Working with color

Your application lets you choose and create colors using a wide variety of industrystandard palettes, color mixers, and color models. You can create and edit custom color palettes to store frequently used colors for future use.

In this section, you’ll learn about

•choosing colors

•creating custom color palettes

Choosing colors

You can choose background, foreground, and fill colors using the color control area, color palettes, sampling, color viewers, color harmonies, or color blends.

Choosing a color using the color control area

In the color control area, you can view the selected foreground, background, and fill colors, and you can choose new colors.

Choosing a color using the default color palette

A color palette is a collection of color swatches. You can choose foreground, background, and fill colors using the default color palette, which contains 99 colors from the RGB color model.

Choosing a color using fixed or custom color palettes

Fixed color palettes are provided by third-party manufacturers. Some examples of these are HKS Colors, Focoltone, PANTONE, and TRUMATCH. It may be useful to have on hand a manufacturer’s swatch book, which is a collection of color samples that shows exactly what each color looks like when printed.

Custom color palettes can include colors from any color model or fixed color palette. You can save a custom color palette for future use. For more information about working

with custom color palettes, see “Creating custom color palettes” on page 371 and “Opening and editing custom color palettes” in the Help.

Sampling colors

When you want to use a color that already exists in an object or image, you can sample the color to achieve an exact match. By default, you sample a single pixel from the image window.

When you sample a color from a photo, what looks to be a solid-colored area may actually be subtly shaded or dithered. In this case, it is useful to average the colors of pixels in a larger sample area. You can set the sample area to 3 x 3 pixels, or to 5 x 5 pixels for high-resolution images. You can also sample pixels in a selected area.

Choosing a color using color viewers

Color viewers give a representation of a range of colors using either one-dimensional or three-dimensional shapes. The default color viewer is based on the HSB color model, but you can use this viewer to choose CMY or RGB colors. For information about color models, see “Understanding color models” in the Help.

Choosing a color using color harmonies

Color harmonies work by superimposing a shape, such as a rectangle or a triangle, over a color wheel. Each vertical row in the color grid begins with the color located at one of the points on the superimposed shape.

The colors at each corner of the shape are always complementary, contrasting, or harmonious, depending on the shape you choose.

Choosing a color using color blends

When you choose a color using color blends, you combine base colors to get the color you want. The color blender displays a grid of colors that it creates from the four base colors you choose.

To choose a color using the color control area

1In the color control area of the toolbox, double-click one of the following:

•Foreground color swatch

•Background color swatch

2Move the color slider to set the range of colors displayed in the color selection area.

3Click in the color selection area to choose a color.

To choose a color using the default color palette

To choose a color using a fixed or custom color palette

1In the color control area of the toolbox, double-click one of the following:

•Foreground color swatch

•Background color swatch

2Click the Palettes tab.

3Choose a fixed or custom palette from the Palette list box.

4Move the color slider to set the range of colors displayed in the color selection area.

5Click a color in the color selection area.

You should use the same color model for all colors in an image; the colors will be consistent, and you will be able to predict the colors of the final output more accurately. It is preferable to use the same color model that you are using for the final output.

To sample a color

1Click the Eyedropper tool .

2Click the image to choose a foreground color. The default sample size is 1 pixel.

You can also

You can also

To choose a color using a color viewer

1In the color control area of the toolbox, double-click one of the following:

•Foreground color swatch

•Background color swatch

2Click the Models tab.

3Choose a color model from the Model list box.

4Click Options ` Color viewers, and click a color viewer.

5Move the color slider.

6Click a color in the color selection area.

You can also

If you choose a color that is out of the printer’s gamut, Corel PHOTO-PAINT displays the closest in-gamut color. This color is displayed in the Reference area, in the small swatch beside the New color. You can either choose this closest in-gamut color or you can correct the out-of-gamut color.

To choose a color using color harmonies

1In the color control area of the toolbox, double-click one of the following:

•Foreground color swatch

•Background color swatch