By John Campbell
A More detailed look at New Paint
In my previous article, New Paint in Windows7, we took a general look at all the main parts of the new Paint. In this article we’ll give the Ribbon Bar a closer scrutiny checking out its individual features.
The Ribbon Bar
As mentioned previously it is logically arranged being divided into six sections or boxes. They are:
- Clipboard
- Image
- Tools
- Shapes
- Size
- Colors
In each of these boxes, Paint groups all related tasks within the same box. For example in the Clipboard box you will see Paste, Cut and Copy.
Clipboard
Here you can paste, cut and copy. These commands were found in the Edit menu of the old Paint.
Image
Here you can select, crop, resize and rotate images. Select and rotate were available in the older version of Paint, but crop and resize are new features.
Tools
The tool buttons here are similar to those in the older version. You get Pencil, Fill with Color, Text, Eraser, Color Picker and Magnifier.
Brushes
Windows 7 Paint has a complete new set of brushes. The older ones, the normal Brush and Air Brush are still available, but there are now seven new ones, two calligraphy pens, oil, crayon, marker, pencil, and watercolor brushes. You are now able to add some finer features to your drawings using these additional brushes.
Shapes
In the older version of Paint, you were somewhat limited in the shapes you could draw. You were stuck with curved and straight lines, rectangles, polygons, ellipses and rounded rectangles.
The New Shapes
Windows 7 Paint now includes cool and useful shapes. Once you select a shape, the Outline and Fill menus are activated. Clicking either opens up a range of options. The illustration below shows you the choices.
Tip! The Outline and Fill sub-set of buttons allow you to customize each shape. You can draw an outline of the shape using one color and a brush and then fill it in with a different color and brush.
Size
The Size box allows you to select a suitable size for a line or a shape. This option applies to any shape you select.
Using the View Tab
Clicking this tab changes the Ribbon bar to a new set of tools.
These sets of tools are easy to use. You can Zoom In or Zoom Out, add Rulers and Grid lines, and display in Full screen.
Activating Grid Lines and Ruler
You can access these through the View tab. Both Grid Lines and Rulers are useful for those who like doing detailed work. In addition you can Zoom In and Zoom Out to ensure you get the finest details in your picture.
By now you should have a pretty good idea about the new features in the two Ribbon Bars in Windows 7′s Paint.
Happy painting!
Tip: Click here to run a free scan for Windows related errors
Subscribe
to our Windows Newsletter. You'll receive the most comprehensive news
and updates about Microsoft's Windows 8 sent to your email inbox. In addition, I'll
send you my eBook "The Case for Windows 8 - Volume 1".
Sign up here
