Photoshop help. change colors?

[rjd2]

hi folks, sorry if this is a little daft, but im at a loss here. i am doing my panel layouts in photoshop, and i've imported dial images that were in black. i cant figure out how to change the color of them to anything else.

ideally, i'd also like to know how to change an entire image to another color. if i use the lasso tool or rectangular marquee tool, and then fill with the paint bucket, it just fills the background.

sorry if this is way off topic, but i figured i might as well ask, instead of wasting another hour of my life trying to figure this out. thanks for the help....

[Uncle Krunkus]

In the bottom right corner,
Make sure you have the right layer selected, then un-check "auto select layer" to stop you from accidently switching layers. This is a definite first step.
Then, use whatever selection tool makes sense for the job to select what you want to change. This step is harder to spell out without actually seeing the file you're working on.
Then, paintbucket, or airbrush the new colour.
If it becomes too frustrating, and the file isn't too big, chuck it over here with a colour code and I'll have a go.

[rjd2]

thanks alot, senor krunkus. id love your help. i tried to do what you said; whenever i select the dial icons, and fill them with the paint bucket, it just fills the background area yellow, and the dial image stays black. my eyes hurt. fyi, the layers are named "big" or "big copy".

if you figure this out, PLEASE let me know exactly how you did it, as i need to actually do this for a number of files. sigh.....unfunnest part of SDIY by far...

thanks alot for the help!

EDIT: awesome. tried twice to attach PSD doc. no luck. i need a piano to the head right now, please.

[rjd2]

here it is:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FAHXBAXW

[Uncle Krunkus]

It says to enter a code in the window, but I can't find any code.

[elektro80]

A vector based drawing application is a far better choice for this kinda stuff.

[rjd2]

hope this works(crosses fingers)

---

MFOS DUAL VCA 2-yello.psd.zip
Description:		Download (listen)
Filename:	MFOS DUAL VCA 2-yello.psd.zip
Filesize:	444.48 KB
Downloaded:	372 Time(s)

---

[rjd2]

sorry, best i can do is zipped file. thanks for the help!

what "vector based drawing" program should i use for mac?

[elektro80]

Adobe Illustrator is fine, but I guess you can find a lot of freeware/shareware draw/CAD applications still. Try the mac section at versiontracker.com.

Adobe Photoshop has aquired some object features over the years, but for panels and stuff like that a draw or CAD package is still a better tool.

try this

[zynthetix]

A little tangent, but this is a pretty good vector graphics program for free:

http://www.inkscape.org/download/?lang=en

Not very much like illustrator, which I also use. Friends in graphic design tell me it is more like Corel draw, but we all like it for what it is. Pretty fun piece of software.

[Uncle Krunkus]

There it is with those greyscale areas changed to solid yellow.
I'd really recommend upping the resolution and re-doing the numbers though, as they are quite unreadable.
A vector graphic solution might be better in the long run. For me though, I know photoshop, and I can't be bothered to learn a whole new application just to get the results I'm already getting.

---

mfos_dual_vca_2_yellopsd_192.zip
Description:		Download (listen)
Filename:	mfos_dual_vca_2_yellopsd_192.zip
Filesize:	872.6 KB
Downloaded:	335 Time(s)

---

[rjd2]

thanks so much!!!!!!! this is truly awesome. and yes, i should probably just try to redo the dial thing in higher res.