Exploring the Toolbox | Running Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

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To use a tool in Paint, you simply click its icon in the toolbox. Paint's toolbox includes the sixteen tools shown in Table 34-2.

Table 34-2. Paint Tools

Tool	Description
	The Free-Form Select tool selects an irregularly shaped cutout. (A cutout is a selection that can be cut, copied, moved, and manipulated in a variety of other ways. See "Working with Cutouts.")
	The Select tool selects a rectangular cutout.
	The Eraser tool erases portions of an object from a picture.
	The Fill With Color tool fills enclosed shapes with the foreground or background color.
	The Pick Color tool changes the foreground or background color to match the color in another part of the picture.
	The Magnifier tool zooms in on portions of the picture.
	The Pencil tool draws free-form lines.
	The Brush tool draws free-form lines using a variety of brush shapes.
	The Airbrush tool creates "spray paint" effects.
	The Text tool adds text to a picture.
	The Line tool draws straight lines.
	The Curve tool draws smooth curves.
	The Rectangle tool draws rectangles and squares.
	The Polygon tool draws irregular closed shapes.
	The Ellipse tool draws ellipses and circles.
	The Rounded Rectangle tool draws rectangles and squares with rounded corners.

You might think of the Free-Form Select, Select, Eraser, Pick Color, and Magnifier tools as editing tools and the rest as drawing tools. We'll look at the drawing tools first and then examine the editing tools.

Using Paint's Drawing Tools

Paint provides 11 drawing tools that let you apply paint to your canvas.

Free-Form Drawing with the Pencil Tool

The Pencil tool is the default drawing tool when you start Paint. To draw using the foreground color with the Pencil, move the mouse pointer into the drawing area, press the left mouse button, and drag. (To draw using the background color, use the right mouse button.)

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Drawing Straight Lines
If you want to draw perfectly straight vertical, horizontal, or 45-degree diagonal lines with the Pencil tool, hold down the Shift key while you draw. For more information about drawing straight lines, see "Drawing Straight Lines with the Line Tool."

Free-Form Drawing with the Brush Tool

The Brush tool works like the Pencil tool except that you can choose from a variety of brush shapes.

When you select the Brush tool, the available brush shapes appear in the box just below the toolbox. Click the brush shape you want to select it. The mouse pointer shape changes to reflect the brush shape you choose.

If you're adept at calligraphy, try one of the diagonal shapes. They allow you to paint with thick and thin brush strokes.

To draw with the Brush, hold down the left mouse button (to draw using the foreground color) or the right mouse button (to draw using the background color) and drag.

The Brush tool is primarily intended for free-form drawing. If you want to draw straight lines, it's best to use the Line or Pencil tool.

Spray Painting with the Airbrush Tool

The Airbrush tool deposits a circular pattern of dots. To use it, click the Airbrush tool and then click one of the three spray sizes that appear below the toolbox. Move the mouse pointer to the drawing area, hold down the left mouse button (to draw using the foreground color) or the right mouse button (to draw using the background color) and drag.

Like a real can of spray paint, the slower you drag the mouse, the denser the spray; the faster you drag, the lighter the spray.

Drawing Straight Lines with the Line Tool

The Line tool creates straight lines. To draw a line, click the Line tool and then choose the line width from the choices that appear below the toolbox. Move the mouse pointer to the drawing area and hold down the left mouse button (to draw using the foreground color) or the right mouse button (to draw using the background color) and drag.

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Drawing at 90-Degree or 45-Degree Angles
To draw perfectly straight vertical, horizontal, or diagonal lines, hold down the Shift key while you drag. Using the Shift key to create lines will eliminate—or at least reduce—the jagged edges that lines at other angles sometimes have.

Drawing Curved Lines with the Curve Tool

The Curve tool lets you create a line with two curves in it. To draw a curved line:

Click the Curve tool.

Click one of the line width choices that appear below the toolbox.

Position the mouse pointer in the drawing area at the place where you want the curve to begin, hold down either mouse button and drag to where you want the curved line to end, and then release the mouse button.

At this point you have a straight line.

Move the mouse pointer near the part of the line you want to bend. Hold down either mouse button and drag in the direction you want the line to curve.

Now you have a line with one curve.

To add a second bend, repeat step 4. Use the left mouse button if you want the curve to appear in the foreground color or the right mouse button if you want it to appear in the background color.

It might take some practice to get used to the behavior of the Curve tool. If your curve isn't shaping up the way you want, click both mouse buttons (or the Curve tool in the toolbox) any time before finishing the second bend to delete the line, and then start over.

Drawing Rectangles and Squares with the Rectangle Tool

To create rectangles and squares, use the Rectangle tool. Click the Rectangle tool, and then choose the rectangle type from the three choices below the toolbox:

The first rectangle type lets you draw the outline of the rectangle using the foreground or background color.

The second type lets you draw the outline in either the foreground or background color with the interior filled in with the other color.

The third type lets you draw a solid rectangle filled with the background or foreground color, without a border.

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Setting the Border Width
To set the line width for the border of a rectangle, rounded rectangle, ellipse, or polygon, click the Line tool and select a line width before you click the Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, or Polygon tool.

After choosing the rectangle type, move to the drawing area, and then hold down the left mouse button (to use the foreground color for the rectangle's outline) or the right button (to use the background color) and drag diagonally to create the rectangle.

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You can create a perfect square by holding down the Shift key while you drag.

Drawing Rectangles with Rounded Corners

To draw rectangles with rounded corners, use the Rounded Rectangle tool. The Rounded Rectangle tool works exactly the same as the regular Rectangle tool except that it produces rounded corners.

Drawing Ellipses and Circles with the Ellipse Tool

To create ellipses (ovals) or circles, use the Ellipse tool. The Ellipse tool works much like the Rectangle tool described above. After selecting the tool, you choose a type—outline only, filled outline, or solid, just as with the rectangles. Then put the mouse pointer where you want the corner of an imaginary rectangle that will contain your figure. Hold down the left mouse button (to use the foreground color for the ellipse's outline) or the right mouse button (to use the background color) and drag to expand the figure. When the figure reaches the desired size, release the mouse button.

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To create a perfect circle, hold down the Shift key while dragging.

Drawing Irregular Closed Shapes with the Polygon Tool

To create any kind of closed shape other than a rectangle, square, ellipse, or circle, use the Polygon tool. With this tool, you can draw as many straight-line segments as you want. Each segment begins where the last one ended. When you double-click, Paint closes the polygon by connecting the end of your last line segment with the beginning of your first.

You can create anything from simple triangles to complex shapes with overlapping lines. To create a polygon:

Click the Polygon tool.

Choose the polygon type from the three choices below the toolbox: outline only, filled outline, or solid.

Move the mouse pointer to the beginning of the first line segment. Hold down the left mouse button (to use the foreground color for the polygon's outline) or the right mouse button (to use the background color) and drag to the end of the first line segment.

Move the mouse pointer to the place where you want the next line segment to end and click using the same mouse button.

Paint draws a new line segment from the end of the first line.

Repeat step 4 until the mouse pointer is at the end of the next-to-last line segment you want, and then double-click.

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To create perfect vertical, horizontal, or diagonal line segments, hold down the Shift key while creating each segment.

Using the Fill With Color Tool to Fill an Enclosed Shape

The Fill With Color tool allows you to fill any enclosed portion of your picture with the current foreground or background color.

To use the Fill With Color tool, click it in the toolbox, and then position the mouse pointer over the area in the picture you want to fill. Click the left mouse button to fill the area with the foreground color, or click the right mouse button to fill the area with the background color.

Note that if the area you want to fill has any gaps—even a gap of a single pixel—the color will leak through the gap. If that happens, use the Undo command, and then patch the leak and try again. To patch a very small leak, you might want to use the Zoom command. For information about the Zoom command, see "Fine-Tuning Your Image with Zoom."

Adding Text with the Text Tool

Paint's Text tool is a special kind of implement. You don't really draw with this tool; instead, you choose a typeface, style, and point size, and then type characters from the keyboard (or paste them from the Clipboard). Nevertheless, after you've completed your text entry, the text behaves just like any other part of your picture.

The general procedure for adding text is as follows:

Select the Text tool.

Drag diagonally to create a rectangular text frame about the size you want for your text.

An insertion point—like the one in a word processing program—appears inside the frame to let you know where your text will appear.

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Placing Text Over an Opaque Background
By default, text frames are transparent—text appears in the foreground color and the frame's background is "clear," allowing the image underneath to show through. This can be a problem if you're adding text on top of a colored background. Black text on a black background, for example, isn't legible. To use the color box's background color for your text frame's background color, click the icon for the opaque option (just below the toolbox). The text frame is filled with the selected background color.

Type your text or choose Paste from the Edit menu.

Change text attributes using the Fonts toolbar, shown below, which appears when you create a text frame. (If the Fonts toolbar isn't visible, choose Text Toolbar from the View menu.) You can select a font, size, and style (bold, italic, underlined, or combination).

Click outside the text frame or select another tool from the toolbox to confirm the text entry.

SEE ALSO
For more information about formatting text, see Chapter 13, "Installing and Using Fonts."

NOTE
Until you confirm the text entry by clicking outside the frame or by choosing another tool, you can edit the text or change the font, size, or style of the text. However, once you confirm the text entry, you can't do any text editing other than erasing or using the Undo command and starting over.

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Moving the Text Frame
Before you confirm the text entry, you can move the text frame. To do so, move the mouse pointer to any edge of the frame; the pointer changes to a standard pointer arrow. Then drag the frame where you want it. You can also make the frame larger if you run out of text space. Point to one of the resizing handles (the solid boxes along each side of the frame) and drag outward.

Using Paint's Editing Tools

The editing tools in Paint's toolbox let you clean up your drawing as well as select or view part of it for further manipulation.

Using the Eraser Tool to Clean Up Mistakes

The Eraser tool lets you "erase" anything in the drawing area by simply dragging the mouse over the portion of the object you want to remove. What the eraser is really doing, however, is painting with the current background color. So, if you have a black object—text, rectangle, whatever—on a white background, dragging the Eraser tool over any of the black portions of the object appears to erase them, but it's really just "whitewashing" them to match the white background.

SEE ALSO
For information about erasing a large area of your drawing, see "Erasing a Cutout."

To use the Eraser tool, click the Eraser icon in the toolbox, and then select from one of the four eraser sizes that appear below the toolbox. Finally, position the mouse pointer where you want to start erasing, hold down the left mouse button, and drag.

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Erasing a Single Color
Right-dragging the Eraser tool erases (applies the current background color to) only the portions of the drawing area that are in the current foreground color. Set the foreground color to match the color of the object you want to erase, and nothing else in the drawing will be disturbed.

Selecting a Color with the Pick Color Tool

The Pick Color tool lets you change the foreground or background in the color box to the color of any object in your drawing. To change the foreground color, click the Pick Color tool, and then click the object or area in your drawing that's drawn in the color you want to use as your new foreground color. To change the background color, click the Pick Color tool, and then right-click the object or area in your drawing that's drawn in the color you want to use as your new background color.

Using the Magnifier Tool

Using the Magnifier tool, you can zoom in to a specific portion of your drawing or magnify the entire image. To magnify a particular area of the drawing, click the Magnifier tool. Move the pointer—which assumes the shape of a large rectangle—over the portion of the drawing you want to enlarge, and then click. Paint magnifies the drawing and places the portion of the drawing area that the rectangle pointer was over at the center of the drawing area. To return to normal, unmagnified view, click the Magnifier tool again, and then click anywhere in the drawing area.

SEE ALSO
For more information about magnified views, see "Fine-Tuning Your Image with Zoom."

If you want to enlarge the image by a factor of 2, 6, or 8, click the Magnifier tool, and then click 2×, 6×, or 8× just below the toolbox. You can return the drawing area to normal size by clicking the Magnifier tool, and then clicking the 1× choice just below the toolbox.

Paint remembers the last magnification you used and uses that factor as its default the next time you use the Magnifier tool to select an area to be enlarged.

Defining Cutouts with the Free-Form Select Tool and the Select Tool

The Free-Form Select and Select tools at the top of the toolbox are used for specifying cutouts—selected areas of the drawing that can be manipulated in various ways. See "Working with Cutouts."

Using the Free-Form Select tool, you can define any portion of any shape in the drawing area as a cutout. The Free-Form Select tool is particularly useful when you want to select an irregularly shaped object and don't want to include any of the surrounding canvas. Using the Select tool, you can define a rectangular-shaped cutout.

To use the Free-Form Select tool, start by clicking the Free-Form Select tool icon. Then position the mouse pointer somewhere along the edge of the object you want to select. Hold down the left mouse button and then drag around the object. You draw a solid line as you drag the mouse. When you have the object completely surrounded, release the mouse button. (You don't actually have to close the selection. When you release the mouse button, Paint connects the current pointer position to the place where you started.) When you release the mouse button, Paint displays a dotted rectangular line around the object you've selected.

When the object you want to select is rectangular, or when it doesn't matter whether you select a bit of background canvas along with the object, the Select tool is the best way to go.

To use the Select tool, position the mouse pointer at one corner of the object you want to select, and then drag to the opposite corner.