Change HSL codes PSP 2019

[Leslie]

I see that in earlier versions of psp one can change the HSL codes from the materials palette.

I have not found that option in 2019? Does it exist?

Thanks for any help
Leslie

[migf1]

Hi Leslie,

yeap, it exists but it is kinda hidden.

At the top of the Materials palette there should be 3 little tabs, right below the "Materials" word . Activate the one called Sliders, and if it is not already set to HSL mode, use the drop-down list to set it. Like so: https://prnt.sc/sz31lu

[Leslie]

Wow, they really, really hid the darn thing! Thanks so very much for your help. I appreciate it.

[migf1]

They surely did hide it good (LOL). You are very welcome!

[Leslie]

Is there a way to do a minus setting with the sliders?

[migf1]

No, I don't think so.

Actually negative color-values don't really make sense, at least not in the most commonly used color spaces (RGB, HSL/HSV, CYMK, WEB and Grayscale). An exception is the a and b components of the Lab color space, and for those PSP does allow negative values.

What are you trying to do?

[Leslie]

It is a setting for a tutorial I am doing to change the foreground color to something darker. Why it is written that way is beyond me. Maybe an older version of psp allowed it.

[migf1]

That's odd!

Colors do not have negative values. Maybe that tutorial talks about an HSL adjustment layer instead? If so, those DO allow negative values, usually form -100 to 100, but under the hood they are just mapping the normal positive values.

To add an adjustment layer (there are many) you can either go to the Layers menu: http://prntscr.com/szjtyb, or add one directly from the layers palette: http://prntscr.com/szjudw
Either action should open the Layer Properties dialog for the HSL Adjustment layer to be created: http://prntscr.com/szjv0b

In there you can specify negative values (-100 to 100 for Saturation and for Lightness, and -180 to 180 degrees for Hue). It is just a different mapping compared to the sliders in the Materials palette, which are the "right" ones (0 to 255 for Saturation and for Lightness, and 0 to 360 degrees for Hue).

Btw, once the HSL Adjustment Layer has been created in the layers palette, you can double-click on it to get back to its Layer Properties, where you can change again the Settings. That's the main point of using adjustment layers, they allow you to work non-destructively (you can always go back and change the settings, without touching your original image). You can issue the same (and many more adjustments) from the Adjust menu, but those are destructive (they are applied directly on your original image).

One last thing, the HSL sliders (and the other sliders) which we talked about in the previous post, are also available inside the Materials properties. For example, if you click on the foreground (or the background) color, you get the Materials Properties dialog. In there, under the Color tab at the top, you get 3 more button below the color wheel, namely: Wheel, Slider, and Swatch. By selecting the Sliders button the dialog switches to a sliders view, and you get a new button at the top, where you can select the desired color space. Like so: http://prntscr.com/szk1l4

Well, that's irrelevant to Adjustment layers, but I forgot to mention it in my previous reply.

[Leslie]

Wow, that's a lot of info to digest. I'm going to have to refer to it often.
I've never worked with adjustment layers, and you taught me a lot.

Thanks so much for your time and effort in helping me.
I do appreciate it.

[migf1]

You are most welcome, Leslie.

Adjustment layers may sound scary at first, but it is an easy concept to grasp really. They allow us to stack adjustments non-destructively, one on top of the other inside the layers palette.

They show immediately the result of the adjustments, but they do not "destroy" the original image. If you toggle the visibility of the adjustment layer (by clicking on the Eye icon in front of its name, in the layers palette) the original, untouched image gets revealed. Toggle again the visibility of the adjustment layer, and the effect of the adjustment will get back

You can stack as many Adjustment layers as you like, on top of your original image. For each one of them you can quickly toggle its effect on and off, via the Eye icon in front of its name, in the layers palette .You can even select more than one, and toggle them on/off (just like we do with regular layers).

For example, if you have stacked say 3 adjustment layers on top of your image, and you want to see how the original image looks like, you can select all the adjustment layers in the layers palette (Ctrl + click on each one, or click on the 1st then Shift + click on the last, although the latter is buggy in PSP), then hide the Eye icon of one of the selected layers (the rest will get hidden too).

On a related note, the available Adjustment layers are just a small fraction of the massive amount of adjustments available inside the Adjust main menu. However, any adjustment you apply from the menu (including the ones that have a corresponding adjustment layers), it gets applied directly on your image. To be exact, it gets applied to whichever raster or vector layer is currently active in the layers palette. You cannot apply an adjustment from the menu to an Adjustment layer (if the active layer in the layers palette is an adjustment layer, the options in the Adjust menu get disabled)

PS. One of the most common requests to Corel for many years, is to offer us more Adjustment layers. The main competition offers a lot more Adjustment layers since a loong time

[ehume]

. . .PS. One of the most common requests from Corel for many years, is to offer us more Adjustment layers. The main competition offers a lot more Adjustment layers since a loong time

What is the "main competition?"

[migf1]

Oh I meant Photoshop and Affinity Photo mostly. They both offer more than double of the adjustment layers offered in PSP.

Same goes for the layer Blend Modes (I think Gimp is the current "champion" in that area).

[FlutteringBy]

Many Thanks migf1

I snagged your info to add to my Psp info folder..... ....

FlutteringBy

[migf1]

Thank you guys! I'm glad you found all that interesting (I was kinda afraid it would bore you to the point of no return LOL)

[Andy2011]

Lots of great information there - thanks, migfi1.

Colors do not have negative values.

Negative colours don't make much sense. I think this reference to negative numbers may come from the 'colour wheel' principle in the HSL colour model. The colours go from 0 to 360 (as in degrees in a circle) and PSP shows 0 to 359. Thus 360 is the same colour as 0 and -10 equates to 350 and so on.
Physical negative saturation is impossible - zero is lowest possible as a monochrome image - and similarly, zero lightness is pitch black! The upper limits are a matter of choice but physically cap at full saturation and the total lightness possible with the technology available.
Of course, you can have any scale you want. 0 to 100 or -50 to +50 each give a similar resolution. 0 to 255 fits well with 8 bit levels in digital computing but, currently, the normal limiting factor is display technology.