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A
Anonymous
March 3, 2009
Question

Need Help Defining New Color

  • March 3, 2009
  • 21 replies
  • 2147 views
Greetings,

The instructions in the FM user guide are either totally inaccurate, or FM is broken out of the box.

To determine which, I need to know how some one of you add a simple color to the common colors palette.

The guide says View > Color > Definitions. Define your color. Click the Add button. Nothing happens, either to the selected object (hell, I just want to color a line folks), or to the palette. It is apparently "added" to outer space.

I am NOT trying to do anything complicated here. There is NOTHING fancy about what I am trying to do -- no conditional anything, no complicated print considerations, nothing. The end document is a PDF.

So, someone please tell me how can I create a color which will appear in the color palette so I can apply it to a line or whatever, and use it over again as needed.

Many thanks.

stevenjs
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    A
    Anonymous
    March 3, 2009
    Well I have to say, as usability expert, the FM GUI interface is an unequivocal POS !

    Graphics > Object Properties does NOT display any more colors than the tools color palette.

    Where/how then does one delete colors?

    I have half a dozen colors used in the document, no more. Certainly I did NOT define the interminable list of colors shown in "View 1."
    A
    Anonymous
    March 3, 2009
    Ah,ha ! ;-)

    I re-opened the .mif and lo, behold the colors I'd defined !

    I saved the .mif back over the .fm I'd been working on, and the colors are still there.

    That solves the immediate problem.

    So what do I conclude, FrameMaker 8 is a POS unless you take a ride on the MIF merry-go-round?
    A
    Anonymous
    March 3, 2009
    how do you 're-import the MIF' ? File > Import? into a blank .fm document? into the .fm I'm working on?

    where in this Mifbrowse thing do I find the color catalog?

    I already know I don't have hundreds of colors in the catalog without any of this MIF merry-go-round. There's a long, long list in "View 1" but exactly 33 in the catalog.
    A
    Anonymous
    March 3, 2009
    I select new color from the color definitions, and make an 80% Red, zero % Green, 10% blue. Add, and Done buttons.

    I have also chosen the Munsel library and selected a burgundy-like color from there.

    Both show in Normal, View 1.

    There were, are and remain only 33 colors in the tools > color palette, none of which are the ones I defined.

    I'll see if I can do the MIF thing and get back to you.
    Arnis Gubins
    Arnis Gubins
    Inspiring
    March 3, 2009
    >There were, are and remain only 33 colors in the tools > color palette, none of which are the ones I defined.
    >

    FM only has 15 pre-defined colours: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, Red,
    Green, Blue

    and new for FM8 are: Dark Grey, Pale Green, Forest Green, Royal Blue,
    Mauve, Light Salmon, Olive and Salmon.

    Anything else is user supplied.

    When you try to select the colour from the Tools Palete "Set Color"
    button, is there by any chance a little inverted triangle at the right
    side of the list at the bottom? If so, that means that you've used up
    the available slots in the GUI display and FM can't display any more
    colours through this interface. However, the Graphics > Object
    Properties display should let you see all of the colours in the drop
    down list there.

    If some of those 33 colours are ones that you don't want nor need, I'd
    suggest deleting them from the catalog to make more room for the ones
    that you want.
    A
    Anonymous
    March 3, 2009
    The precise version is 8.0p277.

    "If it's defined and you can see it in View 1, then it will be available to you in the various designers and in the graphics palette tool."

    Arnis, I understand that is what is supposed to happen. The problem is that it does NOT. The color is not there to select.
    Arnis Gubins
    Arnis Gubins
    Inspiring
    March 3, 2009
    stevenjs,

    Exactly what is the colour that you're defining and how many colours
    are already defined?

    Have you tried saving the File to MIF format and checking to see if
    the colour is in the Color catalog there? Note: get Mifbrowse from
    http://www.wideman-one.com/gw/tech/framemaker/mifbrowse.htm to make
    viewing the structure of the MIF easier.

    Have you tried doing a MIF wash, i.e. save to MIF and re-import the
    MIF?

    If it's in the catalog (from inspecting the MIF using Mifbroswe), and
    you don't have hundreds of colour definitions, like RGB10:30:75, and
    still can't see it in any of your designers or tools palette, then
    something may be hosed with your installation of FM, and you might
    have to try a re-install.
    A
    Anonymous
    March 3, 2009
    Steven, what specific version, from Help > About. Although we can certainly sense your irritation and we'll do our best to assist you, we can't sense the version you're using.
    A
    Anonymous
    March 3, 2009
    Arnis, thank you too.

    All of this you have described is SOP, standard operating procedure, and that is what I've tried, much as I would in Illustrator.

    However, in Adobe FrameMaker 8, nothing happens. The color appears in View 1, whatever that is, and nowhere else. It is not available to be used any which way.
    Arnis Gubins
    Arnis Gubins
    Inspiring
    March 3, 2009
    stevenjs,

    How exactly (i.e. what options, buttons, etc.) are you trying to get
    the colour for your use?

    If it's defined and you can see it in View 1 (these are FM's
    pseudo-layers, you can toggle colours on or off in different views),
    then it will be available to you in the various designers and in the
    graphics palette tool.

    To apply the colour to a "new" line, you need to first set the colour
    by clicking on the "Set Color" button (third up from the bottom on the
    Tools Palette) and select it from the list. The swatch should change
    to the selected colour.

    Then draw your line and it should be rendered in the correct colour.

    To change the colour of an existing line, either use the Graphics >
    Properties and set the value in that dialog window, or select the line
    and use the Set color button on the Tools palette to change it.
    A
    Anonymous
    March 3, 2009
    Thank you Sheila and Art.

    Sheila, that is exactly what I've been doing, and nothing is "done."

    Art, Yes, I've tried it with nothing selected.

    In color views the colors I've created all show up in View 1. I have clicked the "set" button, and saved the document.

    Still, in the Tools Palette > Colors, it is not listed, nor can I guess any other way to access the colors showing in "View 1" such as to actually use them.

    Is this Version 8 just junk, or what gives?
    Arnis Gubins
    Arnis Gubins
    Inspiring
    March 3, 2009
    stevenjs,

    Which version of FM are you using?

    For defining a new colour, using View > Color > Definitions...:

    1. Enter a *unique* name for the colour (you can't change or modify
    any of the default colours that FM supplies).

    2. Select how it is going to be rendered when going to print (Tint,
    Spot, Process, Don't Print).

    3. Select your colour model: CMYK, RGB, HLS

    4. Adjust the colour component sliders (or enter values directly) to
    get the colour that you want. You should see the upper swatch labelled
    "New:" change dynamically.

    5. Set whether the colour is to overprint or knockout on output.

    6. Click the "Add" button. At this point the colour swatch for the
    "Old:" value should change to the same value as that for the "New:".

    The colour should now be added to the end of the list. If you click
    the drop-down for the colour names at the top, you should see it at
    the very bottom of the list.

    If you want to select a colour from FM's supplied libraries,

    1. Click on the drop down arrow beside the "Color Libraries" entry.

    2. Select the colour library that you want to use, e.g. Pantone
    Uncoated.

    3. You will then have a panel showing swatches of values from the
    library. You can either search for a colour (by name or number) or use
    the slider at the bottom to scroll through the library.

    4. When you find the colour that you want, simply double-click on the
    swatch.

    5. The values will then be filled in the colour definitions window.

    6. Click the "Add" button to add this to the document. Again, it
    should show at the bottom of the list when you click on the drop down
    or if you use the colour palette from the graphics tool bar.
    A
    Art Campbell
    Inspiring
    March 3, 2009
    The only thing unusual about your process (other than omitting all version and OS info) is that you're selecting an object first.

    Have you tried the process without having an object selected?

    And one critical step that you don't mention is selecting a Color Library from the pull-down.

    But other than that, it should work as you describe.

    If you do it again and there's no change, check your Color Views, to make sure that you are adding it as a Normal to an active View?
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