Color Dropper modes
The Color Dropper selects either actual colors where you click, or it
selects the inks applied to vector or text objects. To set the mode of
the Color Dropper, double-click the Color Dropper tool icon. In the
dialog box, select an option and click OK. The mode remains set
unless you use the dialog box to change it.
Object Ink
Selects inks and actual colors, not the apparent color that you click.
In vector or text objects, the Color Dropper selects object inks
color, gradient, symbol, texture, and hatch inks. It does not take into
account transfer modes or transparency effects.
If you click an objects stroke, you select its pen ink; if you click an
objects interior, you select its fill ink. In the case of paint objects,
which do not have inks, the color you click is selected as a color ink.
For example, if you click a gradient ink with the Color Dropper, it
selects the gradient ink, not the color under the pointer. If you click a
dotted symbol ink, the tool selects the symbol ink, not the color
where you click.
In paint objects, the Color Dropper selects applied paint colors, not
colors you see because of transfer modes, channel masks, or other
transparency effects. For example, if you click a black area that is
50% transparent against a white background, you select solid black,
not the 50% gray that you see.
Pixel Color
Selects the apparent color that you click at the tip of the Color Drop-
per pointer. This mode works the same whether you click a paint,
vector, or text object.
For example, if you click a gradient ink in a vector object, you select
the exact color you click, not the gradient ink. If you click in an
object that has transparency and transfer mode effects, you select the
exact color you see.
Selecting a color in Pixel Color mode lets you identify the colors
values. When you click a pixel, the Color manager in the Inks palette
shows the color values.
Object Ink mode
Pixel Color mode
Selected
ink
Selected
color