The Edit menu contains commands that allow you to cut, copy, paste, clear, and fill a document or a portion of a document. There are also commands for publishing and setting various preferences.
Undo
The Undo command [Command-Z] allows you to reverse the actions you perform in a document. The menu display shows the last action taken that can be undone (such as Undo Selection). If the change can’t be reversed, the Edit menu displays Can’t Undo.
Color It! provides multiple levels of Undo—you can undo up to 16 of the last operations performed in a document, in reverse order. The
number of undos are set in the General Preferences dialog box. When you switch to a different document, Color It! keeps only the most recent undo for the inactive documents.
Redo
The Redo command [Command-R] lets you restore an action you reversed with the Undo command.
Like the Undo command, Color It! provides up to 16 levels of Redo. When you switch to a different document, Color It! keeps only the most recent Redo for the inactive documents.
Cut
The Cut command [Command-X] removes the active selection from the document (leaving a hole filled with the background color) and places it on the Clipboard.
Copy
The Copy command [Command-C] copies the active selection and places a duplicate of it on the Clipboard.
Paste
The Paste command [Command-V] places a copy of the Clipboard contents into a document while keeping a copy of the image on the Clipboard.
Clear
The Clear command functions much like the Cut command: it removes the active selection from the document (leaving a hole filled with the background color) but does not copy to the Clipboard.
Paste Into
The Paste Into command puts the contents of the Clipboard into a selection, keeping its original proportions. The marquee lines show the shape of the pasted image, and it can be moved to position the portion wanted to show through the selection.
Paste Behind
The Paste Behind command puts the contents of the Clipboard behind a selection rather than into it. The original image shows in the selection. The pasted image can be moved to reposition it behind the selection.
Paste To Fit
The Paste To Fit command changes the proportions of the contents of the Clipboard so that the pasted image completely fills the selection.
Fill
The Fill command fills a selection with the foreground color.
Frame…
The Frame… command opens a dialog box that lets you set the width of a frame for a selection in pixels. Clicking the Frame button put a frame of the specified width using the Frame color within the selection.
Publishing
If you are working with System 7.0 or above, Color It! adds publishing options to the Edit menu.
The ability to publish images is a very powerful feature. Any document or selection can be published and then be subscribed to by other documents. Once this link is made, any changes in the original image will automatically be updated in any subscribing documents.
Create Publisher… This command allows you to publish any part of a document. This command opens a dialog box where the location and name for the new publisher
document is specified. Once a publisher is created, it can be subscribed to in other Macintosh programs that support publish and subscribe.
To create a publisher, first select an area of the document with any selection tools. If there is no active selection, the entire document will be published. Next select Create Publisher… and choose a location and a file name. To publish the image, select the Publish button.
Publisher Options… By default, whenever a document that contains publishers is saved, changes to areas that have been
published will be automatically saved to the publisher files.
You can choose to override this option by clicking on the Manually radio button. While this setting is in effect, the publisher will only be updated when you click the Send Edition Now button in the Publisher Options dialog box. To update publishers each time a document is saved, click the On Save radio button.
The Publisher Options dialog box also allows you to cancel a publisher. Clicking the Cancel Publisher button will remove the publisher from the document. By clicking on the pop-up at the top of the dialog, you can see the path to the current publisher.
Show Borders/Hide Borders is a toggle command that displays or hides grey borders around each published regions in a document. To select a publisher, click on its border with the Pointer tool. This converts the published region into an active selection. Whenever the file is saved, any changes made to the contents of this selection will automatically be updated in any document which subscribes to this region.
Preferences
The Preferences hierarchical menu lets you set preferences defaults for many areas of Color It! These include General, Display, Files, Tools, Rulers, and Separation.
General Preferences [Command-K]
The Startup area controls what Color It! displays when first started. The Startup With pop-up lets you select Untitled Document, New Dialog, Open Dialog, or
Nothing. The Define Document… button (active only when Untitled Document is chosen) opens the New Image dialog box, where options are set for the document appearing at startup. The options are described in Chapter 5, The File Menu.
The Clipboard area controls images copied to the clipboard. Checking the Export to other applications checkbox stores the image in a form useable by other programs. The Mode
pop-up menu lets you select Normal, Dither, or Transparent modes. Transparent converts pure white areas of the image to clear areas.
The Color Optimization area optimizes images displayed on monitors with fewer colors than in the image—say, viewing a millions of colors document on a 256 color screen.
Enter the percent of colors in the image to be optimized in the Amount checkbox. It is generally best to leave this at the default setting of 75% to allow for
new colors introduced through paint or paste operations.
Check either the After opening or Before saving checkboxes to determine when optimization occurs. Checking After opening ensures images from other programs have the same image quality as those created in Color It!
The Undo area lets you enter the number of Undo operations available in Color It! from 1 to 16.
The After Long Operations area lets you select notification methods when the operations complete. The menubar flashes when the Flash Menubar box is checked. You can also select a sounds alert from the Mode pop-up menu. The sounds shown are those available through your System.
Display Preferences
The Open Images area lets you select how images are displayed.
The Where pop-up menu lets you choose a monitor in multiple-monitor systems. On Best Screen opens the window on the screen with the highest resolution when multiple screens are used.
On Alternate Screens
keeps the same number of windows on each screen when multiple screens are used.
On Main Screen opens all windows on the screen containing the menu bar (the main monitor).
Checking the Display at Resolution checkbox opens documents at the same dimensions they were saved in. Left unchecked, documents are displayed at 72dpi—thus a 300 dpi document appears roughly four times its size.
Checking the Fit in Window checkbox always sizes documents so the entire document fits within the window.
The Document Border area controls the borders surrounding the document image in the main window. None displays without a border; Thin displays a 4 pixel wide border;
Thick displays a wider border around the image. The Color pop-up menu lets you select a border of gray, black, white, or other color (which opens the standard Apple color wheel to choose a color).
Checking the Dither on monitors without enough colors checkbox dithers images if your monitor does not support as many colors as the document contains.
Checking the Display color channels in color shows the individual channels in the appropriate colors (Yellow for the yellow channel of a CMYK image, for example).
Checking the Show image info in header of windows displays the file size, measurements (in units set in the
Ruler Preferences dialog box) and the file type.
Check Display values in percentage if you wish to do so.
Files… Preferences
The File Preferences area controls many aspects of the document.
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®, Paint, Photoshop™ 2.0 and Photoshop™ 2.5, StartupScreen, Photone™ Prepress and QuickTime™ PICT.
The Options button opens a dialog box allowing you to set format-specific preferences. The options for each format are discussed under Save As… in Chapter 5, The File Menu.
Checking the Prompt for Options each Save As checkbox opens the Options dialog each time a Save As is performed.
Checking the Create Previews checkbox creates a preview of the document that is displayed in the Open dialog box.
Checking the Create Thumbnail Icons checkbox creates miniature views of the document for the icon views in the Finder.
The Temporary Files area specifies the volume where Color It! stores the temporary files it needs to maintain Undo capability. The default location is the Virtual Images folder inside Color It! Stuff folder.
Clicking the Add button brings up an Open dialog box to choose additional storage areas. The Selected button chooses the highlighted folder. The Current button chooses the folder currently open. The New… button creates a new folder you can name and locate.
Tools… Preferences
Antialiasing eliminates the jagged edges of text or colored objects. These buttons let you select the amount of antialiasing used.
In most cases, the difference between Good and Best is virtually indistinguishable.
Paint Dither: Sets the palette for dither patterns. Fine uses 33 patterns; Medium uses 17; Coarse uses 9.
Drag Updates: Controls how images are displayed when moved with the mouse. With Outline Only the mouse button must be released before the screen updates. With Brief Delay the screen updates after a slight pause and before the mouse button is released. With Long Delay the screen updates after a longer pause and before the mouse button is released.
Checking the Allow Editing of Tool Positions allows repositioning of the tools within the Tool palette. See Chapter 2, The Tools Palette for more information.
Rulers… Preferences
Color It! offers many options to customize the rulers.
The Units pop-up menu lets you select ruler measurements in pixels, inches, centimeters, picas or points.
Major Divisions appear in the rulers as a full-height vertical tick mark followed by a number. The pop-up menu has several selected increments, or others can be entered in the text box.
Minor Divisions are shorter vertical tick marks between the major divisions. The pop-up menu has several selected increments, or others can be entered in the text box.
As changes are made, the ruler at the bottom of the dialog automatically updates to reflect the current values.
Separation… Preferences
The Separation… command opens the Separations Settings dialog box.
The Black Generation area offers two methods: UCR (Undercolor Removal) or GCR
(Grey Component Replacement).
UCR is a technique that replaces some of the cyan, magenta and yellow components of the neutral gray and dark shadow areas with black. This helps compensate for some of the trapping and related problems that occur in multicolor printing.
Extreme UCR is not practical. If too much of the three-color gray component is removed, detail and density will be lost.
By reducing three colors (cyan, magenta and yellow) and increasing one color (black), UCR reduces total ink coverage significantly.
GCR replaces gray components in the colored areas of a reproduction with black. The least prominent color is reduced or removed completely along with proportional amounts of the other two colors to define a gray component which is replaced with black ink.
Total Coverage Limit can be set from 200% to 400%.
Black Ink Limit can be set from 0% to 200%.
Black Starts At can be set from 0% to 90%.
GCR Black Generation can be set from 0 to 90.
Clicking on the Transfer… button opens the Transfer Curves dialog box.
The Transfer Curves dialog is where compensation can be made for dot gain. They also enable the user to set the points for the darkest printable shadow and the lightest printable highlight.
The points on the curve represent the shadow, quartertone, midtone, three-quartertone, and highlight. The points can be adjusting by clicking and dragging. A curve that slopes above a 45° straight line makes the tones darker; curving below the 45° line makes the tones lighter. Shift-clicking will move the same dot in all four ink colors at the same time.
Clicking on the Inks… button in the Separations Settings dialog opens the Ink Calibration dialog box.
The Hue and Grayness area should remain untouched. Densitometer readings should be taken for each of the percentages listed. Numbers can be entered in the Gray Balance textboxes to adjust for color shifts. The numbers should be adjusted to produce a neutral gray from the three process colors.
Clicking on the Components… button opens the Ink Components Bias dialog box. Numbers can be entered in the textboxes for Gray and Color 1/4 Tone, Mid Tone and 3/4 Tone to adjust for impurities in the process inks.
