Colour management in Calamus is controlled by a so-called internal Calamus system module named COLOR.CLL. This means that though it is a module and so not a part of the Calamus kernel, it always has to be loaded. That is why instead of the usual module extender CXM it uses CLL (which stands for Calamus Link Library, and doesn't have much to do with the world of Windows).
In order for the Colour management module to make all its functions available, the Colour separation module (COL_SEP.CXM) has to be loaded into memory. (As usual, this can be done in the dialog that opens when you click on File / External modules).
For native colour calibration and colour separation working under Windows and Mac OS X some additional files are required:
A native Windows DLL CalamusSeparation.DLL has to be placed into the SYSTEM subfolder in the Calamus folder. In addition, the file CALAMUS.ICC has to exist in the Calamus folder.
The native Mac OS library file CSLSeparation.lib as well as CALAMUS.ICC have to be placed in the MagicMacX folder.
This module makes the so-called Edit colour list dialog available, which may be called from within various other modules. At present this is always the case, for instance, where you can see a function group in a module that displays the standard Calamus colour list.
In these you can always call up the Edit colour list dialog by clicking on the tiny colour fields in front of the individual colour names.
You will then see the following dialog:
This dialog is subdivided into several areas, which are described extensively below.
Let us start with the left part of the main dialog, which displays the document colour list.
This document colour list shows the names of the colours currently
in use in the document. (This always means colours in vector objects
and frames, i.e. all frames apart from raster graphics frames, whose
colours are not displayed here). If you are sure that the document
uses some additional colours to those shown here, then these will be
so-called free colours
that have not yet been included in the
document colour list. To do this, call up the Colour converter module
(COL_CONV.CXM). All free colours found (those not visible in the
document colour list) will be converted by this module into
visible
document list colours, which you can then modify in
this very colour list.
Right at the bottom you will find various buttons that execute Copy, Deletion, Sorting and other functions directly in the colour list, or open up further dialog boxes. All these functions will be described extensively below.
Free colours arise when you create a free colour via the
C/%
colour shortcut button in a function group that contains
the Calamus standard colour list: Clicking on C/%
opens a small
dialog where the R-G-B values may be input. Close the dialog with
[Return] and the free colour patch will appear together with its
values at the head of the colour list, above Transparent
.
Another way that free colours arise is from importing vector objects, which often contain free (RGB) colours that are not included directly into the colour list during import.
Tip: You can also create free colours in the Edit colour list dialog. To do this, click on the currently selected colour in the document colour list while holding down the [Shift] key. This deselects the colour, and the name of the current free colour appears in the colour name line just below the document colour list, which you can now alter. Free colours are always defined as RGB colours, which is why the colour system popups are not selectable when altering a free colour.
At the top of the right hand side of the colour dialog there is a
popup in which you can choose various colour systems. At present three
colour systems are available: Colour circle
, Process / Spot
colours
and Palette colours
. These colour systems are
explained later on.
If the document colour list contains colours from several colour systems, then when selecting a colour (or scrolling through the colour list) the corresponding colour system with the values valid for this colour will be displayed automatically in each case.
Equally you should note that any alteration that you make in
the right-hand side of the dialog (i.e. in the colour system) is
immediately applied to the colour currently selected in the document
colour list. On the one hand this allows you to change existing
colours very quickly. But for experimenting with new colour settings
be sure to create a New colour
beforehand – to make sure
that you do not destroy existing colour values!
Below the colour system is the region of the colour sliders, in which – depending on the working layer – up to four horizontal sliders with different tasks may be used to define or alter colour values more accurately; when moving the sliders, their value is shown in the field to their right. Even greater precision may be achieved by clicking on these fields and typing in the desired values.