MagicPicker 5.0 is here! Colorize Vector Shapes & Text, color name on the color wheel in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, more!

MagicPicker 5.0! Colorize Vector Shapes & Text, new features!
MagicPicker 5.0! Colorize Vector Shapes & Text, new features!

MagicPicker just updated to the version 5.0! Update brings better support for new Creative Cloud: Adobe Illustrator CC2015.3 & Photoshop CC2015.5 and new features:
NEW! Colorize Shapes and Text in Photoshop (activated from menu).
* Colorize individual shapes with color feedback.
* Control hue of groups of shapes – shift hue and color temperature.
* Works with Tone Lock and K-Lock.
* Lets assign tranparent color to Fill/Stroke
* Works with text, lets change multiple shape and text layers at the same tume
NEW! Assign transparent color in Illustrator and for Photoshop shapes/vectors with Ctrl/Cmd Click
Exchange colors for shapes, exchange with transparency
NEW! New color spaces and color values on the corner of the wheel.
* Switchable button on the left bottom corner
* HSB, RGB, CMYK, YCbCr, YUV, XYZ
* Color names display (X11/HTML standard)
* Copy values to clipboard with one click
NEW! Interactive help (activated from menu)
* Click on any UI element to get full tutorial with description how to use it and what it means
NEW! Full Retina support! Fine beautiful icons – icons got a HiDPI treatment. Use it on Mac 5K and Retina and 4K displays on Windows & Mac
* Improved performance on Retina and HiDPI/4K/6K displays
NEW! BG/FG link now works when using eyedropper – perfect helper when using Brush with Color Dynamics
Underlying framework has been rewritten from scratch to support CC2015.5, newest and upcoming versions of the Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
Performance improved, 2X faster in many scenarios – when scaling etc.
K-Lock now correctly works with the eyedropper in all scenarios and document color modes
More UI improvements and fixes for dialogs
Fixed various small bugs, including B&W button behavior when BIG colors are on
Added animations
Fixed b&w button when using big swatches
RGB/HSB rulers now can be scaled even more!
Fixed disappearing background color
Better compatibility with CC2015.5
Fixed icons on HiDPI and Retina displays for Illustrator CC2015/2015.3
New indicator for transparency in Photoshop and Illustrator
Fixed MagicPicker icon on Illustrator CC 2015+
Improved and fixed small bugs in Photoshop and Illustrator on all Adobe Creative Suite/Creative Cloud versions

Upgrade MagicPicker color wheel panel for Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator

*If you face problems with installation please try Anastasiy’s Extension Manager for Adobe Extensions

Tip#55: The secret to printing brilliant uniform colors: using Tone Lock together with K-Lock in MagicPicker

Keep colors bright or dark when rotating Hue° while saving low level of K ink of CMYK – all at once! That lets you find colors on the color wheel within the same dynamic gamut range that look bright when printed! To do that switch on both Tone Lock and K-Lock in MagicPicker – they work together very well! Then rotate Hue° on the color wheel and you will see how MagicPicker adjusts the color so it sustains same perceived brightness and the same K value!

Tone Lock and K-Lock in MagicPickae
Tone Lock and K-Lock in MagicPickae

This technique works in Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop CS6, CC, CC2014, CC2015, CS5, CS4 and CS3.

From series of tutorials for MagicPicker, the advanced color picking plugin and color wheel for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator

Tip#54: Find colors with the same brightness but different temperature

It’s easily possible with MagicPicker! In the Color Temperature Wheel mode switch on Tone Lock and start shifting the slider on the wheel. This option lets you quickly find corresponding colors having the same brightness for lights and shadows or for foreground and background. Or keep the same brightness level across the surface when editing textures.

Change color temperature while keeping color's brightness
Change color temperature while keeping color’s brightness

MagicPicker is the advanced color picking plugin and color wheel for Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator

Tip#53: Make use of MagicPicker’s versatility (Feel free to indulge yourself!)

MagicPicker is designed to be easily dockable and to fit automatically any kind of Photoshop or Illustrator environment. In any combination with other panels, like Layers, Brushes it will smartly take up your space. With quick access to all of its numerous controls and modes.

Use MagicPicker in horizontal or vertical layout inside your favorite Adobe software. Dock it to any part of the interface or leave as a standalone panel. Or even keep it incredibly small in Compact Mode if you’re a fan of ascetic UI configuration!

Magic Picker: versatility

MagicPicker, the color wheel and advanced color picking panel

Tip#52: Background/foreground and fill/stroke color picking in MagicPicker

Picking foreground/background colors in Photoshop and Fill/Stroke in Illustrator
Picking foreground/background colors in Photoshop and Fill/Stroke in Illustrator

Pick foreground or background colors separately with MagicPicker! Click the appropriate color swatch on the panel to make it active in Adobe Photoshop. In Adobe Illustrator switch between Stroke and Fill colors

MagicPicker, the advanced color picking and color wheel panel for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator

Tip#51: K-Lock in MagicPicker 4

K-Lock lets you keep your colors bright in CMYK and decrease K level to 10% or zero in any given color! You can make colors darker or brighter while keeping value of K the same so they all come out vivid when printing. Just set the value and then click the button to lock it down. You can adjust K on the fly in that mode making colors even darker!

MagicPicker, the advanced color wheel and color picker for Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator

Image © Marcelo Maiolo, colorist on Batman Beyond, Pacific Rim

Tip#49: Traditional color wheel

With MagicPicker you can pick colors on the Traditional Color Wheel – a color wheel based on 12 basic colors used in traditional painting. That allows you to pick colors having relationship based on physical pigments of the paints. For example in this color scheme complement colors red is the opposite to green and yellow is opposite to purple. This color wheel is often referred to as Itten’s Color Wheel.

MagicPicker - switch to traditional color wheel
MagicPicker - switch to traditional color wheel

Switch to this mode by clicking on the button to the right-bottom of the color wheel.

MagicPicker, the advanced color wheel and color picker for Photoshop and Illustrator

Tip#47: MagicPicker keyboard shortcuts/modifiers cheat sheet

One of the biggest support cases is the knowledge of keyboard modifiers in MagicPicker. Basically it’s three of them: ALT, SHIFT and CTRL/CMD. And here they go in one place altogether!

MagicPicker keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet
MagicPicker keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet

Don’t forget that you can use a combination of them as well! Like Pressing ALT+SHIFT on the color wheel will change background color while keeping the color’s tone with temporary Tone Lock last the same time!

MagicPicker, the advanced color wheel for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator

Tip#46: All in one place!

Hide Photoshop or Illustrator toolbar and let MagicPicker unclutter your workspace. All active shortcuts from the original toolbar for quick color management are in one place available on the panel: foreground and background swatches (can be bigger than originals, stroke/background colors in Illustrator), default colors, color exchange and foreground/background link (specific to MagicPicker, covered in previous tutorials).

Essential buttons
Essential buttons

MagicPicker, the color wheel/advanced color picker and other panels for Photoshop & Illustrator

Tip#45: Quickly switch to Color Temperature Wheel mode and back with one click!

If you want to quickly tune color’s temperature while working in the classic color wheel mode – ALT-click on the Triangle/Box/Diamond modes button. The MagicPicker will switch to the Color Temperature Wheel mode and if you ALT-click the button again it will bring you back to the previous state of the color wheel!

Quickly adjust color temperature with MagicPicker
Quickly adjust color temperature with MagicPicker

Works in MagicPicker since version 4.3. Works in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CC 2015, CC 2014, CC, CS6, CS5, CS4 and CS3.

MagicPicker, the advanced color wheel and color picker (and other panels for Adobe software).