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Apply Global color to FX


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Hey everyone!

I'd like to be able to apply a global color to any FX.

This doesn't seem to be implemented using Designer 1.10.4, which may not be the most current version. I am rarely updating in order to keep workflow stability.
I searched for "global color fx" and didn't find this issue.
Best wishes,
Shu

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@GarryP

Thanks for the reply!
It may be fixed in a more current version. Not sure. But that's what I do (maybe this is more precise):
1. Create a document palette.
2. Create a global color.
3. Select a rectangle.
4. Select "Colour Overlay" from the Effects menu.
5. Select "Colour".
6. Select the global color from Swatches
7. This doesn't result in the global color being used by the "Colour Overlay" Effect, but a window shows up that lets me edit the global colour instead.

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42 minutes ago, shushustorm said:

6. Select the global color from Swatches

Are you using the popup from the Colour Well? Or are you using the Swatches panel?

Here they are side by side.

1986190206_ScreenShot2022-10-08at10_14_45AM.thumb.png.05571f629cf99ce6c327b844c4169ae2.png

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.2 
Affinity Designer 2.3.1 | Affinity Photo 2.3.1 | Affinity Publisher 2.3.1 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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@Old Bruce

Thanks for the suggestion! I was indeed selecting the color from the Swatches menu, since I had that open. However, even when selecting the global color from the popup window, I am able to set the color, but it's not linked as a global color. When changing the global color, the color used by the FX doesn't change.

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I’ve attached a short video showing how it works for me. (I’ve tried it on various Effects and it works fine.)

If you are doing something else then if you can supply a video (or precise step-by-step written workflow) then we can check to see what you are doing differently. (I have a feeling that you are selecting the Global Colour from the wrong Panel/selector.)

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@GarryP

With the difference of trying to use Color Overlay rather than a shadow and the very subtle differences of creating the global color from the Swatches menu rather than by right clicking and applying the FX from the Effects menu rather than from Layers, I'm doing exactly that! Maybe it's fixed already.

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What Garry showed also works with Color Overlay. I believe you must use the color well from the Effect, and select Document Palette swatch from it, and make sure you pick the version of the color that is shown as being Global.

I don't think anything was "fixed" in this area between 1.10.4 and 1.10.5.

Please show us some screenshots of what you're doing, or a video, if it's not working for you.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
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Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.3

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Thanks, but could you also give a screenshot, please, at the point where you're choosing the color that's not working?

That will make it easier to see what's happening.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.3, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.3

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It is not just FX.

Global colors don't work correctly with gradients either, for example.

You can select a global color to be used on a gradient stop, but it basically copies the color as it exists at that time and does not remember the global color assignment, so if you later change the global color, the gradient/FX/etc. does not pick up the change.

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13 hours ago, shushustorm said:

Managed to find the time to record (I'm rarely on desktop at the moment):

That indeed looks like a bug. As seen in the screenshot below, when you apply an effect using the Effects palette, the color picker doesn't seem to recognize global colors. The swatches don't have that small "global color" triangle in the corner.

image.png.e3713e8ed44a42f7ad28bf8bc38fedd9.png

The solution is to apply the effects using the Layers palette. You'll see that the global colors are treated as such (notice the small triangles in the bottom left corner).

image.png.a93301c1b9b4715addcb978ce8c9aa0e.png

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50 minutes ago, tudor said:

They work fine here. You are doing something wrong.

Interesting...  admittedly I had not tried this in a few versions, and no, I was doing it correctly, but this did not work previously.  They must have fixed this in one of the more recent versions and I either missed it in the release notes or it was done quietly and not specifically noted.

Either way, I am glad that they did at least get it working for gradients.

As you pointed out, it is also working for some of the FX, such as the outer glow color, when applied from the Layers panel, but not from the Effects panel (which I never use except when testing something pointed out by someone else).  That did not work before either (from the Layers panel), so evidently something did get fixed at some point for these as well.

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