Anyone know how to repaint panels??

[Guest joedc5]

Hi, I am currently using teh Abacus panel design software. I tried to use Microsoft paint to paint the panel a custom color but the only colors it lets me use are white and grey even when I select orange!! Anyone know a way around this. I have tried just opening the BMP with MS Paint and that did not work as well. Any help is appriciated. Thanks, Joe

[Varmint007 2]

Joe,First, opening the image for the panel itself, modifying it and re-saving it to the panel folder is what you need to do - forget using a panel editor. Second, I don't use MS paint, but I suspect the reason you're only able to apply certain colors is that the panel (like most) is 8-bit (256 colors), and the program is limiting you to the artwork's native pallet. What you need to do is convert the image to RGB, repaint it, and then convert it back to 8 bit using the new colors. Does MS paint work with 24/32-bit images? If not, you'll need a higher end paint program and your problem should go away. Just bear in mind that the color with an RGB value of 0,0,0 is reserved for transparency in FS. So any areas with that color (i.e. the windscreen) will be transparent. If you accidentally get that color (which can EASILY look like a black color with a slightly different RGB value), gets in another area of the panel, it's going to be transparent. Hope any of this helps,--Jon