Pay once, no subscription. Free updates.|Try PowerScripts free|Install / update

User Tools

PowerScripts Help

Site Tools

Trace:
hue_color_chart_creator

Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

Both sides previous revisionPrevious revision
hue_color_chart_creator [2026/10/25 02:27] – Markup fix for the DokuWiki upgrade (spaces inside bold/italic) 0.0.0.0hue_color_chart_creator [2026/10/25 02:53] (current) – Help pages updated for PowerScripts 3.8 (help pages session) remoteuser
Line 1: Line 1:
-===== Release Notes ===== +====== Hue Chart Creator ======
-If you have a large format printer, having a good color chart is extremely useful to find color matches to physical samples. However finding a good color chart is hard, Standard charts such as Pantone don’t have enough colors, and standard CMYK color charts are not logical.+
  
-  * Hue based colors charts are superior to standard RGB or CMYK color charts: +Colour charts that work the way you think about colour: by hue, then lighter or darker, more or less colourful. Print a set on your printer and matching a customer's sample becomes quick and logical.
-  * Hue based charts are easier to find a color, as it’s how your brain thinks about color, lighter-darker, more or less saturated. +
-  * The lightness and saturation are nonlinear and are in finer steps in lighter and grey colors where the difference between colors are more noticeable. +
-  * More of the color range is covered, on default settings, there is usually only a 5 DeltaE or less difference between colors, If your printer can print the color . +
-  * RGB charts are perfect for Hi-Fi CMYK+ printing where you can specify a larger gamut. +
-  * It’s easy manually average the formula from two adjacent colors for even closer match. +
-  * LCH charts translate easily to Lab colors.+
  
 +[[https://o2creative.co.nz/shop/Powerscripts/Hue_Color_Chart_Creator_PowerScript_for_Adobe_Illustrator|See it in the shop]] · Version 1.1.9 · Needs PowerScripts 3.8.42 or later
  
-Features+===== Where to find it =====
  
-  * Complete control over layout. +Open the PowerScripts panel (**Window > Extensions > PowerScripts**) and choose **Hue Chart Creator** from the **Color Charts** scripts. The script has four tabs: **General**, **Color Codes**, **Layout** and **Steps**.
-  * Out of Gamut colors can be excluded or marked as out of gamut. +
-  * Choose the number of hue steps. +
-  * Create compact charts which you can lookup colors on reference charts. +
-  * CMYK or RGB Charts. +
-  * Colors are calculated based on your current Illustrator color profile. +
-  * (NEW) Create UNIQUIE NAMED colors and save these as Spot colors such as "H210-R-02" as RGB,CMYK or Lab spots +
-  * (NEW) Color names can be numerical or custom codes, with a custom prefix and divider +
-==== Releases ==== +
-  * **1.1.4 (Requires 3.4.2)** +
-    * Added ability to create Named Spot Colors+
  
-  * **1.1.2 (Requires 3.4.2)** +===== Quick start ===== 
-    * Bug fix in UI Dropdown+ 
 +  - On **General**, choose **Color: CMYK** (or **RGB**) and a **Hue Step**, for example **10° (36 Pages)**. 
 +  - Leave **First page only** ticked and press **Create Hue Chart**. Check the layout. 
 +  - Untick **First page only** and press **Create Hue Chart** again for the full set. 
 +  - Print it with the colour settings you use for jobs. 
 + 
 +===== Why a hue chart? ===== 
 + 
 +Pantone books don't have enough colours, and CMYK grid charts aren't laid out the way your eye looks for a colour. A hue chart is: 
 + 
 +  * **Easy to search**: find the hue (the page), then go lighter or darker (down) and more or less colourful (across). 
 +  * **Fine where it matters**: smaller steps in light colours and greys, where differences are easiest to see. 
 +  * **Complete**: on the default settings there's usually 5 Delta E or less between neighbouring patches, wherever your printer can print the colour. Average the formulas of two neighbours for an even closer match. 
 + 
 +RGB charts suit printers with extra inks (a bigger gamut), and the colours translate easily to Lab. 
 + 
 +===== How it works ===== 
 + 
 +Each page is one hue (0° to 360° round the colour wheel). Down the page the lightness changes, across the page the chroma (how colourful). The rows and columns are set on the **Steps** tab. Every patch is worked out in LCh and turned into CMYK or RGB with Illustrator's current colour profile, and labelled with its formula. 
 + 
 +Some colours can't be printed with your profile ("out of gamut"). You choose how they show. 
 + 
 +===== Options ===== 
 + 
 +==== General ==== 
 + 
 +{{:hue_color_chart_creator:general_tab.png?380|The General tab}} 
 + 
 +  * **Color**: **CMYK** or **RGB** patches. 
 +  * **Hue Step**: one page every **5°** (72 pages), **10°** (36 pages) or **15°** (24 pages), or a **Custom Range** with your own **Start**, **End** and **Step**. 
 +  * **Out of Gamut**: what to do with colours your profile can't print: **Hide** them, show a **Grey Box**, **Show with mark**, or **Show** them anyway. 
 +  * **Axis Labels**: label the rows and columns. 
 +  * **Show a*,b* values**: add the Lab a* and b* values. 
 +  * **First page only (Use for testing layout)**: make just one page to check the layout. 
 +  * **Use Color Codes**: label each patch with a unique colour name (see **Color Codes**). 
 +  * **Create named spot colors**: save every patch as a named spot colour in the chart. 
 +  * **Create Hue Chart**: makes a new document with the chart. 
 +  * **Add Colors to Swatches**: put the chart's colours in your Swatches panel as named colours, without making a chart. It first offers to remove the swatches your document doesn't use, for a clean list. 
 + 
 +==== Color Codes ==== 
 + 
 +{{:hue_color_chart_creator:color_codes_tab.png?380|The Color Codes tab}} 
 + 
 +  * **Name Method**: **Numerical** names from the hue, lightness and chroma (for example ''H210-60-40''), or **Codes** from the **Color Code** columns on the **Steps** tab (for example ''H210-H-40''). 
 +  * **Color Mode**: save named colours as **PROCESS (CMYK/RGB)** or **Lab**. 
 +  * **Prefix** and **Divider**: the start of each name and the character between its parts. 
 + 
 +==== Layout ==== 
 + 
 +{{:hue_color_chart_creator:layout_tab.png?380|The Layout tab}} 
 + 
 +  * **Swatch Width**, **Swatch Height**, **Swatch Gutter**: the patches and the gaps between them. 
 +  * **Label Height**, **Label Offset**, **Font Size**: the formula labels under each patch. 
 +  * **Axis Space**, **Axis Font Size**: room for the axis labels. 
 +  * **Gamut Limit**: how far (in Delta E) a printed colour may be from the asked-for colour before it counts as out of gamut. 
 +  * **Gamut Mark Size**: the size of the out-of-gamut mark. 
 +  * **Page Border**, **Page Gutter**: the margin round each page, and the gap between pages. 
 +  * **Header** and **Footer**: their height, text offset and font size. 
 + 
 +==== Steps ==== 
 + 
 +{{:hue_color_chart_creator:steps_tab.png?380|The Steps tab}} 
 + 
 +Two lists: the **Luminosity** (lightness) of each row and the **Chroma** of each column, each with an optional **Color Code** for naming. Add or remove rows to make the chart finer or more compact. 
 + 
 +===== How to... ===== 
 + 
 +==== Match a customer's sample ==== 
 + 
 +  - Find the page with the closest hue, then the closest patch. 
 +  - If it falls between two patches, average their formulas. 
 +  - With **Use Color Codes** on, the patch name tells you exactly which colour to use, for example ''H210-H-40''. 
 + 
 +===== Tips ===== 
 + 
 +  * Start with **First page only** to get the layout right: a full chart can be dozens of pages. 
 +  * Make named colours with **Add Colors to Swatches**, then use the same names in jobs: every colour matches a patch on your printed chart. 
 +  * For a chart round one starting colour, see [[color_shotgun|Color Shotgun]]. For greys, see [[neutral_grey_color_chart_creator|Neutral Chart Creator]]. 
 + 
 +===== Good to know ===== 
 + 
 +  * Colours depend on your colour settings (**Edit > Color Settings**): make the chart with the settings you use for jobs. 
 +  * With **Out of Gamut** set to **Hide** or **Grey Box**, no spot colours are made for the colours left off. 
 + 
 +===== What's new ===== 
 + 
 +  * **1.1.9** 
 +    * New: Add Colors to Swatches puts the chart's colours in your Swatches panel as named spot or process colours, without making a chart, and first offers to remove the swatches your document does not use, for a clean swatch list. 
 +    * Fixed: First page only makes one page, and Custom Range shows its Start, End and Step boxes again. 
 +    * Fixed: with Out of Gamut set to Hide or Grey Box, no spot colours are made for colours left off the chart. 
 +    * Fixed: the swatch, gap, border and axis sizes say mm, the unit they always used. 
 +    * Improved: charts of more than 4 pages are put together without copy and paste, so your clipboard is left alone. 
 +    * Improved: general bug fixes, reliability and speed. Needs PowerScripts 3.8.42 or later. 
 +  * **1.1.7**: Updated for PowerScripts 3.8.32. 
 +  * **1.1.6**: Updated for the new version of PowerScripts. 
 +  * Older changes: [[releasenotes|PowerScripts Release Notes]]
  
-  * **1.1.1 (Requires 3.4.2)** 
-    * Updates for CC2018 compatibility 
hue_color_chart_creator.txt · Last modified: by remoteuser