*Named Color Palettes for the Color Blind*
By
Also The Chad,
Posted on: 2006-03-27 11:36 in Player Guides
This is a really helpful chart for some of us. I'm personally protanopic, which is the more rare form of red/green colorblindness (affecting the red cones, whereas the common form is deutanopia, affecting the green cones). The most interesting part, I guess, about this form is the zero-point at cyan.
Row I looks like just a variation on row A, and, in fact, 87 looks just like either 9 or 10... Somewhere inbetween, I guess. This lead to an interesting COH costume for me in the beta when I was going for all white, apparently, before I realized there was a pattern to the colors. 
1, 11, 12, 21, and 31 are all black, and don't even get me started on rows K through O. Argh, purple.
I usually have my color-proficient friends and relatives help me out, or try to use a color program I have, but I appreciate this chart immensely.
I don't think it's so much if Creamed Spinach matches Split Pea Soup, but rather 'I really need blue. Where is it?'. Kudos. Now, if someone would only help us identify what color the powers are. 
One day, my electric aura will match my powers.
EDIT: Oh. How did I miss Rigel_Kent's post? 
Yeah, I'm colorblind, and I talk about it a lot. Sorry.
VICTORY: Zephyr Cyclone - 50 El/El/El Blast
VICTORY: Schysm - 36 SS/In Brute
VIRTUE: Galaxy Beast - 17 Warshade
Is there anybody that does need a way to find two colors that match, or even three?
I have thought of two ways that might be done, and I'm willing to put it together.
Method 1. Show a bunch of examples of existing fashion, superhero costumes, uniforms, etc., and indicate what colors they are on this handy chart. F'rinstance, "here's Captain Amurrikan from Marvelous Comics, he wears an X bodysuit with Y trim and Z-colored stars. And coming down the catwalk is Paragon's own Miss Liberty, who is wearing A and B, with C."
Method 2. Provide some key words like "magical," "romantic," "soothing," "tropical," "professional," "patriotic," "military," and stuff. Give multiple examples specific color swatches that match those key words.
I'm good with color, so please do let me know if there's any way I can help.
Hertz you could just use the names of the colors instead of ABC 
but I like the whole spring time, romantic..descriptions of colors as well.
I'm for your Method 2 -- If you like say "military" can be a combination of Black (A1) Dark Olive Drab (E41) Olive Drab (E42)
So that way you can still use the chart numbers and names if you like with your swatch matching for specific descriptive type.
BTW: Here's the color picker with just the numbers only
Oh, yes, I had planned to use the color chart as a way to reference certain colors by name.
The names are very useful for people who already know what they're looking for. Hopefully with a list of "recommended combinations" they'll know what to look for.
Besides, having a palette of recommended combinations even helps people who aren't color-blind, just fashion-blind. You wouldn't believe what colors were picked as official SG colors in some groups I've seen.
I like Method 2 as well it doesn't blatantly encourage trademark infringement.
[ QUOTE ]
Energy Melee, Energy Assault: Row B
Fire: Row D
Radiation, Reconstruction, Healing Aura: Row F
Invuln Dull Pain: Row G
Force Fields: Row I
Ice: Row J
Ninjitsu, Energy Blast: Row L
Electric Blast, Electric Manipulation: Row M
Psychic Blast, Psychic Assault: Row N
[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks Rigel!
Here's the chart with Rigel's information on power color matching
TY, this is an excellent color chart !
I find it useful when trying to model my chars in another package to know exactly what I used. Great Tool.
Also, TY for the extra notes about the setup Regal_Kent !
Okay, this isn't pretty, but it's sort of what I had in mind. The web layout looks like an Embalmed did it (after he exploded) but it gets the idea across.
Here's some color keywords. I've only started on a couple of keywords so far, but I wanted to make sure this was sort of along the right... track thing.
Would something like this be of use to people?
Bah my job filter is blocking that site. I wish I could see it, it'll havta wait until I get home. 
[ QUOTE ]
Granted, it looks like you got some of these names from Crayola, but I get the jist.
Thanks alot!!
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I honestly don't remember the "Dried Blood" crayola. Maybe I never had that pack.
For those who are curious, here's about what the screens look like to colorblind people:
Skin Tones w/ deuteranopia (very common red/green defecit)
Costume Colors w/ deuteranopia (very common red/green defecit)
Skin Tones w/ protanopia (less common red/green defecit)
Costume Colors w/ protanopia (less common red/green defecit)
Skin Tones w/ tritanopia (uncommon blue/yellow defecit)
Costume Colors w/ tritanopia (uncommon red/green defecit)
Unaltered costume for comparison.
For colorblind folks, the costume in the costume shots is a dark scarlet with lime-green radiation symbols and stripes. In the skin-tone shots, he's wearing the default blue costume.
These shots were made with the photoshop filters available from Vischeck. I recommend them for checking your websites and art-work for color-blind friendliness.
Every time I see one of these comparisons, I look, as if I could really tell if it was accurate. I'm protanopic, like I said, but it's not like the unaltered and the protanopia filter look the same. Basically, it's like running through the filter twice for folks like me. WhatColor tells me it's fairly accurate, though, as far as I can tell. The colors it tells me for the Protanopia filter that the colors more or less are what I think I see on the unaltered version... If that even makes sense. o_o;
Yeah, I'm colorblind, and I talk about it a lot. Sorry.
VICTORY: Zephyr Cyclone - 50 El/El/El Blast
VICTORY: Schysm - 36 SS/In Brute
VIRTUE: Galaxy Beast - 17 Warshade
Hey! I'm there! Number 73. Score.
Gandhi 2 - Inf - lvl 50 AR/Dev Bla, Gazebo - Virt - lvl 50 Ice/SS Tank, Ms. Summers - Champ - lvl 50 MA/Inv Scr, Rachel Rosen - Lib - lvl 50 Ice/Emp Ctrl
Kiaransalee - Virt - lvl 50 Nec/Pois Mmd, Tierna - Vic - lvl 50 SS/Stone Bru
(and many <50s)
[ QUOTE ]
Every time I see one of these comparisons, I look, as if I could really tell if it was accurate. I'm protanopic, like I said, but it's not like the unaltered and the protanopia filter look the same. Basically, it's like running through the filter twice for folks like me. WhatColor tells me it's fairly accurate, though, as far as I can tell. The colors it tells me for the Protanopia filter that the colors more or less are what I think I see on the unaltered version... If that even makes sense. o_o;
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Out of curiosity, how would you describe the 'Unaltered' image, Fault?
I've always been curious about trying to understand both colorblindness (as well as the exceedlingly rare compliment mutation quad-chromatism).
To me, the character in the protanopia costume image appears to be wearing a dark grey suit with bright yellowish-orange markings. The color-picker is fairly evenly divided between shades of orange and shades of blue. The highlighted UI bars are bright orange, where they would usually be green in the unaltered version.
[ QUOTE ]
Skin Tones w/ tritanopia (uncommon blue/yellow defecit)
Costume Colors w/ tritanopia (uncommon blue/yellow defecit)
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I believe "costume colors w/ tritanopia" was mis-linked. Should've been to coh-06.jpg instead. If I'm right, then the quoted link above is fixed.
These are very helpful screenshots. Now I can be sure that I'm giving people advice on the colors I know they can't differentiate the blue and yellow colors of the Angelic build come to mind.
On the other hand, maybe I need to be more specific with what kind of colors I'm mixing and how I'm using them. According to those filters, you can't really see the difference in some of the colors well enough to distinguish them. I might need to add a description line or something that describes the costume in real colors, rather than just having a picture of it.
[ QUOTE ]
Out of curiosity, how would you describe the 'Unaltered' image, Fault?
I've always been curious about trying to understand both colorblindness (as well as the exceedlingly rare compliment mutation quad-chromatism).
To me, the character in the protanopia costume image appears to be wearing a dark grey suit with bright yellowish-orange markings. The color-picker is fairly evenly divided between shades of orange and shades of blue. The highlighted UI bars are bright orange, where they would usually be green in the unaltered version.
[/ QUOTE ]
Let's see. The costume looks like a dark, very dull red. At first glance it looks grey, but it's a little bit magenta, I think. The markings are very clearly yellow. The gloves and boots look just about black. The color picker has a row of grey, then red (though the leftmost two are black in that row, and the third color barely visible) Then orange, orange, yellow, yellow, yellow (with the leftmost three being green in all three yellow rows?) One row of pale green. Beneath that, one row of all grey again, and then five rows of blue. One row that I'm relatively sure is purple, but only because it's next to all that blue, and doesn't quite match, and finally very very faint pink (though the first two are black, and the last four are all grey). You can probably see that the color picker was fairly confusing before I realized there was a pattern. 
... And I really didn't know the hilighted bars were green. For two years, I thought they were yellow. o_o;
Wow. You learn something every day.
Yeah, I'm colorblind, and I talk about it a lot. Sorry.
VICTORY: Zephyr Cyclone - 50 El/El/El Blast
VICTORY: Schysm - 36 SS/In Brute
VIRTUE: Galaxy Beast - 17 Warshade
[ QUOTE ]
On the other hand, maybe I need to be more specific with what kind of colors I'm mixing and how I'm using them. According to those filters, you can't really see the difference in some of the colors well enough to distinguish them. I might need to add a description line or something that describes the costume in real colors, rather than just having a picture of it.
[/ QUOTE ]
There are a ton of COH colors that I can't distinguish. A technique I had to learn for creating costumes that match is to just keep jumping back to existing parts of my costume, checking what color is hilighted, then jump back to my current part, and make sure the same location is hilighted, to make sure it matches.
Yeah, I'm colorblind, and I talk about it a lot. Sorry.
VICTORY: Zephyr Cyclone - 50 El/El/El Blast
VICTORY: Schysm - 36 SS/In Brute
VIRTUE: Galaxy Beast - 17 Warshade
Here's the plan so far. As of last night, I went back to the drawing board.
First is a list of keywords by color. I list 20 colors or so by Altoholic Monkey's names, so you can click on 'em and make a build with that as your main color. If you know you want your guy in red, click Red and it takes you to a bunch of builds that go with Red.
Second is a list of keywords by power. If you want to make your costume match your powers, you pick the power set, and see a bunch of colors that match that power's color.
Third is a list of keywords by theme. You know you want your character to have a certain look, you pick the keyword and there's a bunch of color matches there under that theme. The themes I have listed so far: angelic, demonic, patriotic, military, mysterious, magical, bold, playful, romantic, professional, cadaverous, spectral, metallic, rainbow, slimy, stormy, earthy, leafy, sinister, powerful, hazardous, tribal, gothic, and a few others I can't recall right now.
Last is a list of keywords by enemy. What I want to do here is list the various enemies and the color themes they use. If you want to make yourself look like a Paragon Protector, or an Outcast Cooler, or a Troll, then it'd tell you what colors to use.
So...
a Does this sound useful?
b What other keywords should I do?
c Who can help gather screenshots of the various bad guys in COH and COV so I can color match them?
[ QUOTE ]
Here's the plan so far. As of last night, I went back to the drawing board.
First is a list of keywords by color. I list 20 colors or so by Altoholic Monkey's names, so you can click on 'em and make a build with that as your main color. If you know you want your guy in red, click Red and it takes you to a bunch of builds that go with Red.
Second is a list of keywords by power. If you want to make your costume match your powers, you pick the power set, and see a bunch of colors that match that power's color.
Third is a list of keywords by theme. You know you want your character to have a certain look, you pick the keyword and there's a bunch of color matches there under that theme. The themes I have listed so far: angelic, demonic, patriotic, military, mysterious, magical, bold, playful, romantic, professional, cadaverous, spectral, metallic, rainbow, slimy, stormy, earthy, leafy, sinister, powerful, hazardous, tribal, gothic, and a few others I can't recall right now.
Last is a list of keywords by enemy. What I want to do here is list the various enemies and the color themes they use. If you want to make yourself look like a Paragon Protector, or an Outcast Cooler, or a Troll, then it'd tell you what colors to use.
So...
a Does this sound useful?
b What other keywords should I do?
c Who can help gather screenshots of the various bad guys in COH and COV so I can color match them?
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a) It sounds useful to me. As it stands, almost all of my toons are primary colors and shades of grey, just because those are 'safe' colors. I don't really have to figure out how they compliment each other. More than anything else, that's what's impossible.
b) The only other keyword I can think of is 'era'. Golden Age and Silver Age comics had different color schemes than modern comics, so that might be helpful.
c) I'm sure there are screenshots of the enemies compiled somewhere. I'll look.
Yeah, I'm colorblind, and I talk about it a lot. Sorry.
VICTORY: Zephyr Cyclone - 50 El/El/El Blast
VICTORY: Schysm - 36 SS/In Brute
VIRTUE: Galaxy Beast - 17 Warshade
I'd be glad to help gather screenies for the color matching and the power stuff on the hero side. I'll also try and gather as many on the Villain side too I have one that's close to 40 so it shouldn't be a problem.
My plan is something like this:
RED Costumes
...all-red scheme
...red + complementary color scheme (plus trim color)
...red + primary color scheme (that is, plus a matching yellow and blue*)
...red + clashing color
...red + 2 complementary colors
* Orange would be given a secondary color scheme (plus purple and green). Aqua would be given a tertiary color scheme (plus yellowy-orange and red-violet).
DEMONIC
...red demons
...purple demons
...blue demons, etc
TSOO
...sorcerer outfit
...crane enforcer outfit
...green ink man outfit
d) should I also suggest a skin color that goes with Red, or with Demonic?
e) should I start with skin color so people can make a hero of a certain color and then add matching fashions?
f) should I make a separate list for how to make hair colors? Hair is tricky to mix, even for the color-sighted... it doesn't do what you expect
Eheh. You lost me when you started talking about tertiary colors, but I think I can see where you're going with it. I like what I'm seeing so far. It's starting to sound really helpful.
I almost never stray from a couple different skin tones, so a guide for matching them, too, could be useful, mostly for the unusual colors... Though, I suppose matching the natural colors to ethnicity might be pretty effective, too.
I really don't understand the hair color thing, so I'd appreciate any help on that one, too. Usually I just choose a primary hair color (which, quite unfortunately, ends up green half the time, I'm told) and then use a gray for the secondary to lighten/darken it.
Yeah, I'm colorblind, and I talk about it a lot. Sorry.
VICTORY: Zephyr Cyclone - 50 El/El/El Blast
VICTORY: Schysm - 36 SS/In Brute
VIRTUE: Galaxy Beast - 17 Warshade
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Though, I suppose matching the natural colors to ethnicity might be pretty effective, too.
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Yes but a lot of folks of various races come in about all those skin colors (well cept for the bottom 3 rows).
So I'd be a bit hesistant to make that type of name listing...I might go with makeup colors or something close to that.
But those colors have various degrees of an underlying tint to them. Warm and cool as it were...anyway as soon as I find something decent to title the skin colors, i'll be working on over the holiday.
Hm. I see your point, Alto. I just can't think of a way for flesh tones to have meaningful names. Maybe that's why no one has tackled it yet.
Yeah, I'm colorblind, and I talk about it a lot. Sorry.
VICTORY: Zephyr Cyclone - 50 El/El/El Blast
VICTORY: Schysm - 36 SS/In Brute
VIRTUE: Galaxy Beast - 17 Warshade
I wasn't going to attempt to match a given skin tone to a race; I was going to go the other way and match a race to a skin tone.
Maybe that doesn't make sense.
<in my best Carl Sagan voice> Envision. If you will. Billyuns and billyuns of colors. </Carl Sagan voice>
Some of the human-based skin tones are pinkish, some are yellowish, and so don't go quite well with certain tones.
I'd give out several pictures: say, Samuel L Jackson, Halle Berry, Roberto Rodriquez, J Lo, Hugh Grant, Keira Knightly (or whomever just in a range from dark to light in a mix of ethnicities). You pick what you wanna look like, I give you the colors to do it with.
Same with hair colors. Real human hair is almost never one single color throughout. The costume generator simulates this by layering one color over another with a semi-transparent channel. Along with a certain color scheme, I could say "pick a skin tone from the pinkish row, not the yellowish row," or "hair colors that go with this would be X, Y or Z."
Oh thank God...this is going to be much more helpful.