Colors Inspector

Colors communicate information, too

The Colors Inspector gives you set to the color:

  • In which dimensions, hidden dimensions, and selected dimensions are displayed.
  • Of object faces when you select them.
  • Of the X, Y, and Z axes.
  • Of the print margin, coarse grid, and precision grid.

The only other color wells are in the Objects Inspector and the General Preferences.

Immediacy

Immediacy is an important component of a user interface (in our opinion) and color management in Design Intuition is one of many good examples: The color changes you make to your document, and to the objects in your document, happen live.

It's simple: you select an item (for some color choices, the color applies to the entire document or to all documents; for them, you don't need to first select anything) and then click on the color well (the square patch of color) for the aspect of the item you want to change. This pops up a color palette. As you adjust the color in the palette, the item's color changes, instantly and continuously. With immediacy, you get to see your color choice within the context of your design, which is the only place to you can truly evaluate it, hundreds of color choices per second, making your final decision on color very efficient.

So, play with the controls; watch the object colors change before your very eyes!

Okay, so we're a little melodramatic here at GizmoLab. The point to appreciate is that each tiny color change you make is applied to your drawing immediately (in both 2D and 3D), making it both easy and efficient to get your drawing to look exactly the way you want. In Design Intuition, both the big and the little things count. Enjoy!

How to Adjust Colors

Print margin

  1. Make sure the Print Margin is visible.
  2. Click the Print Area Margin rectangle.
  3. The Color palette window displays, allowing you to select a pleasing color for your Print Margin in several different ways. Watch the color of the Print Margin itself change as you move the selector in the color wheel, for instance.

X Axis, left to right

  1. Make sure the Origin Crosshairs are visible.
  2. Click the X Axis rectangle.
  3. The Color palette window displays, allowing you to select a pleasing color for your X Axis as you do for the Print Margin.

Y Axis, front to back

  1. Click the Y Axis rectangle.
  2. The Color palette window displays, allowing you to select a pleasing color for your Y Axis as you do for the Print Margin.

Z Axis, top to bottom

  1. Click the Z Axis rectangle.
  2. The Color palette window displays, allowing you to select a pleasing color for your Z Axis as you do for the Print Margin.

Coarse and Fine Grid

  1. Make sure the Grid you want to adjust is visible.
  2. Click the color square for the coarse or precision grid.
  3. The Color palette window displays, allowing you to select a pleasing color for the Grid in several different ways, just as you do for the Print Margin.

Object Fill and Outline

  1. Select the object you wish to change.
  2. When you selected the object, the Object Inspector displays all the characteristics of that object. The color controls are located near the bottom of the Inspector.
  3. Notice that you can adjust both the fill and outline colors of the object you selected, as well as the object's opacity and the thickness of its outline.

Object Elements

You can change the colors of dimensions (standard, hidden, or selected) and the color used for the faces of selected objects. Here color controls apply to all object elements.

 

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