Windows Paintbrush Spill Tool Fills Only Once (60807)

SYMPTOMS

When you select any color from the right half of the palette, the Microsoft Windows Paintbrush tool used to fill an entire area (the Paint Roller tool) only fills an area once. (You can't use the tool to change the color.) When you use the tool a second time, pixels of color appear in the new color, but the area isn't filled.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because the colors are dithered. (A dithered color is a combination of several colors used to create another color).

When you indicate that an area should be filled, each pixel is examined individually. If the neighboring pixel is identical, the color expands, producing the fill. If the neighboring pixel is not identical, as is the case with a dithered color, the color fills only the first pixel.

WORKAROUND

You can use the Paint Roller tool to fill an object that has a solid color as its current foreground or background color. It does not fill objects that have a pattern or non-solid color.

If you want to fill the area with a different color, use the Color Eraser tool to clear the area, then fill it with a different color.

MORE INFORMATION

Some colors on the color palette are not solid colors even though they appear to be. These dithered colors are, counting from left to right, top: 10,13 and bottom: 9,10,11,12,13,14). To see the dithering in these colors, use the following steps:

Draw a solid box using one of the dithered colors on the color palette.
From the View menu, choose Zoom In.
Select a section of the box.

You can see that the box contains small squares of different colors that give the appearance of a blended color when not in zoom-in mode.

If you want to use the Paint Roller tool to fill an object with an unblended (that is, undithered) color, choose Undo from the Edit menu before you choose a new color. This clears the dithered color. Be aware that this also clears everything you have done since you last clicked the Paint Roller tool. To avoid losing any work, click the Paint Roller tool each time you select a different color.