Color, palettes & CCT

Color Picker

Select Picker with I, or hold Alt for the temporary picker. Use the color controls for manual input and the palette for reusable swatches. In CCT, Picker lets you choose a source directly from the artwork.

Palettes, ACT and PAL

Use palette import/export controls for the format you intend to exchange. Adobe Color Table (.act) is supported for color-table exchange. Keep Pixel Studio’s native palette format when you need its full metadata.

ACT can represent a color table, not every Pixel Studio palette property. Format-specific data that is absent from the imported file must not be inferred. “PAL” is used by several unrelated palette formats; compatibility details for each PAL variant still need verification, so test a known file before relying on that interchange.

Indexed Mode

An indexed document stores pixels through its palette. Changing palette entries can therefore affect the artwork that uses those entries. RGBA stores the pixel colors directly.

Adjustments or pasted colors that cannot be represented exactly in the destination palette may require RGBA. Review the conversion prompt rather than assuming the indexed palette can preserve every result.

The three CCT modes

Open CCT Settings or CCT Rules to choose a mode explicitly.

• Target Color: adjust only the chosen source color or colors. The source and resulting colors are shown as swatches.
• Selected Area: apply the adjustment to every eligible pixel inside the canvas selection, including all of its different colors.
• Color Map / Remap: use explicit source-to-result rules, or map a source to palette colors.

Selected Area needs an active canvas selection. It reports Selected Colors and shows a before/after list instead of treating one sample as the entire region.

Adjust hue, saturation and value

1. Select an area or choose a target source color.
2. Enter the Hue, Saturation and Brightness / Value deltas.
3. Choose the scope: Pixel, Selection, Layer, Frame or Selected frames, as appropriate to the mode.
4. Use Preview to review without changing the file, then Apply or Cancel. Apply is also available directly in CCT Settings and creates one undo step.

Selected Area is restricted to Selection. Target Color and Color Map can use broader scopes. A layer-scope adjustment applies across that layer’s frames; linked artwork follows its link relationship.

New adjustments start with zero deltas when Remember Last CCT Adjustments is off, which is the default. Turn it on only if you want the last values restored.

Multiple color rules

Each rule shows source and result swatches, an operation, and enabled/disabled state. Add rules for related shades, such as dark, mid and light greens. A tolerance of 0 matches exact RGB; increasing it includes nearby colors. The displayed HEX value is supplementary to the swatch.

Rules compare the original pixel colors in list order. Preview the whole result before confirming overlapping rules or broad tolerances.

Create Result on New Layer

This option is off by default. With it off, Apply is one undoable edit to the targeted artwork. With it on, the result is placed in new variant layers and the original layers are retained and hidden. Turn the originals back on only if that composition is intentional.

Gradients and transparency

Use the Gradient tool for a spatial blend across an area. Use CCT when you want to transform existing colors. These are different operations, and both can be restricted by a selection.