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# Color The Color menu contains commands for selecting the colors used by tools for drawing and the color structures of the image. ## Foreground Color Keyboard Shortcut: None Allows you to select the foreground color. This is the color used by most tools when drawing. ## Background/Fill Color Keyboard Shortcut: None Allows you to select the background color. This is used by tools as a secondary color – for example, the shape tools use it to fill the interior of a shape. You can also utilize the background color as a general secondary color by using the right mouse button with any drawing tool; this allows you to quickly switch between two colors of your choice. ## Transparent Background Color Keyboard Shortcut: None Allows you to select the color used for displaying transparent regions of the image. When editing an image that contains transparency, the transparent regions are normally rendered as having a gray checkered background. This may not accurately represent the transparency in real-world use. You may select any color of your choice to display as the transparent background instead. When editing an image with a restricted transparency mode, the transparent background color will be used whenever drawing tools create new transparency. When saving an image to a format that does not support transparency, such as JPEG, the transparent background color will be used to fill any transparent regions. If none is set, a default color (usually black) will be used. To clear the transparent background color, simply select a color with any level of transparency in the Color Picker. ## Swatch Palette Keyboard Shortcut: None Allows you to select the set of colors used in the palette on the sidebar. ## Swatches from Image Keyboard Shortcut: None Allows you to generate a swatch palette from the colors in the current image. ## Color Cycling Keyboard Shortcut: None Allows you to set an automatic color cycling mode, which automatically goes through the colors in the swatch palette as you draw. You can choose one of three options: ### No Cycling (Pick) Uses the manually chosen color as the foreground color. ### Sequential (Gradient) Uses the colors in the palette in sequence, starting from the first color. You can customize the behavior when the end of the palette is reached by choosing one of the repeat modes from the dropdown on the sidebar – None will simply keep using the last color in the palette, Linear will start over from the beginning of the palette, and Wave will go backwards until it reaches the first color. ### Random Chooses colors from the palette at random. ## Color Mode Keyboard Shortcut: None Specifies the color mode for the active layer (or image). This restricts which colors can be used, and in the case of Indexed mode, allows you to edit an image's colors independently of its pixels. ## Transparency Mode Keyboard Shortcut: None Specifies the transparency mode for the active layer. ## Edit Indexed Palette Keyboard Shortcut: None Allows you to view and edit the image's indexed palette. This only applies to images being edited in Indexed mode. This has absolutely no relation to the color swatch palette on the sidebar. ## Global Color Mode Keyboard Shortcut: None Toggles global color mode. In global mode, all layers use the same color mode and palette (if applicable). If global mode is disabled, each layer can has its own independent color mode. ## Count Colors Keyboard Shortcut: None Counts the number of unique colors currently in the image, regardless of color mode. ## Reduce Color Depth Keyboard Shortcut: None Reduces the color depth of an image using a palette (either generated on the fly or predefined), without changing the color mode. ## Invert Colors Keyboard Shortcut: None Inverts the colors in the image using basic RGB inversion – white becomes black, red becomes cyan, green becomes magenta, and blue becomes yellow. More sophisticated inversion methods are available in the Filter menu. ## Pick Channels Keyboard Shortcut: None Allows you to discard channels in the image or selection. The following channels are available: ### Red, Green, Blue These are the basic color channels used by the RGB color system. ### Alpha This channel specifies the transparency of the image. Removing it will make the entire image opaque. ### Mask This specifies a mask for nonrectangular selections or layers, such as those made using the Freeform Select tool or by rotating a rectangular selection. Removing it will revert the selection to rectangular mode, but note that there are no guarantees as to the usability of image data outside of the mask. ## Swap Alpha and Mask Keyboard Shortcut: None Swaps the Alpha and Mask channels of the selection. This allows you to intentionally create semitransparent regions of the mask for effects such as soft edges using normal alpha-channel filters. ## Make Opaque Keyboard Shortcut: None Composites the image over the current background color, removing any transparent regions in the process. (This is different from simply removing the alpha channel using the Pick Channels dialog.) ## Color Matrix Keyboard Shortcut: None Allows you to apply a 5x5 matrix transformation to the color data in your image. You may choose from predefined matrices or create your own. A reference for color matrices is outside the scope of this document. ## See also: Color Picker dialog Color Modes