This is a graphic program that can be used to create drawing on a blank page or on top of other pictures in the computer. Paint is incorporated with windows. It is also used to open and edit pictures.
Starting Paint
To load paint, take the following steps
- Click on Start button
- Point on All Programs
- Click on Accessories
- Click on Paint
After the above steps, a blank paint program opens showing the menu and the tool box. The icons on the tool box represent different actions that can be carried out with paint.
Features of paint window
The following are features of paint window:
- Title bar
- Menu bar
- Drawing/printable area
- Tool box
- Colour box palette
- Title Bar: This bar displays the name of the program.
- Menu Bar: This bar contains the following main menu e.g. file, edit, view, image, colour and help. If you click on any of the main menus, you will see a drop-down menu. A drop down menu has a list of tools that help you to work in paint environment.
- Drawing/Printable Area: This is that area of the paint window in which one can draw pictures and colour them.
- Tool Bar: The toolbox is a set of 16 tools which will help are to draw colourful pictures.
Paint tools and their functions
- Pencil – used to draw free hand lines
- Eraser – used to erase any part of the object
- Colour fill – used to fill the entire picture with colour.
- Rectangle selector: to select squares and rectangles
- Colour picker – use to pick a colour from the picture and use it for drawing.
- Air Brush – used to draw with brush
- Brush – used to paint thick free form lines and curves.
- Text tool: used to enter text in the graphic
- Free form – used to select irregular part of an object.
- Line – this is used to draw straight lines
- Curve – used to draw smooth, curved line
- Oval – used to make ellipse and circles
- Colours – used to set the foreground or back ground colour.
- Polygon: used to make shapes of many sided figure.
- Rounded rectangles – used to draw rectangle with rounded edges.
- Colour Box Palatte: the colour box has 28 hand side of the colour box. The top colour square shows foreground colour.
This colour appears in the drawing area when drawing. The bottom colour square shows the background colour.
Note: Before you start drawing in paint, you must remember some important point as follows.
- To select a tool, place the mouse pointer over that tool and left click, then place the mouse pointer in the drawing area to draw a picture.
- To select a colour, place the mouse pointer over that colour in the colour box and left click.
- Draw pictures by drawing. It is the act of holding down a mouse button, moving the mouse without releasing the button to draw.
EVALUATION
- Mention the tools in paint
- Mention functions of the tools in paint