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<h3 class="title"><a id="gimp-palettes"></a>4.11. Palettes</h3>
</div>
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<p>
A <span class="emphasis"><em>palette</em></span> is a set of discrete
colors. In GIMP, palettes are used mainly for two purposes:
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist">
<ul type="disc">
<li>
<p>
They allow you to paint with a selected set of colors, in the
same way an oil painter works with colors from a limited
number of tubes.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
They form the colormaps of indexed images. An indexed image
can use a maximum of 256 different colors, but these can be
any colors. The colormap of an indexed image is called an
"indexed palette" in GIMP.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p>
Actually neither of these functions fall very much into the
mainstream of GIMP usage: it is possible to do rather
sophisticated things in GIMP without every dealing with palettes.
Still, they are something that an advanced user should understand,
and even a less advanced user may need to think about them in
some situations, as for example when working with GIF files.
</p>
<div class="informalfigure">
<div class="mediaobject">
<img src="../images/dialogs/dialogs-palettes.png" />
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<p>
The Palettes dialog
</p>
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<p>
When you install GIMP, it comes supplied with several dozen
predefined palettes, and you can also create new ones. Some of
the predefined palettes are commonly useful, such as the "Web"
palette, which contains the set of colors considered "web safe";
many of the palettes seem to have been chosen more or less
whimsically. You can access all of the available palettes using
the <a href="ch04s13.html" title="13. Palettes">Palettes dialog</a>.
This is also the starting point if you want to create a new
palette.
</p>
<div class="informalfigure">
<div class="mediaobject">
<img src="../images/dialogs/dialogs-palette-editor.png" />
<div class="caption">
<p>
The Palette Editor
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
Double-clicking on a palette in the Palettes dialog brings up the
<a href="ch04s13s03.html" title="13.3. Palette Editor">Palette Editor</a>, showing
the colors from the palette you clicked
on. You can use this to paint with the palette: clicking on a
color sets GIMP's foreground to that color, as shown in the Color
Area of the Toolbox. Holding down the Ctrl key while clicking, on
the other hand, sets GIMP's background color to the color you
click on.
</p>
<p>
You can also, as the name implies, use the Palette Editor to
change the colors in a palette, so long as it is a palette that
you have created yourself. You cannot edit the palettes that are
supplied with GIMP; however you can duplicate them and then edit
the copies.
</p>
<p>
When you create palettes using the Palette Editor, they are
automatically saved as soon as you exit GIMP, in the
<tt class="filename">palettes</tt> folder of your personal GIMP
directory. Any palette files in this directory, or in the system
<tt class="filename">palettes</tt> directory created when GIMP is
installed, are automatically loaded and shown in the Palettes
dialog the next time you start GIMP. You can also add other
folders to the palette search path using the <a href="ch04s18s16.html" title="18.16. Data Folders">Palette Folders</a> page of
the Preferences dialog.
</p>
<p>
GIMP palettes are stored using a special file format, in files
with the extension <tt class="filename">.gpl</tt>. It is a very simple
format, and they are ASCII files, so if you happen to obtain
palettes from another source, and would like to use them in GIMP,
it probably won't be very hard to convert them: just take a look
at any <tt class="filename">.gpl</tt> and you will see what to do.
</p>
<div class="simplesect" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
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<div>
<div>
<h4 class="title"><a id="id3311437"></a>Colormap</h4>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
Confusingly, GIMP makes use of two types of palettes. The more
noticeable are the type shown in the Palettes dialog: palettes
that exist independently of any image. The second type,
<span class="emphasis"><em>indexed palettes</em></span>, form the colormaps of
indexed images. Each indexed image has its own private indexed
palette, defining the set of colors available in the image: the
maximum number of colors allowed in an indexed palette is 256.
These palettes are called "indexed" because each color is
associated with an index number. (Actually, the colors in
ordinary palettes are numbered as well, but the numbers have no
functional significance.)
</p>
<div class="informalfigure">
<div class="mediaobject">
<img src="../images/dialogs/dialogs-indexed-palette.png" />
<div class="caption">
<p>
The Colormap dialog
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
The colormap of an indexed image is shown in the <a href="ch04s05.html" title="5. Indexed Palette dialog">Indexed Palette
dialog</a>, which should not be confused with the Palettes
dialog. The Palettes dialog shows a list of all of the palettes
available; the Indexed Palette dialog shows the colormap of the
currently active image, if it is an indexed image---otherwise it
shows nothing.
</p>
<p>
You can, however, create an ordinary palette from the colors in
an indexed image---actually from the colors in any image. To do
this, choose "Import Palette" from the right-click popup menu in
the Palettes dialog: this pops up a dialog that gives you
several options, including the option to import the palette from
an image. (You can also import any of GIMP's gradients as a
palette.) This possibility becomes important if you want to
create a set of indexed images that all use the same set of
colors.
</p>
<p>
When you convert an image into indexed mode, a major part of the
process is the creation of an indexed palette for the image.
How this happens is described in detail in ??. Briefly, you
have several methods to choose from, one of which is to use a
specified palette from the Palettes dialog.
</p>
<p>
Thus, to sum up the foregoing, ordinary palettes can be turned
into indexed palettes when you convert an image into indexed
mode; indexed palettes can be turned into ordinary palettes by
importing them into the Palettes dialog.
</p>
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