Working with colors and materials : Working with custom palettes and swatches
 
Working with custom palettes and swatches
When you save swatches, you save them to a custom palette. You can create multiple palettes. For example, you can save all the colors and materials for a particular project on a custom palette. You can delete palettes that you no longer need.
Swatches
Swatches are styles or materials created from colors, gradients, patterns, or textures that you can save to use again. Swatches offer a way to save your favorite colors, styles, and materials so that you can access them quickly when you are working on projects.
You can select, create, edit, delete, and rename swatches. You can also change the way swatches are displayed.
To create a palette
1 On the Materials palette, click the Swatches tab .
2 Click the More Options button , and choose New Palette.
3 Type a name for your palette and click OK.
The palette is added to the drop-list above the swatches.
To delete a palette
1 On the Materials palette, click the Swatches tab .
2 From the palette drop-list, choose the palette you want to delete.
3 Click the More Options button , and choose Delete Palette.
To create a swatch
Edit workspace 
1 On the Materials palette, click the Swatches tab .
2 Click the Add to Palette button .
3 In the Add to Palette dialog box, choose a palette and click OK, or click New to create a palette.
4 In the New Swatch dialog box, type a new for your swatch.
This name appears as a tooltip when you hold the pointer over the swatch on the Materials palette.
5 Click OK.
The swatch appears on the Materials palette.
You can also click the More Options button on the Materials palette, and choose New Swatch.
To select a swatch
Edit workspace 
1 On the Materials palette, click the Swatches tab .
2 Do one of the following:
To select a swatch as the foreground material, click the swatch.
To select a swatch as the background material, right-click the swatch.
To edit a swatch
Edit workspace 
1 On the Materials palette, click the Swatches tab .
2 Double-click the swatch you want to edit.
The Material Properties dialog box appears.
3 Edit the style (color, gradient, or pattern) or the texture for the material.
4 Click OK.
You can also click the swatch, click the More Options button , and then choose Edit Swatch.
To delete a swatch from a palette
Edit workspace 
1 On the Materials palette, click the Swatches tab .
2 Click the swatch you want to delete.
3 Click the Remove from Palette button .
You can also click the More Options button , and choose Delete Swatch.
To rename a swatch
Edit workspace 
1 On the Materials palette, click the Swatches tab .
2 Click the swatch you want to rename.
3 Click the More Options button , and choose Rename Swatch.
To change how swatches are displayed
Edit workspace 
On the Materials palette, click the Swatches tab , and perform a task from the following table.
 
 
To
Do the following
Select which swatch types are displayed
Click the More Options button , choose View, and then choose the swatch type to display.
Change how swatches are sorted
Click the More Options button , choose Sort By, and then choose Style or Name. By default, the swatches are sorted by style.
Change swatch thumbnail sizes
Click the More Options button , and choose Small Thumbnails, Medium Thumbnails, or Large Thumbnails. Medium thumbnails are displayed by default.