'Re-Filling' a color..

Hi, this is likely an easy one: prior tools i have used allowed me to select a desired color and then pointing to a particular color within an image, clicking it and have *every* contiguous matching pixel would be 're-filled' with my new desired color. This is rather crude but effective way to fix up an image.

I have found how to do this with closed objects, but if your starting point is another complete image and you simply need to alter a color within it, this technique is useful. Is there an easy Xara alterative..? thanks kindly, drew..

Hi, this is likely an easy one: prior tools i have used allowed me to select a desired color and then pointing to a particular color within an image, clicking it and have *every* contiguous matching pixel would be 're-filled' with my new desired color. This is rather crude but effective way to fix up an image.

I have found how to do this with closed objects, but if your starting point is another complete image and you simply need to alter a color within it, this technique is useful. Is there an easy Xara alterative..? thanks kindly, drew..

Hi Drew,

There are several ways you can accomplish this task in xara (the simpler the task, the more ways there are to do it). The easiest way for me is to just...

1. select the item I want the color of...

2. Click and drag the color from the color line, to the item you want colored.

3. Then just drop the color on the new item

see pretty Pic...

Drew
The easy answer is 'You can't do this in Xara'.
Xara is at heart a vector program, and whilst it handles bitmaps (jpg gif tiff and png) it has no 'Magic Wand' feature that you find in Bitmap Programs to manipulate bitmaps in this manner.
There are work arounds in Xara, but Xara is best used to create a scalable vector of the original bitmap by the redrawing the image by hand.
If you just want to recolour certain parts of a bitmap, your better off using bitmap editing programs like paint shop or photo shop.

Egg

Thank Egg, say it ain't so .. i thought Xara could do everything.. oh well, there is always those editors, thanks kindly!

and ps: thanks for the pretty pic John, just not quite the answer this time, but you still rank way way up there for the last help you graciously offered! drew..

Hi Drew,

I guess I should have read the question a little closer. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif As we used to say when I used to teach... RTFQ! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Not so fast guys. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Hello Drew

There is a plug-in in the Xara Xone Shareware page Sean Sedwards' Search. This Photoshop compatible plug-in lets you replace a specified color on a bitmap with another. You can adjust the sensitivity so you can replace shades of the same color.

It works best with a solid color such as the white background in this photo (one of my wife's creations).

Give it a try.

There is always something in the Xara Xobe Shareware Page.

Gary

I noticed that the white of the eyes was replaced with the red too.

So I dupllicated the face, made an ellipse and Applied Clip View to mask the face in the ellipse which I placed over the face with the red eyes.

Gary

Wow Gary thanks for pointing that out. i used some of his other plugins but never paid attention to that nifty one.

Hi Gary, thanks for the link and input. This is so close to what i was hoping to find, but not quite. My hope was to be able to change a color piece-meal, not for every occurance of a color. And this change should best occur only for pixels of the same color that have contiguous neighbouring pixels of the same color. (Am i describing this ok, or do i sound like a software guy trying to sound like a graphics guy http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif ) drew..

Drew,

That would still be easy enough... cookiecutter a copy of the area you want changed and then change the color on the cookie...

Drew,
I don't know if this will be the solution you are looking for but I did exactly what John is describing and it worked really well. Here is a link to a thread discussing it.

Changing Colors Thread

I also have some .xar files if you are interested in seeing them.

dafipp

Hi Dafipp, after searching through the help for "cookie", all i got was

"Slice (cut) Shapes (Arrange Menu) (Ctrl+4): This operation operates much like a pastry or cookie cutter. The object at the front of the selection is used as the cutter to slice through the other objects. If the front object is a line, you can slice objects in two. If the slice operation results in more than one shape, they will be grouped. For more details, see Slicing shapes."

Perhaps i better rethink this as it might prove to be loads of work to try and re-create the edging involved, oh well. Seems to me (and pardon the beginner's viewpoint) that Xara, with its' ton of features would be able to do this sort of thing. But if this is pixel-oriented and Xara is strictly vector, then i guess i follow (sort of.. Ü)

Back to the drawing board for more fun.. drew..

Drew,

this would be easy enough. Take Gary's example for instance. All one would need is a quickshape (oval/rectangle) to act as the cookie cutter. What do you want to change that would be so hard? Coloring just a couple leaves on a tree might be the most complex thing you might have to worry about the borders...

ahhh, maybe the light flickers to life in my slow brain. The cookie cutter as you describe only generally encloses the area, then you make the change within the area of the cutter, which generally only contains the color in question .... ah ok, me dumb! i will try this today!! as always, thanks, drew..

drew,
I know you didn't ask for it but take a look at this Xara file. If you move the photo you will find that all of the sections of the plane have had their colors changed. Each shape was made with the Shape Editor tool. Just play with the colors and transparencies to adjust the colors of the plane. Zoom in close to make intricate shape like around the girls fingers.

dafipp
http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

Hi Drew,

Ask John about a great little plugin for xara. (sometimes I wish the moderators would quit playing musical posts. Have no idea if something was moved, deleted, or I am in trouble again. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif)

thanks Dafipp, i will most definitely take a boo at the file! and John, i just finished visiting that site and it looks promising! Thanks kindly, man, you two spend more time on the forums than i do, but i appreciate every bit of help and feedback!

ME... only 2 or three times a day for about 30 minutes. Half of which the wife is yelling at me to get off the durn computer.

but that is when you turn to her and say sweetly, "but honey, i am being artistic http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

If it is not a "name" brand, it is not art and anything done on the computer is watching tv. Oh well.. go figure.