Color Mixing Basics
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Color mixing in PD Pro is geared toward ease of use for artists who switch colors extremely often, and mix their own colors on the fly as they work. Color mixing is out in the open where you can get to it quickly, not hidden away in a dialog box, and you have your choice of mixers to suit your needs. There are several color models to pick from. RGB is practically ubiquitous in computer graphics, however a second RGB model allows sweep style editing. There's also a color wheel, HSV style controls, an RYB (Red, Yellow, Blue) tool and paint mixer for traditional artists. |
The Primary and Secondary Colors
  "painting with the right mouse button can be considered erasing" |
The primary and secondary colors generally work with the
left and right mouse buttons, respectively. Painting with the left
mouse button uses the primary color, while painting with the right mouse
button uses the secondary color. The secondary color is also the color
used for clearing and erasing, so painting with the right mouse button can
be considered erasing unless special paint modes are in use. When you clear an image, the secondary color is used to fill it. When you pick up a custom brush, the secondary color, if present in the image, generally becomes transparent. When you pick up a custom brush with the right mouse button, the underlying area is cleared to the secondary color. When you create a brush out of text, the transparent area is internally the secondary color. Use of a tablet's eraser will also let you paint with the secondary color, effectively becoming an eraser. Note, it is possible to change your secondary color after you have cleared an image, so it is just as easy to paint with a color that is not the 'background' color. |
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To swap the primary and secondary color, use Drag and Drop. |
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 This
swatch shows you what the current gradient looks like. Clicking on the
swatch brings up the gradient editor. With it, you can scroll between
8 available gradients, or load or create your own. See the section on
gradients for more information on the gradient editor. |
Many tools use gradients to create smooth ranges of color, like this. |
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This control lets you pick a large number of colors from the spectrum. Represented are Hue and lightness. You can single click on a color to pick it, or you can drag the mouse around as you search for just the right color. Pick your primary color with the left mouse button, and your secondary color with the right. |
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Saturation at 100%  Saturation at 50%  Saturation at 0% |
It is also possible to change the saturation component of the color model. Do this by holding the CTRL key and dragging the mouse around on the control. The change will stay in effect until you want to change it again. |
 The color swatch becomes a Saturation swatch |
It is also possible to change the saturation of your currently selected color. Do this by holding the shift key while dragging on the color swatch. The Saturation swatch will stay in effect until you release the mouse button. |
 RGB
controls let you directly alter the red, green, and blue components of a
color. In PD, as often in computer graphics in general, colors are
represented internally by an RGB model.You can also enter RGB values in the text boxes on the side. |
RGB mixing basics |
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| Red + green = yellow Red + blue = magenta (a bright purple) Green + blue = cyan (a bright blue green) |
Dark red + a little
green = brown Blue + some green and little red = sky blue |
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 The
RGB2 controls offer a different version of the RGB controls. In this
set of controls, you can sweep the mouse freely across any or all of the
sliders in one stroke, making it easier to mix subdued colors.
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 For
example, you could swipe your mouse across the control, mixing this baby
blue.As with other controls, you can use the Left mouse button to select the primary color, and the Right mouse button to select the secondary color |
The SV (Saturation and Value) Controls
 The
top control represents the Saturation of the current color, and the bottom
represents the Value. |
Saturation is the Vividness of the hue.
Sometimes referred to as intensity in artistic circles, it is the degree of
difference from a gray of the same lightness. Value, often referred to as lightness, or brightness, is the strength of the light emitting or reflecting the color. |
 The
color wheel presents the spectrum as a wheel. The 360 degree
circumference of the wheel represents the Hue component of a color.
The distance from the center represents the color's saturation. The
slider on the side represents the color's Value. |
Hue is The property of colors by which they are perceived, ranging through red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and magenta. Hue is determined by the wavelength of light. |
The Color Wells
and Color Related Tools
 The
color mixer (or paint mixer because it resembles an artists palette) lets
you mix colors like traditional paint.The mixer has two modes, Pick
Using the pick tool, the mixer is simply used to pick colors on the palette. Using the paint tool lets you mix new colors. |
The slider lets you set the size of your
'brush' used to mix the paint. There is also an undo
 (with one level
of undo) and a clear button
 when you want to
start over. Click the menu button
 for more options. From
here, you can load in palettes (.mix) files that have been previously saved,
or save the one you are working on.The 'Use brush' option copies the current custom brush into the mixer in case you want to work with the natural tools inside of PD. See the section on custom brushes for more information on how to select them. |
RYB Mixing - The Red, Yellow, and Blue Mixer for Artists.
 The
Red, Yellow, Blue mixer is designed for traditional artists who are more
familiar with mixing traditional paint.The tool presents Red, Yellow, and
Blue as the primary colors around the wheel. Analogous colors, as well as complementary colors are at the bottom. See more about the RYB mixer. |
 The
wheel can be shown tiled, or smooth, or you can work with a more typical RGB
wheel.
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 Changing
the Tint, Tone, Shade effects the value of the wheel. |
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 Analogous
colors are colors that are closely related on the outside of the color wheel
(related in hue)
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 The
'Show Triads' menu option lets you see the Triads of your color selection.
Triads are similar to complementary colors in that they are useful in
selecting a harmonious color scheme for your artwork. A triad is the 3
colors pointed to by a triangle on the color wheel. The Split
complement is similar. It is the color you have selected, and two
analogous colors of it's complement. |
 On
occasion you may want to use a system color, or enter color with Hue,
Saturation, and Luminance components. For this, you can use the
systems color picker dialog box. You can open it by right clicking on
the mixer button, or from the Utility menu. |
On
the bottom of the tool panel is the color Well. You can place any
color here you like for later use. You can use Drag and Drop to manage
the colors here, as well as dragging to and from the primary and secondary
colors. You can save a well when you're done with it.
Clicking
on the button at the bottom will let you load in a new color well.
There are many presets available, but you can also add your own well file (.wl)
Select the 'Build gradient from colors in the buffer...' option from the
mixer menu. 
on the gradient
panel.
The
result of the Smooth operation.
Original image used to generate a well.
, and Mix
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Complementary
colors are colors that are opposites on the color wheel. It must be
stressed that mixing complementary colors always neutralizes the result.
Mixing complimentary colors (or opposites) on a computer always results in
grey. Mixing complementary colors of paint in the real world can
result in grey, a brownish color, or a dark grey, bordering on black.
This is because pigments are not pure colors and don't always produce
perfect results.