Hey Adobe - Your Color Wheel sucks

**toad1971** · July 14th, 2012, 03:44 PM

Hey Adobe, in case nobody told you - your color wheel is cumbersome and annoying - in other words in case you haven't heard - it SUCKS - why the hell didn't you make it easier to use in CS6? Really? Pushing Shift+Alt+Right click to get it show up and then hold Spacebar to actually use it properly? Really? - yeah GREAT DESIGN thanks - REALLY INTUITIVE! One thing Painter actually has done better than you for years. Get with the program!

**toad1971** · July 14th, 2012, 04:57 PM

Sorry I just installed CS6 and hoped the Color Wheel would be updated....just felt an extreme need to vent. I am ok now. Picked up the Magic Picker - working well. I am liking most others things about CS6.

**ikken** · July 14th, 2012, 05:00 PM

on mac adobe made a handy shortcut that requires some practice, but once you get a handle of ctrl+option+cmd+click (done with three fingers on left hand and stilus or mouse click on another), you won't go back.
it also fits other mac shortcuts (ctrl+click = right click, ctrl+option+drag = brush resize, all done with neighboring keys and in similar manner.)

btw there're color wheel extensions that will replicate painter's color wheel directly (or even better at this point)
adobe's color wheel is more like painter's temporary color wheel in v. 12

**toad1971** · July 14th, 2012, 05:40 PM

Yes like the Magic Picker? I picked it up and it works well. I also used the free one that is out there.

I am glad that Adobe Designed the color wheel but the pop up one in Painter is a lot easier to use - and yes the Adobe colorwheel does sound easier to use on a Mac.

I actually programmed the Adobe Color wheel to my Logitech gamepad so it's a little easier to open but I still find that Spacebar thing very akward.

**ikken** · July 14th, 2012, 06:14 PM

this might sound stupid, but why do you need spacebar at all to use the hud color wheel?

**toad1971** · July 14th, 2012, 08:18 PM

Well it's not absolutely necessary but say you choose a hue in the ring then move into the square to pick a value/intensity. Well if you then decide you need a different hue but of identical value/intensity - well when you move to the hue ring (unless you hold the Spacebar when doing this) it won't retain the value/intensity. In other words if you don't hold the space bar when you make your move back to the hue, then when you pick a new hue and return to the value/intensity square you have to position the cursor back to the proper value/intensity of where it was previously with the previous color. You know if you want to create a temperature shift by adjusting the hue but not the value/intensity. Yes I should be a good enough artist to just eye it and move the cursor back into position but it's just an annoying way to design a color wheel.

If you try the color wheel in Painter, when you move from the value/intensity triangle to the hue ring the cursor doesn't move from it's position in the triangle so when you pick a different hue you also know that it's the same value/intensity of the previous and you don't have to reposition the cursor in the triangle.

Just try it in Photoshop and you'll see what I mean - you have to constantly press and release the space bar all the time to use its full functionality. So I why not just use Painter you might ask, well I like most other stuff about Photoshop. But I just don't see the point of making color wheel that is so difficult to use, that's all - it could be easily improved.

For now I will use a 3rd party extension but it's pretty ridiculous that the leading digital painting software doesn't have a better functioning color wheel and also it would be nice if we had an option to leave it open instead of constantly having to push a ridiculous number of keys on the keyboard. That's just how I feel about it.

**ikken** · July 15th, 2012, 02:00 AM

oh ok I see!
one workaround I can offer (I had no idea about the whole holding space thing, tried it now and yeah, it is indeed very clumsy) is to keep a color palette with hsb sliders on screen (F6), so you can pick colors from hud wheel and change hues through a separate palette. that's what I'm using right now.
I don't know what's adobe's reasoning behind not adding their own basic color wheel that more or less any other package right now has by default. they are not stupid, maybe they don't see it a feature worth their development hours since there're valid 3rd party extensions already.

**HugeBlack** · July 15th, 2012, 08:54 PM

The problem with the 3rd party extensions is they ran on Flash architecture which may increase CPU load. Ever use them for a while and realize your computer is using way more resources than it normally does without them?

**toad1971** · July 16th, 2012, 12:23 AM

Well I probably shouldn't have come across so bitter sounding but I think the color wheel itself in CS5/CS6 is a nice addition but the keyboard shortcut is very ridiculous as well as holding the spacebar down. I have a found a way to make it a touch easier because I'm using a Logitech Gamepad and I can simplifly the shortcut a bit but I just don't see why they can't allow the shortcut to be reprogrammed to a single key press - considering how often the color wheel could be used - and get rid of the spacebar thing - like in Painter. Plus the option to just leave the color wheel or color picker on screen at all times would be great - the difficult functionality right now just seems a bit ridiculous to me.

**wgan** · July 16th, 2012, 12:53 AM

yes, its a joke, its the perfect example of developer rules over artist
and no, you can't do anything about it because its Adobe, it will take CS7 to get it right, hopefully, then again, as a 'right' attitude of an Adobe user, you should be thankful that they finally managed to get a shortcut of color wheel for you.

**ikken** · July 16th, 2012, 06:10 AM

Originally Posted by HugeBlack

The problem with the 3rd party extensions is they ran on Flash architecture which may increase CPU load. Ever use them for a while and realize your computer is using way more resources than it normally does without them?

That's a good point actually, but I haven't mentioned any increased resource usage after launching color wheel plugins. Maybe I'm just used to painter being all the time sluggish in the recent versions so photoshop's performance seems so flawless to me while it actually is not. idk.

Originally Posted by wgan

yes, its a joke, its the perfect example of developer rules over artist
and no, you can't do anything about it because its Adobe, it will take CS7 to get it right, hopefully, then again, as a 'right' attitude of an Adobe user, you should be thankful that they finally managed to get a shortcut of color wheel for you.

have you tried submitting feature requests at official adobe support boards?
what did adobe reps say if you tried?

**HugeBlack** · July 16th, 2012, 07:52 AM

@ ikken:

Yeah, another issue is security. Most of these plugins connect to the internet (sometimes without your approval or knowledge) and Flash isn't exactly known for it's security (Flashback Trojan anyone?) same goes for the Java Apps. You're better off using what Adobe has provided if you are concerned about performance and security.

I only use 3rd party apps while offline and have my Mac locked down like a fort (i think).

I know it sucks but for now it'll have to do. I bind mine to the (so far best feature in wacom's latest drivers) ExpressKeys on my wacom both CTRL+OPT+CMD then bellow i have a Spacebar key.

**safat** · August 7th, 2012, 11:31 AM

I just don't see why they can't allow the shortcut to be reprogrammed to a single key press - considering how often the color wheel could be used - and get rid of the space bar thing - like in Painter. Plus the option to just leave the color wheel or color picker on screen at all times would be great. colors are more effect able for your life.

**Viovista** · August 9th, 2012, 10:29 PM

HugeBlack - I can say only for Magicpicker color wheel (http://anastasiy.com/colorwheel).

I have Mac too and have Littlesnitch (http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch - you'll like it!) installed so it monitors ALL the traffic going in and out. I also monitor files which are modified during install (a Terminal script).

Magicpicker connects only once to Internet when activated. Never again. And as I understand it's not precisely speaking a pure Flash (and it's not Java) and it does not download and install anything. I installed it by myself and it works perfectly without any glitches, downloads or something. I can say same about my friends who use it for a long time. It's secure (and a real time saver - like a Swiss knife for colors). So there are 3rd party apps which are secure.

(BTW the new beta version can be opened up very fast with a simple shortcut - just contact the author and it will give it to you if you need it). My 2 cents.