Question about art and PSP

[DieHardGamer]

Using PSP 6 how can I do a color exchange from a graduated blue to a graduated red. I'm not sure if graduated is the right word, the point is I am tring to maintain the sence of light in the picture.

The color replace brush replaces everything with only one color. Is there another way?

[Cam]

Die Hard,

I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at, however...

If you're trying to take a flat, one colour section and convert it into a series of colours merging from red to blue, then the paint pot is the key.

For an idea on how to use this, you might want to quickly refer to my own tip on creating icons for the tech tree in the Scenario League Design Tips section which sets out a technique on how to do an icon background: sleague.apolyton.net/Guides/tip21.html although you need not necessarily have to use the sunburst gradient, but one of the other options that moves from the foreground to background colour.

As for the attempt to go from red to blue, the Civ2 palette will dramatically reduce this from;



to



making such a transition somewhat chunky in practice. Also - watch the purple - one of the shades of purple is one of the three transparent colours.

[This message has been edited by Cam (edited August 22, 1999).]

[DieHardGamer]

Cam, I found a good example of the kind of re-coloring that I am talking about in Alex's units.

[This message has been edited by DieHardGamer (edited August 23, 1999).]

[DieHardGamer]

Let's get a better look at this.



OK, I want to recolor the blue toga to red, just like in the example above, without having to do it pixel by pixel. Its possible I'm sure, but is it possible with PSP and if so, how?

[This message has been edited by DieHardGamer (edited August 23, 1999).]

[Cam]

Oh, I think I see what you're after.

Unfortunately your graphic didn't work (launch it to a web site, and use the image tags to the graphic's URL), however, yes, there's quicker ways. One is by utilising the colour replacer tool.



1. Copy the working image

Rather than possibly messing up the original image that you are trying to copy, take a selection and paste it as a new image.

2. Use the dropper tool to select the old and the new

Use the dropper to select the colour you want to loose (right mouse) on the unit image, and the one you want to replace it with (left mouse). The colour palette on the right should therefore show both colours. The shades should be similar - in your case a bright red and a bright blue.

3. Select the colour replacer tool, and open the Control Palette Toolbar

If it's not already open, 'View > Toolbars > Control Palette'. Change the brush tip to a size such as 15 so you will change all of the colours quickly. Run the colour replacer over the top of the image you want to amend.

4. Repeat the process (2. and 3) using progressively darker shades.

I was able to convert the Fanatics unit from red to beige using the light brown colours on the Dragoon's horse in about two minutes using this process. Other approaches such as colorising parts of the image is not as effective given the small size and the 256-colour depth.

[DieHardGamer]

Yes that is what I am talkiing about.

I was hoping for a method where all the colors shades in the selection would be done in one mouse click. When I use the color replacer tool I can never seem to match up the shades correctly, and the image comes out cheesy.

How about the Color>Adjust> options in PSP6 they seem promising. Has anyone successfully recolored an image with those?

[Cam]

Thanks for fixing the image - glad to see I finally got the gist!

I'm not sure that the above technique isn't the best of a range of options in this case - you would spend so much time trying to lasso the right parts of the image to colorize, and then there's no assurance that once the Civ2 palette was loaded, that you'd end up with a reasonable progression of shades.

I'm sure there are a few other approaches - continue to try them out. You can try and take a screen shot of the Civ2 palette or dare I suggest, even contemplate using the editor that came with Fantastic Worlds (and MPG I believe) that also uses the colour replace tool. This should help you align the spectrum of light and dark shades. NB - when using the editors, remember that Civ2 will possibly save the file as a bitmap, and you may have both units.gif and units.bmp in your directory which may be the cause of some confusion.

Enjoy!

[DieHardGamer]

I had to learn FTP in order to get that image to show up in the post!

Ya know, since I started playing civ2, I've learned web site building, computer graphics, FTP, and a fair amount of history. Never before have I gained so much collateral knowledge from game playing.

Thanks Cam.

[Cam]

I aim to please

It's pathetic, I admit, but I've been able to justify to myself that the time spent on my own former Civ2 page was "technical research and training" for my work site.