The Recolor Tool is used to replace regions of similar color with another color. After setting the options the tool can be used to 'paint' an new shade over an existing one.
Recolor Tool options
Brush size
The size of the recoloring brush is set by the Brush size setting in the Tool Bar.
The [ and ] keys can be used to change the Brush size. Adding the Ctrl key to the square bracket keys increases the rate of change. Brush size accepts decimals in the Tool Bar value box, so a brush size of 10.25 is perfectly valid.
The recoloring brush tip is circular in shape. This is not able to be altered.
Pressure Sensitivity
Pressure Sensitivity This split-button toggle is used to enable/disable pressure sensitivity. If Pressure Sensitivity is enabled, pressure on the hardware will be reflected in the thickness of the brush stroke.
The button appears between Brush size and Hardness only when a compatible pen or drawing tablet is detected, and Windows Ink has not been disabled in Settings.
Pressure Sensitivity toggle
Hardness
The Hardness setting in the Tool Bar determines how hard or soft the edges of the recoloring brush are.
A high setting gives a sharper edge, while a low setting gives a more diffuse or softer edge.
Note
Hardness can be considered the strength of the antialiasing used to soften edges.
Because of this link, the Hardness setting is ignored if Antialiasing is disabled.
Spacing
The Spacing setting in the Tool Bar determines the rate at which the tool path is sampled.
A low spacing will yield a continuous path, with little 'space' between inputs. A high spacing will allow more travel of the cursor between inputs to the point where the path may be returned as a series of individual inputs or dots.
Tolerance
Adjust the sensitivity of the color replacement with the Tolerance setting.
If Tolerance is set to 0%, only exactly matching colors will be replaced.
If Tolerance is set to 100%, all pixels will be recolored (used in this way the Recolor Tool behaves much like the Paintbrush Tool).
Tolerance Alpha Mode
This toggle button changes the algorithm which determines how the alpha channel contributes to the comparison of neighboring pixels. The states are Premultiplied (default) and Straight.
Premultiplied results in transparent pixels being treated as equal even if the color channels are different.
Straight results in transparent pixels being treated as equal only if the color channel values are also equal.
The Tolerance Alpha Mode toggle button is common to the Magic Wand, Paint Bucket, and Recolor tools.
Sampling Modes
The Recolor Tool has two distinct sampling modes: Sampling Once and Sampling Secondary Color. These significantly alter how the tool acts.
Sampling Modes
Sampling Once
Sampling Once mode with the Left Mouse button recolors the color first clicked on with the Primary color.
Using the Right Mouse button recolors the color first clicked on with the Secondary color.
Sampling Secondary Color
The Sampling Secondary Color mode is the same method of recoloring as seen in Paint.NET 3.5x.
Using Sampling Secondary Color mode with the Left Mouse button, the Primary color becomes the replacement color.
Pixels within tolerance of the Secondary color will be replaced.
Using the Right Mouse button reverses the roles of the colors compared to the Left Mouse button.
Path Smoothing
The path of the Recolor Tool can be artificially smoothed to create more subtle changes in direction. This toggle turns path smoothing on and off.
Antialiasing
The Recolor Tool can be rendered with an aliased (jagged) or antialiased (smoothed) edge. This toggle selects which mode will be used.
If aliasing is selected, the Hardness setting will be ignored.
Selection Quality
This setting determines if the selection boundary should be aliased (pixelated) or antialiased (smoothed).
If aliased/pixelated is used, selection boundaries will be snapped to the nearest pixel, resulting in a jagged or stepped appearance when the tool meets these edges.
If antialiased/smoothed is used, the selection boundaries will be antialiased so a meeting between the tool and the boundary will be smoother.
The Recolor Tool is often the fastest and easiest method to change an object's color. In the image below note how the recoloring action has respected the subtle variations in hue.
Example - Recoloring
Before Recoloring
Activate the Recoloring Tool
Set the Primary color to the shade you want to introduce (e.g. green)
Set the Recoloring tool options in the Tool Bar (Brush width, Hardness & Tolerance).
Set the Sampling mode to Sampling Once.
Using the Left mouse button "paint" the new color over the old. Using Sampling Once, the first color you click on will become the color which gets replaced.
