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Harvo09
Participating Frequently
June 6, 2020
Answered

Create a swatch from an image

  • June 6, 2020
  • 5 replies
  • 2879 views

Hi,

 

I want to create a colour palaette with all the colours from an image. Not a swatch from the image, only all the colours IN the image

 

I want to end up with a swatch with all the colours in the image.

I can do it manually with the eyedropper, this may take a while!

Thanks in advance.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer edgrimley

You could do an image trace. Expand and ungroup. Go into Recolor Artwork and create a new color group from the traced image. The group with all of the colors will be in the swatches pallette.
Where you go from there is still an open question in my mind.

5 replies

michelew83603738
Community Expert
michelew83603738Community Expert
Community Expert
June 6, 2020

Am I totally misunderstanding? Can't you just "Add Used Colors" and if this is an image, then do a image trace to convert to vectors.

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Harvo09Author
Participating Frequently
June 7, 2020

Hi Michelle,

 

I don't think you are misunderstanding, where is Add used Colours?

 

Thanks.

 

H

Larry G. Schneider
Community Expert
Larry G. SchneiderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 7, 2020

Check the flyout menu (upper right) in the Swatch panel. 

    E
    edgrimley
    Participating Frequently
    June 6, 2020

    Yiu can get a color table of up to 256 colors from save for web, you save it as an .act file. Same in Photoshop.

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    Harvo09Author
    Participating Frequently
    June 6, 2020

    Thanks Ed, 

     

    I am after more than that though, strange as that is!

     

    E
    edgrimleyCorrect answer
    Participating Frequently
    June 7, 2020

    You could do an image trace. Expand and ungroup. Go into Recolor Artwork and create a new color group from the traced image. The group with all of the colors will be in the swatches pallette.
    Where you go from there is still an open question in my mind.

      H
      Harvo09Author
      Participating Frequently
      June 6, 2020

      Thanks for the answer so far, this link seems to be able to do it in an older version...

       

      http://carijansen.com/tip_093/

      J
      jdanek
      Inspiring
      June 6, 2020

      Stand alone Illustrator using the Eyedropper tool is not a good idea.  I am thinking Photoshop, but either app will require some major time.  There may be a plug-in available out there that has a script that can do what you want.  Keep in mind that a swatch usually consists of one color build.  Almost impossible to create one swatch that consists of all of the colors in whatever image you have to sample from.  Your screen grab shows a file that consists of thousands of swatches.

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      Harvo09Author
      Participating Frequently
      June 6, 2020

      Thanks jdanek

       

      I thought a swatch was a set of colours? I want sat, mySwatch and then have all those colours in it.

      I have started using the eyedropper and it may take me 4 hours to complete it. Just wondered in there was a quicker way.

       

      Ares Hovhannesyan
      Community Expert
      Ares HovhannesyanCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      June 6, 2020

      Create a mosaic

      • Import a bitmap image to use as the basis for the mosaic. The image must be embedded, not linked.

        You can also rasterize a vector object to use it as the basis for the mosaic.

      • Select the image.

      • Choose Object > Create Object Mosaic.

      • If you want to change the dimensions of the mosaic, enter values for New Size.

      • Set options to control the spacing between tiles and the total number of tiles, along with any other additional options, and click OK:

        Constrain Ratio

         

        Locks the width or height dimensions to the dimensions of the original bitmap image. Width calculates the appropriate number of tiles to use for the width of the mosaic, based on the original number of tiles for the width. Height calculates the appropriate number of tiles to use for the height of the mosaic, based on the original number of tiles for the height.

         

        Result

         

        Specifies whether the mosaic tiles are color or grayscale.

         

        Resize Using Percentages

         

        Changes the size of the image by percentages of width and height.

         

        Delete Raster

         

        Deletes the original bitmap image.

         

        Use Ratio

         

        Makes the tiles square, using the number of tiles specified in Number Of Tiles. This option is located below the Cancel button.

         

        You can select mosaic object and add it to Swatches panel as a group.  Click on plus icon on the buttom of Swatches panel.

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        Harvo09Author
        Participating Frequently
        June 6, 2020

        Thanks Ares,

         

        I actually started doing this. But the image is still and image and won't do as you say..This is me doing it manually.

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