Paint Focus | Painted Docs

By default, Painted sends the fine brushes to the most detailed areas near the middle of the image. That works for most pictures. When it picks the wrong spot, paint the focus yourself.

Hover the preview and click the crosshair button in the top corner. The cursor becomes a round brush, and a hint along the bottom reminds you of the controls.

Painted in focus mode with two blue focus strokes over a face, the brush ring under the cursor, and the Auto, focus, and image buttons in the corner.

Paint the Focus

Click the crosshair button to enter focus mode.
Drag over the parts that matter, like eyes, a logo, or a line of type. Your strokes show as a translucent overlay.
Painted remixes the paint each time you finish a stroke.
Click the crosshair button again when you are done.

Outside focus mode, the overlay stays hidden and fades in when you hover the preview.

Remove Focus

Option-click (Alt-click on Windows) or right-click a focus stroke to remove it.
Click Auto in the corner to clear every focus stroke and go back to automatic focus. Auto appears in focus mode once you have painted a stroke.

How Focus Behaves

Painting focus moves detail rather than adding it. The fine brushes keep roughly the same amount of work and spend it inside your strokes. The finest brush goes to the most detailed part of your focus area. Everything outside it stays loose.

That makes focus a useful framing tool. In a portrait, brushing over the eyes and mouth keeps the face sharp while the hair stays painterly.

Loading a new image clears the focus.