Expert: Amy - 10/20/2009

Question
QUESTION: hi amy,

is there a way to have illustrator show - as text on a separate layer for example - choices made from custom swatches as assigned to each foreground/background component on the artboard?
thanks
anjali


ANSWER: Hi Anjali,

No, not available to my knowledge.

There are two ways to list the colors used in your document.
1) Display them in the Swatch window.

Select and delete all swatches (both used and unused) from the Swatch Window.
Make sure NOTHING is selected in your document.
Use the flyout menu on the Swatches Window and choose "Add used colors"

This will add a swatch for every current object in your document.

If you display the Swatch window in a List format, you'll see them neatly listed there.

2) If you are only interested in spot colors, you can see them listed in the Document Info window.
Choose Document Info from the Window menu.
Using the flyout menu, uncheck "Selection Only" and check "Spot Color Objects."
This will list all the spots used. You can also save this information as a file (found in the flyout menu.)

I hope this helps you a little!

-Amy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanks amy.

another way to do this : are you aware of any scripts that one could use/create to display the rgb value or a number assigned to a rgb schematic, on the file? we found something (and while it says it will show the hex value of the color, it produces gibberish..BUT it shows up against each choice or foreground/background)....ideas?


ANSWER: Ah, you want the colors to be displayed on the object itself for reference.
I'd try posting on the Illustrator scripter's forum at Adobe.com?

What script did you use? Maybe I can get it to work.

-A

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you VERY much for all your help thus far!

Here is the script we are using to produce RGB values in the corner of the color area:

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&loc=en_us&

We converted our file from CMYK to RGB in order to get this script to display real values instead of just jibberish.  What it seems to be doing is placing the RGB value in the upper left of the SELECTION BOX and not necessarily the COLORED AREA itself... any help there?  (I attached an image of this situation).

Also (and this is not a huge deal because we can do a find and replace) but is there a way for it to display swatch names instead of RGB values from this script?

All your help is truly appreciated

Answer
Well the only line about placement is this:

var colorTextBox = currentDocument.pathItems.rectangle((itemTop-5),(itemLeft +5),(itemWidth-5),(itemHeight-5));

It assumes a rectangle based on the top left point of the item. What if you put it in the center instead? I don't know how to tell it to do that but I bet someone in the scripting forum can tell you quickly.

The second problem, no, this script only determines hex/rgb. You'd have to find a script that does this, then compares the resulting value to the values in your named swatches. I'd use the find/replace - a lot easier for now.

I also think there's a script out there that probably does this already.
If I had more time I could probably figure it out. I'm not a scripting expert, wish I was!
-Amy