NewDeal Hot Tip 1202
NewDrawThe TIFs gave me trouble until I learned how to handle them. After import, if I use the bitmap tools on them, they will "explode." So, now I select them with the regular pointer, go to Attributes, Bitmap Format and fix them by setting them to 200 dpi.
I know they are 200 dpi, because the scanner program told me. However, Bitmap Format in NewDraw shows them as 72 dpi. All I do is set the dpi to 200 and click Apply. Then I can successfully copy, cut, or crop with no problem. To show that the bitmap retains its high-res dpi, use Transform, Convert, Convert to Bitmap on a copy. Notice that Bitmap Format jumps from Custom dpi to plain old 72 dpi. Also, if you do it in 400% View, you can actually watch the image get coarser.
If you want to use Custom dpi to make your bitmap a higher resolution, keep in mind that it's only useful if you're going to edit, pixel by pixel. The image will remain the same, only each pixel in the original will now be made up of more than one pixel.
The calculations for achieving the desired dpi aren't difficult. The table below lists the most common desired resolutions for bitmaps
Converting black and white bitmaps to color will also allow you to make them transparent.
Next, select the bitmap with the bitmap Frame tool . Finally, select the bitmap tool you want to use , then the color or other attribute, and apply to the bitmap.
A bonus feature is that while in bitmap editing mode, each tool you use "remembers" the color last applied to it. So if you selected to use the paint can with yellow, then go to the bitmap rectangle tool with blue, and then go back to the paintcan, the paint can will still apply yellow. Go back to the rectangle tool and it will apply blue. Whenever you want to change colors, select the tool and then select a color.
The most common errors in using the bitmap tools seem to be:
Another way to color bitmaps is by using the object tools to draw color overlays.
Some customers prefer using the object tools for coloring because there are more tools. There are no polyline bitmap tools and the outline of rectangles and ellipses is not available. For color fills, draw the color shape needed using the object Spline tool to trace portions of a bitmap. There is no worry about plugging holes or isolating the area to be filled. This is a nifty technique. The Spline tool is the last object tool, the one that's shaped like a U. To use it, just click, hold and drag, click, hold and drag, tracing the part of the graphic on which you want to overlay color. End the trace at the same point you started to create a filled object, select 50% fill and if you want, change the color. You don't have to change the graphic to 16 color to use this technique.
Last Modified 2 Mar 1999