{"id":600,"date":"2020-04-08T10:04:45","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T17:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/santhony.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=600"},"modified":"2020-11-23T14:58:26","modified_gmt":"2020-11-23T22:58:26","slug":"arttoolsjs-software-for-fine-artists","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/santhony.com\/wordpress\/arttoolsjs-software-for-fine-artists\/","title":{"rendered":"ArtToolsJSw – Mac & Windows Software For Fine Artists"},"content":{"rendered":"

GridTool and GrayScaler for Mac and Windows<\/h3>\n

Download $9.99\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(After purchase you will be directed to a page to select which operating system (Mac OSX or Windows) version you need)<\/span><\/p>\n

Introduction and History<\/h3>\n

I recently wrote and published an Android software tool for fine artists called “ArtTools” that allows you to get the RGB, CMYK and gray values of any pixel or grid of pixels in an image and also will draw user defined grids over the image. For the history and reasons for writing\u00a0 ArtTools, you can read about it here<\/a>. Having ArtTools running on my Android tablet while I am painting has been extremely handy for accurately judging values and color when mixing colors. However, I realized that being able to run ArtTools on a Mac or Windows desktop or notebook would be a good idea.<\/p>\n

I had to “port” the Android version to something that would run on both Mac and Windows and the easiest way to do that was to use the cross-platform Java programming language and Swing components (like buttons, panels, etc.).\u00a0 Since Android ArtTools is written in an Android-specific version of Java, the conversion to Mac and Windows compatible code was relatively straightforward.<\/p>\n

ArtToolsJSw (the “JSw” stands for Java using Swing components) is written in the Java language that is “cross-platform” meaning that programs written in Java are able to run on both Mac OSX and the Windows operating systems. The beauty of Java is that it only requires a single set of program code files and the result looks and runs just like a normal program on either operating system.<\/p>\n

The only requirement for this is that the machine a Java program runs on must have the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed. If you do not have the latest JRE (jre-8 at this time) you can download it free from Java’s home company, Oracle, here:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.oracle.com\/java\/technologies\/javase-jre8-downloads.html<\/a> <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The JRE is free to download and free to use and should only take a very few minutes to install. Be sure to choose the correct version for Mac or Windows.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

ArtToolsJSw How-To<\/h2>\n

The main window of ArtToolsJS is very similar to the Android version. The main differences are the addition of a few new tool buttons and the buttons’ positions on the toolbar as well as a splash window on the startup screen. Also, a couple of features are different because of the lack of a touch-screen on most desktop computers as well as the presence of a mouse\/trackpad and keyboard.<\/p>\n

The Startup Window<\/h3>\n

The startup window with the “splash” window tells the user, especially for the first time the program is run, that they can either open an image using a standard open-file dialog or by dragging an image onto the central panel. The “drag to open image” operation is not immediately obvious and is much more convenient than opening a file using a open file dialog.<\/p>\n

The “S. Anthony Studios Website” is a link to this page.<\/p>\n

“Proceed” just closes the splash panel.<\/p>\n

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Load Image<\/h3>\n

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Images may be dragged onto the central panel or opened using a standard file open dialog as shown below. You can open a file or drag an image file onto the image panel at any time and it will replace the existing image.<\/p>\n

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Display RGB, CMYK and Gray Values<\/h3>\n

Of course, one of the main reasons for writing this app was to display the RGB, CMYK and gray values of a pixel (or grid of pixels) in an image. The desktop version provides a number of methods for doing this:<\/p>\n

Clicking the left mouse button displays a small “target” cross-hairs box centered on the mouse pointer and the corresponding values in the Info Bar below the image. (first image).<\/p>\n

Clicking the right mouse button also displays the target as well and shows the values in the Info Bar, but also a popup with the same information (second image).<\/p>\n

Holding either SHIFT-key on the keyboard (not available on the Android version) down immediately displays a small box above the mouse pointer showing the color at the tip of the pointer (third image) and continues showing it as you move around the screen (third image).<\/p>\n

Note: The mouse pointer is not visible in any of the screenshots because the pointer floats above all windows in a separate layer.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Left-click shows target at point clicked (see in the dark area of the barn).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Right-click shows color values at target as well as in the Info Bar at the bottom of the screen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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SHIFT-key down showing color at tip of mouse pointer in a box just above the pointer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Note: The three types of pixel color display work whether or not\u00a0 a grid is showing.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Zooming and Panning<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a>The image may be:<\/p>\n