COLOR EXTRACT – Reference Guide

What is COLOR EXTRACT ?

COLOR EXTRACT extracts up to 100 colors from any photo to be randomly assigned to objects, elements, faces, or even other procedural maps; a very fast and easy way to assign grass colors to grass blades, tree colors to leaves or sand colors to a noise map.

COLOR EXTRACT 1.1 – User Interface and general parameters

 

About

Header

The header is just informational. It shows the version number, in case you need support, the serial number, your name and company, and a link to this online documentation.

Color Source

Bitmap
This is where you load the bitmap / photo that you want to use as base for the color extraction. You can load any bitmap that 3ds max supports. The bitmap path will be available in the asset tracker, in case you need to re-assign a missing bitmap.

Color Extraction

Extract 100 most common colors
This parameter sets the number of colors that will be extracted from the loaded bitmap. You can set the value from 1 to 100 which will result in the same number of most common colors from the bitmap.

Skip first xx colors
You may not be happy with the default extracted colors, so you can skip the first xx colors to get better extraction results.

Color Display
The color display serves as representation of the extracted colors and their order. In case you want to use the colors in a linear sequence order, they will be used one by one from left to right, top to bottom.

Color Sorting

Manual
If you want to change the order of the color sequence, you can use the manual reorder function and drag-and-drop the colors to different positions. Inserting a color further in front will shift the colors one step behind, inserting a color behind will shift the colors before one step to the front.

Autosort by
The autosort function will sort the colors according to Color (RGB values), Luminance or Count (order in which they were extracted). This is very helpful whenever you want to create special color-patterns or soft transitions in procedural maps. You can choose the following autosort modes:

  • Color – Colors will be sorted by RGB values.
  • Color (Inverse) – Colors will be sorted by RGB values, but inverse. 
  • Count – Colors will be sorted in the order they were extracted.
  • Luminance – Colors will be sorted dark to light.
  • Luminance (Inverse) – Colors will be sorted light to dark.

Color Distribution

Category
This drop down menu contains different distribution categories on which the colors are assigned to geometry:

  • Pixels – This mode creates Random, Linear or Mirror pixel maps.
  • Objects – This mode distributes colors on objects, IDs, elements or faces.
  • Coordinates – This mode creates tiled, 1-dimensional, 2D or 3D maps.
  • Input map – This mode uses an external map as source for the color distribution.

Pixels

  • Linear – Colors will be mapped in a linear sequence pixel by pixel.
  • Mirror – Colors will be mapped in mirrored sequence pixel by pixel.
  • Random – Colors will be mapped in a randomized sequence pixel by pixel.

Objects

  • Object (linear) – Colors will be mapped per object in a linear sequence.
  • Object – Colors will be randomly mapped per object.
  • Per Element – Colors will be mapped randomly on elements of an object.
  • Per Object ID – Colors will be mapped based on the object IDs
  • Per Material ID – Colors will be mapped according to the material IDs.
  • Per Face – Colors will be mapped randomly on faces of an object.

Coordinates

  • 1D mapping – Colors will be mapped one-dimensional.
  • 2D mapping – Colors will be mapped two-dimensional.
  • 3D mapping – Colors will be mapped three-dimensional.
  • As Tiles – A tiled pattern will be generated based on the number of rows and columns defined below. 

Input Map

  • Input map – Uses the Input map slot below to assign colors to the procedural map.
  • BerconTile (Lin) – Uses the BerconTile distribution with Linear sequence. 
  • BerconTile (Rnd) – Uses the BerconTile distribution with Random order. 

Input map:
Here you can assign (almost) any other map containing color input options. Especially procedural maps (e.g. noise, falloff, speckle, tiles and more) will benefit from the new color input. While you are usually able to include maps in the color slot of the corresponding procedural maps, this input map works different. The color information from the input map will be used to select the colors depending on input colors. So it drastically extends the current color range of procedural maps.

Color Adjustments

Color Harmonizer
The color harmonizer adapts the colors to 7 different color harmonies: i-Type, V-Type, L-Type, I-Type, T-Type, Y-Type, X-Type. More information on Color Harmonization can be found here: http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/color-harmony/

Gamma correction:
Depending on your color workflow, it may be necessary to adjust gamma values to get a linear workflow. The Gamma Correction can be set to a value from 0.1 to 10.0.

Hue, Saturation, Value
These parameters adjust the HSV amounts from 0% to 100% for all colors at once. This way you can change the overall color appearance easily.

Compatibility

  • Autodesk 3Ds Max 2020 (64 bit)
  • Autodesk 3Ds Max 2019 (64 bit)
  • Autodesk 3Ds Max 2018 (64 bit)
  • Autodesk 3Ds Max 2017 (64 bit)
  • Autodesk 3Ds Max 2016 (64 bit)
  • Autodesk 3Ds Max 2015 (64 bit)
  • Autodesk 3Ds Max 2014 (64 bit)
  • Autodesk 3Ds Max 2013 (32 bit and 64 bit)
  • Chaosgroup VRay renderer
  • Scanline renderer
  • Corona Renderer

 

Installation and Licensing

Installation is easy, just start the installer “Color Extract installer.exe” and select the install location and plugins you want to install. The installer automatically installs all plugins, demo files, preview images, documentation, Material Manager LE and the License Manager for activation.

More about the License System