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Type Right for a Pro Look: PaintShop Pro Gradient Fills
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PaintShop Pro offers total flexibility for creating and using gradient
colors for faster selections. You can use predefined gradients, or more
useful, create your own and save the results for later use.
Gradient fills are implemented through the Flood Fill tool. Select
the tool and open the tool options window. Choose the type of gradient
you desire from the Fill Style drop down menu. The choices are Linear,
Rectangular, Sunburst and Radial gradients. Note: The radial
and sunburst styles can be confusing, since most programs offer a fill
like the sunburst style under the name of radial. If you are following
tutorials or instructions written for other programs, keep in mind that
when a radial gradient is called for, the sunburst style will deliver
the correct results.
Click on the second tab to reach the color editing menu. Choose Foreground
to Background for the Gradient for this sample. Choose the Foreground
and Background color you desire. For this sample, the pink is the foreground
color and the light blue the background color. The angle of the fill
must be set in this dialog box, since the gradient is applied with a
single click - not a directional click and drag. Choose 180 for the
angle if you wish to have the gradient start at the top with the pink.
Choose 90 and the gradient will place the pink on the left, and 270
places the pink on the right.
You also have the option to have the gradient fill repeat. This can
save a lot of custom set up if you wish to create a repeating pattern,
such as you might use for undulating waves. Specify the number of gradient
pattern repeats by specifying a Repeat value. I have included a sample
here of a pattern that is repeating three times. The preview sample
in the bottom right hand corner shows the same gradient fill with a
repeat value of 0.
Once you have your gradient fill set, create a selection and click
inside to fill. It makes no difference where you click, as the fill
settings are taken from the Gradient Fill Options window. If you wish
to change the fill, undo the fill, make your adjustments to the gradient
fill and repeat.
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Multiple colors
There is no practical limit to the number of colors you can add to a
gradient fill in PaintShop Pro, but if you are working for the Web,
caution is advised. Many color changes can be difficult to translate
to GIF or JPG format. Before you plan an entire Web site around an amazing
gradient fill, make sure that the color combination you have chosen
will make the transition to Web presentation. Be especially careful
if you require background transparency, since 256 colors does not offer
much in the way of interim colors for complicated gradient fills. You
can add noise, blur, or experiment with dithering, but you want to do
this at the beginning of the project - not when you have your full layout
created.
You can start from scratch with a new gradient fill, or start from
one of the preset fills provided. Click on the Gradient Options tab
in the Flood Fill Options window. Choose Edit to create or edit a gradient
fill. Click New to create a new fill. Give it a name and create your
fill. To start from a preset gradient fill, select the fill and choose
Copy. You will be prompted for a name for your new fill and the attributes
of the copied gradient will remain.
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Pay attention to this next part, and you will have total freedom with
PaintShop Pro gradients. When creating a custom gradient, you will work
with markers, the small rectangles under each of the gradient control
bars. Clicking on a marker makes that marker active (see the dark triangle
at the top of the marker that indicates it is active) and any changes
you make will apply to only that marker.
You have three choices to apply to the active marker. The first is
Fore, or foreground color. The second is Back, or background color.
Finally, the Custom option gives you access to any color. If you chose
Fore or Back, the marker will take its color from the current foreground
or background color when you apply the fill. If you need to specify
exact colors that are not affected by current foreground or background
colors, you must use the Custom option. The current foreground or background
color may be the one you need, but you still must set the Custom setting
to that color to define a gradient that will not change when your foreground
or background colors change.
Markers set to Fore, or foreground color have a small triangle in the
top left corner with the current foreground color. Markers set to Back,
or background color have a small triangle in the lower right corner
with the current background color. Markers set with a permanent color
have a solid color fill representing the marker color.
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Click below the gradient color bar to add a color.
Adjust the blend center position by clicking and dragging
on the diamonds above the gradient color bar.
Adjust the start or end point for the gradient fill
by dragging the first or last color marker to a new position.
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Add colors and adjust position
Adding a color is simple - just click below the gradient color bar and
a new color marker appears. Change the color by selecting the marker
and specifying foreground, background or a custom color. Add as many
color markers as you need for the color changes.
If you do not want the colors to blend in the center between two colors,
you have the option to change the position of the color blending. Click
on the diamond above the gradient color bar and drag to set the center
for the color blend. The sample at the left shows the blend center moved
far to the left.
You can also set the position for the start and end point for the gradient
fill. Click and drag the start or end color marker to a new position.
Solid color will fill the area before the first or after the last marker
when the position is changed.
With these tools, you can create a gradient fill with any color. Carry
on to see how you can add transparency to your fills as well as save
and share gradient fills.
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Next page
Type Right for a Pro Look Tutorial Index
Color Power with Gradient Fills Start
Photoshop Gradient Fills
Photoshop Gradient Transparency
PaintShop Pro Gradient Fills
PaintShop Pro Gradient Transparency
Fireworks Gradient Fills
Fireworks Save Fills and Transparency
  
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