saty aligned or use source from one point

Bubble

[righton] Cheers Erik

retired_tenkst

Thank you everyone. I cannot believe how much information you have given me in response to my initial post, starting to see the more I stick around here, the more indebted I am going to feel towards all of you. Seriously Eric, you have given me techniques that have revolutionised the way I approach the work I do, before I have even developed an approach. Thank you Thank you Thank you.

For those who want to know more about how our brain works when we want to draw something, read the bestseller "Drawing on the right side of your brain".