How to check if black really is #000000?

[dolphin]

When/if I play with tiles, I mostly use Corel PhotoPaint, which apparently uses not quite true blacks, so that when I make the outline, someone else has to go in and replace the color. Is there a way to check the colors within Corel, and still export those same colors (assuming I can find a true black)? Is there some means of checking blackness outside of Corel? Is there a program (MS Paint? Gimp?) that uses #000000, so I can add the outline separately?

Thanks

[JeffQyzt]

Not sure about Corel, but since you're using Corel, I'm assuming you're using Windows.

In which case, you might want to try Paint.NET. It's free, and lets you specify colors by RGB (click the "More" on the color wheel to enter RGB by hand).

If you're trying to recolor an existing image, easiest way is to 1) Use the color picker (eyedropper) to select the color you're trying to change (Primary), and then specify the actual black as the 2nd color (Secondary) using the color changer tool (just below the eyedropper).

I"m positive Gimp has similar functionality, but not sure of the direction offhand; IMO it's a little bit overwhelming in its UI vs. Paint.NET.

[ryak]

GIMP is actually a pretty good image editor for windows (and presumably the other platforms it supports as well).

And free!

[co]

Yep gimp is great (although it takes some time to get past the interface), It's what I've used for all the tiles I've submitted.

To check the color in gimp: select the color with the "color picker tool" and double click on the active color on the toolbox.

The select by color tool in gimp is extra good for pixel artist, especially if you stick to a smaller pallete of colors (Wich of course you should! ).

[gerryq]

I remember years ago I used to sometimes have the same problem with Paint Shop Pro.. it would somtimes save black as (0,1,3) or something. I never figured out why.

In my games I moved to a "top-left pixel encodes transparent colour" format just because this was so annoying! Later on I started using an alpha channel for almost everything, so it didn't matter...

[omndra]

When it comes to Pixel Art you need to Use either MSpaint or GIMP

If you decide to use gimp make sure to use the Pencil tool (N) and not the Brush tool (P) for Pixel art.
Also you should make sure that the eraser has been set to have a 'Hard' edge