The File menu contains commands for creating new documents as well as opening, closing, getting info about, saving and printing existing documents. The File menu also controls the scanning, importing and exporting of images.
New…
The New... command [Command-N] lets you open a new, empty document where you can create or import images or graphics. When you select New… from the File menu, the New Image dialog box lets you specify the image type, a fill color, dimensions, and the resolution of the new document.
The Image Type pop-up menu lets you choose the type of document Color It! creates: Millions of Colors, Thousands of Colors, 256 Colors or 16 Colors for color documents; 256 Grays or 16 Grays for grayscale documents; and Black and White.
The Fill With pop-up controls the initial appearance of the new document. You can select white or
black fills or duplicating the contents of the current document, active selection or clipboard.
Current Document is available only when an existing document is open. The new document duplicates the contents of the document active at the time you chose New…. The height and width boxes automatically change to show the dimensions of the current document.
Active Selection is available only when a selection is active. The new document duplicates the contents of the active selection. The height and width boxes automatically change to show the dimensions of the current selection.
Clipboard is available only when an image is stored on the Clipboard. The new document duplicates the contents of the clipboard. The height and width boxes automatically show the dimensions of the clipboard image.
Width, Height: These text boxes control the size of the new document. The document icon pop-up menu lets you quickly select from several common sizes: US Letter-Tall (8.5" x 11"); US Legal-Tall (8.5" x 14"); A4 Letter-Tall (210mm x 297mm); 3" x 5" and 8" x 10".
The sizes in the bottom two regions are common Macintosh screen sizes in pixels: 640 x 480 (13" screen); 512 x 342 (9" screen); 512 x 384 (12" screen). The 646 x 486 and 532 x 388 are sizes that work well for video or on a 14" screen.
The units pop-up menu lets you specify the units to be used for width and height: pixels, inches, centimeters, picas, or points.
Resolution: The resolution text box controls how much information Color It! stores in the document. Higher resolution takes more disk space, preserves more image details and the final printed image appears closer to the original.
The pop-up menu lets you select pixels per inch or per centimeter.
Image Size: Color It! calculates the amount of disk space needed for the document you
are about to create based on the width, height and resolution entered.
Note: Screen image resolution is measured in pixels per inch. It differs from output device resolution, which is measured in dots per inch.
Open…
The Open... command [Command-O] lets you open documents stored on disk.
Since Color It! uses a virtual memory scheme that uses disk space to hold documents too large to fit in RAM, it can have an unlimited number of documents opened at one time.
Documents display at 72 dpi or at their resolution depending on the setting in Display Preferences (Edit€ Preferences€Display…) when opened. High resolution documents may appear much larger than you expect. To view the document at its true size select Display At Resolution in the Display Preferences dialog box.
The Open dialog box has all the features of a standard Macintosh Open dialog box, plus a few features found in Color It!
Checking the Show Preview checkbox at the bottom expands the dialog to show a preview for a document if one has been created. If the document has no preview and the format is supported by Color It!, clicking the Create button creates a preview. Documents with previews also list the program which created the document and modification date and time.
The Show pop-up lets you select the file formats to be listed in the scroll box, and speeds the process of searching for documents in a specific file format by limiting the number of files shown.
Supported Formats shows all documents in formats that Color It! can open. All Files shows all files regardless of format. If the document selected is not a supported format, Color It! will try to determine it’s format and open the document.
Close
The Close command [Command-W] closes the active window. If more than one document is open, the next open window comes to the front.
If you made changes to the document since it was last saved, a dialog appears asking if you want to save the changes.
If the document is new and has never been saved, the Save As dialog opens. (The Save As dialog is described below.)
Save
The Save command [Command-S] saves the most recent version of the document. When working on an existing document, Color It! saves all changes under the current file name and format. If the document is new and has never been saved, the Save As dialog opens. (Options for the Save As dialog are described below.)
Save As…
The Save As... command lets you name and save a new document or save an existing document under a new name, a new file format or in a different location.
The Save As… command opens a dialog box with the current file name (or “Untitled” for a new document). If you click the Save button for a document with a name that already exists in that folder, Color It! asks if you want to replace the existing document.
The Save Selected Area Only checkbox at the bottom is available only if a selection is active in the document, and if checked saves that selected region as the new document.
Note: Be sure the Save Selected Area Only checkbox is not checked if you mean to save the entire document. If it is checked, only the selected area will be saved.
The Format pop-up menu is used to select the specific file format in which to save the document. Options include TIFF, Macintosh PICT, PostScript®, CompuServe GIF™, Photoshop™ 2.0 and 2.5, StartUpScreen, Photone™ Prepress, Scitex CT and QuickTime™ PICT.
The Options button opens a dialog box allowing you to set format-specific preferences.
Note: Paint, StartUpScreen, Photone Prepress, Scitex CT and QuickTime PICT formats do not have any options.
TIFF File Options
Compression: Select either None or RLE compression.
Format: Select either Macintosh (Motorola) or IBM (Intel) formats.
The Include Selection checkbox allows you to save a selection so it reappears when the document is reopened. This option is useful for saving complex selection masks you have created. Just convert the mask to a selection and save the document.
When you reopen the document, choose (SelectionMask Operations Selection To Mask) and you recreate the original mask. This takes less disk space than a mask normally requires.
The Include Info Strings checkbox is used for older versions of programs that may not be able to read TIFFs with info strings. (If you have a TIFF document which you cannot open in a program, reopen it in Color It! and save it with the Include Info Strings unchecked. You may then be able to open it.)
Macintosh PICT File Options
You may save the document as either version 2 or version 1. Version 1 should be used only if you are saving a black and white document for an older paint program.
PostScript® (EPSF) File Options
Data Format: Saving PostScript documents in Binary format is usually preferred, as it is half the size of ASCII and transfers faster to the printer.
Unfortunately, some programs like Aldus Freehand‚Ñ¢ and PageMaker‚Ñ¢ do not support binary files. Use the ASCII Text format in these cases.
Display Representation: Many programs open and display a PICT screen image for a PostScript file to help you position the image. You may select no image representation, a black and white representation, or a color/grayscale image.
Checking the Transparent Line Art checkbox makes all pure white areas of PostScript images containing only black and white areas transparent.
Photoshop‚Ñ¢ 2.0
File Options
The Include Selection as Alpha Channel checkbox converts any active
selection in the document to an alpha channel. (Photoshop uses alpha channels instead of masks).
Photoshop‚Ñ¢ 2.5
File Options
Compression: Choose None or RLE.
The Include Selection as Alpha Channel checkbox converts any active selection in the document to an alpha channel.
Revert to Saved
The Revert To Saved command returns the document to the last version saved on the disk. It is available only if the document has been changed since the last save.
Scan & Import
The Scan & Import hierarchical menu gives you access to third party drivers that
communicate with scanners and other third party hardware and software. Color It! works with any scanner or digitizer which has a Photoshop™ or Digital Darkroom™ compatible driver. The Twain Acquire… and Twain Select Source… work with drivers that meet Twain scanner standard specifications.
Scanner drivers are installed by placing the driver in the Plug-ins folder located inside the Color It! Stuff folder. If Color It! is open you must quit and restart it to use the driver. Drivers automatically appear in the hierarchal menu whenever the program is opened. If Color It! cannot locate a Plug-ins folder, it will create a new one when restarted.
Contact the manufacturer if you are unsure whether your specific scanner supports any of these standards. If the manufacturer does not have a compatible scanner driver, you can still scan images and save them in any common file format, and then open them in Color It!.
Export
While Color It! supports a wide variety of the common file formats, you may want to save or export documents in other file types. Third party export plug-ins permit you to save a document in an unsupported file format or export a document to compression hardware/software or to an incompatible printer.
Third party export plug-ins are installed by placing them in the Plug-ins folder inside the Color It! Stuff folder. If Color It! is open you must quit and restart it to use the export plug-in. If Color It! cannot locate the Plug-ins folder, it will create a new one when restarted.
Contact the vendor for specific information on any third party export plug-in.
Print One Copy
The Print One Copy command is designed as a simple way to print a single copy of the document. A minimal dialog
box appears that permits you to cancel or pause the printing. The Continue button is available when printing is paused.
Document Setup…
The Document Setup... command opens the standard Macintosh Document Setup dialog box. Controls are available to set the paper size and orientation of the printed image. Image reduction or enlargements and special printer effects can be specified. The options available depend upon the type of printer selected in the Chooser.
Print…
The Print… command [Command-P] controls the output options for the document. The options available in the top portion depend upon the type of printer selected in the Chooser. Options specific to Color It! appear at the bottom of the dialog box.
The Printing Method radio buttons let you choose between PostScript, Color PostScript, QuickDraw or Custom Dither.
Clicking on the Custom Dither Options… button opens the Convert dialog box.
The Dither Style area offers radio buttons with several different styles:
Diffusion has a pop-up menu with several choices for diffusion dither methods.
Ordered Dither has a pop-up menu with several choices for dither levels.
Mezzotint converts the image to a random dither.
Threshold converts the image to a posterized image consisting of pure backs and whites. The percent entered in the textbox determines the level at which the black-to-white change takes place.
The Color Set area lets you choose one of several color sets to be used when printing the document. Selecting System or Optimized Colors dithers the colors for printing.
The Screen Ruling and Angle textboxes let you enter the values you wish for printed output.
The Spot Function pop-up lets you choose between Circle, Square or Line rulings for the printed image.
Checking the Optimize for 300 DPI Printer checkbox adjusts the appearance of grayscale images for printing on a 300 dpi laser printer.
NOTE: This option will not print pure whites and pure blacks. If you are printing an object on a white background, be sure to uncheck the Optimize for 300 DPI Printer checkbox.
Checking the Use Screen Default Settings checkbox uses the printer’s default settings rather than Color It’s settings.
Clicking the Preview button opens a dialog box that allows you to position the document image on the chosen page size by using the horizontal and vertical alignment buttons.
Quit
The Quit command [Command-Q] closes any open documents and quits Color It!. If there are any documents
with unsaved changes, a dialog box opens with options to save the document or discard any changes made.
