Lesson 2
Converting a picture to 2 colors
by Kathleen Kinder
k.kinder@daelnet.co.uk

Date: 12-09-97

PSP 3 and 4 are big programs and I am only using a small part of them. If you have not tried them before spend a little time getting acquainted with the functions mentioned in these Notes. Start with File/New and play around a little, reading the Manual and or the Help File as required. There is no time limit on this "workshop", so enjoy it at your leisure.

Perhaps a Cartoon character in 16 colours, 640x480 res instead of 2 Daisies in 16.7 million colours, 800x600 res. might have been easier for a beginner. We had no choice here, but at least, I can give you precise directions for the Daisies even down to the position of the co-ordinates on the screen. I suggest that you print out these instructions straight away. As I wrote, I followed my own instructions in PSP. I suggest that as you read, you do the same!

Download Daisiesf.pcx (f = finished) (after picture comes up, right click on it to capture and save
Download Daisies.jpg as above.....or
download both Daisies and Daisiesf in zip format here Daisies.zip

Your screen resolution should be 640x480, 256 cols.
Open PSP and go to File/Browse – you want C drive and PSP.
When the thumbnails have loaded –and in my old PC (25mhz, 4 megs of ram) this took time – click on Daisies, jpg.
A field of daisies more than fills the screen.
Go to Color/Decrease Color Depth to 256.
Go to View/Zoom out to 1:2 (half), then Image/Resize.
Mark 640x480 – OK. (because the original was 800x600).

Choose the Rectangle Select tool (dotted rectangle) and take it to co-ordinates position 130:270 (top left of 2 daisies, placed one above the other, about a third in from bottom left).
Draw a box that is 80x114 in pixels. The numbers appear on the bottom task bar. Do not worry if you are a pixel or so out.
Once the "ants are marching" in a rectangle round the selection, select Edit/Copy or press Ctrl+C.
Choose File/Minimise (or click minus sign, top right, Win95) for the large daisy field, then Edit/Paste as New Image or Ctrl+V.
Your 2 selected daisies appear.
Now save as Daisies1 in a folder/directory or on floppy disk as PCX, BMP. GIF. TIF, JPG or whatever! BMP is a choice if you have plenty of space on a floppy.
Now minimise these 2 daisies and load again ( a spare is minimised for emergencies) by Edit/Paste or Ctrl+V (quicker).

You will notice that the 2 daisies are in the proportions of 1:1 (full size) and measure 80x114x256 cols. That is too big for what I plan. I could go to Image/Re-size and enter new pixel measurements, but this time I have an alternative choice to halve the pattern in size.
Go to View/Zoom Out to 1:2.
A half size image of the 2 daisies appears. This is not permanent and will not save as a half, so we press Prt Sc on the keyboard, then Ctrl+V.
There is the screen shot of half.
We select our daisies again, starting at top left and keeping as close to the edge as possible.
When the ants are marching, press Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V and there is our half-size daisy duo.
Save it on disk as Daisies2.
Then press Ctrl+V for a second copy to minimise as a safeguard.

I now have an image of 40x58 pixels and am ready to work on the design from a grid. Choose View/Zoom In - 10:1. The grid appears but again it is not constant and if eventually, you want to print out as a gridded pattern, you must press Prt Sc again, Ctrl+V , select gridded pattern, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, save and/or print using appropriate colours or a brush that is a slash. For the moment however, I shall not bother to do that.

I have decided to go for a 2 colour pattern.
Choose the Dropper tool.
For the petals, I like the warm yellow primrose on co-ordinates 28:33.
I click and the active first colour in the 2 colour palette at the right changes to primrose.
The RGB readings are R240, G218, B148.
Choose the 1 point brush and fill in some of the petals and paint round the outside edges of the dark centres of the daisies. You need just enough to give the colour a dominance.
Now click on the active palette to reverse the 2 colours.
Next, go back to the Dropper tool, click on the deep gold at 24:16.
That now becomes the first colour with the primrose as second or background.
The RGB numbers are R176, G135, B56
Again, use the 1 point brush to fill in some of the colour in the centre of the daisy and in the background.

The time has come to go to Colors/Decrease Color Depth to 16 (you can try putting 2 in X Colors – I got 16).
Click OK and agree to the suggestions, even though you may not know what they mean (I don't!). Interesting – hmm- our lovely primrose has become a putty colour as a result of colour reduction, but the deep gold is unchanged. See that the putty colour is the first colour.
Go to the active 2 colour palette and click.
The Edit/Palette requester appears with a black square round the putty colour.
Double click on that and the Color requester appears.
Click on a white square in Custom Colors.
Remove the RGB 255,255,255 for white and type the RGB for the primrose R240, G218,B148.
Click on Add to custom Colors.
The primrose (all spotty) appears in the Custom Color selection.
Click OK and OK in Edit Palette requester underneath.
See, our lovely primrose colour is back in the palette and in our daisies!

By the look of it, there is a lot of grey on petals which ought to be primrose.
Choose the dropper tool and click on one of the greys.
It now is the first colour in the active palette.
Click on that and the Edit Palette requester comes up.
Double click on the black outlined grey square to bring up the Color requester.
Under Custom Colors, choose the primrose square and its RGB numbers 240, 218, 148
replace the grey ones. Click OK.
Back in the Edit Palette requester, the grey square has become primrose yellow and back in the design, those grey ones have become primrose.

There are still more greys to alter, so repeat the process, but you may be able to identify them without going back to the daisies. If you can, you will speed up the process by working just between the Edit Palette and Color requesters, double clicking on the chosen square in the former and replacing with the "custom" primrose RGB numbers in the latter.

When you are satisfied and are back with the daisies, you can point/click with the Dropper tool at the background colour.
This deep gold R176, G135, B56 is now first colour.
Click on the active 2 colour palette and double-click on its black outlined square in the Edit Palette requester.
In the Color requester, click on an empty white square in Custom Colors.
Remove the RGB for white 255, 255, 255 and replace with R176, G135, B56 for deep gold.
Click Add to Custom Colors, then OK.

It must be obvious to you as you look at the Edit Palette requester that most of what is left is in the background colour of deep gold.
Deal with the black shades first.
Double click each one in turn to take it to the Color requester.
Click on the deep gold in Custom Colors to replace the current shade of black. This is great fun and it is quick and what a transformation when you get back to the daisies! You can always touch up the odd squares with the brush.

When you have 8 squares in the Edit Palette requester in the deep gold color, then it is time to count the colors. I've reached my objective; there are 2.
Back as View / Normal Viewing1:1, you can return to the 256 color palette if it suits what you have in mind (for Creation 6 and CUT, or DAK via the Clipboard) and save the pattern as Daisies3. By the way, you could change the whole colour scheme if you wish but look out for my version below.

This is but "one way to skin a cat". Perhaps, after Christmas we might look at the Replace Colour option in both DAK and PSP4 (not 3).

Have fun. This business is much faster and easier than it sounds!

Best wishes Kathleen
Kathleen Kinder k.kinder@daelnet.co.uk

Feel free to make copies of the Graphic Lessons for your personal use. The following copyright notice must appear on all copies
Copyright (c)Kathleen Kinder, 1997, 1998.