[Designer] Spot swatch turns in a non-spot swatch when edited via right-click

[Oufti]

I create a spot color but when, in Designer v.2.1.1, I assign it a new tint via the right-click, the point in the bottom right corner of its icon disappears. 

The same does not happen when done in Publisher. 

Spot color test.pdfSpot color test.afdesign

 

— This issue has been initially raised in this topic:

 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Oufti
Changed title

[Dan C]

Thanks for your report @Oufti!

I must admit, I'm not 100% certain of the correct or expected behaviours here - however I have tested this in-depth between both macOS and have found multiple issues and inconsistencies that I am logging with our developers now. From my testing, behaviour was consistent across Affinity apps (ie between Designer and Publisher), but not between OS's.

I have done my best to summarise these below:

 Editing Global Spot colour can result in Spot status being lost on macOS (AFD-6810)

Win -

1. New Global colour > Spot enabled
2. Edit fill > any colour or Pantone swatch
   (?) Spot is visually retained on swatch

macOS - 

1. New Global colour > Spot enabled
2. Edit fill > any colour or swatch from Pantone Formula Guide, Geo, Metallics or Pastels
   (?) Spot is visually retained on swatch
3. Edit fill > any Pantone swatches from Colour Bridge, GeoBridge, or CMYK
   (?) Spot is visually lost on swatch, but right click > rename spot is retained

(Quoted from linked post)

5 hours ago, lacerto said:

At least in v2 Affinity apps the status of a spot color (as a special ink) when editing the representation color is only retained when the spot color to be edited has a "global" status.

Adding Swatch as non-global spot colour has missing UI options, editing swatch colour is inconsistent across platforms (AFD-6811)

Win -

1. New doc, create doc palette
2. Draw Quick Shape
3. Select Pantone Spot swatch (ie Formula Guide Solid Colour swatch)
4. Add fill to palette, added as non-global spot according to UI
5. Right click swatch
   (!) 'Rename spot' is missing
6. Edit Fill > any slider/waterfall input
   (?) Spot is visually lost from swatch
7. Undo
8. Edit fill > any Pantone swatch (except CMYK [C&UC] or Colour Bridge [C&UC])
   (?) Spot is visually retained, but still lacks 'rename spot'
9. Edit fill > Pantone CMYK [C&UC] or Colour Bridge [C&UC]
   (?) Spot is visually lost from swatch
10. Undo so that spot is visible again
11. right click > make global
    (?) Rename Spot is now available
    (?) Results from AFD-6810 now apply (retained on win w/ any colour)

macOS -

1. New doc, create doc palette
2. Draw Quick Shape
3. Select Pantone Spot swatch (ie Formula Guide Solid Colour swatch)
4. Add fill to palette, added as non-global spot according to UI
5. Right click swatch
   (!) 'Rename spot' is missing
6. Edit Fill > any slider/waterfall input
   (?) Spot is visually retained on swatch, but still lacks 'rename spot'
7. Edit fill > any Pantone swatch (except CMYK [C&UC] or Colour Bridge [C&UC])
   (?) Spot is visually retained, but still lacks 'rename spot'
8. Edit fill > Pantone CMYK [C&UC] or Colour Bridge [C&UC]
   (?) Spot is visually lost from swatch
9. Undo so that spot is visible again
10. Right Click > Make Global
    (?) Rename Spot is now available
    (?) Results from AFD-6810 now apply (lost on macOS w/ non-spot pantone

(Quoted from linked post)

5 hours ago, lacerto said:

Note that when you initially create a spot color either by choosing it from e.g. PANTONE Formula Guide Solid Coated v5, the status of a created swatch IS global (indicated by a triangle marker at the bottom left corner of the swatch), but if you add it by using the "Add current fill to palette" button of the Swatches panel (to get a properly names PANTONE color), the swatch does not have global status, even if the Color panel misleadingly implies so (showing "Edit Global Color" caption on the editing button) -- if the swatch really is global, its fill name would appear above the spot color name shown in parentheses)

Adding Swatch as non-global spot colour breaks UI in Colour Studio, inconsistent Edit Global Colour behaviours across platforms (AFD-6812)

Win - 

1. New doc, create doc palette
2. Draw Quick Shape
3. Apply Pantone spot swatch to shape (ie Formula Guide, Geo, Metallics or Pastels)
4. Add current fill to palette
   (?) Added as a spot, non-global according to icons on the swatch
5. Colour Studio > Tint > Edit Global Colour > any slider input 
   (?) Name of spot colour in Colour Studio changes from Pantone name to 'Global colour #'
   (?) Shape updates with colour selected in Colour Studio, swatch does not update
6. Undo so that original pantone name & fill is shown for Spot Colour in Colour Studio
7. Apply non-global, spot swatch from document palette to shape
   (?) Name of global colour is no longer shown in Colour Studio
   (!) 'Edit Global Colour' is still shown in Colour Studio
8. Edit Global Colour from Colour Studio
   (!) Neither shape fill, colour studio or swatch updates with the selected colour

macOS - 

1. New doc, create doc palette
2. Draw Quick Shape
3. Apply Pantone spot swatch to shape
4. Add current fill to palette
   (?) Added as a spot, non-global according to icons on the swatch
5. Colour Studio > Tint > Edit Global Colour > any slider input
   (?) Name of spot colour in Colour Studio is retained
   (!) Neither shape fill, colour studio or swatch updates with the selected colour
6. Apply non-global, spot swatch from document palette to shape
   (/) Name of global colour and 'Edit Global Colour' is no longer shown in Colour Studio

In my testing, I also found the following:

[Win] Undo functions when Swatch Fill Edit dialog is open, macOS does not (PD-957)

1. New swatch
2. Edit fill > any colour from any method other than Tint
3. Undo to return to previous swatch fill, with edit dialog still open
   (?) Undo is accepted
4. Change input method in Edit Fill dialog to Tint
   (!) Tint now shows the previous colour before the Undo action and not the current swatch colour

macOS does not allow undo whilst edit fill is open, so perhaps this shouldn't be possible at all on Win.

___________________

I hope this helps

[Hangman]

Hi @Dan C,

A couple of things don't quite make sense so just looking to clarify...

On 8/24/2023 at 1:06 PM, Dan C said:

Editing Global Spot colour can result in Spot status being lost on macOS

Win -

1. New Global colour > Spot enabled
2. Edit fill > any colour or Pantone swatch
   (?) Spot is visually retained on swatch

macOS - 

1. New Global colour > Spot enabled
2. Edit fill > any colour or swatch from Pantone Formula Guide, Geo, Metallics or Pastels
   (?) Spot is visually retained on swatch
3. Edit fill > any Pantone swatches from Colour Bridge, GeoBridge, or CMYK
   (?) Spot is visually lost on swatch, but right click > rename spot is retained

This to me suggests the macOS behaviour is correct and the Windows behaviour incorrect which is surprising because I assume that both the macOS and Windows versions of the Affinity apps use the same Pantone reference source files.

The swatches (certainly on macOS) for the Pantone Colour Bridge, GeoBridge and CMYK are not specified as Spot colours in the Affinity apps so editing a Global Spot colour and assigning a colour from any of these libraries correctly wouldn't maintain the spot reference on the swatch.

On the other hand, the swatches for the Pantone Formula Guide, Geo, Metallics and Pastels are defined as Spot Colour, hence editing a Global Spot colour and defining the new colour using any of these libraries will correctly maintain the spot reference on the swatch.

 

On 8/24/2023 at 1:06 PM, Dan C said:

Adding Swatch as non-global spot colour has missing UI options, editing swatch colour is inconsistent across platforms

macOS -

1. New doc, create doc palette
2. Draw Quick Shape
3. Select Pantone Spot swatch (ie Formula Guide Solid Colour swatch)
4. Add fill to palette, added as non-global spot according to UI
5. Right click swatch
   (!) 'Rename spot' is missing
6. Edit Fill > any slider/waterfall input
   (?) Spot is visually retained on swatch, but still lacks 'rename spot'
7. Edit fill > any Pantone swatch (except CMYK [C&UC] or Colour Bridge [C&UC])
   (?) Spot is visually retained, but still lacks 'rename spot'
8. Edit fill > Pantone CMYK [C&UC] or Colour Bridge [C&UC]
   (?) Spot is visually lost from swatch
9. Undo so that spot is visible again
10. Right Click > Make Global
    (?) Rename Spot is now available
    (?) Results from AFD-6810 now apply (lost on macOS w/ non-spot pantone

Point 5 (!)

Agree that 'Rename Spot, is missing though what has been requested on numerous occasions in the forums is the ability for the swatch to auto-rename to the newly applied swatch using the relevant colourspace notation so if the swatch is edited using a Pantone swatch the swatch name should automatically update accordingly to reflect the new Pantone colour, as in, it shouldn't be necessary to manually rename the swatch and likewise if edited using an RGB, HSL, CMYK, LAB or Greyscale colour the edited swatch name should automatically be updated like this maintaining the option to rename the swatch if desired...

Currently, we have a situation where you end up with this (on macOS)...

1. Original Spot Colour Pantone 807 C
2. Edited to Spot Colour Pantone 2301 C - still shown as Pantone 807 C in the swatches panel after editing but with no spot name (or ability to add one as you've pointed out) in the Colour Studio. If the swatch was auto-renamed this would overcome both these issues, i.e., the correct swatch name would appear in the swatches panel and subsequently in the Colour Studio rather than just the parentheses.
3. Edited to an RGB colour and renamed 'Star Command Blue' - again, no spot colour name is shown in the Colour Studio and one can't be added but the global name is shown correctly in the Colour Studio as soon as the swatch is made global, as you again highlighted.

 

It's always struck me as odd that you have the option to Make Global but not Make Spot... Is there any reason why both Make Global and Make Spot are not available for a standard fill and Make Spot for a global fill?

How the Context Menu's should appear but it would be great to see the addition of Make Spot for the Fill...

Fill | Non-Global Spot | Global Spot

 

On 8/24/2023 at 1:06 PM, Dan C said:

Win -

1. New doc, create doc palette
2. Draw Quick Shape
3. Select Pantone Spot swatch (ie Formula Guide Solid Colour swatch)
4. Add fill to palette, added as non-global spot according to UI
5. Right click swatch
   (!) 'Rename spot' is missing
6. Edit Fill > any slider/waterfall input
   (?) Spot is visually lost from swatch
7. Undo
8. Edit fill > any Pantone swatch (except CMYK [C&UC] or Colour Bridge [C&UC])
   (?) Spot is visually retained, but still lacks 'rename spot'
9. Edit fill > Pantone CMYK [C&UC] or Colour Bridge [C&UC]
   (?) Spot is visually lost from swatch
10. Undo so that spot is visible again
11. right click > make global
    (?) Rename Spot is now available
    (?) Results from AFD-6810 now apply (retained on win w/ any colour)

 

Point 6 (?)
Although the Spot is visually lost from the swatch (on Windows, unlike Mac), is the colour still exported correctly as a spot colour?

Point 9 (?)
While I believe this is correct as mentioned earlier because you're applying a Pantone that isn't defined as a spot colour, the behaviour differs when applying a non-Pantone colour where the Spot status is maintained, though I don't think this is a particular issue.

 

On 8/24/2023 at 1:06 PM, Dan C said:

Adding Swatch as non-global spot colour breaks UI in Colour Studio, inconsistent Edit Global Colour behaviours across platforms

macOS -

1. New doc, create doc palette
2. Draw Quick Shape
3. Apply Pantone spot swatch to shape
4. Add current fill to palette
   (?) Added as a spot, non-global according to icons on the swatch
5. Colour Studio > Tint > Edit Global Colour > any slider input
   (?) Name of spot colour in Colour Studio is retained
   (!) Neither shape fill, colour studio or swatch updates with the selected colour
6. Apply non-global, spot swatch from document palette to shape
   (/) Name of global colour and 'Edit Global Colour' is no longer shown in Colour Studio

I'm slightly confused regarding point 5...

If the colour has been added as a non-global spot colour then selecting it either via a shape on the canvas with the colour 'applied' to the shape or via the swatches panel correctly won't (or certainly shouldn't) show the Edit Global Colour option because it hasn't been defined as a global colour... It doesn't on macOS (hence my confusion with point 5).

Since you can't select Edit Global Colour for non-global spot colours, the two sub-points (?) and (!) both make sense because you're not actually editing a global colour and this makes point 6 correct for the same reason.

 

On 8/24/2023 at 1:06 PM, Dan C said:

[Win] Undo functions when Swatch Fill Edit dialog is open, macOS does not (PD-957)

1. New swatch
2. Edit fill > any colour from any method other than Tint
3. Undo to return to previous swatch fill, with edit dialog still open
   (?) Undo is accepted
4. Change input method in Edit Fill dialog to Tint
   (!) Tint now shows the previous colour before the Undo action and not the current swatch colour

macOS does not allow undo whilst edit fill is open, so perhaps this shouldn't be possible at all on Win.

I would say the behaviour on macOS is correct and also likely the reason for point 4(!) on Windows.