images/paint.svg Color Selector

The color selector is used for many material groups and properties. In all cases, it works in a similar way.

There are two parts of the selector:

images/colorswatch-002.svg

  1. Color Swatch - Click on the color for the main color selector
  2. Options Menu - Click on the arrow for additional color utilities

Color Swatch images/callout-1-vertical.svg

Click the color swatch to select a color from the Select Color dialog box.

Select from the Named Color List
  • Select a color from the list of names on the left.
Select from the color wheel selector
  1. Drag the marker around the outer wheel to define the hue.
  2. Drag the marker horizontally in the inner square to define the saturation level.
  3. Drag the marker vertically in the inner square to define the brightness value.
Set in the Hue, Sat, Val boxes
  1. Hue is measured in degrees from 0 to 359, which correspond roughly with a rainbow’s hues set around a circle in 60 degree increments: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Select the base hue that the Saturation and Value will combine to create the final color.
  2. Saturation refers to the color’s intensity on a 0 to 100 scale. A saturation of 0 produces a neutral gray color that varies from black to white depending on the color’s brightness. The hue has no effect on a color with a saturation component of 0. A saturation of 100 produces that hue’s most intense shade.
  3. Value refers to the perceived amount of light value (or white) in the color. The Value component varies between 0 and 100. Value is also sometimes referred to as luminance or brightness.

Red, Green, Blue (RGB)

This method is used by computers to project color onto the monitor. Each pixel is a combination of the three colors in varying intensities. Pure red is entirely red with no green or blue. Pure black has red, green, and blue set to 0, and pure white has red, green, and blue set to 255.

Menu options images/callout-2-vertical.svg

Color Picker

Opens the Color Swatch dialog box described above. This is the same as clicking on the color swatch.

Eye Dropper

Allows picking the color from anywhere on the screen using a eye dropper tool.

Copy

Copies the color in the color swatch. To be used in another color selector by using the Paste option.

Paste

Pastes the color from one color swatch to another. After using the Copy command above, use this Paste option.