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Lighten or darken image areas

 
 
 

You can lighten or darken areas of a texture image using the Dodge and Burn tools. The Dodge tool lightens color values as you stroke and is useful for revealing highlights, while the Burn tool darkens color values and is useful for toning down highlights. You can set either tool to affect highlights, mid-tones, shadow areas, or all tonal regions.

NoteThe Dodge and Burn tools only work on the active paint layer, with no effect on the underlying shading material color.

The tool names are derived from traditional photographic darkroom processes, where localized areas of a photographic print are lightened or darkened by receiving less or more exposure.

Lighten an area using the Dodge tool

To lighten an area

  1. In the PaintLayers window, select the paint layer that you want to lighten.
  2. In the Paint Tools tray, select the Dodge tool.
  3. In the Dodge tool properties, set the Affect property to the tonal range you want to target.
  4. Stroke across the painted texture in the areas you want to lighten.

    Color values for the pixels are lightened in the areas you stroke. Hue and saturation are not affected. Stroking repeatedly in the same area on the texture image causes more lightening of the pixels.

    Reduce the Exposure property value if the tool lightens pixels too much with each stroke. The default setting is 1 (maximum). The Strength property controls how much buildup of the effect is applied with each successive stroke.

Darken an area using the Burn tool

To darken an area

  1. In the PaintLayers window, select the paint layer you want to darken.
  2. In the Paint Tools tray, select the Burn tool.
  3. In the Burn tool properties, set the Affect property to the tonal range you want to target.
  4. Stroke across the areas you want to darken.

    Color value for the pixels are darkened in the areas you stroke. Hue and saturation are not affected. Stroking repeatedly in the same area on the texture image causes more darkening of the pixels.

    Reduce the Exposure property value if the tool darkens pixels too much with each stroke. The default setting is 1 (maximum). The Strength property controls how much buildup of the effect is applied with each successive stroke.

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