Where to Find the Colors Panel

You use the Colors command to open the Colors panel.

In text applications like Edit and Mail, the Colors command is in the Font menu. (Choose Format from the main menu and then choose Font from the Format menu.) In applications that have color tools, the Colors command is typically in the Tools menu.

If you want to have the Colors panel at your fingertips, you can create a keyboard alternative for the Colors command and use it in any application that has a Colors command. See "Creating Keyboard Alternatives" on page 15-18.

Using Color in a Document

When you send Mail messages, you can send them in color. When you write a memo in Edit, you can highlight the text with color. When you want to add color to documents or even change the background color of your screen, you select the colors you want from the Colors panel, as shown in Figure 10-1 on page 10-3.

1. Open the Colors panel.

2. Select the color you want.

3. Drag the color from the color well to selected text in the document.

Figure 10-1

Some applications have color tools--for drawing in color, for example. These tools typically use colors from wells in the application's Inspector panel. To put color in one of these wells, you select a color in the Colors panel and drag it to the color well in the Inspector panel.

For more information about the color wheel, see "Selecting a Color From the Color Wheel" on page 10-5.

For other ways to select colors, see the instructions throughout this chapter.

Creating Color Swatches

When you need to use the same colors over and over, you can save them as swatches in the swatch bar at the bottom of the Colors panel, as shown in Figure 10-2.

1. Open the Colors panel.

2. Select a color.

3. Drag the color from the color well to the swatch bar.

Figure 10-2

Each swatch has its own cell in the swatch bar. When you drag a new color to a cell, it replaces the existing color. You can make room for more swatches--hundreds of them--by making the Colors panel bigger.

All Colors panels have the same swatches. When you put a color swatch in the swatch bar in one application, it is instantly displayed in the Colors panels in other applications. The swatch remains there until you replace it with a new swatch.

Selecting a Color From the Color Wheel

The color wheel is a quick, visual method for selecting colors (see Figure 10-3 on page 10-6).

1. Open the Colors panel.

2. Click on the color wheel button.

3. Click or drag in the color wheel to select the color you want.

4. Drag the brightness slider to make the color lighter or darker.

Figure 10-3

As you move the pointer around the wheel, the hues change. Hue is what distinguishes between red and yellow or yellow and green, for example. The colors on the rim of the wheel are the most saturated. You can think of saturation as the intensity of the color--or how much of a particular hue is in the color. As you move the pointer toward the center of the wheel, the colors become less saturated and more neutral. At the very center of the wheel, they appear white.

What Happens When You Print Colors

The colors you see on the screen can never precisely match printed colors because screen colors are created with light, while printed colors are created with pigments. Also, colors printed by different printing methods never look exactly alike.

However, your OpenStep^(TM) environment has some features that help you get the color you want. Most colors you select in the Colors panel are calibrated so that they look the same when you print them on different brands of Level-II printers.

The exceptions are the CMYK colors described "Mixing Your Own Colors" on page 10-9. If you are an expert color graphics user and are using a traditional printing process, you can use these color models to specify colors numerically--for exact results.

If you are not an expert, you should use one of the other models and a Level-II printer to produce your printed images. Check the owner's guide that comes with your printer to find out if it is a Level-II printer.

Selecting Colors From the Screen

You can capture any color that is on the screen and use it in a document or save it as a color swatch (see Figure 10-5 on page 10-9).

1. Open the Colors panel.

2. Click on the magnifying glass; then move it to find the color you want.

3. Center the color you want between the crosshairs and click.

Figure 10-4

When you move the magnifying glass around the screen, it shows a magnified picture of every pixel you drag it over. (A pixel is one of the dots that makes up the image on the screen.)

Figure 10-5

Mixing Your Own Colors

You can mix your own colors--or shades of gray--using one of four models built into the Colors panel. Each of these models creates colors differently.

1. Open the Colors panel.

2. Click on the color models button.

3. Click on the color model you want.

4. Drag the sliders to mix the color you want.

For example, the RGB color model (see Figure 10-6) mixes colors by blending red, green, and blue light. This is a standard model for representing color on computer screens. The slider values indicate brightness, which can range from 0 for minimum brightness to 255 for maximum brightness.

Figure 10-6

The CMYK color model (see Figure 10-7 on page 10-11) simulates the four-color printing process, which creates colors by combining cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks. The slider values indicate saturation, which can range from 0 for no saturation to 100 for maximum saturation.

Figure 10-7

The HSB color model (see Figure 10-8 on page 10-12) mixes colors by adjusting hue, saturation, and brightness. You can think of hue as the color name--red, green, or yellow, for example. Saturation is the intensity, or how much of a particular hue is in the color. Brightness is how dark or light the color is.

Figure 10-8

In addition to these three color models, you can use the gray scale (see Figure 10-9 on page 10-13) to work with shades of gray. The values on the gray-scale slider show the percentage of white in the gray.

Figure 10-9

If you are working with both color and shades of gray, you can also select shades of gray with the other models. In the RGB model, you set the same values for all three sliders. In the CMYK model, you set the cyan, magenta, and yellow sliders to 0 and adjust the black slider. In the HSB model, you set the hue and saturation sliders to 0 and adjust the brightness slider.

Using an Image as a Palette

You can use an image as a color palette, as shown in Figure 10-10. For example, if you have a cover image for a color brochure, you can keep it in a list of palettes in the Colors panel. Then you can choose one of the colors from it to use in the text of the brochure.

1. Open the Colors panel.

2. Click on the palette button.

3. Choose an image from the pop-up list at the top of the panel.

4. Click or drag in the image to select the color you want.

Figure 10-10

Some applications come with several images to use as palettes. You can also add your own images as described in "Adding an Image to the List of Palettes" on page 10-15.

You can also select a color directly from an image on the screen. See "Selecting Colors From the Screen" on page 10-7.

Adding an Image to the List of Palettes

You can add images to a list of palettes in the Colors panel to turn any image file into a palette, as shown in Figure 10-11.

1. Open the Colors panel.

2. Click on the palette button.

3. Choose New from File from the Palette pop-up list.

4. Select an image file and click on OK.

Figure 10-11

You can press Palette and choose Rename to change the name of an image. You can also remove images from the list with the Remove command. All the images you add are saved as TIFF files in your ~/Library/Colors folder.

Using Part of an Image as a Palette

If you want to use part of a color image as a palette, you can do the following:

1. Select the part of the image you want and copy it to the pasteboard.

2. Then open the Colors panel, click on the palette button, and choose New from Pasteboard from the Palette pop-up list.

3. The image on the pasteboard is displayed in the Colors panel, and it is listed as an unnamed palette in the list at the top of the panel.

To use the image in the color palette in a document, you can press Palette, choose Copy, and then use the Paste command in your application to paste it.

Opacity and Transparency--When You Want Layers of Color

Sometimes you want layers of color. For example, you may want to show color text over a color photograph. Or you may want the text to block part of the image behind it. You may want the image to show through your words. Or maybe you want to blend two or more images into a collage of semitransparent objects that overlap each other but do not block each other out.

In some applications, the Colors panel has an Opacity slider. You can use this slider to make selected objects and text as opaque or transparent as you want.

When you move the Opacity slider, you begin to see a split pattern in the color well. It is as though you were looking through a colored glass at a surface that is half black and half white. The more transparent the color becomes, the more clearly you see the black-and-white contrast.

In some applications, you can select individual pixels and change their opacity, so you can make parts of the image transparent.

Creating Your Own Color List

You can create your own list of colors, as shown in Figure 10-12 on page 10-18, and select them by name in the Colors panel. For example, if you have a publication that uses a standard palette of colors, you can name the colors and save them in a list.

1. Open the Colors panel.

2. Select the first color you want to put in the list.

3. Click on the Color List button.

4. Choose New from the List pop-up list.

5. Select another color, click on the Color List button, press Color, and choose New.

6. Repeat step 5 for each color in the list.

Figure 10-12

When you create a list, it is displayed as an unnamed list in the pop-up list at the top of the panel. You can choose Rename from the List pop-up list to give it a name, as shown in Figure 10-13 on page 10-19.

Figure 10-13

You can choose Rename from the Color pop-up list to name individual colors in the list, as shown in Figure 10-14.

Figure 10-14

You can add as many colors as you want to the list. You just select each color one at a time and choose New from the Color pop-up list (see Figure 10-15 on page 10-20).

Figure 10-15

You can choose Remove from the Color pop-up list to remove selected colors you do not want in the list. If you no longer need the list, you can choose Remove from the List pop-up list to remove it.

If Your Application Supplies Color Lists

Some applications supply color lists. They are stored in files with the extension .clr. You can open these lists in the Colors panel and use them like the color lists you create. You can choose Open from the List pop-up list to find them in your file system. When you select a .clr file and click on OK, it is displayed in the list. You can also drag the file icon directly into the list in the Colors panel.

All color lists that you create as well as those you get from applications are kept as .clr files in your ~/Library/Colors folder. When you open an application's list with the Open command, a copy of the original file appears in the folder. When you remove the color list, the original file remains in your file system.

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Caution - If you remove a list you created, the Remove command permanently removes it from the file system, and it can no longer be retrieved.

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