Re: 256x256 px icons

[Warren Young <warren@etr-usa.com>]

On 8/5/2011 9:05 AM, Andy Koppe wrote:
>
>> Do you know how to convert the green glow around
>> the C to grey, by any chance?
>
> Here's what I did, in Paint.net. I very much suspect there are better ways.

The "right way" is to use Levels.  Ctrl-L in Photoshop and Paint.NET, 
Colors > Levels in Gimp.

In this case, I'd drag down the white point of the input levels to push 
things toward white, while leaving the dark parts of the image where 
they are, more or less.

You could also try moving the gamma slider, either alone, or in 
combination with the above to keep the blacks where you want them.  (The 
gamma slider is the triangle that starts at the 50% gray point on the 
Output side in Paint.NET, but it's on the Input side in PS and Gimp, 
like it should be.)

One advantage of using Levels for this is that you can do it *after* the 
desaturation step.  This lets you establish your grayscale, then 
manipulate the light part visually, instead of guessing at the shade of 
yellow you need and then blindly hoping the desat step gets you the 
right shade of gray, and if not, going back and retrying.

Also, the Levels tool is just plain awesome, and you should get to know 
it regardless.  The UI for it is confusing in Paint.NET.  Gimp does it 
like Photoshop, which is of course the One True Way.

(Not that I'm endorsing Gimp.  This example shows up yet another place 
where it falls down, UI-wise.  Levels isn't about color, and the absence 
of a hot key for such a commonly-used function is a mistake.)