 Print this page 
Almost all of us use Adobe products in our professional and hobby design lives, but the new release of CS3 made it very hard for developers and websites like ours to allow users to get their palettes into the CS3 suite of products. CS3 uses a new format for storing color palettes aka schemes / swatches and Adobe kept their .ase file format a secret so that only Adobe Kuler could export to this format... Well, we're not very good about NOT sharing the color love... so Chris our skilled code engineer poured over all the specifications and documentation on the file format to figure out how to share that .ase love with everybody.
The Adobe Swatch Exchange (.ase) File Format - Source Code
For any other color lovers, developers or creative individuals who would like their applications and websites to be able to spit out .ase color palettes...
Here is the .ASE Source Code we are using.
Downloading .ase Color Palettes from COLOURlovers
COLOURlovers has over 200,000 user created palettes with more than 25,000 being added monthly. Not only is the community a creative and fun place to share color ideas... those ideas can be used in several professional design programs.
1.) Find a palette you love and want to use in CS3, then click the ASE icon and save the file to your computer. (We're using this color palette in our example.)
2.) In your CS3 program, under your swatches window click the right facing arrow.
3.) Choose load swatch and find the COLOURlovers file you saved on your computer.
4.) Once you click ok the color will be added to your colors swatch library.
8 November, 2007 14 
 Did you enjoy our post? Get our blog feed by Email or RSS for daily updates.  Showing 1 - 14 of 14 Comments
 
nowinvisi…8 Nov, 2007
OH MY GOD THIS IS AWESOME.
This is something I've been wanting for YEARS!! Great work!!!!! 
Stratific…8 Nov, 2007
Awesome, thanks for providing the source for your hard work. Way to spread the love! 
electrikm…8 Nov, 2007
the sweetness is just too much - this is the reason i joined here in the first place. really, this kicks .ase! 
phpdev679 Nov, 2007
Nice hint. You can even drag and drop the .ase file into the active area of your Photoshop. This works both with CS2 and CS3. The palette will be directly loaded in the swatch. 
PureForm9 Nov, 2007
Also, if one of you would like to improve upon this code, we'd be more than happy to update what we have to keep it up to date and make it more robust :-) 
Libbywalt…9 Nov, 2007
Thank you from the bottom of my heart 
dramatiqu…9 Nov, 2007
ooh; the way i do it is when i click the .ase button to download a palette, i open it straight with Adobe Photoshop CS3 (i'm using firefox, i selected an "other" program when opening it with a program and set adobe photoshop cs3 as my default) instead of downloading it to a folder/my desktop, and it just adds itself to my swatches. it adds instantly if photoshop is already open, if not then photoshop has to load and open (which in itself doesn't take very long at all) and then it adds itself to the swatches.
do any other people do it like that? :] 
BatteryLo…9 Nov, 2007
Too many people lately been restricting the use of color. It's gotta stop... color should be free for all. 
jenapple10 Nov, 2007
Love this! Will post it to our blog. 
cougsmont…7 Feb, 2008
does anyone here know why a .ase file with 1500 colors would only load the first 55 when imported into photoshop cs3?
BlueKDesi…30 Apr, 2008
COULOURlover,
I've been working with the ASE format as well. I'm working on an add-in for PPT to allow exporting colors to ASE and import colors from ASE. Thanks for posting the PHP code, it really helped me get a working export & import prototype in VBA.
Your ASE export works, but I think there are a few 'features' of the ASE format that you are missing. I only mention it in case you have a need for future features. :^) For example, color swatches can be RGB, CMYK, Lab or Gray. Also, Illustrator can create named color groups containing one or more color swatches.
I found the complete details of the format (and others, BTW) at http://www.selapa.net/couleurs/fileformats.php.
dcollins23 Nov, 2008
I....., "I once was lost..., but now I'm found!!!" Thank YOOOOU 4 zee info!!! LUHVIN' THIS CHERE!!!  You must be logged in to post a comment.  15 Trackbacks So Far... Hooray!
| sh**catapult.com » Blog Archive » Get Your Color Palettes in Adobe Swatch Exchange (.ase) 9 Nov, 2007
[...] could export to this format … Well, we’re not very good about NOT sharing the color love…read more | digg story Posted by Matt Filed in [...] | | Color + Design Blog / Color Palettes in Adobe Swatch Exchange (.ase) by COLOURlovers 9 Nov, 2007
[...] olearymi wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...] | | Design top DIGG news » Get Your Color Palettes in Adobe Swatch Exchange (.ase) 9 Nov, 2007
[...] read more | digg story [...] | | Herramientas para trabajar con color | Khaducsti por Keko Ponte 16 May, 2008
[...] (Adobe Swatch Exchange), que por lo que sé, está dando algún que otro quebradero de cabeza a más de uno y además no es compatible con [...] | | O Que é o Formato de Arquivo Adobe Swatch Exchange (.ase) » Gus SOS Brasil 10 Jun, 2008
[...] site ColourLovers foi disponibilizada uma rotina em PHP para criar um arquivo no padrão [...] | | Daro - Graphic / Web Designer » Blog Archive » Organiza todas tus paletas de colores con Color Browser 25 Jul, 2008
[...] paleta que nos gusta en COLOURlovers o en Kuler ya que la aplicación permite la importación en Adobe Swatch Exchange (.ASE) [...] | | Haberin Merkezi » Blog Archive » Color Browser : Kendi renk paletlerini oluştur ve düzenle 4 Aug, 2008
[...] ve kuler gibi yerlerden indireceğiniz, ASE formatlı renk paletlerini de eklemenize ve düzenlemenize imkan [...] | | Color Browser : Kendi renk paletlerini oluştur ve düzenle — World car insure 4 Aug, 2008
[...] ve kuler gibi yerlerden indireceğiniz, ASE formatlı renk paletlerini de eklemenize ve düzenlemenize imkan [...] | | 0 n 8 = ? » Blog Archive » Color Browser : Kendi renk paletlerini oluştur ve düzenle 4 Aug, 2008
[...] ve kuler gibi yerlerden indireceğiniz, ASE formatlı renk paletlerini de eklemenize ve düzenlemenize imkan [...] | | Color Browser; Kendi Renk Paletlerini Oluştur Ve Düzenle | Color , ColorTR Offical Web Page! 4 Aug, 2008
[...] ve kuler gibi yerlerden indireceğiniz, ASE formatlı renk paletlerini de eklemenize ve düzenlemenize imkan [...] | | Color Browser : Kendi renk paletlerini oluştur ve düzenle | webaktuel 5 Aug, 2008
[...] ve kuler gibi yerlerden indireceğiniz, ASE formatlı renk paletlerini de eklemenize ve düzenlemenize imkan [...] | | Organiza todas tus paletas de colores con Color Browser « Alvaro Bernal, El Diseño Gráfico segun Yo 21 Aug, 2008
[...] paleta que nos gusta en COLOURlovers o en Kuler ya que la aplicación permite la importación en Adobe Swatch Exchange (.ASE) Enlace | Color Browser Publicado por Alvaro coopera en nuestro cotidiano accionar [...] | | Color Browser Kendi renk paletlerini oluştur ve düzenle « zrmbilisim katkıları ile 2009 seo yarışması 17 Dec, 2008
[...] ve kuler gibi yerlerden indireceğiniz, ASE formatlı renk paletlerini de eklemenize ve düzenlemenize imkan [...] | | Herramientas para trabajar con color | Khaducsti 18 Mar, 2009
[...] (Adobe Swatch Exchange), que por lo que sé, está dando algún que otro quebradero de cabeza a más de uno y además no es compatible con [...] | | Organiza todas tus paletas de colores con Color Browser | BLOG DE ARQMEDIOS 28 Jul, 2009
[...] paleta que nos gusta en COLOURlovers o en Kuler ya que la aplicación permite la importación en Adobe Swatch Exchange [...] |
|
 
Do you have something interesting and colorful you want to share with over 600,000 lovers per month? We'd love to have you as a guest author, so send us an email with your tips or what you'd like to write about. Send Us Your Ideas or Tips Browse Archives
Search Blog
 
|
 |
