Color Picking from outside Anime Studio -- Mac OS X tip
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 8:24 pm
Hi, this is a offshoot of the 9.5 arrgh! thread in the main discussion area. Instead of cluttering up that series of posts, I thought it may be best to start a new topic here.
There's a way to sample colors from images of any kind that's not loaded up in AS/ASP. This is a method that doesn't require any mucking about in the library folder or buying a new app, 'cause it's an app that comes with the Max OS X -- it's called DigitalColor Meter. It samples, live, whatever your cursor/mouse is over. To set it up for AS -- Once it's opened, go to the view menu --> display values --> and choose hexadecimal (you'll have to do this each time it's opened, as it doesn't save its settings, but it's free!). Then go to the color menu and see that there's two ways colors can be copied. Text (command-shift-c) and Image (option-command-c).
If we want to just copy the hex value just press the command-shift-c when the cursor is over the part of the image that you want to sample. The DCM window shows what's going to be sampled in its window. No need to mouse click, just the keyboard command. Then go to AS, click on the color swatch in the styles palette to bring up AS color picker. In the text block labeled with an #, click in it to get focus on it and paste (command-v). And the hex value of the color that was sampled is pasted there.
To copy as an image is the same except for the keyboard command, it's option-command-c. And the contents of the clipboard can be pasted into a graphics app. The pasted image is a square, so it'll be fine for setting up a custom palette that can be used in AS.
Here's a blog post that has other means to sample colors, including a Mac OS stand-alone color palette:
http://blog.mirthlab.com/2010/03/26/usi ... alone-app/
One of the solutions mentioned in that blog, is Hex. It's an add on to the MacOS X color picker. All it does is present the hexadecimal value as text of the sampled color. You'll have to open an app that allows the display of the Mac OS color palette.
I haven't installed the Developer Color Picker, so if you have, share your experiences.
While all of these require app switching, the ones I've tested (DigitalColor meter and the Color Picker add-on Hex) will sample from opened images in other apps or images that are viewed using the Mac's QuickView (select an image and hit the spacebar). I use it for sampling colored character sheets I've done in SketchbookPro or Manga Studio and once it's done a few times, the process of sampling, copying the hex and pasting it to AS gets pretty smooth.
These are all free, one may be $3 (that's Hues, iirc) and help us mac users to have a bit more flexibility in sampling colors for use in Anime Studio.
There's a way to sample colors from images of any kind that's not loaded up in AS/ASP. This is a method that doesn't require any mucking about in the library folder or buying a new app, 'cause it's an app that comes with the Max OS X -- it's called DigitalColor Meter. It samples, live, whatever your cursor/mouse is over. To set it up for AS -- Once it's opened, go to the view menu --> display values --> and choose hexadecimal (you'll have to do this each time it's opened, as it doesn't save its settings, but it's free!). Then go to the color menu and see that there's two ways colors can be copied. Text (command-shift-c) and Image (option-command-c).
If we want to just copy the hex value just press the command-shift-c when the cursor is over the part of the image that you want to sample. The DCM window shows what's going to be sampled in its window. No need to mouse click, just the keyboard command. Then go to AS, click on the color swatch in the styles palette to bring up AS color picker. In the text block labeled with an #, click in it to get focus on it and paste (command-v). And the hex value of the color that was sampled is pasted there.
To copy as an image is the same except for the keyboard command, it's option-command-c. And the contents of the clipboard can be pasted into a graphics app. The pasted image is a square, so it'll be fine for setting up a custom palette that can be used in AS.
Here's a blog post that has other means to sample colors, including a Mac OS stand-alone color palette:
http://blog.mirthlab.com/2010/03/26/usi ... alone-app/
One of the solutions mentioned in that blog, is Hex. It's an add on to the MacOS X color picker. All it does is present the hexadecimal value as text of the sampled color. You'll have to open an app that allows the display of the Mac OS color palette.
I haven't installed the Developer Color Picker, so if you have, share your experiences.
While all of these require app switching, the ones I've tested (DigitalColor meter and the Color Picker add-on Hex) will sample from opened images in other apps or images that are viewed using the Mac's QuickView (select an image and hit the spacebar). I use it for sampling colored character sheets I've done in SketchbookPro or Manga Studio and once it's done a few times, the process of sampling, copying the hex and pasting it to AS gets pretty smooth.
These are all free, one may be $3 (that's Hues, iirc) and help us mac users to have a bit more flexibility in sampling colors for use in Anime Studio.