Ide/Resource Editor/Graphics Tools and Colors
Using Tools and Colors
Using Colors
Color Palette
Color Modes Toolbar
Using the Draw and Edit Tools
Setting Colors
Setting the Draw and Edit Colors
To choose colors for the drawing and editing tools you can select one of the following four switches.
The color of selection will be used for the drawing. It is possible to choose a new color for the active selection by a click in the Color Palette.
The color and the alt-color can be used in all drawing operations, the screen (or transparent) and inverse selections have different purposes depending on the image type.
Note. There are 16 color fields on the Color Palette, and all of them are available for drawing and editing in the Graphic Field.
Setting the Background Color
To see how your image looks on the different background colors or to color the image fragments in "transparent" (to let the background color show through) use the screen color selection.
To change the background color, be sure that the screen switch is selected, then you can choose the background color by clicking in the Color Palette. The background color on the Image Screen, any details of the image, which were colored in (transparent) background color, and the screen indicator of Color Modes toolbar, all will change to the new color.
Usage of the "screen" Colors for Bitmaps, Cursors and Icons
| Image | Screen Colors |
|---|---|
| Bitmaps | Used to set the color of the surrounding area |
| Cursors and Icons | Used to specify transparent pixels and to set the color of the surrounding area |
Setting the Inverse (to Background) Color
Using the inverse color is a convenient way to mark the boundary of the image or to color the details, which should be always be in contrast to any background color.
Usage of the Inverse color for Bitmaps, Cursors and Icons
| Image | Inverse Color |
|---|---|
| Bitmaps | Cannot be used |
| Cursors and Icons | Used to specify pixels that should get a color inverse of the actual background |
Understanding Colors
Colors for Bitmaps
The Visual Prolog Graphics Editor can create bitmaps with either 2 or 16 colors. A pixel in a bitmap can not have the inverse and screen colors.
Colors for Cursors
Any pixel in a cursor can have one of four color control values:
| Cursor | Color Effect |
|---|---|
| Black | Pixels will be black |
| White | Pixels will be white |
| Inverse | Pixels will be converted to the inverse of the original color |
| Screen | Pixels will be transparent, they will just keep their old color |
To understand how this works, you should create a little cursor having four areas, with these four color control values. Then select the Resources | Tools | Test Cursor, and study how the cursor looks.
Place the cursor over the Grid and you will see effects of "inverse" color.
Colors for Icons
Icons can either have 2 or 16 colors, and in addition to those, the pixels can also use the screen and colors.
Cursor Handling Tools
Setting Cursor Hot Spots
When working with a cursor, the menu command Resource | Set Cursor Hotspot activates a dialog box:
As long as this dialog is open you can point to the pixel, which is to be the cursor Hotspot. This pixel in the cursor will determine the screen pixel which will be acted upon and which will be reported during a mouse action.
Testing a Cursor
When working with a cursor, the Resource | Tools | Test Cursor menu item allows you to see what your newly designed cursor will look like.
Undo / Redo Buffer
The Graphics Editor supports Edit|Undo and Edit|Redo operations, just as the other editors do.