Patent ID: 8487963

Claim:
A machine implemented method, comprising: receiving an input specifying one or more parameters defining a brush tip area, wherein the one or more parameters includes a size of the brush tip area; detecting a location of the brush tip area over a canvas in a display window based on a cursor position, wherein the canvas provides a displayable workspace; scanning pixels associated with the canvas in the display window; mapping the scanned pixels back into the brush tip area according to a specified transform; calculating a shape of a brush tip taper for mapped pixels within the brush tip area, the shape of the brush tip taper indicating a softness or hardness of an edge of the brush tip area; compositing an output color to the scanned pixels based on the calculated shape of the brush tip taper; and displaying a preview representation of pixels effected by the brush tip area at the location over the canvas based on the compositing without editing the canvas.