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(Phos±four_dots)
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Color: Schemes--Exploration and generation

Nov 23, 2006 9:17 AM

In the posts that follow you'll find links to color scheme generators and comparison charts, plus utilities and applications which can be used to explore the relationships between different colors in a variety of ways. These can be useful for building color sets that will look good on your website or in print projects.

Some work directly in your browser through either Java, JavaScript or with a Flash or Shockwave plugin; Others are applications or utilities that you download and use as separate programs or in conjunction with other programs.

Depending on which site or application you choose, they will display the colors side-by-side and also show the codes for these colors in different formats, i.e.: RGB, hexadecimal, CMYK, Lab, HSB, HTML named colors, etc. Additionally, there are some which will create downloadable text files containing a list of the colors you choose, and others will even generate swatch files that you can save and which can be imported directly into your favorite applications.
3088 Views   9 Replies   Latest reply: (Phos±four_dots), Nov 23, 2006 10:03 AM
 
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    0. (Phos±four_dots),
    Sep 5, 2003 7:39 AM   in reply to (Phos±four_dots)
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    ColorSchemer Online .

    Choose a color, and Online Color Schemer creates a palette of 15 complementary colors. Lighten or darken the entire range at the push of a button.
     
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      1. (Phos±four_dots),
      Sep 20, 2003 8:52 AM   in reply to (Phos±four_dots)
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      VisiBone's javascript WebMaster's Color Lab

      This is VERY cool; click on several of the colors in the hex-grid on the left...experiment and investigate the results carefully.

      They have a lot of nice charts for purchase here as well.
       
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      2. (Phos±four_dots),
      Sep 20, 2004 12:56 PM   in reply to (Phos±four_dots)
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      A few more web-based color scheme generators. Apologies if they're repeats:

      A colour thingie for the web.
      Another colour thingie

      (Thanks to Gustavo Sanchez and Dave Milbut)
       
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      3. (Phos±four_dots),
      Jul 30, 2005 12:25 PM   in reply to (Phos±four_dots)
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      How about another Color Scheme generator?

      Thanks to Ivan at CreativeBits.org for pointing this one out.

      http://wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html#
       
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      4. (Phos±four_dots),
      Jun 11, 2006 7:20 AM   in reply to (Phos±four_dots)
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      Here's another color thingy.

      This one generates a range of 9 complementary swatches, adjustable in real-time by using RGB sliders. You can then output Photoshop and Illustrator swatch files, or you can generate a plain text file of the colors.

      http://www.stylephreak.com/cm.php
       
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      5. (Phos±four_dots),
      Jul 13, 2006 6:19 PM   in reply to (Phos±four_dots)
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      Here's another color experimentation website, similar to the one at stylephreak, above.

      This one generates a palette of 5 complementary colors based on the one you edit with sliders. It also has a function that will suggest and display the closest Pantone color for the active RGB or HSV swatch.

      Sets of colors can be saved or emailed as Photoshop (.act) or Illustrator (.eps) color sets, using a file name you choose

      http://www.colorblender.com/
       
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      6. (Phos±four_dots),
      Sep 28, 2006 11:59 PM   in reply to (Phos±four_dots)
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      Hexadecimal Colors, you say?

      http://hexcolors.simplysike.com/~hexcolors/colors_chart.cfm

      Here's a site that presents every possible combination of hexadecimal color code, laid out in table form. At least I THINK it does. I haven't actually checked, you understand.

      Near as I can figure it, that comes out to (OS X Calculator paper tape copy/paste):
      pow(16, 6)
      = 16,777,216

      16 * 16 * 16 * 16 * 16 * 16
      = 16,777,216
       
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      7. (Phos±four_dots),
      Nov 19, 2006 12:55 PM   in reply to (Phos±four_dots)
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      AdobeLabs has launched its online color-scheme explorer and generator application, called Kuler .

      Built on a Flash 9 and ActionScript 3 framework, visitors can explore color relationships through several different schemas (Complimentary, Compound, Monochromatic, and more), and through interactive sliders under each of 5 different patches they can custom tailor colors to suit their needs.

      But, unlike many other similar color scheme generators found online (including those linked elsewhere in this thread) Kuler is attempting to leverage the concepts of community-
      based interactivity. Once they have registered a free account users will be able to save and share their color schemes with others who visit the site, rate schemes that have already been createdthere are over 600 available already as I write thisand download any scheme as an Adobe Swatch Exchange ("*.ase" ) file for use In Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

      Pretty cool, and definitely worth some time playing around.
       
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      9. (Phos±four_dots),
      Nov 23, 2006 10:03 AM   in reply to (Phos±four_dots)
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      I referred to "HTML "named colors" above.

      This refers to a list of 147 colors defined by the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Specification which use common language, such as red, blue, green, black, etc. When used as part of HTML/CSS/XML coding these real-language names are interpreted by browsers the same way as the RGB/Hex code colors they represent.

      So, instead of coding a color as "#00FFFF" or using RGB values such as "0,255,255" you may simply type "Aqua" and the proper color will be displayed when the code is rendered onscreen.

      Below are links to this list of Named Colors at a few sites:
      http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_colornames.asp
      http://www.aumha.org/html/colorsb.htm

      See the following link for boatloads of more information on named colors and a vast tree of links. There are many standards and systems for naming colors, and most of them aren't specific to being displayed by a web browser. However, by cross-referencing and by doing a little work and calculation you should be able to come close to replicating named oil paint or house paint colors, for example, for use in a browser. Just keep in mind the differences between reflective and transmissive color, and remember that not all screen colors are printable, and not all print colors can be displayed onscreen.

      http://www.december.com/html/spec/colorspot.html
       
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