Change the color of objects with extendscript

Question

I've had a look around and can't find anything to do this, so I think I'm probably asking the wrong question.

I have a series of objects on a page in illustrator with a specific colour in RGB, say its 255 red. I want to select items with this color or loop through to see if an item is this color and change it to a CMYK colour, say 75% grey

It done this but it always selects the item to change it

var currPageItem=app.activeDocument.activeLayer;
var myColour = new RGBColor("255,0,0")//initial default colour
var myGrey= new CMYKColor("0,0,0,75")//initial default grey


// Stepping through each item on the layer.
for (var i = 0; i < currPageItem.pageItems.length; i++) {
    var currentItem = currPageItem.pageItems[i];
    //$.writeln("Object name=", currentItem);
    if (currentItem.RGBColor=myColour) {
           $.writeln("Colour function",i);
           };

}

I'd like to be able to change stroke colours also. Any help really appreciated, very stuck on this

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 23 '14 at 18:10

Thanks for putting me in the correct direction Josh. I think I've now got it. Firstly the document color mode under the file menu has to be set to RGB. If this isn't done then as it script reads through the page items it checks them as CMYK and so doesn't recogniise any RGB values.

Also it check the values to a gazillion decimal places so these need rounding. Have made the following adjustments and this seems to work. Any other improvement most welcome

var layer = app.activeDocument.activeLayer;
var testColor = new RGBColor()//initial default colour
testColor.red = 180;
testColor.green = 93;
testColor.blue = 120;
var myGrey= new CMYKColor()//initial default grey
myGrey.black=75;


// Stepping through each item on the layer.
for (var i = 0; i < layer.pathItems.length; i++) {
    var item = layer.pathItems[i];
    $.writeln("Test colour ",Math.round( item.fillColor.red))
    if (Math.round(item.fillColor.red) == testColor.red &&
    Math.round(item.fillColor.green)== testColor.green &&
    Math.round(item.fillColor.blue) == testColor.blue)
   {
      $.writeln("Color function",i );
      item.fillColor = myGrey;
   }

}

Is it possible to change the Color Mode at the beginning of the script (Using CS5) — Bob Haslett, Aug 14 '14 at 14:38

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 25 '16 at 14:26

Using something similar for pre-press work. I adapted the RGB version above convert all rich black to K only. Still experimenting with color values and will add a way to also check the stroke color. Thank you! Was searching for a solution for a long time.

var layer = app.activeDocument.activeLayer;
var testColor = new CMYKColor(); //initial default colour
testColor.cyan = 62;
testColor.magenta = 62;
testColor.yellow = 62;
testColor.black = 62;

var myGrey = new CMYKColor(); //initial default grey
myGrey.black = 100;


// Stepping through each item on the layer.
for (var i = 0; i < layer.pathItems.length; i++) {
  var item = layer.pathItems[i];

  $.writeln("Test colour ", Math.round(item.fillColor.cyan));
  if (Math.round(item.fillColor.cyan) > testColor.red &&
    Math.round(item.fillColor.magenta) > testColor.magenta &&
    Math.round(item.fillColor.yellow) > testColor.yellow &&
    Math.round(item.fillColor.black) > testColor.black) {
    $.writeln("Color function", i);
    item.fillColor = myGrey;
    item.selected = true;
  }

}

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 23 '14 at 14:28

This should give you a good start with what you're trying to accomplish. *There is probably a better way to code this, but the illustrator documentation doesn't seem to be too helpful in figuring out how to instantiate or compare colors.

var layer = app.activeDocument.activeLayer;

var testColor = new RGBColor(); // initial default colour
testColor.red = 255; // rest of the values default to 0

var greyColor = new CMYKColor(); // initial default grey
greyColor.black = 75; // rest of the values default to 0

for (var i=0; i<layer.pathItems.length; i++) {
   var item = layer.pathItems[i];

   if (item.fillColor.red === testColor.red &&
       item.fillColor.blue === testColor.blue &&
       item.fillColor.green === testColor.green)
   {
      item.fillColor = greyColor;
   }
}

Thanks for that, but it doesn't seem to work. Its something to do with defining the RGB colour. when I insert the line $.writeln("Test colour",item.fillColor.red); after the line that defines the item variable it spits out undefined — Bob Haslett, Jul 23 '14 at 17:34
But it will recognise a CKYK, so if I use $.writeln("Test colour",item.fillColor.cyan) it gives a value — Bob Haslett, Jul 23 '14 at 17:54

Change the color of objects with extendscript

3 Answers3