Foreground and Background Colour

What features would you like to see in Pixelmator Pro?
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2020-02-13 17:19:49

One of the tools I often use is Cmd-delete to fill a layer with foreground colour and Opt-delete to fill with background. Typically I'm filling a layer with White from the background colour.

The trouble is that I don't always know where I left forground and background so it would be really useful if I could easily find out what they are set to. Maybe by having current foreground and background colour as an optional display item in the Info Bar?

What do you think?

- Stef.
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2020-02-14 08:42:40

Great idea but I feel it showed be optional to toggle it on and off.
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2020-02-14 09:51:22

We have considered this in the past and I personally do like the idea but the Info bar probably isn't the best place for it (numerical representations of colors aren't the easiest to parse in most cases) and, to be honest, there aren't many other places we could put actual color squares. Back in the early days of the original Pixelmator, they used to be in the Tools palette but that probably wouldn't work in Pixelmator Pro. In any case, we'll consider this. And in the meantime, you could choose the Color Fill tool (N), then press the X key to switch background and foreground colors — in the color well, you'll see what your background color is set to.
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2020-02-14 10:23:02

Aha... I hadn't realised that the info bar was text only (I should have twigged as there is only text in there). That makes this request a lot more work than I had thought for what is just a small benefit. Maybe something to bear in mind if there is anything else that needs graphics in the info bar.
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2020-02-14 15:50:19

I mean, the color could be displayed there too, there aren't necessarily any technical limitations (that I'm aware of, could be wrong) it's just text-only is the idea behind it as far as I can see. But we will think about this. :wink:
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2020-02-14 16:15:30

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2020-02-18 21:54:27

I registered to this site just to put in my vote for this feature, it would be really handy to be able to see what colors we have on our palette. Most of my use is B/W for masks, but a more extensive palette is great for digital painting as well.
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2020-02-18 22:42:53

Hi Adam.
I tend to think of 'foreground colour' and 'background colour' in Pixelmator Pro as 'active colour' and 'reserve colour', because it is the foreground colour that is used for the majority of tasks. The Colour Fill tool is showing the foreground colour as that is the colour it uses to fill.

As well as Cmd-delete and Opt-delete, there are a few more keyboard shortcuts you might find useful (if you don't know them already):
D - reset to default palette (black foreground, white background)
X - switch foreground and background colours.
Shift-Cmd-C - show/hide colour palette.

It's worth trying the first two with the Colour Fill tool open so that you can see the foreground colour change (so that you can verify that it's doing what you think it's doing). I tend to use both of those frequently when dealing with masks. None of this makes being able to see foreground and background colour at a glance any less useful (to me, anyhow), but I thought I'd share, in case you weren't aware of these shortcuts.

- Stef.
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2020-02-20 14:51:32

by Adam Logan I registered to this site just to put in my vote for this feature, it would be really handy to be able to see what colors we have on our palette. Most of my use is B/W for masks, but a more extensive palette is great for digital painting as well.
Welcome to the forum, Adam! Feature request noted and I hope you'll stick around to make more of them. :smiley:

P.S. Repeated reminders do have a non-negligible effect so it is worth nudging us every once in a while.