Sampling a colour
The dropper, in a harmony
The dropper in the control row fills seeds in order. In a harmony with no seed yet it picks the First colour, and in Colour Ramp it then picks the Last. Once both are set it goes back to re-picking the First. In Palette mode it simply adds to the palette.
Its help text says which pick is next, so you never have to remember where you are.
So building a ramp is: click the dropper, pick, click again, pick. Nothing to set up first.
Seeds are marked: a small vermilion tick sits beside the hex of each one, so in a ramp you can see that the first and last are yours and the steps between are worked out.
To re-sample one seed in particular rather than whichever is next, hover it. Each seed carries its own dropper on the right of the row, and clicking that goes straight to it. Holding ⌘ for First or ⌥ for Last while the loupe is up does the same thing without leaving the keyboard.
The loupe
Pick First Colour (⇧⌘1) and Pick Last Colour (⇧⌘2) open the system magnifier across every display. Move to the pixel you want and click. Esc or a right-click cancels without changing anything.
While the loupe is up, three modifiers change where the pick lands:
| Hold | Result |
|---|---|
| ⌘ | Sets the first colour |
| ⌥ | Sets the last colour |
| ⇧ | Adds the pick to the palette |
Without bringing Suisai forward
Quick Pick to Clipboard (⌥⌘P) samples a colour straight to the clipboard in your chosen code format, from whatever app you’re in. Suisai stays where it is. The shortcut can be changed in Settings, and the menu bar dropper does the same job.
The dropper stays in the menu bar the whole time Suisai is running, and its icon carries a chip of the most recent pick, so the last colour you took is visible without opening anything.
Clicking it opens a panel holding the last twelve picks, each with its name and hex. Any of them can be copied in your chosen format or any other, added to an open palette, or promoted to the First or Last colour. Clear Recents empties the list.
Typing a value
Hex fields accept a value directly. Component boxes take whole numbers: a whole 8-bit level, a whole degree, a whole percent. The system colour panel is available for any colour with ⌥⌘C.