Applying color to objects (Freehand MX)

You can apply colors to strokes and fills by dragging color swatches from the Color Mixer, Tints, or Swatches panels. You can apply colors to selected objects by using the Object panel or the pop-up color palettes in the Tools panel.

You can also apply colors by using the Eyedropper tool to drag colors from other objects in the active document.

The stroke and fill color boxes on the Tools panel open a color palette that by default displays a list of web-ready colors (called color cubes). You can change the palette’s display to show the color list from the Swatches panel.

Stroke (upper) and fill (lower) color boxes in the Tools panel

For information on applying color to text, see Applying color to text and text blocks.

To apply color to a selected object, do one of the following:

In the Swatches panel, drag a swatch to the Fill, Stroke, or Both color selector at the upper left of the Swatches panel.

In the Swatches panel, click the Fill, Stroke, or Both selector at the upper left of the Swatches panel, and then select a color name in the list.

In the Object panel, select the stroke or fill to which you want to apply a color, and then select a color from the Swatches panel. For more information on adding strokes and fills using the Object panel, see Using Strokes and Fills.

Click the stroke or fill color box in the Tools panel and select a color from the pop-up color palette.

To apply color to an unselected object:

Drag a color swatch from the color box in the Color Mixer, Tints, or Swatches panel onto the object’s stroke or fill.

To change how color is applied to an unselected object:

1 Drag a color swatch from the color box in the Color Mixer, Tints, or Swatches panel over the object.

2 Before you release the mouse button, do one of the following:

Hold down Shift as you release the mouse button to apply the color only to the object’s fill.

Hold down Control-Shift (Windows) or Command (Macintosh) as you release the mouse button to apply the color only to the object’s stroke.

To apply color using the Eyedropper tool:

1 In the Tools panel, click the Eyedropper tool.

2 Position the pointer over the color that you want to apply.

3 Drag the color to the object to which you’ll apply the color.

To change the display of the pop-up color palettes:

1 In the Tools panel, click the stroke or fill color box to display the color palette.

2 Click the palette’s Options menu control and select Swatches or Color Cubes.