Question:
How can I get an average color from a multi-colored selection?
Response:
There are a few methods to choose from, among them the three described
below and none are precisely accurate if that's what you're after.
Use
the Mixer palette - Mix the colors
until you get a color
you like, then use the Mixer palette Dropper tool to pick the color or colors you like and add them
to a Color Set. Or just use the Mixer palette Dropper tool to pick,
then paint.
That's what a traditional artist would do and why the Mixer
palette was added a couple of versions back (Painter 8, I think)... so
we can mix colors
like a "real" artist. Seriously, lots of Painter users come from a
traditonal painting background and want a way to mix colors without picking up
white or other color from the Canvas or Layer.
Use Super
Soften - Select
a few pixels, copy, then Edit > Paste
Into New Image.
Use Effects > Focus > Super Soften and type a number you
think
might work. If it doesn't work, Undo and try another number.
It's a very fast way of blending colors
but maybe not the most accurate since the result is not always
a
single color, depending on the number colors you start with and how
much they vary.
On the left is the selection of pixels I used. On the right are the
same
pixels after I used Effects > Focus > Super Soften 50.00
pixels:
This is just an example. You could use fewer pixels
and get a different result.
Use Motion Blur
- The quickest and easiest method I've found that, at
least with the selection and settings I used while testing produced the
best
results, is
to do the following:
1. Make
a
small selection of pixels, close to the color you want when they're
averaged.
2. Copy
the selection, then use Edit > Paste Into
New Image.
Zoom
in until you can see the pixels. I zoomed to
800%:
3. Use
Effects > Focus > Motion Blur and
adjust the sliders as shown in the screen print below:
4. The
result in my test was, visually, a single
color, though when I clicked around in the image with the Dropper tool,
the sampled color varied just a little:
5. I used
Effects > Focus > Motion Blur
again with the same settings, then clicked around the image with the
Dropper tool and still the sampled colors varied just a little. Then I
applied Motion Blur a third time, clicked with the Dropper tool, and
finally, the sampled color remained consistent wherever I clicked.
6. Later,
I tried different
settings in the Motion Blur dialog box. Instead of leaving the Angle
slider at 0 degrees, I moved it to 180 degrees and the result was
entirely different:
7. Last,
I use the Painter X
RealBristle Brushes' Real Blender Round variant and, painting in a
circular motion, mixed the selection's pixels until the result was
fairly even. Then I used the Rotate Page tool to rotate the image and
painted back and forth across the pixels, rotated again, and repeated
the back and forth stroking motion. When it appeared no more pixel
mixing would change the result, I stopped. Using the Dropper tool to
click around the image produced slightly different colors, but not
enough to make any visual difference. As you can see, this time, the
bright pixels in the lower right corner were included in the mix,
making the resulting color lighter.
©
Jinny Brown
March 11, 2007
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