PANTONE® Textile Color Chooser

User Guide
Version 1.0 for Windows® 95/98 or Windows NT® 4.0

Overview
The PANTONE Textile Color Chooser contains two color palettes: (1) the PANTONE TEXTILE Color
System® (TCS) – 1,701 colors specifically developed by Pantone for fashion conscious industries and (2)
the PANTONE Textile New Colors – 56 New Colors that are part of the most recent range extension for
the industry standard PANTONE TEXTILE Color System

A companion fan guide accompanies each color palette. Each guide displays a printed representation of
the color.

The PANTONE Textile Color Chooser is designed to work with any design and illustration applications
or any other application where you need to use the PANTONE Textile Colors. As a designer, stylist or
CAD technician, you now have the ability to use PANTONE Textile Colors in a digital format for the
accurate communication of color.

What are the PANTONE Textile Colors used in this Color Chooser?
The PANTONE Colors contain the RGB and HTML data for the industry standard PANTONE TEXTILE
Color System and the new 56-color range extension. This palette is a full 24-bit (millions of colors)
palette and, therefore, some colors will dither on an 8-bit display. These PANTONE Colors have been
specially calibrated for the standard monitor color space for the World Wide Web and for the Windows
operating system. This is known as sRGB. For more information on sRGB, please see the note about
sRGB later on in this document.

Minimum Windows® Hardware & Software Requirements:

 Microsoft® Windows 95/98 or Windows NT® 4.0
 4 MB of RAM
 256-color display
 1 MB of disk space (for color picker installation only)

Installation instructions:
1. Insert CD-ROM, the Setup program will run automatically. If you are using the installer downloaded
from the Internet, double-click on the installer icon.
2. Follow the on-screen instructions and select the directory in which you want to install PANTONE
Textile Color Chooser.
3. When installation is completed, the Setup program may display a message to prompt you to restart
your computer.
4. A PANTONE Textile Color Chooser shortcut will be placed on your desktop.
Getting started:
The PANTONE Textile Color Chooser palettes are designed to work in conjunction with your design and
illustration applications. This makes it easy to apply PANTONE Textile Colors to any element you wish
to color.
1. Select PANTONE Textile Color Chooser from the Programs menu or the location you have
chosen to install the program or you may double-click on the PANTONE Textile Color Chooser
shortcut placed on your desktop.
2. This will display a PANTONE “Swatch” on your desktop. The color swatch will appear on your
desktop displaying the RGB and/or HTML value for that specific color. Double-clicking on this
Swatch will open the PANTONE Textile Color Chooser color picker from which you can select a
color of your choice.

The RGB data is presented in sequential order Red being the first set of values, followed by Green and
then Blue. In this case Red=247, Blue=92 and Green=38. The HTML data is standard hexadecimal
notation for the RGB values displayed.

How do I change the color of a PANTONE Swatch?

There are three ways you can access the PANTONE Textile Color Chooser palettes in order to change the
color of a Swatch you’ve selected:
 Double-click on the Swatch icon and the PANTONE Textile Color Chooser will be displayed
so that you can now select a different color.
 The use of the right mouse button will also bring up a menu that will let you choose the Color
Picker from the menu to choose a new color for an existing swatch.
 Use the keystroke shortcut of Ctrl+P to bring up PANTONE Textile Color Chooser and
choose a new color for the swatch.

This will open up a window from which you can select a color from either the PANTONE
TEXTILE Color System or the 56 New Colors in the range extension. The default color system
displayed will be the PANTONE TEXTILE Color System Colors. To switch to the New Color
Palette for the Textile System, click on the "More" button and then select the New Colors
palette. The “More” button will let you switch from one color system to another. The keystroke
shortcut of Crtl+N will let you switch from the PANTONE TEXTILE Color System to the
PANTONE Textile New Color Palette. Conversely, the keystroke combination of Crtl+T will
switch from the PANTONE Textile New Color Palette to the PANTONE TEXTILE Color
System.
Drag the scroll
bar to the left or
right to rapidly
scroll through Point and click on the
the PANTONE rainbow color locator bar
TEXTILE Color to jump to a specific
palette. color set location.

Type the name or

number of the color in
the Find Color window
Click to switch and press Enter to select
PANTONE that PANTONE
TEXTILE TEXTILE Color.
Color Palettes

There are three ways you can select a PANTONE TEXTILE Color System Color or a PANTONE
TEXTILE Color System New Color:
 Use the horizontal scroll bar to scroll through the list of colors.
 Use the colored horizontal rainbow bar to move quickly to the general area for the color
you want. If necessary, use the horizontal scroll bar to isolate an individual color.
 If you know the number of the color you want, you can type the color number directly
into the text entry box below the colors. Once the color number is entered, the
PANTONE TEXTILE Color System Color Chooser palette selected will
automatically highlight the proper color.

Once you've located the color desired, simply click "OK" or double-click on the color. A color swatch
with the selected color will appear on your desktop displaying the RGB and/or HTML value for that
specific color.

How do I get the PANTONE Textile Color data into my application?

The color values can then be manually entered into the application you are using by using the right mouse
button to access the Copy to Clipboard function. As each application allows you to enter or edit colors
differently, please consult your application's user manual if you are unsure how to do this. Color data can
also be copied into the clipboard using a keystroke shortcut of Ctrl+C.

Can I have more than one PANTONE Swatch displayed on my desktop? How can I add another
PANTONE Swatch to my desktop?
You can have any number of PANTONE Swatches displayed on the desktop for easy reference. In order
to add another swatch to the desktop, click on the PANTONE Textile Color Chooser application icon or
double-click on the program shortcut. This will bring up a new PANTONE Swatch on your desktop. To
change the color of the new swatch, access the PANTONE Textile Color Chooser color palettes by
double-clicking on the swatch or use the keystroke shortcut of Crtl+P. You will then need to highlight
and select another color from the PANTONE Textile Color Chooser palettes in order for a different color
to be displayed.

How do you change the data displayed in a PANTONE Swatch?

Using the right mouse button will bring up a menu with an item labeled “View”. The View menu item
will let you change the data displayed in the desktop swatch icon. You have the following choices:
 RGB data only
 HMTL data only
 RGB and HTML displayed together

Can I change the size of the PANTONE Swatch?

Using the right mouse button will bring up a menu with an item labeled “Size”. From this menu item you
can select from three swatch sizes.
What does the Stay on Top function do?
A PANTONE Swatch can stay on top of any open window if this menu item is selected. This will make
the swatch easily accessible. If you wish to have the swatch reside behind any open windows, be sure that
the Stay on Top menu item is unchecked.

How do I remove a swatch from my desktop?

Each swatch must be dismissed individually by choosing Exit using the right mouse button options menu.
Simply right-click on the swatch you wish to remove from the desktop and choose Exit from the menu
displayed. You can also right-click the Taskbar button for the active PANTONE Textile Digital Color
Swatch and select Close (Alt+F4)

Keystroke shortcut summary:

Function/Command Keystroke Shortcut

Switch from PANTONE TEXTILE Color System to Crtl+N
PANTONE TEXTILE Color System - New Colors
Switch from PANTONE TEXTILE Color System - New Colors Ctrl+T
to PANTONE TEXTILE Color System Colors
Copy color data from a PANTONE Textile Color Chooser Ctrl+C
Swatch to the clipboard
Display PANTONE Textile Color Chooser palette selector Ctrl+P
Close a PANTONE Textile Color Swatch Alt+F4

Right mouse button function summary:

The right mouse button is used to access the options menus in PANTONE Textile Color Chooser. By
selecting a swatch and using the right button of your mouse, you can access the following functions:
 Access to PANTONE Textile Color Chooser palettes (Color Picker) to change or select a color for the
selected swatch
 Copy data to the Clipboard
 Change the view of a swatch – this will let you select the data to be displayed in the swatch or to
change the size of the swatch
 Stay on Top – when this is checked off, the swatch will reside on the top of any open window
 Exit – this will close the swatch and remove it from the desktop

What is sRGB?
Traditionally, operating systems have supported the display of colors on a monitor by using RGB.
However, as RGB varies between devices, color was not reliably reproduced across different monitors.
Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft have developed a standard monitor color space that is optimized to meet
the needs of most users. This new color space is called sRGB. Very simply, sRGB is calibrated RGB
that is optimized for the vast majority of computer monitors that use the Windows operating system.
sRGB specifications use a monitor with a gamma of 2.2 and 6,500 degree Kelvin white point. sRGB will
allow color to be reproduced and displayed in a single, unified method that provides for viewing
consistency from monitor to monitor. Further, Microsoft has made sRGB the default monitor color space
for Windows 98.
Important note about sRGB:
The RGB color values displayed in the PANTONE Textile Color Chooser are Pantone's official release of
RGB values that conform to the sRGB specification. These colors will display reasonably well on most
color monitors but will not exactly match PANTONE Textile Colors on dyed fabric. In the future, these
values may be used by many software programs and hardware devices to communicate PANTONE Color
information. Therefore, please do not change these RGB values in your software in order to obtain a
better match on your specific monitor.

The PANTONE sRGB values were developed with many variables being taken into account. Some of
them are:
 Differences in monitors from one manufacturer to another and identical monitors by the same
manufacturer
 Age of monitor
 Imperfections in the monitor manufacturing process
 Ambient lighting conditions
 Individual perceptual response to color
 The adaptive response to color - colors can visually change based on adjacent and/or
background colors
 The relative distance that the printed guide is held in relation to the monitor

The RGB data derived for this PANTONE Textile Color Chooser are the result of a collaborative effort
with several color scientists. The process of creating sRGB data involved measuring spectral data for the
PANTONE TEXTILE Color System and the New Range Extension Colors on dyed fabric from a
benchmarked set of PANTONE Color Standards. The spectral information was then run against
mathematical algorithms to transform them into sRGB data. However, due to the non-linearity of color
space and visual adaptation of the human perception of color, the results proved to be inconsistent. The
resultant sRGB values in this PANTONE Textile Color Chooser are the best possible data derived after
taking all of the above factors into consideration.

Technical Support
Pantone is committed to providing you with immediate and polite technical support. When calling for
software support, please be at your computer and have a description of your problem available.

You can reach Pantone Software Support several ways:

 Telephone: (201) 935-5500, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Eastern Time.
 Fax: (201) 896-0242. Make sure you indicate whether you want a reply by telephone, fax or
e-mail and don’t forget to provide your telephone/fax numbers or your e-mail address.
 E-mail: [email protected]
How To Contact Us:
NORTH AMERICA
Pantone, Inc.
590 Commerce Blvd.
Carlstadt, NJ 07072-3098
Telephone: 201-935-5500
Fax: 201-896-0242

EUROPE
Pantone U.K., Inc.
8 Stade Street
Hythe, Kent CT21 6BD
England
Telephone: (44) 1303-269666
Fax: (44) 1303-264464

ASIA
Pantone Asia, Inc.
Unit A, 15/F, Southern Commercial Bldg.
No. 11-13, Luard Road
Wanchai, Hong Kong
Telephone: (852) 2724-8822
Fax: (852) 2724-8800

For up-to-date information and information about other PANTONE Products, visit our Web site at:
www.pantone.com

***********************************************************
All trademarks (™) and registered trademarks (®) used herein are either the property of Pantone, Inc. or
other companies. Any omission of such marks from any product is regretted and is not intended as an
infringement on such trademarks.

PANTONE® Computer video simulations used in this product may not match PANTONE®-identified
solid color standards. Use current PANTONE Color Publications for the accurate color.

© Pantone, Inc., 1998

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