Confused by foreground and background colors in Color picker

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2022-03-20 17:23:15

Hello,

I used Pixelmatorr Classic before, and recently I switched using Pixelmator Pro.

In my work, I usually remove the background of a product image, and add a new layer under the product image, then fill a solid color into the background layer.

In Pixelmator Pro, when I tried to fill color the background layer, I found there is foreground and background colors in Color picker, and when I tried to fill a solid color, I found there is some empty area, I mean it did not fully fill the color into the new layer, and please check the screenshot to understand what I mean:

Image

I checked the documentation at https://www.pixelmator.com/support/guid ... r-pro/1231

But there is no description or explanation on how to use it, anyone would like to let me know what are the foreground and background colors, please?

In Pixelmator classic, there is no what called foreground and background colors, and I am quite confused what are they used for, and how to use them.

Thanks

Alex
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2022-03-21 09:20:37

I think the most common use is to add+subtract from masks with default black+white.
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2022-03-21 14:39:10

would you take an examination please if possible?

By the way, if so, how to fill solid color in pixelmator pro?

Thanks
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2022-03-22 10:25:21

1. Hope this will help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heFkzzHWoqY
2. go Style or hit "S", Add Style->Fill
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2022-03-23 12:47:57

Hey alexlii. In theory, you're doing everything correctly — you can certainly fill layers using the Color Fill tool. The unfilled areas come from the "Sample all layers" option which I can see you have turned. So you have two ways you can go about this:

1) Deselect "Sample all layers" in the Color Fill tool options and single-click the background to fill it
2) You can keep "Sample all layers" turned on, but instead of single-clicking the background, click and drag until the fill tolerance reaches 100%

If you need a quicker way to fill layers, you can use Command + Backspace (to fill with background color) and Option + Backspace (to fill with foreground color) shortcuts.
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2022-03-23 15:24:06

Hello Aurelija,

Thanks, it works, I can fill sold color now.

Although, I only have concept of background, but never know foreground, is there a tutorial to explain what and how to use foreground in Pixelmator Pro design?

Thanks, and have a great day.
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2022-03-28 14:57:10

Good to hear it! We don't really have a tutorial dedicated for this specifically, but there can really be many uses for the foreground/background color switching. Ellen's suggested mask editing is one of them. When you paint on a mask with black — it hides those areas of the masked layers and when you paint with white — it reveals them. So being able to easily switch between these two colors makes the mask editing workflow much more convenient. We'll keep in mind that a tutorial on background and foreground colors would be helpful, though!