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Import Colour Palettes?


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greetings,

The section in the manual covering Colour Palette Attributes (VW10, P2-39) says that colour palettes can be imported from other programs. There is no other information given.

If this is attempted with the standard Pantone (or otherwise) palettes in Photoshop or Illustrator, they are not recognised. I need to get some standard colours in to VW for a job and setting the colours by CYMK % yields results that don't match the colours in either Photoshop or Illustrator. (Monitor and printer calibration notwithstanding).

A search of the forum hasn't turned up anything.

How do I import palettes from another program?

cheers,

N.

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You cannot import a color palette from another program . You can however, import a color palette from another file.

To create a custom color palette, go to Page>Set Attribute Defaults>Color Palette.

This color palette can then be imported into other files.

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Ziska, if I understand you correctly: no RBG slider for picking colors, but did you notice you can specify how much R, G or B in the form of numbers, 0 to 255? You could convert percent values by multiplying by 2.55

And you can do the same with Hue, Saturation, and Luminence. The ranges for those are different, for some reason: 0 to 239 and 0 to 240.

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Nicholas,

In my VW v10 manual (US version), there's nothing about color palettes on page 2-39, and the only mention I can find of importing color palettes is in a chart on page 2-34. Under "Parameter" it says "Import", and under "Description" it says "Imports an existing color palette from another VectorWorks file".

It sounds like there's an Australian version of the manual that's different from the US version. That's surprising. The languages are very similar. Anyway, the Australian version must have a typographical error in it on this point.

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Ziska,

I've been ignoring those RGB numbers for years. Your question jogged my subconscious and made me look at it at last.

And a good thing, too. It's a great way to make a fine adjustment of a color. I've already used it, to set a color precisely so the exporter will match it up to a particular Autocad non-customizable numbered color. If someone had a lot of spare time on their hands, they could come up with RGB values for all 256 Autocad colors that they could share with all VW users.

So thanks for asking.

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quote:

Originally posted by propstuff:

Manual was telling me fibs?


He's from Barcelona, he knows noothin.

VW 9 Manuel does (page 60) say "Click Import to use a color palette from another drawing or program." Fixed in VW 11 Manuel, it seems. Dunno about VW 10.

[ 09-26-2004, 02:00 AM: Message edited by: Petri ]

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Ahh, Barcelona. Home of Antoni Gaudi, the great architect of the modern age. I visited once.

I dug out my version 9 manual, and found Petri's quote, but found it on the page Nicholas Propstuff gave, 2-39 (didn't find any page 60 at all -- ???). So yes, the manual did lie. Not so unusual for a software manual. Same error in the v8 manual (page 2-44). Corrected in v10 manual, as noted above.

The cover of the v9 manual looks just like the v10, but the texts are very different. The only difference in the covers is that v10 gives the version number and v9 doesn't. The only mention of version number in the v9 manual is on page 1-4.

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quote:

Originally posted by jan15:

I dug out my version 9 manual, and found Petri's quote, but found it on the page Nicholas Propstuff gave, 2-39 - So yes, the manual did lie. Not so unusual for a software manual.

Yes I had indeed picked up the wrong manual :-0

Being someone who teaches (Vectorworks amongst other things) I certainly understand the profound difficulties involved in writing instructional material, but also the importance of getting it at least factually correct, if not an effective communication resource.

Oh, and I still want better colour management in VW. :-)

cheers,

N.

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We do, but it easily leads to otherwise illogical classification of objects and/or proliferation of classes to an unmanageable number; well, at least with our rather complex colour schemes it does. This would be avoided if gradients could be used in 3D. The user interface could be either incorporated in or based on textures.

With VectorScript it is possible to define accurate gradients without gradation, ie. solid colours in 24-bit colour space.

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quote:

Originally posted by Petri:

IMHO, named colours would be so much easier to use. [/QB]

and think of the opportunities for creative english; just like the paint companies do; :-D

Tangerine Insouciance, Sullen Cerise, Beige Extascy.........

Using classes to name colours sounds like way too much confusion to me. I'd be much happier if you could dirrectly edit the colours from the Attributes palette, if the colour palette expanded right out if you lingered over it so you can get a decent look at the colour you're picking (perhaps with an identifier embedded in the corner Petri), yes, Gradients in 3D -definitely, and, ...if you could import standard colour palettes into VW.

Oh, sheesh, and while we're at it, a tool for calibrating the colours to the printer and the Monitor, so that what came out of the printer looked vaguely like what was in the colour swatch to start with. THEN we'd be cooking! :-)

cheers,

N.

[ 09-28-2004, 02:37 AM: Message edited by: propstuff ]

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quote:

Originally posted by propstuff:

Using classes to name colours sounds like way too much confusion to me.

I'd like to amplify this by reminding that there are only 256 colours to work with and that importing a colour palette will inevitably & always throw the previously defined colour scheme out of whack by approximating the old colours to the new scheme. With all due respect, the approximations must be done with an improbability engine.

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