Color Picker is a versatile Mac application designed to select and capture colors from various screens. It features a color wheel visualizer, aiding users in color design by offering tools to create harmonious color palettes and explore color relationships.
The color picker needs to be active to pick colors. The app is always active when launched but can also be activated via View > Turn On [Space]. Once active, the application will display the current color interactively on an HSL color wheel.
To start picking colors, use the color picker button or Edit > Capture from Pick [Enter]. Colors will begin to appear on the color wheel.
To end the color picking tool, use either the Right Mouse Button or Esc. After ending the color pick, the app will no longer be active. You can now check colors by clicking on them in the color wheel.
Capture from pick: Capture color from single pick.
Capture from sweep: Capture color by dragging out a rectangle and pick the most dominant colors.- Clear: Clear all colors
- Copy RGB as text: Copy selected color as RGB to clipboard
- Copy HSV as text: Copy selected color as HSV to clipboard
- Copy HSL as text: Copy selected color as HSL to clipboard
- Copy HEX as text: Copy selected color as HEX to clipboard
- Copy ICC profile as text: Copy current ICC profile as text
- Copy color as bitmap: Copy selected color as bitmap to clipboard
Turn on: Start color picker.
Pin: Pin application on-top others.- Color values: Select next and previous colors in color wheel.
- Display values: Set display mode for color values.
- Magnification: Set magnification multiple for aperture.
- Capture colors: Set the number colors to capture when dragging out a rectangle to pick the most dominant colors.
- Show mouse location: Show mouse location.
- Open Github README: Open Github README page.
- Open Github Issues: Open Github Issues page.
- Color Profile: Defines the color profile used for color picking and grid capture.
- Aperture: Specifies the size of the aperture for color picking and grid capture.
- Marker Size: Determines the size of the color markers.
- Background Opacity: Sets the opacity level of the color wheel.
The color wheel can be adjusted to fit your specific color requirements.
- IQ: Provides an approximation of the vector scope IQ line in HSV color space to verify skin tones.
- 2x: Doubles the saturation values.
- Saturation: Displays saturation percentages.
- Segmented: Shows segmented colors instead of a gradient.
- Labels: Displays labels for the colors.
The default native display values represent the inherent colors of the display. These color values are equivalent to a screenshot with the display profile (.icc) applied. You can switch between different display profiles to view color values in various color spaces, transformed according to the selected display profile (.icc).
Little CMS (LCMS) is a widely-used color management system in open-source projects. LCMS closely matches other color engines such as ColorSync, AdobeACE, and Reference ICC. While there may be slight variations between different engines, they generally produce similar results.
Color Picker uses macOS to create images from display and needs permission for Screen recording. Add Color Picker app to the list of allowed applications in System settings.
- GitHub page: https://github.com/mikaelsundell/colorpicker
- Issues https://github.com/mikaelsundell/colorpicker/issues
3rdparty libraries acknowledgment and copyright notice
This product includes software developed by third parties. The copyrights and terms of use of these third-party libraries are fully acknowledged and respected. Below is a list of said libraries and their respective copyright notices:
App icon: Copyright flaticon.com
Giflib: Copyright (c) 1997 by Eric S. Raymond. All rights reserved.
LCMS2: Copyright (c) 1998-2012 by Marti Maria Saguer. All rights reserved.
Libjpeg-turbo: Copyright (C) 1994-1997 by Thomas G. Lane. Modifications in 2019 by Guido Vollbeding. All rights reserved.
LibWebp: Copyright 2010 by Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.
OpenCV: Copyright (C) 2015-2024, OpenCV Foundation, all rights reserved.
Tiff: Copyright (c) 1988-1997 by Sam Leffler and Copyright (c) 1991-1997 by Silicon Graphics, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Qt Company Ltd.: Copyright (C) 2016 by The Qt Company Ltd. All rights reserved.
sRGB color profile icc file, Copyright International Color Consortium, 2015
The use of the above-mentioned software within this product is in compliance with the respective licenses and/or terms and conditions of the copyright holders. The inclusion of these third-party libraries does not imply any endorsement by the copyright holders of the products developed using their software.