4 Colour Image creation - without Anti-Aliasing!

I need to be able to create subpicture menu pages to Sonic spec: White Background
Pure RGB (255) in Red, Blue & Black.

It is imperative that Photoshop does not try to automatically Anti-Alias any of this

So the question is, what tools can I use, what type of fonts can I use, and are there any hidden gotchas?
So often, when we try this, when it comes to indexing time, I see what should be a 2 or 3 colour image suddenly developing 10, 20, 40 and more colours when I do not need, or want, anti-aliasing.

I'm not much good with PS, so any advice will be wonderful.

First...what is "Sonic spec?"

Second...to do what you've explained, you need only build the image you want with the colors you've described.

Then, go to "Image--->Mode--->Index...". Enter "4" for the number of colors, choose "Local (selective)" for the palette, "Forced: Black & White" and make sure "Transparency" is UNchecked.

Go to "File--->Save For Web..." and save as a 4 color GIF.

Result:

"Neil Wilkes" wrote in message

I need to be able to create subpicture menu pages to Sonic spec: White Background
Pure RGB (255) in Red, Blue & Black.

It is imperative that Photoshop does not try to automatically Anti-Alias any of this

So the question is, what tools can I use, what type of fonts can I use, and are there any hidden gotchas?
So often, when we try this, when it comes to indexing time, I see what should be a 2 or 3 colour image suddenly developing 10, 20, 40 and more colours when I do not need, or want, anti-aliasing.

I'm not much good with PS, so any advice will be wonderful.

There is a slight problem here: RGB means Red, Green, and Blue. In addition, Red=255, Green=255, Blue=255 results in white. Perhaps you are thinking of CMYK.
Jim

Sorry to have taken so long getting back to you here.
To explain - and I am definitely going to try your suggestion - "Sonic Spec" is essentially a default mapping scheme for DVD Menu Subpicture Highlight layers.
These must be 4 colour, indexed TIFF files.
White is the background.
Black is the Border, or main colour
Red is E1
Blue is E2 (E* = Emphasis colours)
These then map directly to the colours chosen in the menu palette.

EDIT
Okay - this does not work.
When trying this, bad things happen:
1 - The colour on top of the base colour gets lost completely. 2 - There is still Anti-Aliasing involved.

See the following:
<http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/9236/startjb1.jpg> <http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/2774/resultut6.jpg>

Any other ideas please - or did I get this wrong somehow? (Having "Force Black & White" checked or unchecked, it makes no difference at all)

Okay - this does not work.

You are not in indexed colour mode, you are still in RGB colour mode

To expand on Phos' post:

1) Create an RGB document with a white background
2) Convert this document to Indexed Colour mode.
3) Set the indexed colour options to the following:

Palette: EXACT. Forced: Choose CUSTOM and in the palette that shows up, define the four colours you want. Make sure transparency is UNchecked and you're ready to go

Appreciate the clarification - I'm a sound engineer not a graphic artist, but I definitely was in Indexed mode.
The "Result" screenshot is taken directly from the result of indexing.

However - I will happily go try again.
Will post back later.

Update.

When I use these settings, I get 102 colours in the palette. What I have are 2 black arrows, with red & blue text on them. Sans serif font.
Surely I don't have to edit each & every one???

<http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/3387/colourtableal2.jpg>

This Anti-Aliasing is killing my workflow. How can I turn it OFF by default?

but I definitely was in Indexed mode.

Well your screen capture show different, so maybe you thought you were, but weren't. (note: your latest screen capture shows that you are now in indexed mode)

Did you try the steps I outlined in post No. 3?

For step 1, I mention a white background, I meant a white background and nothing else (ie the doc is entirely white) only start painting once the conversion to indexed mode is done.

Once that's done, and you have a doc with 4 indexed olours, you can always choose "previous" as a palette to convert your artwork to the 4 colours you need.