TUTORIAL ONE:MODIFYING THE COLOR PALETTE Proficiency with DeluxePaint's color control is one of the most important skills you can learn. Because every work of art is little more than the colors and shapes that comprise it,a carefully chosen palette is the first step to any masterpiece. In the following exercises,you will look at a Reference Palette and then modify it to give you just the color selection you need for each project. You should use the Reference Palette whenever you need to adjust your monitor or color printer. You'll see how to do this at the end of the exercise. A REFERENCE PALETTE The Amiga can generate 4096 distinguishable colors,32 of which are available at any one time in Low Resolution screen format. You can create your own 32-color palette through the Color Palette requester. Display the Color Palette requester by choosing Change Color>Palette from the Picture menu. You also can display the Color Palette requester by clicking the Color Indicator(above the palette at the bottom right of the screen)with the right mouse button,or by pressing p on the keyboard. COLOR PALETTE R G B H S V 15 12 8 4 0 SPREAD EX COPY RANGE: 1 2 3 4 5 6 SPEED CANCEL UNDO OK Figure 6.1 The Color Palette requester Take a moment to examine the Color Palette requester. It consists of six vertical sliders for mixing colors,a palette area with a box at the top showing the currently selected color,and a collection of command buttons. To find out more about these commands,refer to the section on the Color Palette in Chapter Four:The Elements. In this exercise,you'll be looking at the Reference Palette to learn how DeluxePaint mixes red,green,and blue to form other colors. You'll also see the relationship between the RGB and HSV(hue,saturation,value)color systems. Close the Color Palette requester by clicking Cancel. Choose Load from the Picture menu and load the picture named Reference Palette from the Tutorial drawer in the Lo-Res drawer of your Art disk. The Reference Palette picture shows you a matrix of the colors in the color spectrum:Red,Orange,Yellow,Green,Blue,and Violet. These are the colors that are produced when you mix colored pigment. In effect,these are the colors a traditional painter would work with. This is not the spectrum produced when you mix colored light. That spectrum produces the colors Red,Yellow,Green,Cyan, Blue,and Magenta. Display the Color Palette requester. Drag the Color Palette to the lower right corner of the screen.(To do this,you point to the title bar of the requester, hold down the left mouse button,and drag the mouse.) Now let's look at the RGB and HSV values of some of the colors in the Reference Palette. In RGB terms,your Color Palette shows that a pure red is all red color with no green or blue. In HSV terms,pure red is hue 0 with full saturation and full value. You might remember from Chapter Four that saturation is the relative amount of color to white,and value is the relative lightness or darkness of a color. Value is ofter referred to as Luminosity. To see exactly what this means,let's change the sliders a bit. Drag the saturation(S) slider all the way down to the bottom to see what happens to the color. Drag the saturation slider back up to the top. Now drag the value(V)slider all the way to the bottom. As you drag the saturation slider down,the red gets lighter until it is white. As you drag the value slider downward,the red gets darker until it is black. Regardless of the hue or saturation,a value of zero always produces black. The meaning of the saturation and value sliders is exactly what the matrix in the Reference Palette shows. Notice that the colors in the Low Saturation row are all pale--they don't contain much color. The colors in the Low Value row are dark--they don't contain much luminosity. The colors in the Pure Color row contain full saturation and full value. Hue simply refers to the position of a color on the color spectrum or rainbow --Red,Yellow,Green,Cyan,Blue,or Magenta,and the various shades in between. Let's look at another color in the Reference Palette. Click on the yellow square in the Pure Color row. The RGB sliders show that yellow contains the maximum amount of red and green, but no blue. Yellow is said to be the "complement" of blue. Each of the primary colors has a complement. In the RGB color system,the relationship of the primary colors and their complements are best thought of as a cube in which each dimension is measured in one of the three primary color is positioned at the opposite corner of the cube. Thus,moving downward on the edge of the cube to add red to green produces yellow(R15,G15,B0)the complement of blue,which is positioned at the opposite corner from blue. If you look back at Figure 6.3 you'll see that in the HSV color system,the complements are also directly across the circle from the primary color--yellow is directly across the wheel from blue. Notice that black is the absence of color(R0,G0,B0)and white is the maximum level of the three colors(R15,G15,B15). The line running diagonally through the center of the cube from black to white shows the positions of the grays,which are formed by combining equal amounts of red,green,and blue. Thus R8,G8,B8 would yield a medium gray. Let's try this in practice: In the Color Palette,drag each of the RGB sliders to 8. Once all three primary colors are at 8,you have medium gray. Look at the position of the value slider in your Color Palette;it is at the same level as the red,green,and blue sliders. The mixing of grays is one area where the HSV system excels. Rather than moving all of the RGB sliders to the same position,you can simply drag the saturation slider to the bottom and move the value slider to the level of gray you want. The position of the hue slider will have no effect,because there is no color(no saturation)in gray. Move the hue slider up and down and notice how the gray you produced doesn't change. Now move the value slider up and down and notice how the RGB sliders move along with it,always starying in a perfect line. Can you change the color back to yellow? Remember,yellow is the complement of blue. Move the red(R)and green(G)sliders all the way to the top and move the blue(B) slider all the way to the bottom. Now that you know the basics,try mixing a few colors you like using either one of the two color mixing systems. Here's a trick you might also consider:mix a few palettes that you particularly like and save small brushes created with those palettes. The palette is saved with the brush file,and you can then automatically produce that palette by loading the appropriate brush and choosing Change Color>Use Brush Palette from the Picture menu. Before we leave the topic of color mixing,let us just summarize a few important points: Your Amiga and DeluxePaint mix colors using the RGB system,and this system is represented by the color cube. If you want to find any pure color,you can do so using the HSV system by moving the saturation and value sliders to the top and then scrolling the hue slider until you find the color you want. If you need to produce a gray,you can do so by setting all three of the RGB colors to the same level,or by setting the saturation slider to the bottom and adjusting the value slider to the gray level you want. Besides providing an example spectrum for our color mixing tutorial,the Reference Palette is useful for adjusting your monitor. Print out a copy of the picture on your color printer and adjust your monitor until the colors on your screen look the same as those on the paper. CREATING COLOR SPREADS AND RANGES As you have probably realized by now,DeluxePaint has many advantages over most standard media. Variable magnification,instant "undoing," and the vast power of DeluxePaint's brushes have no counterpart in the world of paper,paint,and ink. For example,where once a smooth,gradual fade from one color to another required laborious work with an airbrush,DeluxePaint's Gradient Fill does it all in seconds. Some of these more advanced features,however,require that you set up your color palette in a certain way to achieve optimum effect. This exercise will teach you how to get the most out of the Spread and Range commands to arrange your palette for the following exercise,"Animation with Color Cycling." First,clear the screen,and then select Change Color>Default Palette from the Picture menu. Display the Palette requester by clicking the Color Indicator with the right button or by typing p on the keyboard. Now make the following modifications to the palette: If it isn't already black,click on the first color and set it to black either by moving the V slider to the bottom,or by moving each of the R,G,and B sliders to the bottom. Next,with the first color still selected,click with the left button on Copy and then click the last color in that column(Color 8). You have just copied the first color onto the last color in that column. This means that both the first and the last colors in the first column are black. Next we'll make Colors 3 through 8 black: Click Copy,and then click Color 3 to make Color 3 black. Now click Spread and then click Color 8. You have just turned all the colors in the first column black except Color 2. If you were to turn Color 2 black as well,you would lose your Color Palette requester,because DeluxePaint uses Colors 1 and 2 for painting its menus and requesters. Although DeluxePaint gives you the freedom to modify any of the colors in the palette,you should be particularly careful when modifying Colors 1 and 2 for this reason. If you ever make Colors 1 and 2 the same color,and you lose your Color Palette requester(it will still be there,but you won't be able to see it),press the u(for Undo)key to reinstate the previous condition. Alternatively,you can press the Help key to return Colors 1 and 2 to their default values. Select Color 2 and make it pure white by moving all three R,G,and B sliders to the top. Now click Spread with the left button,and then click on Color 8,at the bottom of the first column,to create a spectrum that starts with white at the top and ranges through grey to black at the bottom. Select Color 9(at the top of the second column),and set it to pure red by setting the R slider at the top,and the G and B sliders at the bottom. Next, make Color 14 yellow(maximum R and G,no B)and Color 19 blue(maximum B,zero R and G). Finally,set Color 24(the one at the bottom of third row)to the same pure red you started with. The pure red,yellow,and blue colors define the range of hues that will be included in your palette. Now let's fill in the intermediate colors: Click Color 9(the first red,at the top of second column),click Spread,and then click Color 14(yellow). The four colors between pure red and pure yellow are now a range of oranges. Repeat this procedure,this time starting with Color 14 and ending at Color 19 (blue),to give you a range of greens and blue-greens. One more spread,from Color 19 to the last red(Color 24,at the bottom of the third column)gives you shades ranging from blue through violet,and back to red. Now you have a full rainbow of colors for your palette,as well as a selection of greys in the first column. Next we'll see how to get more subtle tints and shadings of a specific color: SetColor 25(at the top of the last column)to pure white. Four colors down the column,at Color 29,create pure blue(B slider all the way to the top,R and G at zero). Select the white at the top of the column,click Spread,and then select the blue. Finally,set Color 32 to black,and create a spread from Color 29 to Color 32 to give you a set of blues varying in saturation and value. You can use this same technique to create tonal ranges for different colors. Try creating sample tonal ranges for reds and greens. When you create a palette for your pictures,you might consider reserving the last column for tonal ranges involving a single hue,and the first column for shades of grey. We've just seen how to set up our color palette using the Spread command. However,to use Gradient Fill and ColorCycling(as well as Shade and Blend,see The Painting Modes in Chapter Two),you have to define color ranges to let DeluxePaint know which set of colors to use. You can define up to six ranges at one time,one for each range button. Here's how: Click the 1 button beside Range to define the first range. Select Color 2 (white),click Range,and then select Color 8(the black at the bottom of the first column). A thin white line identifies your newly defined color range. Now click 2,select Color 9,click Range,and select Color 24,at the bottom of the third column. Click 3,select Color 25,click Range,and then select Color 32. You have now define three color ranges: 1. Seven shades from Color 2 to Color 8 2. Sixteen shades from Color 9 to Color 24 3. Eight shades from Color 25 to Color 32 As you click on 1,2,or 3,you can see each range bordered by a thin white line next to its set of colors. GRADIENT FILLS Now that you've defined a set of ranges,let's try an experiment with DeluxePaint's Gradient Fill feature. Gradient Fill lets you fill any outline with a range of colors that gradually fade from one to the next. Here's how: Click OK to leave the Color Palette requester. Now display the Fill Type requester by clicking on the Filled Rectangle tool with the right mouse button. Select Vertical fill,set the Dither slider all the way to the left,and click OK to return to the painting area.(Dither is the amount of mixing that occurs between the colors in the range.) Now click the Filled Rectangle tool(click the bottom right part of the icon) with the left mouse button,and select any color in the first range(Colors 2 through 8). FILL TYPE SOLID TINT BRUSH WRAP PERSPECTIVE PATTERN FROM BRUSH GRADIENT: DITHER: CANCEL OK Figure 6.5 Fill Type requester Note that as soon as you click a color in one of your three ranges,the small rectangle on the Menu Bar gives you a preview of the gradient fill. Try clicking colors within the different ranges and watch it change. As soon as you are ready to move on,click one of the colors in the first range. Draw a rectangle using the left mouse button. Note that the shape gradually fills with a banded,metallic shading effect. Display the Fill Type requester again and set the Dither slider about halfway on the scale. Click OK and then draw a second rectangle. This time you'll see the shades of grey blend from one to the other,without clear lines between them. Now that you have the basics down,try experimenting with different settings. Display the Fill Type requester again and set it to Horizontal Fill by clicking the middle of the three Gradient boxes. Draw some circles with this kind of gradient fill. Now try Horizontal Line Fill(the box on the far right with rounded corners),and make a series of realistic spheres. Horizontal Line Fill calculates the distance between the left and right borders of a figure and fills each horizontal line independently,so that each line receives the full complement of the gradient fill. Try drawing diamond shapes with the Filled Polygon tool using both type of horizontal fill,and see how it makes a difference. And don't forget that you have two other ranges to play with. Select a color from one of the other ranges you created and experiment with ovals,rectangles,and polygons. Note that you can change the order of the gradient fill by clicking the cycling direction arrow at the bottom right of the Color Palette requester. ANIMATION WITH COLOR CYCLING Most animation effects are created by displaying a series of drawings in rapid sequence. Animation with color cycling uses a slightly different technique: the illusion of motion is created not by changing images,but by rapidly changing the colors within a static image. Load the six color cycling brushes,Cycle1 through Cycle6,and stamp a copy of each one(click the left mouse button)around the page. You will find these brushes in the Brush drawer. Select Use Brush Palette from the Color Control option of the Picture menu to use the same palette the brushes were created with. Press F10 to hide the Menu Bar and the Toolbox.(You can bring them back by pressing F10 a second time). Activate color cycling by selecting Cycle from the Color Control option of the Picture menu,or by pressing the Tab key. Pressing Tab a second time stops the animation. All of the animations were created with the same palette with 4 designated ranges. In a minute we'll look at how the ranges were defined. Here's how each animation works: 1.THE GLOWING BALLS The first ball was drawn in white,the second in grey,and the third in black. As the colors cycle,the balls change color from white through grey to black,and then start as white again. Because each ball started off at a different color in the range,the balls are out of synch. 2.THE COLOR WHEEL The wheel was drawn with lines radiating out frm the center. Each line's color is one shade away from the lines next to it. As the colors cycle,the wheel appears to spin. 3.THE BOUNCING BALL Each position of the ball was drawn in a different color from the third range. Because five of the six colors in this range are black, only one frame shows at a time,as the remaining five are invisible against the black background. Change the black colors in this range to any non-black color to see all the frames. 4.THE RUNNING MAN This was done in exactly the same way as the Bouncing Ball. Notice how the frames overlap slightly. 5.FALLING SNOW This was done in the same way as 3 and 4 above. 6.MARQUEE This effect was created with only the 2 colors from range 4. In fact, the "light bulbs" are only flashing on and off. The viewer imagines the motion, just as he does with a real movie marquee. Display the Color Palette requester,and click on each of the first four range buttons to see which colors are in each range. Now play with the animation speed of each range by first clicking each of the four channels,and then moving the slider under the channel selectors. To the left is slower,and to the right is faster. If you hold down the mouse button on the slider,you can get a preview of the cycling speed on the screen. You can also change the direction of the cycling by clicking the arrow at the lower right of the requester.