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 The next article in the series is devoted to Recolored - a standalone program designed for coloring black and white images and/or changing the color of any digital image and performing partial desaturation.
Recolored uses an algorithm that not only recolores objects according to their luminance structure but can define edges of the objects and thus considerably save time and effort of the user.
For coloring black and white images Recolored offers a good library of colors grouped into subfolders according to the types of objects. The currently active color is shown as a foreground color above the color library. This color can be changed with the use of a color wheel that opens at a double click on it. There's an option of choosing a color directly from the color space in the upper right corner of the program window.
The user of the program should not try to cover the objects with the desired colors entirely. Instead we should make outlines of part of the image that should be colored in a separate color.
The objects are thus outlined with color strokes. The two tools used for it - a brush and a pencil. Both have a regulated size and a round or rectangular shape. The pencil, unlike the brush, makes only straight strokes.
When every object is outlined the Colorize icon can be pressed and the program should find the edges of the objects using the strokes as guidelines, and mix the new color with the image using the luminance information. The process of colorization can take some time.
The result of colorization is shown in a separate window and each time you run the algorithm a new result image is produced. Any result can be saved as jpg, bmp, or png.
The strokes you make on the original image can also be saved as a Recolored project in rlc format.
The stroked image stays in place at the time and any change can be applied to it - whether you decide to change the strokes by erasing the old ones and drawing the new, or just want to change the color of the existing strokes. The Color Replacer tool performs the latter function.
The changing of the color uses the same algorythm. White color here is used to mask the areas that should not be touched (a filling tool could have come in handy here) and the part of the image to be recolored is stroked with the required color.
For desaturation the user of the Recolored program coveres the colored part with white color, all the rest is outlined with black. Thus black and white colors are used as markers of desaturation and masking respectively.
Lets sum it up now. The Recolored program is quite easy to use, it offers a substantial library of preset colors any of which can be modified. The algorythm of recoloring works quite effectively both in covering the area according to luminance information and defining the edges. All of this is complemented with a rather smooth workflow.
You can purchase Recolored at www.recolored.com site for $29 with 30 day maney back guarantee. A 21 day trial is available for download.
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