PhotoFlare Studio Documentation

Getting started

Studio opens with a blank canvas or your existing images - there's no project wizard standing between you and editing.

Opening images

Choose File > Open, drag an image onto the window, or drag it onto an existing tab to open it alongside what you're already working on. JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, GIF, and Studio's own OpenRaster (.ora) files all open directly.

Creating a new document

1. Choose File > New, or press Ctrl/Cmd + N.
2. Set the canvas size in pixels, and a background of white, transparent, or a custom colour.
3. Studio opens the new canvas in its own tab, ready for a first layer.

The interface

The window is built around the canvas, with a toolbox and layers panel on either side.

• Toolbox - every tool from the paint brush to the magic wand, one click away.
• Canvas & tabs - each open document gets its own tab across the top; switch between them without losing your place.
• Layers panel - stacking order and a visibility toggle for the active document.
• Rulers - shown along the canvas edges in pixels, toggled with View > Show Rulers (Ctrl/Cmd + R).

Multi-document workflow

Studio is built to have several images open at once, each isolated from the others.

• Every tab keeps its own undo history, so undoing in one document never touches another.
• Drag a tab left or right in the tab bar to reorder it.
• Ctrl/Cmd + Tab steps forward through open tabs, Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Tab steps back.
• Closing a tab with unsaved changes prompts you before discarding anything.

Layers

A layer stack you can add to, reorder, rename, and merge without ever touching the layers underneath.

• Add a layer from the + button at the bottom of the Layers panel, or from Layer > New Layer.
• Use the up/down arrow buttons in the Layers panel, or Layer > Rename Layer..., to reorder or rename the active layer.
• Click a layer's visibility checkbox to hide it without deleting it.

Merging & flattening

• Merge the active layer with the one beneath it from Layer > Merge Down.
• Flatten the entire document to a single layer from Layer > Flatten Image - useful right before exporting to a format that doesn't support layers.

Brushes

Studio's brush engine is powered by libmypaint, the same engine behind several other open-source painting tools.

Brush presets

Pick a brush from the default pack in the brush picker, then adjust size and opacity from the panel above the canvas.

Pressure

• With a graphics tablet connected, pressure controls brush size and opacity.

Selections & tools

The full toolbox available in Studio, alongside the essential set shared with free PhotoFlare.

Selections

• Rectangular and elliptical marquees for regular shapes, and a lasso for a freehand outline - pick a shape from the Selection tool's settings.
• Magic wand to select by colour similarity - adjust its tolerance from the toolbar before clicking.
• Ctrl/Cmd + A selects the whole canvas, Ctrl/Cmd + H hides the current selection outline.

Painting & retouching tools

• Paint brush and eraser for freehand work.
• Fill to flood an area with the foreground colour.
• Text to draw formatted text directly onto the active layer.
• Line for straight strokes.
• Spray can for an airbrush-style scatter effect.
• Blur to soften detail locally.
• Move tool to reposition the active layer.
• Colour picker to sample a colour straight from the canvas into the foreground swatch.

Every tool is selected by clicking its icon in the Toolbox panel - none currently have single-key shortcuts.

Undo & history

Undo in Studio is command-based rather than a fixed number of steps, and each open document keeps its own history.

• Ctrl/Cmd + Z steps back, Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z steps forward again.
• History is cleared for a document only when it's closed - switching tabs never touches it.
• Flattening or exporting doesn't clear history; you can still undo past a flatten within the same session.

File formats

OpenRaster is Studio's native format for anything with layers; everything else is for getting images in and out.

OpenRaster (.ora)

Saving a document with Ctrl/Cmd + S writes an .ora file - an open, non-proprietary layered format. Layers round-trip intact the next time you open it, in Studio or in any other app that reads OpenRaster.

Standard formats

Use File > Save As (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + S) and choose a different extension to write a flattened JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, or WebP for sharing or printing.

Resizing images

Change the pixel dimensions of the whole document, independent of any single layer.

1. Choose Image > Resize Image...
2. Enter new dimensions in pixels.
3. Keep Constrain Proportions checked to scale width and height together, or uncheck it to stretch the image freely.

Working with Lens

If you're starting from a RAW file, Lens's develop tools are the faster route in.

Develop the photo in PhotoFlare Lens - Lens is free - then click Edit in Studio to open the developed result here directly, with your exposure, white balance, and crop already baked in. There's no export step to do by hand first.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcuts shown as Ctrl/Cmd use Ctrl on Windows and Linux, and Cmd on macOS.

Troubleshooting

My tablet pressure isn't registering

Confirm your tablet's driver is installed and running before you launch Studio - libmypaint reads pressure through the OS tablet API, so a driver that starts after Studio won't be picked up until you restart the app.

I can't find my layers when I open the .ora file elsewhere

OpenRaster is an open format, but not every image viewer understands layers - some will only show the flattened preview. Opening the file in another OpenRaster-aware editor, or back in Studio, will show every layer intact.

My layers merged unexpectedly

Check whether you chose Layer > Flatten Image rather than Layer > Merge Down - flattening collapses the whole stack, not just the two layers you meant to combine. Ctrl/Cmd + Z reverses either one within the same session.