How to revert highlight color option back to black?

[Anonymous]

I just updated from v8.3.2 to v8.7.0 and am having an awful time with the new color pallet - as as usual I can't fathom why the default would ever be changed. Typically I avoid installing new versions of Eagle because literally every update brings in more bugs to things that were previously broken - and I have to juggle a few versions to work around problems so I don't know where the issue was introduced but this small annoyance is making it impossible for me to work well.

In every older version of eagle if you right-click an object in either schematic or board the outline and text, value, and tplace become highlighted in black (when using white background). Normally they are grey by default and become black when you right-click, or when you use the show command, or when you move them. Now in v8.7.0 when you show, select, or move an object they become LIGHTER! Its a problem with overlapping text that hasn't been formatted yet which is my last step, or when parts in the board are outside the dimensions and have a grey background it's just difficult to see.

I cannot for the life of me get this to change back. I've tried changing the highlight color in the pallet to black (255, 255, 255, 255 alpha), turning alpha channel blend one and off, and changed the new "highlight %" option to 50%, 0%, and 100% and no combination of these results in BLACK. The best I could accomplish is a little darker grey but not black. I achieve this by setting the highlight color (pallet row 2, column 8) to BLACK (255, 255, 255, 255), unchecking "use alpha blending" and setting the highlight option to 0% and now it goes from a middle grey to a darker grey when I right-click but DOES NOT CHANGE at all when I go to move the object - in fact all it does is show me dots where the lines used to draw the text overlap.

It is frustrating that there is no explanation of how the pallet works I've looked in the guide and searched the forum and google and all there is is a few sentances that say the first row is primary the second row is highlighted and then also there are other rows. How is there no labels? Why was this changed? Why does it get LIGHTER by default when you click something? And why can't I change it back? Why is every "improvement" always a step backwards?

[Anonymous]

The problem seems to be much larger than I thought, all the highlighted colors seem to be worse and wrong now. It used to be the default top layer color was red, and when you selected a pad, polygon, or started drawing a trace on a net the active net would highlight bright red, and now it highlights dark maroon and is impossible to see. When I look in the color pallet the highlighted color (row 2) is shown to be lighter but in reality comes out darker. What gives? And also, when I move a trace it is not highlighted either darker or lighter but stays the same color.

I don't understand the mismatch to the settings or how I get it to go back to the way it worked before. I've compared the new and older version of eagle and the color pallet swatches look identical so why are the colors in reality vastly different? Can somebody help me figure this out? It's almost impossible to get any work done when nothing highlights correctly.

[rachaelATWH4]

In Options->Set... go to the colours tab and drag the highlight slider up higher and it'll make the highlight bright. I expect for some reason it's set low on your system.

Even rows in the palette are no longer the highlight colours.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[Anonymous]

As I have said, I have already tried this setting. At new install it is set to 50%, but I have tried it with 0% as well as 100% and while it makes a tiny difference in ONLY SOME areas, it does not come even remotely close to something usable. I've downgraded back to 8.3.2 for now because I simply am not able to route when everything that should be light is dark and everything that should be dark is light.

I'm not sure if you only skimmed my post due to length but I have tried all iterations of the slider and alpha bend check box and verified that the color pallet matches the one set in 8.3.2 so they should be the same but are not even remotely the same in functionality. I would like to try out some features that are newer but I cannot until I can get the color problem fixed.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @Anonymous,

I hope you're doing well. On Matt's post listed here:
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/eagle-forum/eagle-8-7-parametric-2d-amp-3d-model-generation-library-i...

He explains how the palette works now. Basically, you can't specify a highlight color directly anymore, it's calculated as an offset of the base color. Every color on the palette is now considered a base color. You can control that offset by going to Options > Set you'll see a slider there. Play with it till you get the highlight behavior you want. In my testing I've found that 60% is what most closely resembles the old highlighting mechanism.

The main problem we are seeing now is that light or bright colors tend to highlight white under this new system. On a white background we have a problem.

We are gathering feedback and yours is very valuable. This is a WIP progress so stay tuned. The goal of this is to try to simplify EAGLE's colors system which while flexible is a bear for both developers and new users.

For now I suggest you play with the slider and see if you find an offset that works for you.

[ben.leduc-mills]

Hi Nicholas,

Do you mind providing the system / OS you are working on, so I can look into it further? It sounds like the highlighting isn't behaving as it should be.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

There is no possible option that is an acceptable or workable solution - that probably sounds like I am just being difficult but I am being honest. I exclusively use a white background which apparently you are saying has the greatest problems - based on what I am seeing I can confirm it at least feels like this is the case.

The reason there is no solution is because of the following:

I need grey test to become DARKER when selected.

I need traces to become LIGHTER when selected.

In the system you describe, a generic and consistent offset can not achieve both at the same time since they are opposite directions.

Next, it is not possible even as max (or min) settings to achieve the desired colors - also, the mostly default color system of eagle for decades. Why on EARTH are you taking out functionality that has existed without problem for so long?

Grey text is difficult to see on white when they overlap or are close enough to not tell where one ends and the next begins. I used to be able to click the component and the text would turn BLACK for easy viewing. Similarly, with a large board when I connect a trace to say, a semi common pad (ground, Vcc, I2C), and want to zoom out and see where the next closest pad or via is to plan a complicated route - it is impossible when the net become MORE DULL when active. In older versions the active net became BRIGHT and very easy to see when zoomed out. 

Perhaps there is some very strange assortment of wild florescent and distractingly obnoxious color sets that might somehow work under the new highlighting rule set but I'm not interested in that eye sore - I've been working on multiple multilayer boards on a multi year project and the colors are an intricate part of my memorization as I built these due to the time invested across the related products. What once was so terribly straightforward I never gave it any thought has now made the application utterly unusable and I am back to an older version to complete my work.

[Anonymous]

Windows 7 64-bit.

I will take some screenshots of a side by side comparison. I'm not sure yet how they might come out because I also wish to hide certain details about the product design.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @Anonymous,

I would suggest not to downgrade to 8.3.2. You can use 8.6.3 it's the latest version that still uses the old color system. You'll be able to enjoy most of the new features while still having the colors you are used to. That should hold you over while we sort this out.

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Here are a couple of attachments showing a comparison to Eagle 8.3.2 and Eagle 8.7.0 showing my frustration in both board and schematic file examples. Each column is the same version of Eagle, each row is a different comparison. The color settings are essentially the default - typically I change colors only in the layers toolbar item and never in the options pallete, however I did change the row 2 column 8 color to black after googling and seeing that this is what should have been the highlight color for the silkscreen layer which at the time I first noticed was too light.

To follow along, please look at EagleColorCompare1.png attached.

I am using a white background, and have shown the color pallet for the white background in Options > Set > Colors > White Background > Pallete. Note that for these screenshots Alpha Blending is enabled (checked) and the Highlighted slider (only in 8.7.0) is set to 0%. As stated previously, I have tried turning alpha blending on and off as well as changing the highlighted slider to 50% and 100% but there is no solution which makes the comparison the same.

Next, you can see side by side the use of the SHOW command in a sample board layout. There are components on both sides of the board and I type in SHOW R173 to help me find the resistor in question. You can see that in 8.3.2 (and earlier) the silkscreen & text layers become darker (black) and stand out a great deal, while the landing pads become lighter (blue) and stand out as well. In V8.7.0 the text becomes ~10% darker, and the landing pads become darker as well and neither stand out at all.

Next, you see a side by side of the SHOW command in the schematic editor. Again see that the text becomes darker and the component color becomes lighter in 8.3.2, but in 8.7.0 the text becomes barely darker and the component becomes slightly darker.

Next, you see the show command (actually I think I just used the Rout tool and clicked on a landing pad) for the GND net of my board. You can very easily see the traces on the top, bottom, and vias all become significantly brighter and easier to see, stands out quite well in 8.3.2 but in 8.7.0 everything becomes dull and dreary and hard to see.

Now please refer to EagleColorCompare2.png attached

The first two rows show the color differences between the SHOW and MOVE commands in the schematic which used to be more or less identical in 8.3.2, note that only difference is that with MOVE the net traces also become brighter but that otherwise the text becomes dark black and the colors becomes brighter. Whereas in 8.7.0 the colors behave differently for each command. With the SHOW command the text becomes just barely darker, the component becomes slightly darker and does not stand out. The MOVE command is where it gets more interesting, the text does not change color at all but something strange happens with it's alpha color layer where the base of the segments remain unchanged but any overlap shows darker circles. So the number "1" is comprised of 3 lines with 2 intersections and if you zoom in you can see 2 darker circles where the two segment intersections occur. The same thing happens with the red body color of the resistor, the main color does not highlight at all either darker or lighter, but shows the same intersection color artifacts.

Next, the bottom two rows show the same comparison of the SHOW and MOVE command in the board editor. In 8.3.2 as far as I can tell there is no difference whatsoever. The text becomes darker, the pads become lighter and all is good. In 8.7.0 there are the same differences as in the schematic. SHOW results in lighter darker colors for both and neither stands out, while MOVE has no color change but displays artifacts at line intersections... you can see where I apparently didn't do a great job at making the resistor outline silkscreen layer in the library / device/package and must have stopped and started a couple of times near the top left corner.

In conclusion,

1. The old color scheme used to make text darker and traces lighter while the new color scheme makes them both change in the same direction
2. It is seemingly not possisble to apply any amount of highlighting to achieve black text
3. The SHOW and MOVE (as well as the right-click selection, Rout / trace, and Group tools etc) are not consistent in their highlighting
4. Using the move tool does not highlight any part or trace in the new version, but it did in the older versions

EDIT: Sorry forgot to attach images the first time...

[Anonymous]

It has been a week since I posted visual and detailed examples and I have not heard anything since. I will continue to use old versions since it is infinitely more usable but would like to eventually upgrade since that is the entire selling point of the new subscription payment model we were all forced into.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @Anonymous,

I hope you're doing well. Sorry about the delay in getting back to you. Our developers agree with you and they are working on a solution. Thank you for the detailed images and description. I don't have an ETA for it yet but it's something we want to get in soon.

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Thank you, this is all I can ask for. What are the chances of someone posting in this thread again if and when it is implemented?

I don't update with every version so I might not notice release notes. (Although sometimes I do read those!)

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @Anonymous,

I know for a fact that the next release won't contain the fix it's coming too soon. However, within the next couple of months I expect to see this resolved. I can't promise I'll remember to post (I see too many posts a day and it's easy to miss something). So I suggest that whenever you want to check on the status of this just feel free to post and I'll be happy to give an update.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[C.Nicks]

Hi Nickolas,
I too am not using the new version until this issue is fixed. They stated that they did it so it's easier for new users to understand, but I think a simple label next to the color boxes would've done a much better job at that. It would've also taken much less time and effort. New users need instruction, not feature changes.

In my workflow I work exclusively in black palette, but I have similar issues. I think this would get even worse for people that use mixed palettes, as there is only one master slider.

With this new change there is no way to define different highlights for every color used. I tend to use completely different colors that contrast so I can clearly see it in the design.
For example, for airwires, the regular color is a very light yellow while the highlight is bright green. In the schematic, the nets are green while the highlight is yellow.
These kind of contrasting colors allow me to see clearly through very complex designs.

Personally this a huge hit to the usefulness of highlighting and severely impacts my productivity.

I really hope they fix this and give back per layer highlighting, because I want to be able to use the other new features.

Devs, this may seem like a small thing to you, but this is the closest thing to a deal breaker for me that has been changed.

If you want to make something clearer to new users, put a label on it first.

Maybe instead of a highlight slider, you could add a dimming slider, so everything elses gets dimmed while highlighting. Think single layer view in routing but globally.

[one-of-the-robs]

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@C.Nicks wrote:

With this new change there is no way to define different highlights for every color used. I tend to use completely different colors that contrast so I can clearly see it in the design.

...
Personally this a huge hit to the usefulness of highlighting and severely impacts my productivity.

I really hope they fix this and give back per layer highlighting, because I want to be able to use the other new features.

Devs, this may seem like a small thing to you, but this is the closest thing to a deal breaker for me that has been changed.

---

Many years ago, I worked in a department where the hardware team used Mentor Graphics on Apollo workstations. There was one chap whose preferred colour palette looked utterly disgusting to everyone else, and apparently made no sense. He was, in fact, red-green colour blind. His concept of clearly different colours was quite different to most of us.

Like Cameron says, making the highlighting rules "simpler" is simply not going to work for everyone. Please make them more flexible instead.

[Anonymous]

This is such a BASIC problem and should be fixed ASAP - it's now almost a year later and it's not solved? Seriously, stop implementing all your fancy new features and let the basics work before you start to fly on the moon.

I struggle so much with it and tried different settings but they will never work because in high contrast mode, changing the hue of course won't affect gray scale colors like text. And in normal mode, brightening gray colors up results on white text on white background (schematics) and darken them results on black text on black background (layout). A ton of users are just used to white on schematics and black on layout.

How can you possibly not spot that this is a huge problem while testing software? Using the new Eagle got so frustrating. 😞

To users having this problem as well: setting highlight to ≈ 88 % hurts the least.

[rachaelATWH4]

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@Anonymous wrote:

This is such a BASIC problem and should be fixed ASAP - it's now almost a year later and it's not solved? 

I remember this being a problem when they first changed the way highlighting works but I thought this was all fixed long ago, it certainly isn't an issue on my setup. Have you tried running the default-colors.scr or legacy-colors.scr scripts which ship with the version of EAGLE you are running (I'm assuming 9.3.0?) to see if they solve the issue as it sounds like some layer colour setting isn't right on your system. I have to say, I really don't like the new colour scheme so I reset mine with the legacy colours script and all became sane again.

Best Regards,

Rachael