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How to limit number of colors in artwork?

Community Expert ,
Mar 14, 2020 Mar 14, 2020

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Image Trace has the ability to limit color when tracing. I'm looking to do something similar, but with artwork that is already vector. I also knw that I can use the Edit Colors function, but that requires a manual ressaignment. I created an Object Mosaic and there are at least a hunderd or two hundred different shades used. I am looking for a way to limit the colors without having to drag and rearrange them all manually in the Edit Colors dialog box.

 

I also know there is a way to choose a color group when using the Edit Colors function, but it doesn't apply to colors correctly and sometimes really misses the mark. What would be really cool if there was a way to limit the colors as part of the Object Mosaic function.

 

Maybe a third party plugin or script can do this? Thanks in advance for your help.

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Adobe
Community Expert ,
Mar 14, 2020 Mar 14, 2020

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You could try if Phantasm can achieve it. It offers color control like the image editing functions in Photoshop.So e.g. Posterize.

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Community Expert ,
Mar 22, 2020 Mar 22, 2020

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I actually need to reduce colors in the vecor image, not the raster. So Phastasm doesn't work for that. But I did a little digging into Edit Colros and I can make it work. 

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Community Expert ,
Mar 22, 2020 Mar 22, 2020

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Phantasm will work with vector images.

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Community Expert ,
Mar 23, 2020 Mar 23, 2020

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Can you give me a rough idea of where to find that in the Phantasm panel? Let's say I have 300 different colors used and I want to limit it to 10. How do I do that?

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Community Expert ,
Mar 23, 2020 Mar 23, 2020

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I was wrong about the Posterize option, but what you could do is use "Hue/Saturation" to target the single channels and drive them into a direction where you want them to be.

Depending on the nature of the edit "Levels" is also capable of limiting the number of colors, but it will of course also change the contrast in the image.

Afterwards you might still need to use either the "Combine swatches" function or "Edit colors" to make them exactly the same color. That might or might not be more tedious than using just "Edit colors" which you initially excluded.

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Community Expert ,
Mar 25, 2020 Mar 25, 2020

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I think I finally figured it out. There are two colors groups available by default in the Recolor dialog box (Grays and rights). They each have 6 swatches. In the "Colors" dropdown, the choices are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and All. So it would seem that you're limited to 6 colors when reducing colors. But that's not the case.

 

  1. Make a new color group with the number of swatches you want
  2. Then choose that new color group in the Recolor dislog box.
  3. Then click on the dropdown next to the color choice, then choose Exact.

 

 

Screen Shot 2020-03-25 at 9.26.14 AM.pngScreen Shot 2020-03-25 at 9.26.22 AM.pngScreen Shot 2020-03-25 at 9.28.00 AM.png

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New Here ,
Nov 16, 2020 Nov 16, 2020

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Hi

Did you manually create the colors for Color Group 1 or did it choose one from the current colors panel next to each color? I am trying to reduce the number of colors in a watercolor turned vector piece of art.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 18, 2023 Jan 18, 2023

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quote

Hi

Did you manually create the colors for Color Group 1 or did it choose one from the current colors panel next to each color? I am trying to reduce the number of colors in a watercolor turned vector piece of art.


By @sarah5E95

You need to create the color group before entering Recolor artwork.

Do you know how to create color groups?

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/color-groups-harmonies.html

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New Here ,
Jan 18, 2023 Jan 18, 2023

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  • Can you help me understand your solution? Have same question 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 18, 2023 Jan 18, 2023

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  • Can you help me understand your solution? Have same question 

By @baruch26157144wtp2

 

Can you please detail your questions?

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