Paint and Color

 

This page describes how to paint and color walls, floors and other objects.

Contents

Paint Category

Applying Paint and Color

Tint Surface

Paintables

Apply to Multiple Surfaces

Copy and Paste

Painting Part of a Surface

Color Picker

Glossy Paint Surfaces

Lights and Color

Calibrating your Monitor

Hide Paint

Paint Category

The Directory contains several Paint and Color categories:

 

Paint
Samples:

Manufacturers' paint samples you can drag-and-drop onto surfaces. Samples are often grouped in complementary colors to make it easier to color coordinate.

 

Color Picker:

Choose colors and also their complements to make color coordinating your rooms easier.

 

Paintables:

Light colored materials you can apply to surfaces and tint with paint and color. For example, apply a paintable plaster material and then paint over it by checking "Tint Surface" in the color and paint categories before you drag a color over.

 

 


Applying Paint and Color

To apply paint and color to surfaces, drag-and-drop them from the Paint Samples or Color Picker categories:

 

Example:

 


Tint Surface

Check "Tint surfaces" to tint materials instead of replacing them.

 

For example, apply a white brick material to a wall, choose "Tint Surface" and apply paint to it. The material is tinted with the color rather then replaced by it.

 

This works best with light materials. See "Paintables" below.

 


Paintables

The Paintables category contains materials that accept paint and color well:

 

  1. Drag one of the Paintable materials onto a surface

  2. Open a Paint or Color Picker category

  3. Check "Tint Surfaces"

  4. Drag colors onto the paintable surfaces

 

Example:

 


Apply To Multiple Structural Surfaces

Apply paint and colors to multiple wall, floor, countertop, roof and stair surfaces by holding in keys during the drag-and-drop process.

 

Apply color to all sides: Hold down the Alt key when you drag paint and color to a wall, floor, countertop, roof or stairs to apply paint and color to all sides simultaneously.
 

Apply color to all sides of "type": When you hold down Ctrl and Alt when dragging paint to a wall, floor, roof or countertop, the color will be applied to all sides of that "type". For example, hold in Ctrl and Alt, drag a color to a wall and it will be applied to all sides of all walls in the project simultaneously.

 

Note: These keys also work with Edit> Copy Color and Material.


Copy and Paste

To copy and paste paint and color from one surface to another, see Edit> Copy Color and Material.


Painting Part of a Surface

Sometimes you don't want to paint an entire wall or other structural surface. To paint part of a surface, do this:

 

  1. Choose Build> Draw Materials

  2. Draw a material on part of the surface.

  3. Drag-and-drop paint or color onto it.

 

Example:

 

 

Note: This only works with  floors, walls, countertops and roofs - not furniture.


Color Picker

Use the Color Picker to choose any color you need.

 

Follow steps below:

 

1. Choose a primary color by clicking a color circle or a color on the rainbow-bar.

 

2. Drag sliders to set brightness and saturation.

 

3.  Choose a complementary color type if desired.

 

4. Drag-and-drop color boxes onto surfaces in your plan.

 

Tint Surface: Check "Tint Surfaces" to make colors tint materials instead of replace them.

 


Glossy Paint Surfaces

To emulate glossy paint surfaces, set reflectivity by right-clicking a surface and setting reflectivity values. See suggested values below.

 

Examples:

 



Note
: Reflectivity only applies to walls, floors, roofs and countertops.


Lights and Color

As in real life, plan3D colors are affected by spotlights and sun. The more light on a color, the brighter it will be. If a spotlight or sun is behind a wall the color may be dull or gray. Drag the sun or spotlight to brighten the surface in question.

 

Example:

 


Calibrating Your Monitor

Computer display settings - like the color settings on a television - may not be calibrated. Yellows may have a green tint or reds may look purple.

 

The EasyRGB website may be useful for calibrating your display colors.


Hide Paint

Right-click a surface, choose "Hide Paint". Repeat to show it.