Saturday, April 10, 2010

Color Picky

This is the color picker I get with Flash CS3.
I don't like it.
It works fine for isolating a specific color, but I'd prefer the hues arranged in a wheel.
Why?
My natural ability to find pleasing color combinations is weak.
I have to cheat.
With a wheel arrangement, I can pick three or four colors proportionally distanced from each other. I always end up with pleasing results.
I believe these schemes are officially called "triadic" and "tetradic":

I guess that sounds nicer than "quick 'n' dirty ways to get a color scheme that doesn't clash". Most illustrations on my blog blog use variations of these. Throw in some tints (whiten or blacken) and they get even more interesting:

If I could get a "wheel" picker in Flash, I'd be very happy. I know it's possible. Others have it. What's the secret?

4 comments:

Sally said...

I feel the pain! When I worked with actual materials choosing colors was one of my favorite things- it just seemed so easy and I was so sure- with digital colors I just grab swatches and dislike the colors.

Linda Davick said...

You guys. You're driving me nuts. There is a HUGE color wheel in Flash. Namo, I just emailed you a screen shot of it.

So you're telling me that if you click on the paint bucket tool (or the pencil tool) at the bottom of your tools panel, you don't see a tiny color circle at the top of the panel that appears?

When you click on it, you can make it huge and use it to select color. The swatches are very limited! Call me. I can't take this any more. I'm going to stab myself.

Sally said...

Linda, what are you seeing? Tell us the secret steps.

stray said...

I googled, and the Flash color pickers are different on Mac and PC. I see the wheel you see, Linda. I am emailing the three of you screen shots of both.