General Graphics Tutorials -- Color part IV |
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This is kind of an ambitious undertaking for me. Normally I try to keep the size of tutorials down to a few pages at most (this one was over 20 pages in Word!). Unfortunately, color is a difficult and rather lengthy topic even where web graphics are concerned. I hope you won't find this tutorial too long-winded and that you'll find it a welcome reference.
--tmc
Previewing Your Images
One thing that can help if you're using a high color resolution system and are worried about what your readers will see is Ulead's Smart Saver software (see figure 3.9). Smart Saver is a Windows 95/NT product available from Ulead. You can download a 30-day demo from http://www.ulead.com
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figure 3.9
Ulead's Smart Saver 3.0 |
The image on the right is what my "GrafX Design" logo would look like when displayed using the Netscape palette. Even though I eventually saved this image as a JPG to take advantage of the subtler gradient available when using a higher color resolution, I was pretty sure that the readers who ventured onto my pages wouldn't be too disappointed by the quality of this image. To add some assurance I created most of the subsequent images with colors similar to the chrome and blue scheme I had used for the main logo.
Smart Saver is valuable for more than its preview screen, though. It enables you to choose from a wider (narrower actually) range of colors than would normally be available to you. Notice the spin control near the bottom left of figure 3.9. You can set any value between 16 and 216. Playing with the numbers there means you can shave some extra weight off of your images while keeping the colors and quality at an acceptable level.
Smart Saver works with GIF, JPG, and PNG images and will let you set a variable quality for JPGs, as well. If you're using Photoshop or Painter, Smart Saver will act as a "File, Export" extension to the program. With other paint programs, like PSP, you can access Smart Saver via Image, Plug-in Filters, Ulead SmartSaver. Either way Smart Saver is something to consider if you create a lot of web graphics. Smart Saver is a shareware product available from Ulead. Registration is about $29 U.S. You can download a trial version from their web site at http://www.ulead.com. Although Smart Saver doesn't overcome the web palette limitations it helps you live with it with a little less frustration.
To put it simply: A plug-in is a program that runs in conjunction with another program. The program that runs the plug-in is known as a host. Programs like Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro, for example, will allow other programs to run from within themselves and perform specific tasks such as special effects.
Now that you have a grasp of palettes it's time to wrap up the color tutorial with a discussion of Hexadecimal Notation.
Be sure to check out some of our other general graphics tutorials.
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We'd like to hear from you... If there are any web graphics techniques you'd like to see covered, send us an e-mail.
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