Newbie question: How to select a specific color and create new layer?

[MikeSmith]

Hi guys,

I am switchin over from photoshop and would like to do the following

1) Select a color: I have a logo with a green and red text and would like to select only the green text. The logo is a flat file so I do not have access to the text-layers.
(In Photoshop I would now use the "select color range" tool)
2) Keep the selection of the color active (as a selection)
3) Create a new overlay-layer and fill the selection with a blue color.

How would you do this in Xara Designer?

Thanks a lot for your tips
Mike

[angelize]

Hello Mike, welcome to Talkgraphics

First what version are you using? and is the file a bitmap? There are different ways to go about this depending on which version you are using.

[MikeSmith]

@Angelize: Thanks a lot for the warm welcome. :-)

I am currently trying out the latest designer x :-)

The Logo is a flat png file (only one layer).

[angelize]

Ok so In Designer Pro X the simplest way is to use the new colour erase/select tool. You will find this tool on the photo tool flyout bar (see screenshot) select the colour erase/select tool and click on the green text. the green text will disappear and become transparent and you will see a black dot. use the sliders to adjust colour tolerance and fade, and the black dot which is your colour marker is also resizeable and by adjusting it you adjust the amount of pixels are sampled. Once all the green is transparent click make soft mask on the info bar above. Now click the camera icon on the photo tools flyout and click the hue adjustment button and use the slider to adjust the hue, you can also tweak the colours with other phot tools like brightness, saturation etc.

[Albacore]

Mike can I come back to you and explain if I can the main benefits of using D Pro over PS.
1. D Pro is a mainly vector programme, like Illustrator, and like that programme it has some photo tools that you can use as Frances has explained.
2. Vector programmes are not pixel dependant when using vector tools

For a logo I would hand trace the design using the Shape Editor (F4) and find out from the design company what font the used for the text and use that. Then you would have design which you could very quickly change the colour with one click of the mouse and re-size to any size with out loss of definition. I would do this every time for small work like logo's and with a bit of practice this can be accomplished very quickly. This changes when you have design work like posters to do with complex details and maybe PS would be better to use in that case when just changing colours and removing part of the design but there are always work around's in D Pro X

[gwpriester]

I agree Albacore. Even in the best of circumstances using the Color Select > Erase is not quite there yet.

The example on the top is a simple two color logo I created against a white background as dropping out a white background is the most common request.

After tweaking the Color Select /Erase you can see a bit of white fringe left around the remaining part of the logo. And placing part of the logo over white shows some pixelation around the edges.

[angelize]

I agree for dropping out a background Colour Select/ Erase isn't the best solution, but The OP didn't ask how to drop out a background, he had a png and wanted to select one color and change it to another. For colour changes the CS/E does work. Sometimes you need to add more markers and play with the sliders but it does work.

[handrawn]

its true that in photoshop terminology a 'flattened' file would have a background, and in that case the method Frances posted would most likely work

its also true that if by 'flat' the OP simply means one layer and there is a transparent background then the problem Gary points out woud likely be apparent

and it is also true that if you want to do this job to the best effect in xara you would trace the logo to vector as Peter [albacore] suggests, though without seeing the logo file its not possible to effectively compare results