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About this lesson

The Kuler extension for Photoshop makes finding great color combinations a breeze. 

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Quick reference

Topic: Kuler: Color Set Extension

The Kuler extension for Photoshop makes finding great color combinations a breeze.

When to use

Kuler is a combination of on-line color set examples, as well as a tool for defining harmonious color sets.

Instructions

Starting up Kuler

  1. Go To: Menu/Window/Extensions/Kuler
    Use the browse features to search and filter popular color sets.

Using Kuler themes

  1. Click o the small arrow in you choice of theme
    Adding to the swatches panel will make the colors available  to edit and paint with.

Edit a Kuler theme

  1. Click on the small arrow in your choice of theme and choose ‘Edit This Theme’ edit using interface and save or add to swatches for use.
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  • 00:04 If you're one of those people who are in search of the perfect color theme to
  • 00:07 use for your website or design project, I've got something cool to show you.
  • 00:11 In fact, it's Kuler.
  • 00:14 Huh, get it?
  • 00:15 You probably don't right now.
  • 00:16 But inside of Photoshop, there's an extension called Kuler, and boy,
  • 00:21 is it cool.
  • 00:22 Okay, enough with the cool.
  • 00:23 But found under the Window Extensions menu in Photoshop,
  • 00:27 Kuler will open as a panel on the right side of your work space.
  • 00:30 When the Kuler panel is initially displayed, you will be instantly able to
  • 00:34 browse the highest rated color themes based on viewer ratings, but
  • 00:38 if you wanna view by most popular or newest, you can do that as well.
  • 00:42 But if you're looking for
  • 00:42 something a little bit more specific, the search bar is always available to you.
  • 00:46 You can request something simple such as blue or
  • 00:49 something a little bit more precise like blue pastel.
  • 00:53 From here, you can use the arrows towards the top of the panel to cycle through
  • 00:56 the search results until you find a color theme that you're happy with.
  • 00:59 Once you finally settle on the perfect color theme, what can you do with it?
  • 01:03 To the right, you'll find a small arrow on the highlighted theme.
  • 01:07 Pressing this arrow will display a small menu with the different options that
  • 01:10 are available to you.
  • 01:11 The first option allows you to edit the highlighted theme.
  • 01:14 This is perfect if you've found a theme that you love, but you wanna tweak one or
  • 01:18 two colors to better fit your project.
  • 01:20 We'll get into editing in a moment.
  • 01:21 The second option is usually what you're going to choose.
  • 01:24 Adding a theme to your swatches panel gives you direct access to
  • 01:27 the five new colors.
  • 01:29 Simply pop open the panel, which can be found under the Window menu,
  • 01:32 and you should see your new colors right at the end of the current list.
  • 01:35 Now, clicking on any of them will apply them as your new foreground color.
  • 01:39 The next area of Kuler I wanna show you is the creation and editing process.
  • 01:43 Whether you're looking to slightly tweak one of the themes that you found through
  • 01:46 the search feature or
  • 01:47 you wanna create a new theme from scratch, Kuler has some really nice options which
  • 01:51 will help you create just about any theme you're looking for.
  • 01:54 Once you're in the create tab, selecting a basic rule is a great place to start.
  • 01:58 This will help you find five colors that go really nicely together.
  • 02:01 As an example, let's say you wanted five colors of a similar shade.
  • 02:05 Selecting shades restricts the four additional colors based on
  • 02:09 the active color that you set on the color wheel.
  • 02:11 Now instead, maybe you want complimentary colors for your theme.
  • 02:15 Or how about analogous colors?
  • 02:16 Or maybe you just want the freedom to create a custom theme of your choice.
  • 02:20 Whatever theme you are looking to create, there are many options to choose from.
  • 02:23 And once you are happy with the final result,
  • 02:25 the buttons at the bottom will allow you to save your theme,
  • 02:28 add it to your swatches panel or even upload it to Kuler for others to enjoy.
  • 02:32 And that's a look at Kuler, a great color extension within Photoshop.

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