Fill the background with colour not white? And Dropper tool?

[SyncroScales]

Hi.

I am using Paint Shop Photo Pro X3 Ultimate.

I open the program, select File - New - Raster/Vector/Art Media background, the size/pixles, etc. I have used art media tools to paint on the canvas or applied a few images on the canvas and did some photo editing.

When I export as jpeg (and other formats) and there are parts of the background that are unused and checkered (the white and grey checker board background), the default colour to fill everything in is white. Can I change this?

I understand I can use the fill tool. But if there are small sections left blank and/or a lot of sections left blank, the fill tool can take a long period of time to fill everything in. Can this be done in one option?

Also, is there a way to select a colour I have used or that is in an image with something such as a dropper tool? I see the materials and/or mixer palettes. But when I accidentally click on another colour that is designated for one of the mouse buttons, I don't know how to change it back.

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you.

[LeviFiction]

1) If you are saving to JPG, the JPG optimizer has a background color setting you can change. Otherwise, you can add a new layer to the layers palette, fill that in with whatever color you want, and then put it at the bottom of all of the other layers. JPG will flatten the image so your colored background is what's used.

2) The eye-dropper tool is how you would select a color from the image. With some tools like the paint brush you can hold the CTRL key to temporarily convert to the eye-dropper as you paint. You can also right-click on the foreground material to bring up a "Recently Used" materials dialog box that shows you the last colors you picked and painted with.

[trueblue]

This thread is hard to follow. You start off by saying you open a new file. Next you are painting or editing. Next you are exporting and image.
If I knew exactly what you are doing, step by step and do it in a more understanding way, I maybe able to help you.

[Jean-Luc]

Hi SynchroScales,
I'm not sure I understand what you explain...
If you don't want the checkered aspect, you may change it in Files/Preferences/General.../Transparency & shading... I'm often working with solid colors (and not the checkered aspect) when I'm retouching photos in order to see more precisely the transparency. Checkered or solid colors for Transparency are never visible when you save in JPG (they are showing in white because transparency doesn't exist in JPG).

[SyncroScales]

Sorry about the confusion.

LeviFiction and Jean-Luc you answered what I was asking.

Thank you.