Color editing + Effect

Phantasm Desaturate is a live effect/filter that equalizes color channels. By default, it is the same as using the Hue/Saturation effect with a Saturation value of –100. Note that like Photoshop’s Saturation adjustment, the lightness of the original color is not necessarily preserved. For example, 100% Yellow and 100% Magenta will both be adjusted to a value of 50% Cyan, 50% Magenta, and 50% Yellow.

As a live effect, it is accessible through the main menu, under Effect > Phantasm > Desaturate. It can also be applied directly from the Appearance panel using the “Add New Effect” button at the bottom of the panel, or through the Phantasm panel (see Phantasm: Panel).

After applying the live effect using the menu item (or when clicking on the existing effect in the Appearance panel to edit it), the parameters dialog will appear:

Phantasm Desaturate Dialog

1. Gray Tone

Available only if the document is in CMYK color space. It ensures that the altered color is only composed of Black ink, and it equivalent to using the Hue/Saturation effect in Colorize mode with a Saturation value of 0.

Phantasm Desaturate Example

Phantasm Hue/Saturation is a live effect/filter that allows hue, saturation, and lightness correction of artwork similar to Photoshop’s. As a live effect, it is accessible through the main menu, under Effect > Phantasm > Hue/Saturation. It can also be applied directly from the Appearance panel using the “Add New Effect” button at the bottom of the panel, or through the Phantasm panel (see Phantasm: Panel).

After applying the live effect using the menu item (or when clicking on the existing effect in the Appearance panel to edit it), the parameters dialog will appear:

Phantasm Hue/Saturation Dialog

1. Hue Range Pull-down Menu

When set to Master, the adjustments will apply to all colors in the artwork. However, it can also be changed to one of six independent hue ranges. By default, these are: Reds, Yellows, Greens, Cyans, Blues, and Magentas. Each color can have its own adjustment parameters, with variable start, fade-in, end, and fade-out parameters (see item 6 below). These color ranges refer the artwork’s original colors, not the color that results from any Master adjustment. The menu is not available when Colorize is being used.

2. Hue

Adjusts the hue of the art, from –180 to 180. The slider may be dragged, or a numerical value entered directly.

Phantasm Hue Examples

3. Saturation

Adjusts the saturation of the art, from –100 to 100. The slider may be dragged, or a numerical value entered directly.

Phantasm Saturation Examples

4. Lightness

Adjusts the lightness of the art, from –100 to 100. The slider may be dragged, or a numerical value entered directly.

Phantasm Lightness Examples

5. Colorize Checkbox

When enabled, the hue/saturation/lightness functionality is changed; the artwork is changed to a single hue, with adjustable saturation and lightness. In Colorize mode, the Hue parameter changes to a range of 0 to 360, and the Lightness parameter changes to a range of 0 to 100. The Hue Range Pull-down Menu is no longer available.

Phantasm HLS with Colorize Examples

6. Color Range Stripes

The top stripe represents the original colors, and the bottom stripe shows the corresponding colors after adjustment. Certain adjustments may not be clearly reflected in the stripes, such as increasing the saturation, as the colors shown are already saturated. When adjusting a hue range other than Master, the stripes will also display controls which offer the ability to adjust the start, fade-in, end, and fade-out parameters for that range:

Phantasm HLS with Colorize Examples

To edit the hue range controls, drag the inner controls (B and D) to specify the range that will be affected 100% and the outer controls (A and E) for the fade-in/fade-out limits. Dragging the area marked C will move all four controls together. It is also possible to drag the regions between controls A and B, and between D and E, to move the pair of controls together (this also makes it possible to put A or E on the opposite end of the stripe from its corresponding inner control). Numeric values are shown for each control’s position above the upper color stripe (a, b, d, and e).

The Hue Range menu color name entries will adjust automatically to best describe the range that is described by the controls. If there are multiple ranges that describe the same basic color, a number will be appended to the color name (for example, there might be Reds and Reds 2).

Phantasm Invert is a live effect/filter that simply inverts the levels of all color channels. As a live effect, it is accessible through the main menu, under Effect > Phantasm > Invert. It can also be applied directly from the Appearance panel using the “Add New Effect” button at the bottom of the panel, or through the Phantasm panel (see Phantasm: Panel).

After applying the live effect using the menu item (or when clicking on the existing effect in the Appearance panel to edit it), the parameters dialog will appear:

Phantasm Invert Dialog

1. Invert Appearance

Available only if the document is in CMYK color space. Most common CMYK colors do not have large amounts of Black in them, so when that channel is inverted, the Black level becomes high and the colors typically get very dark. When Invert Appearance is enabled, artwork is instead inverted in a visually-similar way to how RGB artwork would be inverted, which is generally more useful:

Phantasm Invert Example

Phantasm Levels is a live effect/filter that allows adjustment of the black, white, and mid-point gray input levels and output levels of artwork, similar to Photoshop’s Levels dialog. As a live effect, it is accessible through the main menu, under Effect > Phantasm > Levels. It can also be applied directly from the Appearance panel using the “Add New Effect” button at the bottom of the panel, or through the Phantasm panel (see Phantasm: Panel).

After applying the live effect using the menu item (or when clicking on the existing effect in the Appearance panel to edit it), the parameters dialog will appear:

Phantasm Levels Dialog

1. Channel Menu

Specifies which channel or channels the current levels settings apply to. For CMYK documents, this includes the composite four process colors (CMYK) as well as each individual color. For RGB documents, this includes the composite three primary colors (RGB) as well as each individual color. In both cases, individual spot colors will also appear in the list, as well as Image Alpha, which affects the alpha channel in images with transparency.

2. Input Levels

Sets the levels for the shadows (0 to 253), midtones (0.1 to 9.99), and highlights (2 to 255). The shadow and highlight levels are absolute values, while the midtone value is always relative to them.

3. Histogram

Shows the levels of the tints of the selected channels within the targeted art as a histogram. Due to plugin limitations, if the Levels live effect is applied to multiple targeted art objects, a histogram of only one of them can be displayed (a warning will be shown). Histograms that cannot be displayed, such as for Image Alpha, will show a “Null” symbol (a circle with a slash through it). The slider thumbs under the histogram reflect the current input levels, and can also be dragged to adjust them.

4. Output Levels

Sets the tonal range that the adjusted art will assume. The shadow level can be brought to the right of the highlight level, in which case the levels will be inverted.

5. Output Level Slider

The slider thumbs reflect the current output levels, and can be dragged to adjust them.

6. Warning Area

Displays warnings, such as when the effect is being applied to multiple targeted art objects, or when a spot color is present in the artwork.

Phantasm Shift to Color is a live effect/filter that allows moving all of an art object’s colors towards a specified color by a variable amount, simulating transparency without actually using it. This may be useful when exporting to basic vector formats or other situations where using actual transparency might require flattening which can cause other issues.

As a live effect, it is accessible through the main menu, under Effect > Phantasm > Shift to Color. It can also be applied directly from the Appearance panel using the “Add New Effect” button at the bottom of the panel, or through the Phantasm panel (see Phantasm: Panel).

After applying the live effect using the menu item (or when clicking on the existing effect in the Appearance panel to edit it), the parameters dialog will appear:

Phantasm Shift to Color Dialog

1. Color

The color that the artwork is shifted towards. Clicking the color chip brings up the native color picker. Although spot colors can be used, the resulting colors will always be process CMYK or RGB (depending on document type).

2. Shift

Specifies the amount of shift, from 0% to 100%.

Phantasm Shift to Color Example

Phantasm Temperature/Tint is a photography-oriented live effect/filter that allows subtle adjustment of color temperature and tint.

As a live effect, it is accessible through the main menu, under Effect > Phantasm > Temperature/Tint. It can also be applied directly from the Appearance panel using the “Add New Effect” button at the bottom of the panel, or through the Phantasm panel (see Phantasm: Panel).

After applying the live effect using the menu item (or when clicking on the existing effect in the Appearance panel to edit it), the parameters dialog will appear:

Phantasm Temperature/Tint Example

1. Temperature

Changes the “coldness” or “warmth” of artwork by adjusting the orange and blue tones. Ranges between –100 (more blue) and 100 (less blue/more orange).

2. Tint

Adjusts the red and green tones, which can be helpful for compensating for fluorescent lighting or improving natural tone such as skin and greenery. Ranges between –100 (less green) and 100 (more green).

Phantasm Temperature/Tint Example