Section 2: Editing Color Schemes - How Do?

DON'T PANIC.

all over the place

BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL WHEN EDITING THE TEMPLATE / COLOR SCHEME

Just remember: No extra marks, no resizing.

YOU MUST BE CERTAIN THAT THE FILE NAME ENDS IN .png, SO THAT IT EXPORTS TO .png FORMAT. IF THE IMAGE IS NOT IN .png FORMAT, IT WILL NOT WORK.

Editing Color Schemes requires very little effort. Simply grab the Template I've provided at the end of this guide, or an existing color scheme that you want to edit, then right click and select "".If you want to zoom in to get a better view, hold CTRL and scroll the mouse wheel. The image will stay centered until it becomes so large that it fills the GIMP window. When this happens, continuing to scroll in will zoom in toward the mouse pointer. Hold your mouse pointer over what you want to zoom in on as you're scrolling.After opening the Template, your window should look something like this: Now let's say you have some reference images or other color schemes that you want to pull colors from. Simply go to. Select the image you want to add as a layer. That image you added probably filled the whole screen. It's likely *WAY* bigger than your template and it probably covered the whole thing up.You have two options here, both taking place in that little right-hand 'layers' window. You can click and drag the layer of the imported image down below the template layer, or you can click the little eyeball icon to hide the imported layer.When you want to edit a layer, make sure it's selected in the layer window. Just because you can see a given layer, doesn't mean you're currently editing that layer. I mess this part up all the time, I start clicking stuff and wondering why nothing's happening.Anything in the layers window with the little eyeball icon is currently being. Theis the one you're currently working with. Layers at the top of the list are at the top of the "stack". If the layer at the top is visible and is the same size or larger than the layers below it, you won't be able to see any of the layers underneath. If a layer at the bottom of the stack is larger than the visible layers above it, you'll see the layers displayed on top of one another.Okay, now make sure you're working with the layer that has your reference image, and make sure it's visible. It doesn't have to be on top of the stack, it just has to be visible and highlighted. If your reference images are at the bottom of the stack, toggle off the visibility of all of the layers above the image you want to work with. Notice that all the layers I don't need are toggled off.and they're still on top of the reference image, I'm just not editing them nor can I see them right now.Let's grab ourselves some reference colors.Click on the eyedropper tool in the left-hand 'Toolbox' window.Left click on the area you want to grab color from. You might want to zoom in to make sure you get thecolor you were aiming for.You should notice that one of the two colors in your toolbox has now changed to the color of the pixel you selected.Click the little arrow button when you want to swap your currently-selected color.I believe that the currently selected color is referred to by other tools and menus as the "foreground color" and the other color selection is the "background color". That's just for future reference, if you start fiddling with the program beyond the scope of this guide.When you've grabbed the color(s) you want, hide your reference images and bring up your template layer again. This time, you're going to want to select the Paint Bucket.Go ahead and clickon the box you want to fill with your selected color.From here, you can rinse and repeat.Grab the colors you want from your reference images (or other color schemes), come back to your Template layer, and drop the colors where you want them with the paint can.If you click on the foreground/background color in the Toolbox window, it will bring up a window in which you can create your own custom colors. You can also use that window to select previously-used colors, without having to go back to reference images.Why?Color Schemes, including the Template, are128x128 pixels.Each color block is ansize, 32x32 pixels.Without going into too much detail, resizing the template will break it entirely.It's important that you. Two blocksbe the same color, even if they're adjacent. You just don't want random splotches of blue inside your yellow color square; things like that can make your color scheme look weird onAeros.To help you with this, you can use the selection toolusing the paint can.Click and drag a box around the color square you want to change, matching it exactly. At sizes this small, the selection tool should "snap" to pixels, making it easier for you to select only what you want to select. If you're still off, hover over one of the edges of the selection so that a tab appears. Click and drag the tab, use it to resize your selection. Edge tabs will only move that one side, corner tabs will let you drag two sides at once.Use your paint bucket inside the selected area, and it will fill the entire selection with your color of choice, no "spilling" into adjacent squares.When you're done, this:Becomes something like this:(This is my "TIE Ace" skin, based off of the 181st Imperial fighter wing from Star Wars)I recommend saving at this point, by going toThat only saves the current project as an .xcf file, you're not done yet.Delete your reference image layers (don't worry, they're still saved in the .xcf). You should be left with only your custom Color Scheme. If you see any checkered background, you have one more step.Go toand you should be left with only your custom color scheme, 128x128 pixels.Now all you have to do is go to. Name your color scheme whatever you want it to be called in-game. Put it somewhere safe, we'll cover adding it to your game later.You'll notice that ".png" is all in lowercase, even in my "big, eye-catching letters" text. ".PNG" messes your files up.If you export to the wrong format, just open it up in GIMP and try Exporting it again, this time with the '.png' file type.If you saved when I suggested, to preserve your reference images, do not save changes when you exit GIMP. The file you need for your game is the .png you, not the .xcf you. The .xcf is solely for your benefit, if you want to go back and make changes, consult your reference images again, or if you some how mess up/lose your exported .png image.Consult the "Adding Things To Your Game" section to see where you need to place your custom Color Schemes to see them in-game.