ColorEngine

About this plugin

Open ColorEngine from the Plugins menu and dock it next to your layers. Drag the ring for the hue and the triangle, square or disc inside it for saturation and brightness, on an RGB wheel or a painter's RYB one; Alt-drag edits the other color, so you can set the background without leaving the foreground. A color scheme puts its colors on the ring as you pick: mono, complementary, split complementary, analogous, triad, tetrad or square. A gamut mask keeps the wheel to a few related colors: start from one of eight presets or draw your own in disc view, and with the gamut lock on every pick stays inside it; the luminosity lock keeps the brightness while you change the hue. Type a color in hex or rgb(), fill the selected text and shape layers with each new color if you like, or use the sliders in RGB, HSB, HSL, Lab, CMYK and Grayscale, with the Lab, CMYK and gray numbers from Photoshop's own Color Settings. On the Mixer tab it keeps your color history, blends two colors in RGB, linear RGB or Lab, lays out shades and tones, shows the scheme as a strip and holds your swatches, which you can name, drag into order and export as an .aco file. Hover any part and press − to hide it, + to bring it back; keys in the panel step through hue, saturation, brightness and history, and eleven menu commands, such as Lighter, Darker and Complement, can go on function keys through an action. For Photoshop 2024 (25.0) or later on Windows and macOS: double-click ColorEngine.ccx and the Creative Cloud app installs it (confirm the warning for plugins from outside the Marketplace), then open it from Plugins > ColorEngine > ColorEngine.

What it does

• A hue ring with a triangle, square or disc inside, on an RGB or a painter's RYB wheel
• Seven color schemes on the ring: mono, complementary, split complementary, analogous, triad, tetrad and square
• Gamut masks: eight presets, or draw, save and edit your own in disc view
• Gamut lock: every pick stays inside the mask
• Luminosity lock: the brightness stays put while you change the hue
• Foreground and background chips, swap, and black and white; Alt-drag edits the other color
• Sliders in RGB, HSB, HSL, Lab, CMYK and Grayscale, with Photoshop's own Lab and CMYK numbers
• A hex field that takes #rgb, #rrggbb, rgb(r, g, b) or r, g, b
• Fills the selected text and shape layers with each new color, when you turn it on
• A mixer: color history, a blender in RGB, linear RGB or Lab, shades and tones, and the scheme as a strip
• Swatches you can name and drag into order, exported as an .aco file
• Keys in the panel for hue, saturation, brightness, history, schemes and locks, all changeable in Settings
• Eleven menu commands, such as Lighter, Darker and Complement, to put on function keys with an action
• Hide what you don't use: hover any part and press − to hide it, + to bring it back
• Docks as a panel in Photoshop 2024 (25.0) or later, on Windows and macOS