THE ADOBE KULER PANEL is new to Flash CS4. Access it by going to Windows > Extensions > Kuler. Kuler (pronounced cooler) began as a Web-based application (http://kuler.adobe.com/) for creating color themes that can be saved and shared with other Kuler users all over the world. The success of Kuler has spawned a vast community of designers from around the world as well as thousands of themes on the Kuler website that you can browse and download to use in your own projects. Kuler is now integrated into Adobe Illustrator® CS4, Photoshop® CS4, InDesign® CS4, Fireworks® CS4, and Flash® CS4 Professional software. As a stand-alone color mixer, it provides several options the standard Flash color mixer lacks. Here I will show you how to use Kuler to mix NTSC safe colors to add to the Flash Swatch panel.
1 Open the Kuler panel and then click on the Create button to begin mixing your colors. The default theme shows a set of colors that follow the Analogous color rule. The Base Color is the color that determines the other colors in your theme using your selected color rule.
2 Select a different rule using the rule drop-down menu. Choice of rules include Analogous, Monochromatic, Triad, Complementary, Compound, Shades and Custom. For this example “Custom” will do. The Custom rule will unlink your colors so you can move the color markers around the wheel individually.
3 The first step to limiting the brightness of a color is simply to adjust the vertical brightness control. Slide the handle down until the brightest value is 235 or less to insure the color is not too bright for NTSC standards.
For a video on the Kuler panel, see www.adobe.com/go/lrvid4088_xp
For an article on Kuler and color inspiration, see Veerle Pieters’ blog at http://veerle.duoh.com/blog/comments/adobe_kuler_update_and_color_tips/
Browse, search, and save themes directly from your desktop with the Adobe AIR™ application. Drag individual themes to your desktop, where they can be scaled to any size (requires Adobe AIR). http://www.adobe.com/go/kuler_air
4 Select the Shades rule to create different shades of the base color. If mixing NTSC safe colors, just pay attention to the RGB values and change them if necessary.
5 I like to add the theme to Flash’s Swatches panel by clicking the Add To Swatches Panel button at the bottom of the panel.
6 You can also share your themes online by clicking the Save Theme button. Provide a descriptive name and click save. Then click on the Upload to Kuler button to share your theme with the Kuler community.
Hot Tip
Double-click any of the swatches in the color group to set the color of the stroke or fill in Flash depending on which one is currently active.
