Home > Articles

Complete Idiot's Guide to Paint Shop Pro 7

All 16.7 Million Colors of the Rainbow

In This Chapter

  • How computers handle color

  • Working with a limited color palette

  • Selecting colors

  • Re-using colors

Whenever you create an image, you deal with color. This is the case even if the image is in black and white—well, black and white are colors, aren't they? Granted, they aren't very colorful colors (the white crayon was never the most useful crayon in the box), but they are colors nonetheless.

The Big Box of Crayons

Your computer can handle a lot more than black and white. It can handle more colors than you can name (which isn't that surprising; after naming about a dozen colors you're apt to find yourself stretching for terms like ecru and aquamarine and Pepto-Bismol pink). How many different colors can your computer handle? A bunch. Sixteen million, seven hundred and seventy-seven thousand, two hundred and sixteen—to be precise. That's a lot of crayons. It's also a very strange number, but there's a reason for it, as you'll see shortly.

Is Your Screen Holding You Back?

Even though the hardware of almost every PC sold for years can show 16.7 million colors, some displays have been configured to show only 256 (or even fewer!) colors. To check your system, right-click your Windows desktop and choose Properties from the pop-up menu. On the Display Properties dialog box that appears, click the Settings tab. In the Colors field, select True Colors (24 bit). While you're checking this out, make sure that the Screen Area is set to 800 x 600 pixels or higher. If Windows doesn't let you have that large a screen area and True Colors at the same time, you might have to settle for High Color (16 bit) in the Colors field. Click OK. (Your system might tell you that you have to reboot your machine before these settings take effect.)

Primary Colors

You might remember primary colors from your grammar school days, filed somewhere in your brain along with the chief export of Albania (chrome) and the capital of Liechtenstein (a capital L.) By mixing together the three primary colors of light you can make any color. Your computer monitor works on a similar concept. Every point on the monitor has a dot of red, a dot of green, and a dot of blue. By adjusting the brightness of these dots, different colors can be made. To make purple, for example, your computer makes the blue and red dots bright, but leaves the green dot dark.

Why 256?

Computers count using binary, a system using only 0 and 1 rather than using the numbers 0 through 9. Using eight binary digits, the computer can count from 0 to 255.

Each colored dot can be set to any one of 256 levels of brightness, anywhere from 0 (the dot is off) to 255 (the dot is as bright as can be). To make black, for example, all three dots are set to zero. To make bright white, all three dots are turned to full, 255. When you set the red to 200, and set the blue and green to 100, you get a dull red. Every combination makes a different color, and with 256 settings for each color, the number of combinations is 256 times 256 times 256, which multiplies out to that 16 million number.

This is about at the limit that the human eye can discern. Using a thousand different levels for each color wouldn't make the images look any better.

Picking Colors

Move your pointer over the Available Colors display of colors at the top of the color palette (as seen in Figure 3.1). In the Current Color display below it, you see a rectangle of the color you are pointing to, as well as the amounts of red, green, and blue in that color—marked R, G, and B, respectively. (If you see H, S, and L instead, choose File, Preferences, General Program Preferences. Click the Dialogs and Palettes tab, and click the Display colors in RGB format option.)

Figure 3.1 The color palette probably looks a lot more colorful on your screen than it does in this black and white picture.

Click a color in the Available Colors display, and it is displayed in the Foreground/Stroke Solid Color panel. It should also be displayed in the Active Stroke Style panel. If not, point to the Active Stroke Style box and hold the left mouse button down. Four buttons will appear. Release the mouse button, and then click the left-most of the four buttons (it looks like a paint brush). The color you selected is now your main color. If you were to start painting, it would be in that color.

Right-click on the Available Colors area, and that color is displayed in the Background/Fill Solid Color panel. It should also be displayed in the Active Fill Style panel. If not, point to the Fill Style box and hold the left mouse button down. Four buttons will appear. Release the mouse button, and then click the left-most of the four buttons (the one that looks like a paint brush). This is a secondary color. When, for example, you use the shape-drawing tool to draw a circle with an outline, the outline will be in the Stroke color (stroke means outline, in art-speak) but it will be filled inside with the Fill color.

Put a check in the Lock check box. Without this check, the colors would change whenever you picked a different art tool from the Tool palette (which can actually be handy, since that also means that when you switch back to that tool, it still has the color you last used with it).

Stylish Pseudonyms

The fine folks who created PSP gave each of the Style panels two names. The upper one is called the Active Stroke Style panel when using it with some tools, and the Active Foreground Style panel with other tools. This is just too confusing, so in this book I'll always refer to it as the Active Stroke Style panel, no matter what tool is being used. Similarly, I'll always refer to the lower panels at the Active Fill Style panel, even though the fine PSP folks sometimes call it the Active Background Style panel.

Precise Picking for Pickier Pickers

Picking the exact color you want from the Available Colors display is not only difficult, it can be impossible. This is because the area only has space for less than five thousand of the sixteen million possible colors. If you don't have any images open, or if you're working on an image that was set to let you use all 16.7 million colors (as we set up that smiley picture to be), you can use a much richer color selection tool.

Color Fast

Right-click the Stroke or Fill style box instead of clicking it, and you'll be shown 10 standard colors and several of your most recently used colors. Click one of these, and you're on your way.

Click on the Active Stroke Style panel, and the Color dialog box shown in Figure 3.2 appears. (This same trick works with the Active Fill Color box.)

Click any spot on the hue wheel to choose the basic color you want. The box inside the wheel shows a range of versions of that color, with different amounts of light and color saturation. Click the spot on the box that shows the color you want.

Figure 3.2 The Color dialog box has so many options, you get to pick how to pick your colors as well as picking the colors themselves.

You can also quickly get one of 48 preset colors by clicking the Basic Colors grid. If you frequently find yourself using colors that aren't on the Basic Colors grid, select that color using the color wheel, and then click Add Custom.

You can also select a color by entering the red, green, and blue values into the fields marked Red, Green, and Cheese Sandwich. (Oh, okay, I made that last one up.) You can return to the existing stroke color by clicking Old Color.

After you select your color, click OK! That color is now your new foreground/stroke solid color (unless you clicked your Active Fill Style to begin with, in which case this is your new background/fill solid color). And here's a neat little trick: To quickly switch your Active Fill Style and Active Stroke Style, just click the little arrow that's on the lower left of the Styles display!

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020