Pixel Spy is a simple utility which allows you to determine the magnitude of the various color components which make up a color on the screen. Specifically, you can select a pixel from the screen, and Pixel Spy will tell you the RGB, HSV, CMY, indexed and hex code values for the color of that pixel. You may also modify these displayed codes to manually change the current color and use Pixel Spy to match the current color to one in a color lookup table.
• What is it good for?
Its primary target is those of who who get frustrated trying to match a color on the screen. For instance, this would be useful if you are in Photoshop and you want to sample the color from a non-Photoshop window. Just open up Pixel Spy, examine the color of one of the pixels and enter the values into Photoshop's color picker. You can also do the same thing with any application that uses Apple's color picker.
It is also particularly useful for determining the color hex codes needed in HTML documents, as you can determine the code for a particular pixel as well as quickly try out different combinations you come up with by altering the values manually.
Pixel Spy also comes with a set of color lookup tables, or CLUTs, each of which contain a set of colors. After picking a color from the screen, Pixel Spy will notify you if the color is not in the currently selected CLUT, and can pick a color from that CLUT closest to the one you selected if you wish.
• How do I use it?
Usage is simple. Just open the application, point the cursor at a pixel on the screen (you'll see a magnified view of that region in Pixel Spy's display) and hit command-F. The selected color will be copied to the current color swatch and the color's values will be displayed in the various fields in the window, where you can transcribe them into whatever program you want. If you don't like command-F as your capture key, you can redesignate it with the "Change Capture Key..." command under the Capture menu.
You can also manually enter values into any of the fields to come up with your own color. As you enter the values, the displayed color and value fields will update themselves dynamically.
After picking a color, Pixel Spy will look in the current CLUT (as picked from the Edit menu) and see if your color is represented in there. If it is not, a "≈" sign will appear above the color box. At this point, you can click the "Match Color" button to have Pixel Spy select the color's closest match. If you are matching colors for the web, try using the "Netscape Color Cube" or "Netscape Mac Color Table" CLUTs, these should match your color to the closest non-dithering color Netscape displays. The "Netscape Mac Color Table" seems to give more accurate matches than the cube (although theorectically it shouldn't...)
The current area display field can also be modified, by toggling the crosshairs or changing its magnification, via functions in the "Capture" menu.
**Note to the adventurous: The two display panes in the window are capable of displaying 16 bit color (thousands of colors) by default. If you want to change this (say bump it up to 24 bit or down to 8 bit) you can do so by editing STR resource 1000 (Window Bit Depth) with ResEdit. Lowering the number will save you some memory and increasing it will improve Pixel Spy's color range. As always, be sure to wear your eye protection before using ResEdit.
**Another note to the adventurous: You can also add new CLUTs to Pixel Spy by adding the with ResEdit. Just copy and paste the 'clut' resource into Pixel Spy's resource fork. If your colors are in a Photoshop CLUT file, you can use the shareware application "PhotoShop Clut Converter" to create a clut resource from them. This program is available from all the major shareware archives.
**Yet another note to the adventurous: You can change the delimeter character in the Copy/Paste sets by setting STR id number 2000.
Why all the "notes to the adventurous"? I'm too lazy to make real interfaces for these things. Perhaps I'll fix it someday.
• How do I pay for it?
Pixel Spy is shareware. If you use and enjoy this program I would appreciate it if you could send me (Bryan Horling) $5.00 by cash, check, change, whatever to the address listed below. This five bucks will help me pay off my electric bill, so in a sense, you'll really be making it possible for me to write more software. You need only pay for the current version of Pixel Spy - any future versions are free for registered users (if you send me your email address you will also be notified of any updates). The program is freely distributable, as long as this document is included in the archive. This program may not be included in any commercial product, archive or distribution without the explicit permission of the author (still Bryan Horling). Thank you.
*** Bryan Horling ***
*** 37 Fairview Ave ***
*** Enfield, CT 06082 ***
• FAQs
Where can I get the most recent version of Pixel Spy?
http://www2.trincoll.edu/~bhorling/pixelspy/
Why do I get different color values in Photoshop?
When the Mac goes to display a color, it typically can't just display it, since the number of viewable colors on the screen is limited. So what happens is the application asks the Color Manager (part of the operating system) what the closest match is to the color it wants to display, and uses that color instead. So what this means is that the color you see on the screen isn't always exactly the color which was ment to be displayed. So when Pixel Spy goes to grab this color, it gets the adjusted color values instead of the real color values (but the Macintosh Color Index should be the same, as both colors map to that index). Photoshop does things a bit differently - instead of picking the closest color, it dithers (mixes) different colored pixels to produce something which looks like the color which was supposed to be displayed (if you look at these colors with Pixel Spy under high magnification you'll see what I mean). Internally, though, it still keeps the real color value, and returns this when you examine the color values. So, I think this is what acounts for some of the difference between the values. By using the color matching feature of Pixel Spy you should be able to work around this quirk.
Why do I occasionally get different hex values for the same RGB values?
This happens sometimes when you edit the boxed values when you are using a number range other than Large. What happens is that the program has to scale those number up to the Large range in order to come up with a color (because that is how the Mac stores them internally). When you click on a pixel, the program uses the original RGB values to come up with the hex value. When you edit the numbers, and the program scales the values up, it won't necessarily come up with the same exact RGB value, and thus when it gets scaled back down to the hex range it might be a little (just a little) different. It's not a big deal, trust me.
Why CMY instead of CMYK?
After much research into the area of converting RGB values to CMYK values, I've decided that it isn't really possible to do this accurately in a straightforward manner. CMYK depends too much on outside variables, such as the printing hardware, ink proporties and even paper composition. I'm not even sure if the CMY values are of any real use, but they seemed more accuate than the former. If anyone knows of a good way to convert between the two I'd be glad to hear it...
What is this "Exception Thrown" error I get when I open a new window?
This is most likely caused by a lack of free memory. Try using just one spy window at a time, or increase the Pixel Spy's memory allocation in the Finder's Get Info window.
Why the "Small Range (255)" menu item?
Macintosh RGB and HSV colors typically range from 0 - 65535. Unfortunately, most programs use numbers in the range from 0 - 255 for these values. Having this menu item selected will cause those values to scale to this more more usable range automatically.
How can I stop my wood from splitting when I put a nail through it?
Try cutting the tip off of the nail with a good pair of wire cutters before your nail it in. The pointed head on the nail acts like a wedge, forcing the woody material apart. Cutting the tip off prevents this from happenening. If you're using large nails you can also just give the tip a good whack with your hammer.
Why is my computer slow with Pixel Spy open in the background?
On older computers, having Pixel Spy's window continuously track where the mouse is may degrade your performance. Make sure that "Pause In Background" is selected or you can also explicitly pause Pixel Spy's scanning by using the Pause button or menu item.
• Bugs, Comments, Questions?
If you have any bug reports, usage questions or feature requests, feel free to email them to me at the following address:
*** bhorling@trincoll.edu ***
Or check out my web page at:
*** http://www2.trincoll.edu/~bhorling/ ***
If this program blows up your computer, it isn't my fault, although if it happens in an interesting and/or funny manner feel free to email me a description.
Have fun!
Version History
1.2.2
Fixed a preference corrupting bug
Added CLUT color lookups/ matching
Added Copy/Paste sets
Changed the way CMY values are generated
Changed my address (new apartment - woohoo!)
1.2.1
Added access to the standard Mac color-picker
Fixed a number-rounding bug
Fixed a problem displaying CMY values when using the Large range
1.2
Added an auto-saving preferences file
Changed the CMYK fields to just CMY
Got rid of annoying text flickering
1.2b
Added the ability to switch the capture key
Tried to implement CMYK values...didn't work
1.1
Fixed a nasty bug that crashed 68K Macs
Added the ability to view RGB & HSV by percentage
Added the ability to view by arbitrary number range
Added "Pause in Background" option
Fixed a bug in the coordinate boxes when changing the color range
1.0
First initial release (bug-free, of course. (not))
