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CAD tip CAD tip # 8649:

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The COLOR dialog in AutoCAD (the "Color Book" tab) lists all color books (.ACB files) defined in the AutoCAD color book search path, as set in the Options dialog.

You can also define and add your own custom color books containing your company colors (e.g. from your corporate identity kit), or colors of your product family (e.g. paints, enamels).

You can use two ways. The simpler one is to use the interactive "Autodesk Color Book Editor" - see DL Download. This utility will create the ACB file containing your RGB colors. This file can be then copied to the Support/Color folder to be automatically loaded into AutoCAD.

Another way is to manually define the XML file with the extension .ACB. This file has the following structure:

< ?xml version="1.0" encoding = "UTF-8"?>
< colorBook>
  < bookName>ACME Colors< /bookName>
  < colorPage>
    < pageColor>  < RGB8Encrypt> < redEncrypt>PPC< /redEncrypt> < greenEncrypt>QMH< /greenEncrypt> < blueEncrypt>QZB< /blueEncrypt> < /RGB8Encrypt> < /pageColor>
    < colorEntry>  < colorName>Color-1< /colorName> < RGB8Encrypt> < redEncrypt>LGH< /redEncrypt> < greenEncrypt>LHH < blueEncrypt>UZG< /blueEncrypt> < /RGB8Encrypt> < /colorEntry>
...

As you can see, the color hues are encrypted. But AutoCAD supports also (not documented) an unencrypted version of ACB files. These files differ only slightly from the above format:

< ?xml version="1.0" encoding = "UTF-8"?>
< colorBook>
  < bookName>ACME Colors< /bookName>
  < colorPage>
    < pageColor>  < RGB8> < red>100< /red> < green>100< /green> < blue>100< /blue> < /RGB8> < /pageColor>
    < colorEntry>  < colorName>Color-1< /colorName> < RGB8> < red>100< /red> < green>20 < blue>10< /blue> < /RGB8> < /colorEntry>
...

So you can type your color book manually in a XML editor or even in Notepad. You can also convert/generate such color book programmatically.

PS: remove spaces from the displayed XML tags

ACADRevit
100% *CAD
24.5.2012    27672×  
applies to: AutoCAD · Revit ·

See also:
Tip 13522:LookupXLS - populating DWG texts from Excel spreadsheets.
Tip 11714:How to assign a RAL color to a DWG object and get its ACI equivalent?
Tip 10469:How to install a new color book to your AutoCAD?
Tip 8640:Text formatting codes in MText objects.
Tip 6361:Direct entry of a Pantone color hue for AutoCAD entities.


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