Swatches are materials that you can save to use again. For example, if you create a material that is a certain shade of green with a fog texture, you can save it as a swatch. Swatches are displayed on the Swatches tab of the Materials palette.
To create a new swatch:
On the Materials palette, click
the Swatches tab .
Click the Create
New Swatch button . You can also click the More Options button
and choose
New Swatch.
Type a name for the swatch. This name appears as a ToolTip when you hold the cursor over the swatch on the Materials palette.
Press Enter. The Material Properties dialog opens.
Select the style (color, gradient, or pattern) and the texture for the material.
Click OK.
To select a swatch:
On the Materials palette, click
the Swatches tab .
Do one of the following:
To select a swatch as the foreground material, left-click the swatch you want to use.
To select a swatch as the background material, right-click the swatch you want to use.
To edit a swatch:
On the Materials palette, click
the Swatches tab .
Double-click the swatch you want
to edit. You can also click the swatch, click the More
Options button , and then choose Edit
Swatch. The Material Properties dialog opens.
Edit the style (color, gradient, or pattern) or the texture for the material.
Click OK.
To delete a swatch:
On the Materials palette, click
the Swatches tab .
Click the swatch you want to delete.
Click the Delete
Swatch button or click the More
Options button
and choose Delete
Swatch.
To rename a swatch:
On the Materials palette, click
the Swatches tab .
Click the swatch you want to rename.
Click the More
Options button and choose Rename
Swatch.
To change how swatches are displayed:
On the Materials palette, click
the Swatches tab .
Do one of the following:
To
select which swatch types are displayed, click the View
button and choose All , Colors
, Gradients
, or Patterns
. You can also click the More Options button
, choose View, and then choose the swatch type to display.
To
change how swatches are sorted, click the More
Options button , choose Sort,
and then choose By Style or By
Name. By default, the swatches are sorted by style.
To
change between small and large thumbnails of the swatches, click the More Options button and choose
Small Thumbnails or Large
Thumbnails. By default, small thumbnails are displayed.
Understanding Color and Color Models
How Monitor and Print Colors Differ
Making a Palette Color Transparent