Brush texture simulating apparatus and method
Techniques for superimposing highlights and shadows onto a background in order to simulate a brush texture graphical style within a software application's component window. The techniques include decoding a user-selected base-color into its individual color components, performing a contrast operation on the individual color components to determine highlight and shadow colors, and superimposing the highlight and shadow colors onto the user selected background.
1. A method for superimposing highlights and shadows onto a base-color that is displayed within a component window of a software application, comprising:
decoding the base-color to produce a plurality of color components, wherein decoding the base-color comprises calculating at least one base component value from a first subset n-bits of the base-color;
performing a contrast operation on the color components to determine at least a contrast color; and
superimposing the contrast color onto at least a portion of the base-color.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contrast color is at least a first highlight color and at least a first shadow color.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of superimposing includes superimposing both the first highlight color and the first shadow color onto the base-color.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of color components includes a red base component, a green base component, and a blue base component.
5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the contrast operation determines at least two highlight colors.
6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the contrast operation determines at least two shadow colors.
7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the contrast operation determines at least two highlight colors and at least two shadow colors.
8. The method of claim 4 , wherein decoding the base-color comprises:
calculating the red base component value from a the first subset of n-bits of the base-color;
calculating the green base component value from a second subset of n-bits of the base-color; and
calculating the blue base component value from a third subset n-bits of the base-color.
9. An apparatus for superimposing a plurality of highlights and shadows onto a base-color that is displayed within a component window of a software application, comprising:
a decoding device configured to decode the base-color to produce a plurality of color components by calculating at least one base component value from a first subset n-bits of the base-color;
a contrasting device configured to perform a contrast operation on the color components to determine at least a contrast color; and
a superimposing device configured to superimpose the contrast color onto at least a portion of the base-color.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the contrast color is at least a first highlight color and at least a first shadow color.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the superimposing device superimposes both the first highlight color and the first shadow color onto the base-color.
12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of color components includes a red base component, a green base component, and a blue base component.
13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the contrasting device determines at least two highlight colors.
14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the contrasting device determines at least two shadow colors.
15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the contrasting device determines at least two highlight colors and at least two shadow colors.
16. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein superimposing the contrast color onto the base-color comprises:
superimposing a first highlight color, a second highlight color, a first shadow color, and a second shadow color onto the base-color.
17. A system for superimposing a plurality of highlights and shadows onto a base-color that is displayed within a component window of a software application in order, comprising:
means for decoding the base-color to produce a plurality of color components, wherein the means for decoding the base-color comprises means for calculating at least one base component value from a first subset n-bits of the base-color;
means for contrasting the color components to determine at least a contrast color; and
means for superimposing the contrast color onto at least a portion of the base-color.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the contrast color is at least a first highlight color and at least a first shadow color.
19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the means for superimposing superimposes both the first highlight color and the first shadow color onto the base-color.
20. The system of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of color components includes a red base component, a green base component, and a blue base component.
21. The system of claim 18 , wherein the means for contrasting determines at least two highlight colors.
22. The system of claim 18 , wherein the means for contrasting determines at least two shadow colors.
23. The system of claim 18 , wherein the means for contrasting determines at least two highlight colors and at least two shadow colors.