Illustrator

Edit colors in the Live Color dialog box

Editing colors in the Live Color dialog box is a convenient way to globally adjust the colors in selected artwork. It is especially useful when global colors weren't originally used in the artwork's creation. You can edit colors and color groups in the Live Color dialog box and apply your edits to selected artwork, or save the edited colors for later use.

When editing colors, you use the smooth color wheel, the segmented color wheel, or the color bars.

Editing colors by moving color markers on the smooth color wheel

Smooth color wheel 
Displays hue, saturation, and brightness in a smooth continuous circle. Each color in the current color group is drawn on the wheel inside a circle. This wheel lets you choose from numerous colors with great precision, but it can be hard to see individual colors because every pixel is a different color.

Segmented color wheel 
Displays colors as a set of segmented color patches. This wheel makes it easy to see individual colors, but doesn’t provide as many colors to choose from as the continuous wheel.

Color bars 
Displays only colors from the color group. They appear as solid bars of color that you can select and edit individually.

For a video on creating, editing, and experimenting with color groups in Live Color, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0059.


A.
Base color as it appears in Harmony Rule menu

B.
Base color as it appears in color wheel

C.
Color display options

D.
Color of selected color marker or color bar

E.
Show saturation and hue on Wheel

F.
Add and subtract color marker tools

G.
Unlink harmony colors

Edit a color group using a color wheel

  1. In the Live Color dialog box, select the desired color group from the Color Groups storage area, if necessary.
  2. If you have selected an object on the artboard, click Recolor Art to preview the colors on the artwork. If you don’t want to recolor the artwork, deselect Recolor Art before closing the dialog box, or click Cancel to close it.
    Note: To edit the colors of the selected artwork, click Get Colors From Selected Art .
  3. To confine colors to a swatch library, click the Limits The Color Group To Colors In A Swatch Library button  and choose a library from the list.
  4. Drag a marker on the wheel to change its color. If the harmony is linked, all the colors move according to the rule as you drag. If the harmony is unlinked, only the marker that you drag moves.

    While editing, you can do any of the following:

    • To change hue, move the marker around the wheel. To change saturation or brightness, move it inward and outward on the wheel.

    • To constrain the marker to move in only one direction, hold down the shift key as you drag.

    • To see hue and saturation instead of hue and brightness on the wheel, click the Show Saturation And Hue On The Wheel button , directly below the wheel to toggle between the two views.

    • To change the color values manually, click the color marker for the color you want to change, or click the color in the color group in the Active Colors box at the top of the dialog box. Edit the color values using the sliders or color value text boxes under the color wheel.

    • To change the saturation and brightness of a color on the wheel, right-click a color marker, and then click on the desired color in the saturation and brightness box that appears.

Note: To ensure the colors are in gamut or web safe, select each color marker and click the Out Of Gamut  or Out Of Web  buttons as necessary.

Edit a color group using the Color Picker

You can use the Color Picker to change colors in a color group.

  1. In the Live Color dialog box, do one of the following:

    • Double-click a wheel marker.

    • Double-click a color bar.

    • Double-click a color in the Color Groups list.

    • Double-click a color in the active colors display at the top of the dialog box.

    • Click the color swatch to the left of the color sliders.

  2. Save the edits by doing one of the following:

    • To save the edited colors as a new group, type a new name in the name text box at the top of the dialog box, and then click New Color Group ..

    • To save the edits to the original color group, click Save Changes To Color Group .

Edit an individual color in a color group

When you use a harmony rule to create a color group, the colors are linked by default. When a color group is linked, editing one color changes the other colors according to the harmony rule. To edit one color without changing the others, you need to unlink the color markers from the harmony rule.
View full size graphic

A.
Color wheel view of linked colors

B.
Color wheel view of unlinked colors

C.
Color bars view of linked colors

D.
Color bars view of unlinked colors

E.
Colors linked, click to unlink

F.
Colors unlinked, click to relink

  1. In the Live Color dialog box, select the color group you want to edit and click Edit.
  2. Click the Unlink Harmony Colors icon .
  3. Do one of the following:

    • Drag the color marker you want to edit to set a new color.

    • Click the Display Color Bars button . Click the color bar you want to change and manually edit the color values, or double-click the color bar and choose a new color in the Color Picker.

    • Right-click a color marker or color bar and pick a new shade.

  4. To relink the colors so that the markers move again according to the newly defined harmony rule, click the button again.

Randomly change color order or saturation and brightness

In the Live Color dialog box, you can explore random variations of the current color group by using the Randomly Assign Brightness And Saturation button and the Randomly Change Color Order button.

  1. In the Live Color dialog box, select a color group.
  2. Click Edit, and then click Display Color Bars; or click Assign.
  3. Do either of the following:

    • To randomly change the brightness and saturation of the current color group while retaining the hues, click Randomly Change Color Order .

    • To shuffle the order of the current color group, click Randomize Saturation And Brightness . Use this button when recoloring artwork to quickly explore the different ways artwork can be recolored with the current color group.

Globally edit saturation, brightness, temperature, or luminosity

  1. In the Live Color dialog box, click Edit.
  2. Click the Color Mode button , and choose Global Adjust.
  3. Change the values for Saturation, Brightness, Temperature, and Luminosity.
    Note: If you’ve limited the colors to a swatch library, any adjustments you make are limited to the library colors.

Add or remove colors in a color group

  1. In the Live Color dialog box, click Edit.
  2. View the color group using a color wheel, not the color bars.
  3. Do either of the following:

    • To add a color to the color group, click the Add Color Tool button , and then click in the color wheel on the color you want to add. If you click on the line of an existing color marker, the new marker moves with that marker.

    • To remove a color, click the Remove Color Tool button , and then click the color marker you want to remove. You cannot remove the base color marker.

Delete a color group

 Select a color group in the Color Groups list and click Delete .