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Color change can change Fill Pattern


MullinRJ

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Dear VectorMagicians,

I just bit the bullet and upgraded to VW10.1 and noticed that something I wished had gone away, hadn't. Since VW8 evolved from MC7, the assignment of SOLID colors and fill patterns using the Attributes Palette has been causing me grief. When an object's Fill Pattern is set to SOLID, changing the color of the object can change its Fill Pattern.

More specifically, when an object's Fill Pattern is set as solid FG color (FP=2), changing the color in the Attributes Palette also changes the Fill Pattern to solid BG color (FP=1). The opposite is true of the Pen Pattern, where changing solid Pen colors will change a Pen Pattern that had a solid BG pattern (PP=1) to a solid FG pattern (PP=2). The new color displays, but the Fill or Pen Pattern will have been changed.

In my drawings, I go to great lengths to set the Fill Patterns, Pen Patterns, Fill Colors, and Pen Colors for every object. These are used as tags for later processing. There is a definite distinction between a solid Foreground Fill (FP=2) and a solid Background Fill (FP=1) when scripts are testing objects for these attributes. So, having the Fill Pattern attribute changed when it is not desired can have disasterous effects later in my design process.

Try this.

1) Draw a Rectangle.

2) Set the Fill Pattern to PATTERN in the PopUp menu. Two color boxes appear in the Attributes Palette to the right of the Fill Preview box, the left color box is for the Foreground Color, the right one is for the Background Color.

3) Set the Foreground Color (left box) to Green, and the Background Color (right box) to Yellow.

4) Using the FILL PopUp menu, set the Fill Pattern to SOLID (The rectangle shows as Yellow - or BG Color. My intuition would have expected the FG color to display as it does with the Pen Pattern).

Now,

5) Set the Fill Pattern to PATTERN again.

6) Clicking on the Fill Preview box and select the solid FG pattern (third box in from top left). The rectangle now shows as Green.

7) Click on the Green color in the Fill Preview box and change the color to Blue. The rectangle shows as Blue.

Here's where the problem comes in.

8) Set the Fill Pattern to PATTERN again. Notice that the BG color was set to Blue and the FG color (Green) was unchanged. The rectangle's Fill Pattern was changed from (FP=2) to (FP=1) in the process. OUCH!

What I wish for is the following:

1) If an object's fill is set to (FP=2), changing the object's color will change the FG color and leave the Fill Pattern and BG color alone.

2) If an object's fill is set to (FP=1), changing the object's color will change the BG color and leave the Fill Pattern FG color alone.

3) When an object is changed from a Patterned Fill to SOLID (via the PopUp Menu), the Fill Pattern should be set to (FP=2 or Foreground color).

4) When an object is changed from SOLID to a Patterned Fill (via the PopUp Menu), the Fill Pattern should be set to (FP=3, the first Patterned Fill).

The same 4 behaviors should hold true for Pen Patterns as well.

I can still force the Colors and Fill & Pen patterns to the way I need them, through many mouse clicks in the Attributes Palette, but it is very tedious to do what used to be very simple. I know you were trying to simplify the palette for the masses, but you have removed a great deal of control in the process.

I wish I could have stated this more succinctly and I hope it is not too confusing. I would be more than happy to elaborate if need be. Please let me know if you consider the program's current behavior intentional.

Thanks in advance,

Raymond Mullin

VW 10.1 - OSX.2.3

Mac G4 Dual 500

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If you click in the patterns box, there are two solid options. The second "pattern" is for the background or right color. The third "pattern" is for the forground or the left color.

Both "patterns" will give you a solid fill.

The patterns are acting as they should.

Just make sure you click on the correct solid fill pattern to achieve the desired solid fill color.

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Hi Katie,

Yes, I agree the Patterns Box does work properly. My concern is in changing a foreground color AFTER the Pattern Fill of solid foreground (FP=2, the third pattern box) is selected. By clicking in the Attributes Palette where it now shows the solid Foreground Color, a color palette pops up. Any color change will modify the Background Color and switch the Fill Pattern to (FP=1, the second pattern box). Reset the Fill to PATTERN to see the result of a color change.

If I have set the Fill Pattern to Foreground and the color is Green, changing the color to Blue switches the Fill Pattern to Background (second box) and changes the Background Color, not the Foreground Color, even though I have previously set the Fill Pattern to Foreground Solid (third box). This doesn't seem right to me.

The only way I can correctly edit the foreground color is to set the Fill Pattern to PATTERN, change the foreground color there, then re-set the Pattern to Solid Foreground Fill, even though it was already set to Solid Foreground Fill. This prevents VW from changing the Fill Pattern from Foreground to Background. It is a lot of extra clicking to do something that used to work nicely up through MC7. I apologize, I wax verbose again, but I AM more concise than last night.

Thanks,

Raymond

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