Table of Contents
Recolouring from a colour fileRecolouring using the selected colour pickerRecolouring from the active paletteRecolouring from the Swatches PaletteSwatches Palette: Storing colours and colouring from itCopying and pasting colours between the Layout Window and ColourSysCopying and pasting colours in the Layout WindowSwap the colours between two layers in a designDragging and dropping colours in the Layout WindowThe methods of recolouring designs in the Layout Window are much the same as recolouring designs in the Design Window. Each method comes with its own benefits, and the one you choose is a personal preference. There are many benefits from colouring in the Layout Window, including the ability to view multiple colourways side-by-side, dragging and dropping and copying and pasting colours between colourways.
Recolouring from a colour file
Colours can be created and stored in a colour file and then applied to designs. Using a colour file to recolour a design is particularly useful if you know the reference name of a colour.
- Double click on the first colour chip in the Layers palette. The software will automatically switch to ColourSys and will go to the closest colour in the selected colour file.
- Move around in the colour file to locate the desired colour, or type in a reference name to find a specific colour.
- Highlight a colour in the colour file and click OK. The software will automatically switch back to AVA and the layer chip will display the new colour.
Note: Certain colours selected from particular colour files may result in warning indicators appearing on your colour chips. These are designed to make you aware of important settings within the chosen colour or constraints in your profiles, such as individual transparency or resist settings or out of gamut colours. Warnings which may appear are M, P, T, R or C. For more information on gamut warnings, click here.
Recolouring using the selected colour picker
Colours are chosen from a selected colour picker to provide a bigger range of colours than a basic colour file, because colour pickers hold millions of screen colours. The brightness, hue and saturation of the colour can be changed on screen. As picker colours only have screen values, they can be linked back to a colour file for accurate colour matching to the print.
- Hold down ⌥ (option key) and click on one of the colour chips in the colourway palette. A colour picker will open on screen. If the colour in the picker starts off black, increase the lightness bar to reveal brighter colours.
- Move the cursor around the picker or alter the settings in the window to choose a new colour. The colours you click on in the window will update simultaneously in the design so there is no need to commit to a colour until you like its effect in the design.
To make fine adjustments to a colour, hold down ⌥ (option key) whilst dragging the cursor around the gamut.
- Click OK to accept the chosen colour. The new colour will be named ‘Picker’ as it has been chosen from a colour picker.
Colours picked with the AVA RGB picker can be fine tuned by repeating the process. Hold down ⌥ (option key) and click on the same colour chip to re-enter the colour picker and adjust your selected colour. The position of the marker in the picker is the same as it was when you previously clicked OK (which is based on the soft proofed monitor RGB values), so you are able to move it slightly to make a fine tuning adjustment to your chosen colour. Click OK and the colour will update.
Tip: if you double click on the layer chip of the new picker colour, the software will find the closest named colour in the active colour file. Click OK if the named colour is acceptable.
Recolouring from the active palette
The active colour file can also be accessed directly from the colour chips attached to the colourway as a palette of colours. Viewing the colour file as a palette is advantageous if you want to see all the colours in the colour file at once. It gives you an overview of all the colours available to choose from in the colour file.
- Click on the Selected Tool and click and click down on a colour chip in the colourway palette.
The colour file palette will appear for as long as the cursor is held down.
- While holding down the cursor, drag over the palette to select a colour. The chosen colour will be highlighted in the palette and the layer colour will change once the cursor is released.
When hovering over the colour file palette, a pop up reference tag will appear showing the name of the highlighted colour, as seen in the above snapshot. This tag will update for each colour as you move your cursor around the colour file palette.
Recolouring from the Swatches Palette
A very useful but inconspicuous window, the Swatches Palette can be accessed via the Layers Palette. It is designed to store a few regularly used colours, making these colour swatches very easy to access and use. The palette can be used to store the seasons trend colours, or can act as a storing place for your colour ideas. How you use it is up to you.
You do not need to save the palette as changes made to it are saved in the background, and restored on each launch of the software. You can only have one Swatches Palette, but you can adjust how many colours you store in it, up to 2500 swatches. If you want to share colour information with colleagues and customers, you need to save your colours into a colour file.
Opening the Swatches Palette
Open the Swatches Palette from the Layers Palette by clicking on the icon highlighted below:
A window similar this this will open:
Adding colours to the Swatches Palette
The first time you open the palette, it will be empty, but it is very easy to add colours to it. All of the usual colouring techniques found across AVA and ColourSys apply when using the Swatches Palette. You can drag and drop colours from virtually anywhere. You can colour by holding down ⌥ (option key) and clicking on a chip and selecting new colours from your colour picker, or you can double click to open your active colour file.
Changing the information displayed
The size of the individual colour chips in the Swatches Palette can be adjusted by dragging the bottom right corner of the window. The number of colours displayed in the Swatches Palette can also be changed by clicking on the grey triangle at the top of the palette and adjusting the number of rows and columns.
Set draw colour on click
This sets your current painting colour to the colour you click on in the Swatches Palette.
Action Menu
This lets you to clear all the chips from the palette.
You can add the colour names, Lab or CMYK information to all the chips by holding down ^ (control key) and clicking on one of the chips on the window. A tick next to any of these items in the contextual menu indicates that it is being displayed.
If the option ‘Gamut Warnings on Colour Blocks’ is ticked in the Warnings Inspector, monitor and printer gamut warnings will be displayed on all relevant colours in the Swatches Palette.
Copying and pasting colours between the Layout Window and ColourSys
You can copy colours from the colourway palette in the Layout Window, to a colour file in ColourSys. This is useful when drag and dropping the colour would prove difficult. For example, you may find it hard to arrange the Layout Window and your colour file on your screen so that you can see both at the same time. This is, of course necessary if you were to drag and drop.
Copying and pasting the colours removes the need to arrange your windows in any specific way.
- Activate the colour you wish to copy in the palette. The colour will become highlighted with a blue outline.
- Go to Edit Menu > Copy, or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘C
- Go into ColourSys by clicking on its icon in the dock and activate the colour file you want to paste your colour into.
- Go to Edit Menu > Paste, or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘V. A window will open. Enter the colour name and press OK. The colour chip will be added to your active colour file.
Tip: Did you know you can quickly switch between applications using the shortcut ⌘ + Tab keys on the keyboard? This reveals all applications currently running on your Mac®. To tab along to another application, keep ⌘ (command key) held down, and tap the Tab key until your chosen application is highlighted. When you release ⌘ (command key), that application will become the active one. This is a great way of flicking between applications quickly and prevents the need to access the Dock.
Copying and pasting colours in the Layout Window
Colours in a design can be used to quickly create alternative colourways in the same design or in co-ordinating designs. This means you can experiment with the same colours on different layers and in different colourways. Copying and pasting is simplest when two or more colourways are visible in the Layout Window.
Copying one colour
- Add two colourways to the Layout Window.
- Click on the Selected Tool in the toolbar of the Layout Window, then click on the colour chip you want to copy.
- From the Edit Menu, select Copy, or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘C.
- Click on the colour chip you want to paste this colour into in the next colourway.
- From the Edit Menu, select Paste, or use the keyboard shortcut command V.
Tip: an alternative to this method is to drag and drop the colour from one chip to another.
Copying one colour to all the other colourways in the design
- Hold down ^ (control key) and click on the colour you want to copy. A contextual menu item will appear.
- From the menu which opens, select ‘Copy to other colourways’. The selected colour will be transferred to the same layer position for all other colourways in the design.
- Click through your other colourways to see the result. Alternatively, tile the colourways across your page to see all you colourways with the new colour in.
Copying more than one colour
- Click on one of the colour chips to be copied.
- Hold down ⇧ (shift key) and click on the other colours to be copied. They should all become highlighted.
- Go to Edit Menu > Copy, or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘C.
- Select the same number of colours in the second colourway.
- Go to Edit Menu > Paste, or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘V.
Copying and Pasting all colourways from one design to another
All of the colourways saved with a particular design can be copied and pasted to another design at once. This can be extremely helpful if, for example, you want to copy a complete range of colourways to a co-ordinating design.
- View your design in the Layout Window and make sure all the layers are visible and active.
- Highlight all the colour chips on the colourway.
- Go to Colourway Menu > Copy All Colourways.
- Open the design you wish to copy the colours to and open its Layout Window.
- Make all the layers visible and active.
- Highlight all the colour chips on the colourway.
- Go to Colourway Menu > Paste All Colourways.
Every colourway that you created in the original design will be transferred to the second design.
Note: If there are already any colourways in the destination file when you choose Paste All Colourways, they will be over written by the copied colourways.
Swap the colours between two layers in a design
You can swap two colours within the same colourway using the Swap Colourways feature. This will simply switch the two highlighted colours around, it will not alter the order of the layers. You can only do this in the Layout Window.
Swapping two colours is very useful when you are experimenting with colour balance within a colourway, and it is incredibly easy to do. Just follow the steps below:
- Highlight two colour chips in the palette. If you do not have two chips selected, or you select more than two chips, the Swap Colourways option will be greyed out in the menu.
- From the Colourway Menu, select Swap Colourways.
Dragging and dropping colours in the Layout Window
Colours can be dragged from a colour file, the Swatches Palette, the desktop, the Colourway Browser or from the colour palette of another colourway to the colour palette of a colourway in the Layout Window.
- Click and drag a colour from a colour file and drop it into a colour chip of the colourway you wish to recolour.
- Click and drag a colour from the Swatches Palette and drop it into a colour chip of the colourway you wish to recolour.
- Click and drag a colour from the Colourways Browser and drop it into a colour chip of the colourway you wish to recolour.
- Click and drag a colour from the colour palette of another colorway and drop it into a colour chip of the colourway you wish to recolour.
- Click and drag a colour from the desktop and drop it into a colour chip of the colourway you wish to recolour.