home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- <html>
-
- <!-- #BeginTemplate "pdn_help.dwt" -->
-
- <head>
- <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
- <!-- #BeginEditable "title" -->
- <title>Paint.NET Help - Curves</title>
- <!-- #EndEditable -->
- <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../stylesheet.css">
- </head>
-
- <body>
-
- <div id="banner">
- <img border="0" src="../images/logo.png" width="229" height="73" align="left"><p><b><br>
- </b></p>
- </div>
- <div id="leftnav">
- <ul class="toc" style="margin-left: 0; padding-left: 0;">
- <li><a href="index.html">Overview</a><br>
- </li>
- <li><a href="Features.html">Features</a><br>
- <a href="Tutorials.html">Tutorials</a><br>
- </li>
- </ul>
- <h3>User Interface</h3>
- <ul class="toc" style="margin-left: 0; padding-left: 0;">
- <li><a href="KeyboardMouseCommands.html">Keyboard & Mouse Commands</a></li>
- <li><a href="MainWindow.html">Main Window</a></li>
- <li><a href="MenuBar.html">Menu Bar</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li><a href="File.html">File</a></li>
- <li><a href="Edit.html">Edit</a></li>
- <li><a href="View.html">View</a></li>
- <li><a href="Image.html">Image</a></li>
- <li><a href="Layers.html">Layers</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li class="comment"><a href="RotateZoom.html">Rotate / Zoom</a></li>
- <li><a href="Adjustments.html">Adjustments</a>
- <ul class="toc">
- <li><a href="Curves.html">Curves</a></li>
- <li><a href="Levels.html">Levels</a></li>
- </ul></li>
- </ul></li>
- <li><a href="Effects.html">Effects</a></li>
- <li><a href="Tools.html">Tools</a></li>
- <li><a href="Window.html">Window</a></li>
- <li><a href="Help.html">Help</a></li>
- <li><a href="Toolbar.html">Toolbar</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li><a href="ToolsWindow.html">Tools Window</a><ul class="toc">
- <li><a href="SelectionTools.html">Selection Tools</a></li>
- <li><a href="MoveTools.html">Move Tools</a><br>
- <a href="MagicWand.html">Magic Wand</a><br>
- <a href="Paintbrush.html">Paintbrush</a></li>
- <li><a href="EraserTool.html">Eraser Tool</a></li>
- <li><a href="PixelTools.html">Pixel Tools</a></li>
- <li><a href="ShapeTools.html">Shape Tools</a></li>
- <li><a href="LineCurve.html">Line / Curve Tool</a></li>
- <li><a href="TextTool.html">Text Tool</a></li>
- <li><a href="PaintBucket.html">Paint Bucket</a></li>
- <li><a href="CloneStamp.html">Clone Stamp</a></li>
- <li><a href="RecolorTool.html">Recolor Tool</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <li><a href="HistoryWindow.html">History Window</a></li>
- <li><a href="LayersWindow.html">Layers Window</a></li>
- <li><a href="ColorsWindow.html">Colors Window</a></li>
- <li><a href="StatusBar.html">Status Bar</a></li>
- </ul>
- </li>
- <h3>Other</h3>
- <ul class="toc" style="margin-left: 0; padding-left: 0;">
- <li><a href="FAQ.html">FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)</a></li>
- <li><a href="UnattendedInstallation.html">Unattended Installation</a></li>
- <li><a href="SystemRequirements.html">System Requirements</a></li>
- <li><a href="WebLinks.html">Web Links</a></li>
- <li><a href="License.html">License</a></li>
- </ul>
- </div>
- <div id="content">
- <!-- #BeginEditable "content" -->
- <h2>Curves Adjustment</h2>
- <p><img align="right" src="images\CurvesNULL.png" />The Curves adjustment can
- be used to adjust the colors of an image with a very high degree of control.
- Curves allows you to fine tune the intensity of every shade in an image. In
- particular, it can be used to highlight or dim only certain ranges of intensity
- present in an image in a way that <a href="Levels.html">Levels</a> and
- <a href="Adjustments.html">Brightness / Contrast</a> cannot.</p>
- <p>Unlike <a href="Levels.html">Levels</a> and <a href="Adjustments.html">Brightness
- / Contrast</a>, Curves can be used to freely adjust the exactly how bright each
- shade of intensity in an image can be. In fact, the colors of an image can be completely inverted using curves.</p>
- <h3>Interface</h3>
- <p>Curves lets you remaps the colors of and image using control points on a
- graph, as shown on the right and in the examples below. When the Curves
- dialog first appears, it will have the graph shown on the right. This graph
- is simply a function in the mathematical sense. The horizontal values are
- the intensity input, and the vertical values are the intensity output.</p>
- <p>Simply, this means that reshaping the right half of the curve effects the
- brighter half of the image, reshaping the left half effects the darker half
- of and image. Moving a curve above its default position on the diagonal
- guide line will cause the affected areas to brighten, moving a curve below
- its default position on the diagonal guide line will cause affected areas to
- darken.</p>
- <p>Control points are used to affect the curve. Control points are added by
- clicking anywhere that there is not currently a control point. Control
- points may be removed by right-clicking on the desired control point. To
- move a control point, simple click and drag the control point to the desired
- new location. Note that it is not possible to have two control points
- vertically in line with each other, as this would mean that a given
- intensity of color would be both brightened and darkened (which isn't
- possible).</p>
- <p>Below is an example of using Curves to adjust an image. The original
- image is shown on the left, and the image adjusted with Curves is shown on the
- right. The curve drawn in the Curves adjustment shows that the darker shades
- of the image should be darkened and the lighter shades should be lightened.
- The result is a picture that has deeper darks and bolder brights, while
- still preserving all the definition of the original image. </p>
- <p align="center"><img src="images/CurvesLuminosity.png"></p>
- <p align="center">
- <img border="1" src="../images/CurvesSampleBase.jpg"> <img border="1" src="../images/CurvesSampleLuminosity.jpg"></p>
- <h3>Multichannel Adjustments</h3>
- <p>By default, Curves uses the luminosity of an image to adjust the
- intensities. Alternatively, this can be performed using the Red, Green, and
- Blue channels of an image by selecting "RGB" from the drop down
- list near the top of the dialog box.<br>
- <br>
- When this mode is selected, new control points will apply to the color channels
- selected with the checkboxes near the bottom of the dialog. To work with an
- individual channel or pair of channels, simple change which channels are
- selected using the checkboxes.</p>
- <p>The picture below has been adjusted with Curves to increase the contrast and saturation of the image,
- and to specifically compensate for the already saturated portions of the dog's fur by lowering the intensity of some of the brighter reds.
- Note that the image has bolder colors, deeper dark areas, and does not appear as grey as the original.</p>
- <p align="center"><img src="images/CurvesRGB.png"></p>
- <p align="center"><img border="1" src="../images/CurvesSampleBase.jpg"> <img border="1" src="../images/CurvesSampleRGB.jpg"></p>
- <h3>Other Possibilities</h3>
- <p>As stated above, you can even use Curves to invert an image. In the
- example below, a picture of a car was adjusted using Curves to produce a
- result that is not possible with the other adjustments, such as
- <a href="Levels.html">Levels</a> or Hue / Saturation:</p>
- <p align="center"><img src="images/CurvesExtreme.png"></p>
- <p align="center">
- <img border="1" src="../images/CurvesBMWBase.jpg"> <img border="1" src="../images/CurvesBMWExtreme.jpg"></p>
-
-
-
-
- <!-- #EndEditable -->
- <h4><br>
- <br>
- </h4>
- <p align="center">
- <font color="#808080" size="1">Copyright <font face="Times New Roman">⌐ 2006 </font>
- Rick Brewster, Tom
- Jackson, and past contributors. Portions Copyright
- <font face="Times New Roman">⌐ 2006 </font>Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.</font><font size="1"> <br>
- </font>
- </div>
- </b>
-
- </body>
-
- <!-- #EndTemplate -->
-
- </html>
-