Colour Editing PNG

[Chris M]

I'm playing with XDP and started throwing frames at things. Of course I wanted to colour said frames, no problem, pick Dark Contone and colour away. Then I wanted to colour just parts of the frame, I can't do that.

How would I colour, say, the for main spikes without cutting them out and gluing them back on? Or, how would I add a gradient without it turning into a square?

Don't know if this is relevant, but the png was converted from an abr file.

[handrawn]

assuming it's black and white

clone, give clone a multiply transparency add colour shapes between, then group and if necessary make bitmap copy

if it's black and alpha cloning and multiply not necessary

if it's not black and white it becomes more 'interesting

there again if you want to colour the spikes themselves and not the spaces..... cutting them out is probably the way to go, but I would again do that on a clone and maybe feather the edges if necessary - or apply transparency to mask out

[handrawn]

sorta like this ?



sorta like this.xar


if you want to apply gradient you'll need to bitmap trace the black first I think

[Chris M]

Yes, but no. I'll attach the xar, which I should have done initially because my description sucked. I also don't understand how the transparency will help with colouring only various parts, but that maybe because it does have an alpha channel as you mentioned. The example above is what I'm after though.

Frame.xar

[Egg Bramhill]

Chris,
Clone the shape. Change the dark contone to red. Apply a elliptical transparency over the East spike. Adjust the profile.
Clone. change colour to green. Move the elliptical fill to centre on the Western spike.
Repeat for the North & South spikes.

[Boy]

Elegant solution, Egg.

[Chris M]

Thanks Egg, I was doing something similar but cutting and pasting. As you and handdrawn have admirably shown, Xara is highly capable of doing the precise (mathematical) design work, but a painting program is better suited for, say, putting an artistic sweep through the filigree, or adding a touch to the points.

My daughter dropped it into Medibang and simply 'painted' a colour on then smudged it. A lot simpler and very effective.

This was just me playing and learning, it wasn't a specific need.

[Boy]

My daughter dropped it into Medibang and simply 'painted' a colour on then smudged it. A lot simpler and very effective.

Love to see the result.

[Chris M]

Love to see the result.

Just a few stroke of the pen. Don't forget we wern't aiming to actually achieve anything, just to see how something could be done.

[gwpriester]

Since I have been doing this almost every day for my new stereogram images.

1. Place the black and white image over something colorful
2. Apply a Screen (Bleach) transparency (Screen makes black transparent but maintains the opacity of the white)
3. Create a bitmap copy, True Color (no alpha)
4. Use the Photo Tool > Select Color to Enhance, select the white, right click and select Make Transparent.
5. Garnish to taste