Auto Color Palettes

In addition to programming in ETC EOS, I sometimes program on a HOG 4. One of the features that I really enjoy on the HOG is the ability to automatically create color palettes for fixtures. I wanted this ability for my base EOS showfile, so when I walk into a venue and there's a fixture I've haven't worked with before I can easily integrate it into my effects and presets that reference color palettes.

I keep all of my color palette data in unpatched channels in the 4000 range and reference everything by type. My approach for creating the palettes is to create a macro for each palette . It takes awhile to set up but has saved me lots of time when on site at a job.

I've linked the macros all together so you only need to execute the first one. The macro uses select last to identify what channel or groups(s) to apply color info to so all I need to do is select the channels and run macro 4000. Here are the types of macros I've created:

1. A home color macro that captures what the home value for that specific fixture is. (Note: if you ever change the home preset of a fixture the palette won't reference that change after you've created the palette.)

2. Hue saturation palette macros for general colors like red, green, and magenta.

3. Gel color palette macros that reference the console gel color value.     

After all your macros are created for each color you want it's really satisfying to see the colors populate in the direct selects! If some colors don't show up in real life exactly how you'd like then you can easily adjust the palette. This method is just meant to give you a fast starting point.
Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions on how to do this better or if you'd like to hear about something else. I'm planning on doing a post soon on how I organize colors across files.