The Smudge tool smudges the document with the fill (foreground) color or the colors in the document. The effect is similar to dragging your finger across wet ink.
Selecting the Smudge tool adds a number of pop-up features to the bottom of the Tools palette. The Brush Type and Brush Size pop-ups are described under the Paint Brush
tool earlier in this chapter. The Smudge Options pop-up opens a dialog box with several choices. As you change the pressure by moving the cursor over the bar, a black pointer shows the current level
and a gray pointer the previous level. The percentage readout changes to indicate the current pressure. The percentage indicates the amount of color blended with the background. 100% smudges an exact copy of the brush stroke over the top of the document. The lower the pressure percentage, the shorter the smudge effect is drawn into an edge. The bottom portion lets you choose whether the smudge uses the foreground color or the document image. The current selection is marked with a black border.
If you want a finer adjustment, open the Brush Options palette and use the Pressure option to change the percentage. The amount can be selected with the slider or with the pop-up using the Edit… or Other… choices described under the Paint Brush section earlier in this chapter.
Double-clicking on the Smudge tool displays the Brush Options palette.
Shift + Option + Smudge uses only the fill color
when smudging.
Lighten
Painting with the Lighten tool lets you lighten the document under the brush. Selecting the Lighten tool adds a number of pop-up features to the bottom of the Tools palette. The
Brush Type and Brush Size pop-ups are described under the Paint Brush tool earlier in this chapter. The Lighten
Amount pop-up opens a dialog box that lets you adjust the effect. As you change the settings by moving the cursor over the bar, a black pointer
shows the current level and a gray pointer the previous level. The percentage readouts change to indicate the current settings.
Double-clicking on the Lighten tool displays the Brush Options palette.
Shift + Option + Lighten changes to the Eye Dropper tool.
Darken
Painting with the Darken tool lets you darken the document under the brush. Selecting the Darken tool adds a number of pop-up features to the bottom of the Tools palette. The
Brush Type and Brush Size pop-ups are described under the Paint Brush tool earlier in this chapter. The Darken
Amount pop-up opens a dialog box that lets you adjust the effect. As you change the settings by moving the cursor over the bar, a black pointer
shows the current level and a gray pointer the previous level. The percentage readouts change to indicate the current settings.
Double-clicking on the Darken tool displays the Brush Options palette.
Shift + Option + Darken changes to the Eye Dropper tool.
Paint Tools
The paint tools are the Shape Objects - Line, Paint Can, Text, and Gradient.
Shape Object
The Shape Object tool lets you draw filled shapes. Selecting this tool adds a number of pop-up features to the bottom of the Tools palette. The Brush Type and Brush Size pop-ups are described under the Paint Brush tool earlier in this
chapter.The Shape pop-up on the left opens the Shape Selector that lets you choose from 11 predefined shapes or create a custom shape. Choose a shape by moving the cursor over the shape and
releasing the mouse. The chosen shape then appears in the Tools palette.
Choosing Custom from the pop-up menu or double-clicking on the Shape Object tool opens the Custom Shape dialog box. See the Custom Selection discussion under the Shape Selection tool earlier in this chapter for more information.
In the Frame Width pop-up, moving the cursor within the upper left box resizes the line widths as you move. Holding down the Command key makes the sizing non-proportional. The frame thicknesses are displayed in the box at the upper right.
The Frame/Fill pop-up menu lets you select the frame and fill options for the shape. Frame Only draws a frame for the shape without any fill. Fill Only draws the selected shape without a frame. Frame and Fill draws the frame of the selected shape and fills it with the foreground color.
Line
The Line tool lets you draw lines. Selecting the Line tool adds two pop-up features to the bottom of the Tools palette.
The Line Width menu lets you set the width of the lines. Moving the cursor within the upper left box resizes the line widths as you move. Holding down the Command key makes the sizing non-proportional. The width of horizontal and vertical lines are
displayed in the box at the upper right.
Shift + Line constrains the line to horizontal, vertical, or a 45° angle.
Shift + Option + Line changes to the Eye Dropper tool.
Paint Can
The Paint Can tool fills an area with the fill color. Selecting it adds two features to the bottom of the Tools palette.
The left pop-up opens the Fill Sensitivity menu. Choosing a high percentage of spread fills the document. With a lower percentage of spread, the Paint Can fills until it reaches a boundary or object.
Double-clicking on the Paint Can fills the entire document.
Text
The Text tool lets you add text to a document. When you select the Text tool, Fonts, Sizes and Options pop-ups are
added to the bottom of the Tools palette.
The Font pop-up menu shows all fonts installed in your System or loaded with third-party products like Suitcase. The current font is indicated with a check mark.
The Size/Style pop-up lets you select the style for text. The current style is indicated with a check mark.
The Text Alignment pop-up lets you choose the alignment for the text. The current alignment is indicated with a check mark.
The Text Size pop-up lets you choose the alignment for the text. The current size is indicated with a check mark.
Choosing Other… opens a dialog box where you can enter the point size for the type in the textbox.
Clicking on a document with the Text tool creates a rectangular box with a cursor in it. Text can be entered by typing, with most of the normal text editing features available. Double-clicking on a
word in the text box selects it, and clicking while holding down the Shift key extends the selection. The text box can be resized by clicking on one of the handles at the corners of the text box and dragging. Shift-clicking the handles constrains the box to the aspect ratio of the original. Option clicking the handles varies only the height of the text box. Command clicking the handles varies only the width of the text box.
Option clicking in the text box changes to the Mover tool.
Double-clicking on the Text tool converts text to a floating paste selection.
Clicking outside the box or selecting a different tool after entering the text pastes it onto the document. After pasting, the text becomes part of the underlying image and is no longer editable through typing.
Gradient
The Gradient tool lets you create a gradient between colors or custom gradients with up to 16 blends. When you select the Gradient tool, a gradient bar is added to the bottom of the Tools palette.
The gradient Color It! creates exactly matches the gradient bar at the bottom of the Tools palette. When
you move the crosshair over the active window, two parallel lines show you where Color It! will create the gradient.
The line that appears on the side of the crosshair where you start is the beginning point of the gradient and the opposite line is the ending point.
Shift + Gradient constrains the gradients to horizontal, vertical, and 45 degree angle gradients.
If no selection is made before using the Gradient tool, an alert dialog opens informing you that the entire document will be filled if you proceed.
Clicking on the color bar in the Tools palette opens the Gradient Editor dialog box. Here you can create custom gradients or modify existing ones. Color It! ships with several pre-made gradients. To modify a gradient, click on it from the scrolling list on the left. The selected gradient appears at the top. The pointers indicate a chosen color at that point in the gradient. Colors can be removed from a gradient by clicking on a pointer and dragging it away from the display.
To add a color to a gradient, click on a square. The standard Apple color picker opens. Select a color, click OK, and it appears in the display showing a blend to the colors on either side.The color can be repositioned by dragging the pointer to any other square. Each
color bar can have up to 16 colors for gradients.
The New button adds a new white-to-black gradient to the bottom of the scrolling list. The Append button lets you add custom gradients from other documents. The Remove button removes a selected gradient from the scrolling list.
Checking the Gradate checkbox for a gradient shows the colors smoothly blending into one another. Unchecking the Gradate checkbox changes the
colors to solids with no blending of colors.
Filter Tool
Kernel
The Kernel tool lets you apply filters to an image with the same setting as the brushes. Selecting this tool adds several
pop-up features to the bottom of the Tools palette. The Brush Type and Brush Size pop-ups are described under the Paint Brush tool earlier in this chapter.The Filter List pop-up shows the same filters that are available through the Filter menu.
Select a filter from the list, choose your brush shape and size and begin painting on the document. The chosen filter will be applied to the area painted with the brush.
See Chapter 9, The Filter Menu for more information about filters.
Editing the Tools Palette
You can edit and save custom tool sets in Color It!. Tools can be placed wherever you wish and specific attributes can be assigned to each tool. For example, two brushes can appear in the same palette: one with a round shape and one with a diagonal shape.
To edit the Tools palette, click on a tool and hold down the mouse button. As you move the mouse, an outline of the tool follows the pointer. When the outline is moved over another tool, that tool is highlighted. Releasing the mouse button places a duplicate of the selected tool in that position, and the tool originally in that position is moved to the Additional Tools pop-up list. Tools in the pop-up can be moved to the main tool display as well.
Note: The Allow Editing of Tool Positions checkbox in the Tool Preferences dialog box pop-up must be checked before the Tools palette can be changed.
The Tool Set Pop-up Menu
The Tool Set pop-up menu controls editing of the Tools palette. It lets you create, save, reset and select different palettes.
It is important to save any tool sets you wish to keep before rearranging tools. Any modifications made to
the Tools palette are saved when you close Color It!.
The New Tool Set... command opens a dialog to create a new tool set based on the current Tools palette. The new tool set name appears at the bottom of the Tool Set pop-up.
The Reset… command opens a dialog box where you can return to the Tools palette active when Color It! was last opened or the
original palette shipped with the program.
All of the available tool palettes are listed at the bottom of the pop-up menu. Selecting one makes it the current palette. To remove a tool set from the list, quit Color It! and open the Tool Sets folder in the Color It! Stuff folder. Select the tool set you wish to remove and drag it to the trash.
