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zontarr
Participant
June 22, 2023
Question

Set QR code color via RGB Value?

  • June 22, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 1423 views

I see how to change a QR code colr by mactching an existing color in an image/document. However I want to enter a specific RGB value and change it to that. 

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    E
    Community Expert
    Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 23, 2023

    Workaround

    Set a spot colour before you make the QR Code

     

    Generate the QR Code with the new colour

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Make another swatch

     

    Then use the Ink Manager

     

    Set the QR code to be an Alias to the RGB swatch you made

     

     

    View Overprint Preview

     

    Now when you edit your Random Swatch in the swatch panel it will update live in the document

     

     

     

    You can only see the change when in Overprint Preview -

    You're creating a swatch in spot colour for the QR code - this makes it a separate Ink for printing and shows up in the Ink Manager

    Then making your new RGB swatch

    You can then Alias the Spot to any other colour - which maps that spot colour to whatever colour needed.

     

    You can then update the RGB swatch to any colour you want - and it will update all the colours in the document that QR code colour is Aliased to.

     

    It's quite quick to setup - but can only be viewed in Overprint Preview

    And should output just fine.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

      James Gifford—NitroPress
      James Gifford—NitroPress
      Legend
      June 23, 2023

      Right, as with other things in ID there are multiple paths to the same end. But I read the question as "is there any way I can set an RGB color as part of creating a QR code" — and the answer is no, since the color is managed (simply or elaborately or script-ally) outside the generator, and must be done by assigning an existing swatch.

      E
      Community Expert
      Eugene TysonCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      June 23, 2023
      1. Yeh it's really poor implementation of a feature that never got an improvement since version 1.

       

      There are always roundabout ways to do things and it's frustrating.

       

      But you can create a colour and map it and that goes across multiple disciplines and workflows 

       

      It's a handy thing to remember. 

       

      James Gifford—NitroPress
      James Gifford—NitroPress
      Legend
      June 22, 2023

      You can only use colors that are defined as swatches in InDesign, since they're a root value of various styles. So your only path would be to use the RGB values to define a swatch, then apply that swatch to the code's foreground or background.

       

      You could create a color swatch named, say, QRcode, and assign any color value you like to it. However, it's a bit of an anomaly in ID's operation that if you generate a QR code using that color, and then change the color... the code's color will not change until you edit it. (Such 'sticky' colors are unusual in ID's methods, but the QR code generator is an outlier in many ways.)

       

      But there is no way to bypass the need for a swatch, unless there are some deep hooks that scripting can reach. I'd bet the call only allows specifying a swatch, but one of the scripting wizards might know differently.

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