General Information
How can I tell what version and serial number
I have?
When you run Color Mechanic or Color Mechanic Pro, it displays its version and
serial number (if any) in the title bar of the Color Mechanic dialog box. If
you have the standard version, it will say Color Mechanic ; if you have the
pro version it will say Color Mechanic Pro . Following this is the version number
-- the major version number followed by a period followed by the minor version
number and an optional letter indicating a maintenance release (e.g 1.1a ).
Following the version number is Eval if you have not yet entered a serial number
or your serial number (or Beta for beta releases). A serial number is a sequence
of 12 upper case letters.
How do I install an update?
To install a new version of Color Mechanic, just download the latest version
from our web and replace your current version with the new version. The new
version will continue to work with your existing serial number.
Installation Notes
Adobe Photo Deluxe 4
To install Color Mechanic, copy the standard version of the Color Mechanic plug-in
file to the plugins sub-folder of the folder Photo Deluxe is installed
in. To do this bring up Windows Explorer and click on the + box to the left
of the folder name for Program Files, then Adobe, and then Photo Deluxe. You
now can see the sub-folder Plugins. Next drag the Color Mechanic plug-in file
(with the extension .8bf) into the Plugins sub-folder.
To run Color Mechanic, start Photo Deluxe and click on the advanced menus button
in the lower left corner so you get full menus across the top of the screen.
Next bring up a photo to work on. At the top of the screen click on the Effects
drop down menu. One of your choices will be Digital Light & Color. Move
your mouse pointer down to it and click. You now click on Color Mechanic and
you can use the program Color Mechanic to change colors in your photo.
Paintshop Pro 7
Paintshop Pro does not have a Plug-ins folder of its own, but it does let you
specify up to three folders it will search to find plug-ins. To set the plug-in
folder, select File/Preference/File Locations from the main menu. Next click
on the Plug-ins tab of the File Locations dialog box. Finally, enter the name
of the folder into which you have placed the Color Mechanic plug-in into the
dialog box. Make sure the Enable plug-ins box is checked.
To run Color Mechanic, select Effects/Plug-In Filters/Digital Light & Color/Color
Mechanic from the main menu.
Canvas 8
Canvas does not have a Plug-ins folder of its own, but it does let you specify
a folder it will search to find plug-ins. To set the plug-in folder, select
File/Preferences from the main menu. Next click on the Painting tab and click
the Plug-Ins button. Finally, locate the folder into which you have placed the
Color Mechanic plug-in and click OK . You will need to restart Canvas for the
changes to take effect.
To run Color Mechanic, select Image/Filter/Digital Light & Color/Color Mechanic
from the main menu.
Usage Notes
Why can't I use Color Mechanic to change black to
another color?
Color Mechanic selects colors to change based on their hue and saturation. The
hue and saturation of black are undefined since all colors look black when you
make them dark enough. If you need to change black to some other color, try
using Photoshop's Levels command to lighten the shadows before using Color Mechanic.
I'm having problems changing very pale colors.
By default, Color Mechanic sets control points at each of the six vertices of
the color hexagon and a seventh one at its center. It uses these control points
to lock down pure primary and secondary colors and neutrals. If you want to
modify a color that is close to the default neutral control point at the center
of the color hexagon, you may find that not all the colors you want to change
are being modified since neutrals are locked down. To fix this problem you need
to delete the default control point in the center of the color hexagon. The
easiest way to do this is to right-click (PC) or option-click (Mac) on the control
point you want to delete and then select Delete Control Point from the pop-up
menu.
Mac OS/X Issues
Transferring your serial number from OS9 to OSX.
When you install the latest 1.1a release of Color Mechanic under OSX, it may
fail to recognize the serial number you entered under OS9. You can simply re-enter
the serial number if you know what it is. If you didn't record your serial number,
here is how to transfer your serial number from OS9 to OSX. In any case, it
is a good idea to record your serial number (it is displayed in the title bar
of the Color Mechanic dialog box) in case you need to re-install Color
Mechanic at a later date.
The file containing the serial number is named ColorMechanic Prefs and is always
in a folder named Digital Light & Color which is in turn within the Preferences
folder for the system. Your goal is to create the Digital Light & Color
folder in the new Preferences folder if it does not already exist and then copy
the ColorMechanic Prefs file from the Digital Light & Color folder in the
old Preferences folder to the Digital Light & Color folder in the new Preferences
folder.
In OS9, the Preferences folder is inside the system folder which is usually
named System Folder . In OSX, the Preferences folder is inside (OSXVol):Users:(user
name):Library , where (OSXVol) is the name of the volume containing your OSX
system, and (user name) is your user logon name. An easy way to find existing
serial numbers is to search the system for files named ColorMechanic Prefs .
An easy way to find all preferences folders is to search the system for folders
named Preferences.
Make sure you copy (not move) the Digital Light & Color folder from OS9
to OSX or else the OS9 version of Color Mechanic will forget its serial number.
To copy, hold down the Opt key while dragging the folder.
Known Problems
Problems using 1.1b with PaintShop Pro 7.0 and older
versions of Photoshop under Windows.
Apparently there an incompatibility between Color Mechanic 1.1b and PaintShop
Pro 7.0 and some older versions of Photoshop. We are working to resolve this
problem. In the meantime, Color Mechanic 1.1a should work OK. To download this
previous release, please click the link below:
Download
Color Mechanic 1.1a
ATI dual-monitor problems (Windows only).
There is a bug in the ATI display drivers that causes the Windows version of
Color Mechanic to size its dialog box incorrectly on dual monitor systems. There
is currently no work-around for this problem.
Although we try hard to make our products as bug-free as possible, from time to time we issue maintenance releases to address issues that come to our attention after the initial release. The latest information is posted here as soon as it becomes available.
If you are unsure what version you have, just run Color Mechanic from Photoshop. The version number and your serial number (if any) are displayed in the window caption bar.
This maintenance release addresses compatibility issues with Photoshop CS2 - no new features were added
To install the update, simply download the latest version via the Downloads button from the main Color Mechanic page, unstuff the version you need (standard or pro) and copy it over your old version. Your serial number and other settings will be preserved.
This maintenance release addresses compatibility issues with Photoshop Elements 3.0 - no new features were added
To install the update, simply download the latest version via the Downloads button from the main Color Mechanic page, unstuff the version you need (standard or pro) and copy it over your old version. Your serial number and other settings will be preserved.
This update addresses the following issues:
1) Fixed problems with playing back recorded actions incorrectly.
2) Fixed problem causing improper display of color hexagons when Photoshop's Gamut Warning was enabled.
3) Changes were made that may or may not improve compatibility with applications other than Photoshop.
4) The electronic manual was updated to include a new example and a clarification about the use of Color Mechanic with Photoshop's scripting (Actions) feature.
To install the update, simply download the latest version via the Downloads button from the main Color Mechanic page, unzip the version you need (standard or pro) and copy it over your old version. Your serial number and other settings will be preserved.
This update adds support for OS/X on the Mac and fixes a problem that showed up on some Windows systems causing Photoshop to crash on exit from Color Mechanic. Compatibility with the Windows version of Canvas 8.0 was also added in this release.
Color Mechanic is now available in a new and improved version 1.1. This is a free upgrade from version 1.0, so if you already purchased a Color Mechanic serial number, all you need to do is download version 1.1 and replace your 1.0 plug-in with the latest version.
Version 1.1 incorporates all fixes in previous maintenance releases plus the following new features:
Zooming beyond 1:1mages beyond 1:1 magnification
You can now use the zoom in control in the main tool bar to magnify the input and preview images beyond 1:1.
Zooming and scrolling color hexagons (Pro Version Only)
There are new zoom in and zoom out controls next to the input color hexagon. When you zoom in, both the input and preview color hexagons are enlarged, centered on the current control point, if any, and scroll bars are displayed around the input color hexagon. This lets you easily make very fine adjustments to control points.
Undo/Redo (Pro Version Only)
There is now an unlimited undo/redo feature that lets you undo or redo changes you make to the color correction settings, all the way back to the beginning of the session. Undo and Redo buttons have been added to the main tool bar.
Show Affected Region checkbox (Pro Version Only)
There is now a new Show Affected Region checkbox just below the Brightness Change slider—it is enabled only when a control point is selected. When you check the box, Color Mechanic alters the preview display to highlight the parts of the image changed by the current control point. Fully affected regions are displayed normally; unaffected regions are blacked out; partially affected regions are darkened proportionately.
Amount slider (Pro Version Only)
A new Amount slider is displayed just above the Brightness Change slider. As you lower the amount setting down from 100%, the total effect of the color corrections is reduced proportionally.
RGB/CMYK numeric readouts (Pro Version Only)
Numeric readouts have been added so you can tell exactly what pixel values are in the input or preview image. The readouts show RGB (0 to 255) or CMYK (0% to 100%) depending on the type of image you are working with.
Eyedropper and marker improvements
The eyedropper cursor display now reflects the probe size setting. Also, the eyedropper probe, the markers displayed in the color wheels, and the channel readouts now all show precisely the same pixel values. One compromise to this approach is that the probe size is now relative to the display and varies with the zoom ratio.
Keyboard shortcuts
A number of standard Photoshop keyboard shortcuts have been implemented. Please see the Keyboard Shortcuts section of the updated manual for details.
Graying of inactive controls
Inactive tool bar buttons and the Brightness Change slider are now grayed out.
Improved control point selection
You can now select a control point by clicking on either endpoint or anywhere along the arrow connecting the two endpoints. When there are several control points close together, the current control point is selected in preference to any of the others. You can now also select control points using the Tab and Shift Tab keyboard shortcuts.