Paint strokes overview

The easiest way to draw a paint stroke is in one continuous movement, rather than one point at a time. Depending on the effect you want, you may achieve better results using a stylus and graphics tablet. Additionally, many styles and brushes in Motion take advantage of stylus pressure and speed.

There are two ways to create a paint stroke:

• Use the Paint Stroke tool to draw a freehand stroke in the Canvas.

• Convert an existing shape into a paint stroke.

Technically, paint strokes are outline-only shapes created using any shape tool. The outline is composed of dabs—vector or image parcels that combine to create the onscreen “stroke.” Dabs are analogous to the particles of a particle system but are arrayed along a spline.

Using the Sequence Paint behavior, you can sequence effects (such as opacity, rotation, and scale) over the length of a paint stroke. For more information on using the Shape behaviors, see Shape behaviors overview.