How do I make multiple palettes with different colours for a single character?

Updated on



If you want colour palettes that stay connected to a character’s swatch IDs, cloned palettes will need to be created. The following instructions explain the process for creating cloned palettes.

For more information on duplicates and clones, see What is the difference between a copy, a clone and a duplicate?

Step 1: Clone the character palette

  1. In the Colour window, right click the palette that needs to be cloned.
  2. In the menu, select the Clone… option.

  1. The Palette Browser window will appear:

  1. In the New Palette Name section, type a name for the palette.

  1. Click the OK button at the bottom to create the cloned palette.
  2. Repeat steps one through ten to create as many cloned palettes as needed.
NOTE: If working on a database, you may need to activate the Advanced Palette options in the Preferences to get access to more detailed palette options. See Enabling the Advanced Palette Lists Mode for more.

Step 2: Adjust the palette swatches

You can now change the colours in the cloned palette the same way you would in any other palette. When switching to this palette, all the swatches in the original palette will switch to the corresponding colour in the cloned palette. Keep this in mind when changing the swatches.

  1. If the cloned palette needs specific colours from a character design, see How do I pick  colours from a bitmap image to create a vector colour palette?
  2. If the cloned palette needs a colour wash over all the colours, see How do I add a tint to the colours in my palette? 

Step 3: Switching the palettes

Harmony always recognises the palette at the top of the Colour view palette list as the active palette. You will need to move the cloned palette up in the palette order in order to see the colours take effect.

  1. In the Colour view, locate the palette you want to move up.

  1. At the top of the Colour view use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to move the palette up or down the list.

  1. Once the new cloned palette is above the original in the list, the change should immediately be seen in the Camera view:

NOTE: If you need to have both the original and cloned palettes in the same scene, but on different characters, see Colour-Overrides Nodes.

 

Q&A 

Question: 

One of the colours of my new cloned palette doesn’t seem to be working? 

Answers: 
  1. If the original palette is still present in the scene, make sure it’s underneath the new cloned palette in the Colour view.
  2. A new swatch might have been created accidentally, so it might have broken the link connecting it to the drawing. You can copy the original swatch, and paste it into the new palette using the Paste as Clones option. See Copying and Pasting Colours for more info.
  3. Check if multiple swatches are not working; the palette might have been duplicated instead of cloned. The palette will need to be created again using the Clone… option.

Was this article helpful?

0 out of 0 found this helpful

Can't find what you are looking for?

Contact Us

Submit a request and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Open a Support Ticket

Ask Our Discord Community

Get answers from our worldwide community of artists and animators.

Join Our Discord Server

Join the Conversations

Connect with us on social media for inspiration, updates, feedback and more.