The following answers should cover just about every question that could possibly be asked. If you have a question about ColorSafe™, please check here first. If you don't find the answer you are looking for here send your question to info@boxtopsoft.com and we will be happy to answer it for you.
Q: Is there more documentation on using ColorSafe™?
Yes. Much, much more now. A detailed workshop for ColorSafe is now available from the BoxTop Software, Inc. Web site at http://www.boxtopsoft.com
Just follow the links to the Workshops section from the main page.
Q: Are there other tools like ColorSafe™?
Yes, the current count for hybrid color Photoshop plug-ins is four different ones. The original one was a plug-in called ColorFill by Michael Nieves. The most recent is a plug-in from Auto F/X's strangely named WebVise Totality package.
If the question of who's idea was it to start with, Michael Nieves gets the proper credit. His tool has the distinction of being the original one. For the question of which one is the best, ColorSafe™ is the answer. For the question of which is cheapest it's ColorFill again. For the question of which is most expensive, it's WebVise Totality. Those facts should help put an end to some unfortunate misinformation that has been spread on who's product is what.
Please check them all out and pick the one that is right for you.
ColorSafe - $49.95, fully functional shareware
http://www.boxtopsoft.com/ColorSafe
ColorFill - $10, fully functional shareware
http://www.earthlink.net/~mnieves/
DitherBox - $29.95, non-functional demo
http://www.ditherbox.com
WebVise Totality: - $129.95, shrink-wrapped (demo status uncertain)
http://www.auto-fx.com
There isn't much question, once you look at them, of which is best, so we don't mind pointing you to all the competition and have no fearful compulsion to spread dissent.
Q: Can I use the system color picker in ColorSafe™?
Yes, clicking on the original color swatch in the automatic color picker tab will bring up the System color picker dialog and let you use any installed system color picker such as the CMYK, Crayon, HLS, HSV, HTML, and RGB colors pickers that are standard for OS 8 plus other installed third party System color pickers such as Pantone color pickers.
Creating web safe colors using the System color picker is still interactive. The ColorSafe™ dialog will update on the fly behind the System color picker dialog as you adjust colors. You may need to arrange the dialog so you can see the web safe color and original color swatches behind the System color picker dialog, though.
Q: Can I use Photoshop's color picker in ColorSafe™?
Yes, as long as you are using ColorSafe™ with Photoshop or another host application that supports it, the host application color picker is available by Option-clicking on the original color swatch in the automatic color picker panel in ColorSafe™.
Using the host color picker is not interactive like the RGB sliders in the automatic color picker panel or the System color pickers are, though. You won't be able to see the web safe color match until you exit the host application color picker dialog.
Q: How do I set the color the foreground / background color I had selected in my host application?
The foreground/background color control that resembles a smaller version of the foreground/background color controls found in most host applications can be used to set the value of the sliders in the automatic color picker panel to the current foreground or background color in your host application at any time by clicking on the foreground or background part of the control as needed.
Q: Can I use ColorSafe™ with (insert the name of your favorite image editing application here)?
More than likely, yes. ColorSafe™ is compatible with all Adobe Photoshop plug-in host applications that minimally support 2.5 API Filter plug-ins, and has been confirmed to be compatible with Adobe Photoshop 2.5 - 4.0, Adobe Illustrator 6.0 - 7.0, Adobe PhotoDelux 1.0, Fractal Design Painter 2.0 - 5.0, Deneba Canvas 5.0, Macromedia xRes 2.0 - 3.0, Microfrontier ColorIt! 3.0 - 3.2, and Equilibrium DeBabelizer 1.6.1 - 1.6.5. It should work with a lot more than those, too. We just didn't have any more to test with here.
The sure way to know is to try it and see if it works. Refer to your host application's documentation for how to install and use plug-ins.
Q: What other requirements are their to use ColorSafe™?
Any Mac with a 68020 (Remember the old Mac II circa 1986?) processor or better and at least System 7.0 are needed to use ColorSafe™. For best color picking results a monitor capable or true color is recommended, but is not required.
Q: Is ColorSafe™ Power Macintosh native?
Yes. The ColorSafe™ plug-in is 'FAT' meaning it will run native on both 68k and PPC based Macs for best performance.
Q: Do I have the latest version of ColorSafe™?
Don't know. We update things pretty fast always working towards perfection, with the vast majority of those updates being free to registered users, and old versions can hang around the Internet, on-line services and CD-ROMs for many years.
The only way to know if you have the latest version of ColorSafe™ is to visit our web site at: <http://www.boxtopsoft.com> and check to see what the latest release is. You should try and visit at least every couple of months to make sure you are up to date on versions and see what other really useful tools for web design we've cooked up.
Q: How do I create a new color in ColorSafe™?
The 'New...' button that is always visible in the ColorSafe™ dialog will create a new color in the current colors list after displaying a naming dialog where you should assign a unique name to the color. The new color will be initialized to the current foreground color selected in the host application. Alternatively, you can use Command - N to create a new color instead of the 'New...' button.
Q: How do I delete an existing color in ColorSafe™?
The displayed list of colors accepts keyboard input for navigating the list of colors, changing the order of colors in a list, and deleting colors in a list. When the list of colors is accepting keyboard input it will be highlighted with a surrounding thick black line. The delete key will permanently delete the currently selected color in the list when the list is accepting keyboard input. An alert dialog will be displayed for confirmation when you attempt to delete colors from the list to avoid unintentional deletion. ColorSafe™ will not allow you to delete the last color remaining in a list.
Q: How do I create a new list of colors in ColorSafe™?
The pop-up menu above the displayed list of colors normally shows the name of the current list of colors, but when selected three menu items always appear at the beginning of the menu: 'New list...', 'Name list...', and 'Delete list...'. The 'New list...' command is used to create a new list of colors. After selecting the 'New list...' command a naming dialog will be displayed where you should assign a unique name to the list. The newly created list will automatically become the current list of colors and it will contain a single empty (white) color named 'New color' by default.
Q: How do I delete a list of colors in ColorSafe™?
The pop-up menu above the displayed list of colors normally shows the name of the current list of colors, but when selected three menu items always appear at the beginning of the menu: 'New list...', 'Name list...', and 'Delete list...'. The 'Delete list...' command is used to delete the current list. Note, that before selecting the 'Delete list...' command you should use the menu to make the list you wish to delete is the current one. An alert dialog will be displayed for confirmation when you attempt to delete a list of colors to avoid unintentional deletion. ColorSafe™ will not allow you to delete the last color list remaining.
Q: How do I rename a color in ColorSafe™?
The 'Name...' button that is always visible in the ColorSafe™ dialog will display a naming dialog where you change the name of the selected color in the current list. Note, make sure to select the color you want to rename before clicking on the 'Name...' button.
Q: How do I rename a list of colors in ColorSafe™?
The pop-up menu above the displayed list of colors normally shows the name of the current list of colors, but when selected three menu items always appear at the beginning of the menu: 'New list...', 'Name list...', and 'Delete list...'. The 'Name list...' command will display a naming dialog where you change the name of the current list. Note, make sure that the color list you want to rename is the current list before selecting the 'Name list...' command.
Q: How do I navigate between lists of colors in ColorSafe™?
The pop-up menu above the displayed list of colors allows you to navigate between lists of colors. To make a list of colors the current list simply select the name of the list in the pop-up menu.
Q: How do I navigate between the colors in a list in ColorSafe™?
You can select a color in the currently displayed list with the mouse by clicking on the color you wish to select. If the mouse is held down the selection will auto-scroll as the mouse is moved allowing you to 'slide' up and down the colors in a list. The color highlighted when the mouse is released will become the current color. As an alternative to auto-scrolling through the list with the mouse held down, the scroll bar to the right of the list can be used to move through the colors in a list bringing the one you wish to select into visible range where a single click with the mouse will make it the current color.
You can also select colors using the keyboard when the list of colors is active for keyboard input. Clicking anywhere in the area of the list of colors will make it active for keyboard input. You can also use the Tab key to move forward through the items in the dialog that will accept keyboard input and Shift-Tab to move backwards through items until the list is active for keyboard input.
When the list is active for keyboard input the up and down arrow keys will move through the colors in the list making the above or below color the currently selected one. Note, that if you have the Option key depressed at the same time the order of the colors in the list is changed with the up and down arrow keys, not the current selection.
Q: How do I change the order of colors in a list in ColorSafe™?
When a new color is created it is inserted into the current list after the currently selected color. You can control the order of colors in a list by first selecting the color you wish the new color to be placed after before creating a new color with the 'New...' button or Command - N key combination. When the list of colors is active for keyboard input you can move colors up and down in the list to change their order with the Option - Up Arrow and Option - Down Arrow key combinations. Note, this will not affect the current color selection. The color being moved will remain the current color selected.
Q: How do I collapse the ColorSafe™ dialog to just the list of colors?
The arrow button to the right of the color list menu at the top, left of the ColorSafe™ dialog will collapse and expand the dialog as needed leaving much more screen space available if you are only selecting previously created colors instead of defining new colors.
ColorSafe™ will remember the settings used the last time the filter was run and will maintain the collapsed or expanded state of the dialog the next time it is displayed. Note, that if you cancel from the ColorSafe™ dialog and do not run the filter the saved last used settings will not be updated.
Q: How do I use the automatic color picker to make a web safe color in ColorSafe™?
The automatic color picker, displayed in the 'Color Picker' tab panel allows the automatic conversion of any RGB color to the equivalent web safe optical or hybrid color. The RGB sliders in ColorSafe™ work much like all other color sliders, with a few improvements. Since the thumbs under the sliders are only capable of 128 positions, as most similar color sliders, and can only effectively select even numbers in the range of zero to 254, 'Bump' buttons are located on the ends of each component slider to allow the selection of odd numbers as well.
The left 'Bump' button associated with each component slider will reduce the current value of the slider by one and the right 'Bump' button associated with each component slider will increase the current value by one. The 'Bump' buttons when continually held down will also auto-scroll the value of the component either up or down slider through the entire range of zero to 255.
Each component slider will also accept numerical input in the range of zero to 255 in both decimal, the 'normal' base ten number system, and hexadecimal, the base sixteen number system used in HTML to specify background colors. An RGB color can be entered as 255, 255, 255 in decimal for white or FF, FF, FF in hexadecimal for the same color.
The conversion of RGB colors to web safe optical or hybrid colors is completely automatic and fully interactive. The swatches above the sliders will change on the fly as the sliders are moved allowing very accurate and easy color selection.
Q: How do I use the pattern canvas to make a web safe color or pattern in ColorSafe™?
The pattern canvas in ColorSafe™ allows 'Fat Bits' (where the single pixels are represented much larger than the size of a single screen pixel) painting to create patterns based on a 2 x 2, 3 x 3, 4 x 4, 5 x 5, 6 x 6, or 8 x 8 repeating grid. Any palette can be used for painting in the patterns canvas, but the default palette is the 216 color web safe palette.
The pattern canvas provides pencil, eye dropper, and eraser tools for painting.
The eye dropper tool can be used on either the colors in the pattern being created or the colors in the current palette to select the paint color that the pencil tool will use. You can also use the Option key to toggle between the eye dropper and pencil tools. Use the eye dropper to select the desired color in the canvas then depress the Option key and the eye dropper automatically becomes the pencil tool for as long as the Option key is held down.
The pencil tool is used to draw in the pattern canvas. You can also use the Option key to toggle between the pencil and eye dropper tools. While drawing with the pencil depress the Option key and the pencil will become the eye dropper tool while the Option key is held down so you can select an new paint color to use.
The eraser tool will erase pixels to white, working much like the pencil tool except always using white to erase color from pixels.
The 'Grid:' pop-up menu to the right of the pattern canvas controls the grid size of the repeating pattern and will also adjust the size of the 'Fat Bit' pixels in the pattern canvas so there will never be more Fat Bit pixels visible in the pattern canvas than will be used in the repeating pattern. Note that the automatic color picker will only work to adjust colors or patterns with a 2 x 2 grid size.
Q: How do I load a new palette to use in the pattern canvas in ColorSafe™?
The 'Load' button to the right of the 'Palettes:' menu visible in the 'Patterns' tab panel will show a get file dialog where you can select any Photoshop CLUT format palette to load as the current palette for the pattern canvas in ColorSafe™. Once, loaded palettes will remain loaded indefinitely until they are unloaded. You can switch between any loaded palette using the 'Palettes:' pop-up menu in the 'Patterns' tab panel.
Q: How do I unload a palette when I'm done with it in ColorSafe™?
The 'Load' button in the 'Patterns' tab panel to the right and above the palette is also used to unload currently loaded palettes. When you depress the Option key while in the 'Patterns' tab panel the name of the 'Load' button will change to 'Unload' and the button will then remove the current loaded palette. An alert dialog will be displayed for confirmation when you attempt to unload a palette to avoid unintentional unloading.
Q: I activated the 'Color Picker' tab panel / changed the currently selected color when the 'Color Picker' tab panel was active and got "The current pattern's grid size is too large to use the automatic color picker. Would you like to convert this pattern to one that can be modified with the automatic color picker?" What does this mean?
'Patterns', 'optical colors', and 'hybrid colors' all interchangeably refer to the same thing in ColorSafe™, repeating patterns of colors.
The automatic color picker creates regularly repeating patterns on a 2 x 2 grid composed always of two different carefully chosen colors that blend smoothly to form optical colors matching the original RGB color set with the color slider. The automatic color picker can not use a grid size larger than 2 x 2 to do this, so when the current pattern or color has a grid size larger than 2 x 2 associated with it this warning is shown.
You are given the option to convert the pattern to one based on a 2 x 2 grid that can be modified with the automatic color picker with the 'Convert' button. Hitting the convert button will take the average RGB value of the pattern and make a 2 x 2 pattern in the same manner as the automatic color picker works normally based on that color. If you do not want to modify the pattern in this way you should switch to the 'Patterns' tab panel and perform any editing on it in the patterns canvas instead of with the automatic color picker.
Q: I tried to use ColorSafe™ in Adobe Photoshop 3.0 - 4.0 and I got the following error: "Could not complete your request because the selected area is empty."
With Adobe Photoshop 3.0 to 4.0 not all selections contain image data when working with Photoshop's layers. ColorSafe™ will not work on empty data and Photoshop will display the above warning instead of calling the ColorSafe™ plug-in.
If you have an area that you would like to fill with ColorSafe™ and get this error from Photoshop, use the 'Fill...' command or the paint bucket tool to fill the selection with any color so that it does not contain empty data before using ColorSafe™. This condition should not happen with other hosts applications besides Adobe Photoshop 3.0 to 4.0.
Q: Can I exchange files of patterns/colors with other users of ColorSafe™?
Yes. The you can export and import lists of colors in ColorSafe™ for easy collaboration with others. The file format is cross-platform and can easily be sent as an email attachment to users on any platform.
Q: How should I handle color reduction in preparation for saving my image as a GIF file after using ColorSafe™?
Different host applications will provide differing methods for saving GIF files and may or may not have separate means for handling color reduction prior to saving as a GIF file. You should refer to your host application's documentation for the steps required to reduce colors and save the image as a GIF file. The key words you need to keep in mind are 'Exact' color reduction, where the original RGB image does not contain more than 256 distinct RGB colors and 'Fixed' or 'Existing' palette where you specify the web safe palette to use during color reduction. You generally do not want to create a 'Custom', 'Best' or 'Optimized' palette, depending on the naming conventions of your host application, for the image. If you do the RGB values from the web safe palette in your image will likely not be preserved.
Q: Are there any file size concerns when using ColorSafe™ to create images for the web?
Generally, no. In many cases using ColorSafe™ will case the size of the final GIF file to be smaller because of the order in the fills ColorSafe™ creates. They are more compressible than colors that are diffusion or randomly dithered to colors in the web safe palette.
One thing you should keep in mind is the more order in patterns you create with the pattern canvas in ColorSafe™ the better images using those pattern fills will compress. A 2 x 2 pattern with two alternating pixels will produce a fill that is more compressible than a on that is 3 x 3 and so on.
When you use the automatic color picker in ColorSafe™ the colors produced will always produce the most compressible fills possible for your image.
Q: What is the 'web safe palette'?
The web safe palette is the set of 216 colors that are commonly available for the display of images in Netscape and Internet Explorer on Macintosh and Windows given that the viewer has a monitor minimally capable of 8 bit color.
Using the 'web safe palette' will greatly improve the chances that your images appear consistently to people viewing your web pages, but does not absolutely guarantee it. Viewers with less than 8 bit monitors, on platforms other than Macintosh or Windows, or using browsers besides Netscape or Internet Explorer may still see your images differently than you intended.
Q: What is an 'optical color'?
An optical color occurs when the eye perceives two or more distinct colors as a single visual color as in CMYK - for cyan, magenta, yellow and black - printing which combines only four separate colors of dots to make all the vivid colors of magazines and coffee table books.
The automatic color picker in ColorSafe™ combines individual pixels of two colors together to make a third optical color much like cyan, magenta, yellow, and black dots are used in printing to make colors.
Q: What is a 'hybrid color'?
An improper term for an optical color when it comes down to it, but the term seems to have gained some popular usage. The terms 'optical color', 'hybrid color', and 'pattern' are all used interchangeably in this FAQ.
BoxTop Software, Inc.
P.O. Box 2347
Starkville, MS 39760
voice 601/323-6436
fax 601/324-7352
http://www.boxtopsoft.com
ftp://ftp.boxtopsoft.com/pub
info@boxtopsoft.com
ColorSafe™ is Copyright 1997 BoxTop Software, Inc. All rights reserved. ColorSafe™ is a Trade Mark of BoxTop Software, Inc. All other trademarks are recognized as the properties of their respective holders.
Document published: 2/2/98
Copyright 1998 BoxTop Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
