Eraser Tool Properties

The Eraser tool allows you to erase artwork by drawing eraser strokes over it. When using the Eraser tool with a tablet, it is pressure sensitive, like with the Brush tool.

NOTE To learn how to use the Eraser tool, see About the Eraser Tool.

Eraser Properties

The way the Eraser tool is configured is almost identical to the way the Brush tool is configured.

Property Description
Stroke Preview Area

The Preview area lets you see a preview of the stroke your drawing tool will make.

Preview Stroke

Eraser Properties Dialog

The arrow button right of the display area opens the Eraser Properties dialog, which gives you access to all the parameters and options for your eraser. The Tool Properties view only gives you access to a few of the eraser properties, a list of eraser presets and options for the Eraser tool that are not related to the eraser properties. For more information on the Eraser Properties dialog, see the Eraser Properties Dialog section below.

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Maximum Size

Defines the maximum size of the eraser.

If the tool is used with a pressure sensitive pen tablet, the width of the stroke will vary between its maximum size and minimum size depending on the amount of pressure used. If used with a mouse, the width of the stroke will always be its maximum size.

Smoothing

Defines the number of control points added to the centre line. The fewer the control points the smoother (but less faithful) the line.

Eraser Presets

These options allow you to select, create and manage eraser presets.

Icon Property Description
  Presets list

By default, Harmony has preloaded eraser presets. You can also create your own eraser presets by configuring your eraser, then saving its properties into a new preset. It is also possible to export and import eraser presets.

New Brush Preset

Creates a new preset based on the current tool properties.

Delete Brush

Deletes the currently selected preset.

  Rename Brush

Allows you to rename the currently selected preset.

  Import Brushes

Allows you to import brush presets exported from Harmony.

  Export Brushes

Allows you to export your brush presets into an .xml file.

  Small Thumbnail  Displays presets in a grid of small thumbnails with a preview of their tip.
  Large Thumbnail  Displays presets in a grid of big thumbnails, with their name and a preview of their tip.
  Stroke View

Displays presets in a list, with their name and a preview of a stroke done with each preset.

Eraser Properties Dialog

Erasers have an extensive set of options and properties that are not displayed in the Tool Properties view, but rather, in a dialog you can access from it. To open the Eraser Properties dialog, click on the arrow button right of the stroke display area.

Edit Brush To Add Texture

The Eraser Properties dialog has two tabs. Below is detailed information about the options available in each tab:

Tip Tab

The Tip tab allows you to configure the shape, size, hardness and spacing of your eraser tip.

Property Description
Eraser Tip Library

This is where you select the shape of the eraser tip. By default, it is round.

Minimum and Maximum Size

The minimum and maximum sizes of your drawing tool produce the thick and thin effect on your stroke. This works with the pressure sensitivity of a pen tablet.

  • Maximum Size: Defines the maximum width of the stroke.
  • Minimum Size: Defines the minimum width of the stroke in relation to and as a percentage of the maximum size.
NOTE Setting the Minimum Size value to 100% eliminates the possibility of creating width variation on your stroke. In other words, you would be forcing a uniform line width using the Maximum Size value.
Proportional to Camera

If you check this option, the size of the eraser will be adjusted to the position of the camera on the z-axis. This means that if the camera is zoomed in on the scene, the eraser will be proportionally smaller so that it appears the same size in the rendered image. Likewise, if the camera is zoomed out, the eraser will be proportionally bigger.

Roundness and Angle

The Roundness and Angle parameters allow you to change the shape and orientation of the tip.

  • Roundness: The vertical scaling to apply to the tip. Reducing this setting squashes the tip vertically, allowing you to turn round or square tips into flat tips.
  • Angle: The angle at which to rotate the brush tip, counterclockwise.
NOTE

The squashing is not relative to the angle—if the tip is rotated, the squashing will still be done relative to the tip's original orientation.

Smoothing Tab

The Smoothing tab contains options to configure how Harmony should automatically smooth your eraser strokes as you paint.

Property Description
Centerline Smoothing Defines the amount of smoothing Harmony should perform on your eraser stroke's direction, curves and corners. A higher setting will prevent your line from being shaky, but is liable to reduce drawing precision and turn sharp angles into curves.
Contour Smoothing
  • Defines the amount of smoothing Harmony should perform on outer contour of the eraser stroke. A higher setting will round sharp corners and reduce the amount of control points for the resulting vector shape.