Color Palette

The Color Palette is how you decide what layer an object belongs to. Each swatch is one color, which corresponds to one layer family. Click a swatch with objects selected and those objects move to that layer. Click with nothing selected and the next thing you draw or import lands on that color.

See Layers and color families for the why behind the color-as-layer model.

Opening it

• Default dock zone: bottom
• Visible by default: yes
• Hotkey: no default

What you see

The Color Palette docked at the bottom of the workspace.

A strip of color swatches. The layout adapts to the dock zone:

• Vertical strip, when docked left, upper-right, or lower-right. Scroll arrows on top and bottom.
• Horizontal strip, when docked at the bottom (default) or floated.

Each swatch is a clickable button showing a color and a label:

• Regular layers: numbered 00, 01, 02, ... up to 99.
• Tool layers: T1, T2, ... up to T9.

Text color (the label) is automatically chosen for contrast, white on dark, black on light.

Swatch borders communicate state:

• White 2-pixel border: the currently active color family.
• Dashed border: tool layer.
• Faint solid border: regular layer.

What you can do

Assign the selection to a color

1. Select one or more objects.
2. Click a swatch.

Objects move to the layer for that color. If the layer does not exist yet, it is created with default settings.

If your selection mixes vector and raster content, Beam Bench partitions automatically: raster goes to an Image layer for the color, vector/text goes to a regular layer. You get up to two new layers, both with the same color tag (the color family).

Set a default color for the next draw

With nothing selected, click a swatch. The swatch becomes the active family (white border). The next shape you draw or file you import is assigned to that color.

Switch the active color family

Click any swatch with nothing selected. The white border moves to that swatch.

Recolor a single-family selection in one step

If everything you have selected currently belongs to one layer of one content type (all vector or all raster), clicking a new color recolors the layer in place rather than creating new layers. The undo history shows this as a single step.

Scroll the palette (vertical layout)

Use the up/down arrow buttons at the ends. The strip scrolls in 42-pixel steps.

Behavior worth knowing

• A swatch hover scales the swatch up to 110% briefly so you can confirm which color you are about to click.
• There are 100 regular colors (00 to 99) and 9 tool colors (T1 to T9). Tool layers do not output to the machine. See Layers and color families.
• Clicking a swatch with mixed-content selection (some vector, some raster) does the partition automatically, you do not have to split the selection yourself.
• The active color is persistent for the session. Closing and re-opening the panel preserves the choice.

Related

• Cuts / Layers panel: edit the settings for each color's layer
• Layers and color families: the underlying model
• Settings, File & Import: controls whether imports can land on tool layers