Tutorial: AKVIS Coloriage

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AKVIS Coloriage can work independently as a standalone program and as a plug-in to a photo editor.

To call the AKVIS Coloriage plug-in in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Elements select the menu item Filter -> AKVIS -> Coloriage; in Corel PHOTO-PAINT select the menu item Effects -> AKVIS -> Coloriage.

To launch the standalone version of AKVIS Coloriage follow the instructions:

• On a Windows computer:

  - In the main menu: press the button Start and select from the pop-up menu the command AKVIS -> Coloriage.

  - Using the program's shortcut on the Desktop: put the cursor on the icon of the program AKVIS Coloriage and double-click it with the left mouse button.
  

• On a Macintosh computer:

  - Using Finder: select the folder Applications on the side bar of the Finder window, select the application AKVIS Coloriage and double-click it.

Under Windows the AKVIS Coloriage program window looks like that:

Most part of the AKVIS Coloriage window is taken by the Image window with two tabs: Before and After. Under the Before tab you can see the original photo, to which you apply color strokes with the Pencil tool. The After tab shows the resulting image. You can switch between the windows by pressing the Tab key.

In the upper part of the window you can see the Control panel with the following buttons:

• The button (only in the standalone version) allows opening an image for processing.

• The button (only in the standalone version) allows saving image to the disk.

• The button (only in the standalone version) allows printing the image.

• The button opens files with the .strokes extention. These are the files where you save strokes drawn on an image.

• The button allows saving color strokes drawn on an image into a file with the .strokes extension. It is helpful when you want to edit the photo later, for example, if you have to interrupt your work before you have drawn the strokes for all objects.

• The button Undo cancels the last operation. It is possible to cancel several operations in a row. The hotkey for the command is Ctrl+Z (+Z on Macintosh).

• The button Redo returns the last cancelled operation. It is possible to return several operations in a row. The hotkey for the command is Ctrl+Y (+Y on Macintosh).

• When the check-box Brightness Preview is activated, you can see how the strokes with the selected color and brightness range will look on the resulting image. Note that as the program adjusts colors to the original brightness range of the picture, light color strokes drawn on light areas and dark color strokes drawn on dark areas will be hardly visible.

• Press the button (Run) to start the colorization process. The shortcut to start the colorization from keyboard is R. The resulting image is shown in the After tab.

• The button (only in the plugin version) allows applying the result of the colorization. When you press the button, the changes are applied to the image and the AKVIS Coloriage window closes.

• The button shows information about the program.

• The button opens the help files of the program.

• The button allows selecting the language of the program. Left-click on the button and select the required language from the drop-out menu.

• The button allows closing the window without applying the colorization result.

To the left of the Image Window there is a Toolbar. Click on the buttons on the Toolbar to activate the corresponding tool and edit the strokes. The settings of the active tool are shown in the floating window that appears when you click on the button. If you click outside of the button, the window disappears. To change the brush size of the Pencil, Keep-Color Pencil, Eraser and Recolor Brush tools, move the slider on the scale in the floating window or use hot keys [ (to reduce the brush size) and ] (to increase the brush size).

• The button calls the Pencil tool. Apply color strokes with this tool to assign a color to every object. The shortcut for the Pencil is the B key. To draw a straight line you should activate the Pencil tool, press the Shift-key and left-click on the start point of the line and then click on the finish point. If you want to continue drawing, just hold down the Shift key and click to set points for additional segments.
  

• The button calls the Eraser tool that allows erasing strokes and lines. The shortcut for the Eraser is the E key. The properties of the tool vary according to the processing stage: on the first stage (drawing strokes in the Before tab) the Eraser tool can have only a hard edge, on the second stage (applying the Recolor Brush) the hardness of the Eraser brush can be adjusted.

• The button activates the Keep-color Pencil. This tool is used to mark image areas, the color of which should stay the same. The Keep-color Pencil is useful when working with color images, especially when you want to replace colors of one object without touching the others.
  

• The button calls the Tube tool that allows changing the color of a drawn stroke (the brightness range of the color is taken into account too). The shortcut for the Tube is the G key.

• The button calls the Magic Tube tool that allows recoloring all strokes having the same color and the same brightness range. To recolor all strokes having the same color regardless of the brightness range, use this tool with the Ctrl-key pressed on the keyboard ( on Macintosh).

• The button calls the Eyedropper tool that allows selecting a color from the image or from the Color palette. You can also select a color with a click of the middle mouse button when the Pencil or the Keep-color Pencil tool is activated. The shortcut for the Eyedropper is the I key.
  

• The button activates the Recolor Brush. This brush allows coloring the image manually by applying semitranparent soft strokes.

  Attention!

  This tool is active only on the After tab and can be applied only on the last stage of work. If you switch to the Before tab and click on the Run button , the changes made with the Recolor Brush will be lost.

In the right part of the plug-in window you can see the Navigator and the Colors Palette.

Navigate and scale the image using the Navigation window. In the Navigation window you can see the reduced copy of the image. The red frame shows the part of the image that is now visible in the Image Window; the areas outside the frame will be shaded. Drag the frame to make other parts of the image visible. To move the frame, bring the cursor inside the frame, press the left mouse button and, keeping it pressed, move the frame in the Navigation window.

Navigation window

 

To scroll the image in the Image Window you can press the spacebar on the keyboard and drag the image with the left mouse button. Use the scroll wheel of the mouse to move the image up/down, by keeping the Ctrl key pressed – to the left/to the right, by keeping the Alt key pressed − scale the image. Right-click on the scroll bar to activate the quick navigation menu.

Use the slider or the buttons and , to scale the image in the Image Window. When you click on the button or move the slider to the right, the image scale increases. When you click on the button or move the slider to the left, the image scale reduces.

You can also change the image scale by entering a new coefficient into the scale field and pressing the button Enter (Return in Macintosh). The fall-down menu shows some frequently used coefficients.

You can use hot-keys to change the image scale + and CTRL++ (++ in Macintosh) to increase the image scale and - and CTRL+- (+- in Macintosh) to reduce the scale.

Under the Navigation window you can see the Color Selection Area with the Colors palette and the Color Library.

The Colors palette allows selecting color with a click on any of the colors in the palette. In the color rectangle on the right you can see the current color. Besides, in the Color palette there is a custom colors palette where you can keep your favorite or frequently used colors. To save a color in the custom colors palette, drag the color from the color rectangle to any cell of the custom colors palette. To select a color from the custom colors palette, click it with the left mouse button. To remove a color from the custom colors palette right-click it.

The Color Library contains gradations of colors that frequently appear on photos. For example, color patterns of skin, hair, lips, grass, trees, stones. It helps users to select a naturally-looking color.