PaintChat Size & Palette Tools
The PaintChat Size and Palette tools control the size of our pencils, pens, brushes and other drawing tools. They also control the colors and opacity that we draw with. Let's explore size, opacity and color in that order.
Brush Size
Click on a tool in the "Toolbar" palette. I chose the Pen. Next, place your pointer on the left side of the Size&Palette tool box and select a color that you like. I like black. Now move your pointer just to the right of the color palette where it says "1px".
This verticle rectangle controls the size of your drawing tools. Dragging the top of the rectangle upward decreases drawing tool size; dragging it downward increases size. Try moving the bar upward to change the brush size to one pixel. Now move your pointer to the middle of the screen and draw a line. That's a 1 pixel line that I drew.
Changing the Brush Size
Practice changing the brush size and drawing other lines. I've drawn horizontal lines that are 1, 7, 17, 27 and 47 pixels in size.
Working with Opacity and Color
Look beneath the sizing rectangle in the Size&Palette toolbox. You should see 4 smaller rectangles labeled R, G, B, and A, each with numbers to the right of the letters. This stands for Red Green Blue Alpha. The color is indicated by RGB values as usual, and the A or alpha channel is the opacity channel. Values can range from 0 (fully transparent or invisible) to 255 (fully opaque or solid).
Changing Opacity (Alpha Channel)
I've drawn three verticle lines, each 13 pixels in size. Note that the line on the right is dark black and fully opaque. This is because the alpha channel is set to 255. The middle line's alpha channel is 122; the left line's is 15. The smaller the alpha value, the lighter the color.
Adjusting Color
Let's begin with a new verticle line. R, G and B are all set to 0, so the line is black.
Adjusting Color (Continued)
Now let's add some color. Adjust the R setting to 127. The result is a very dark reddish color.
Adjusting Color (Continued)
Now add some green by adjusting the G setting to 132. Now we have a dark olive green.
Adjusting Color (Continued)
Next, add some blue by adjusting the B setting. That combination produces a grey color.
Adjusting Color (Continued)
When we turn up the R, G and B settings to full, it produces white.
Size, Color and Opacity (Recap)
Take some time to experiment with these tools. Use the large verticle rectangle to change brush size. Use the smaller horizontal rectangles to change color and opacity.
Next: PaintChat Textures