Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0 includes functionality that will allow the definition of custom colors for application to models and surfaces. In addition to entering values for RGB or HSV (Red-Green-Blue or Hue-Saturation-Value), the interface provides tools to visually and dynamically create colors. This technique demonstrates the various methods of manipulating the interface to achieve the desired colors.
In order to access the color menu, a part or assembly must be active.
Click View > Color and Appearance. The APPEARANCE EDITOR dialog box will appear as shown in Figure 1. Click Material > New to add a new color. To modify the color, click Color within the Basic tab indicating the default color.
The COLOR EDITOR will now appear. Figure 2 depicts the COLOR EDITOR with the Color Wheel tab expanded.
The top bar, which is white in this example, indicates the current color. It will dynamically update to the changes made. In addition, the white arrows next to each section of the editor (Color Wheel, Blending Palette, RGB/HSV Slider) provide a toggle control for the display of each section.
There are three basic ways to define the color. The first is to define the Red (R) Green (G) and Blue (B) values explicitly by using the slider bar or by entering the numbers in the field next to the slider (alternately, Hue (H), Saturation (S), and Value (V) can be defined). Once entered, the color bar at the top of the editor will update.
The next method utilizes the Color Wheel. The wheel is a continuum of colors between each of the three primary colors. Clicking the mouse in the color wheel will place a small crosshair in the wheel and the color will update in the top bar. Moving the mouse in the wheel will dynamically update both the color bar and the RBG values associated with it. (Figure 3)
The final method utilizes the Blending Palette. This allows the explicit definition of a color for each of the 4 corners of the palette. The system automatically blends the colors together and then a blended color can be selected from anywhere in the palette.
The advantage to using the Blending Palette is that it can provide a more gradual blend between two colors than the Color Wheel can. The corners will initially be white. To change the color, select the corner or the sides, top, or bottom with the mouse (selecting the top, bottom or sides of the box will change the colors of the two adjacent corners simultaneously).
The box will highlight and the color for that specific box can then be selected from the Color Wheel, or by entering RBG (HSV) values explicitly. Once complete, use the mouse to highlight the next box. At any time a color can be selected from the Blending Palette by clicking the mouse in the palette. The color bar and RBG (HSV) values will update dynamically just as when selecting from the Color Wheel (see Figure 4).
Once the color has been defined using any of these methods, click Close from the bottom of the dialog box to complete the process. This color will now be set in the APPEARANCE EDITOR (Figure 1). The color can now be set to a part, surface, or component. Once defined, the color can be modified using any of the three methods by picking the colored box from the Basic tab under the Properties tab in the APPEARANCE EDITOR.
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