AS Pixel Color v2.5

AS Pixel Color is a professional, open-source real-time pixel color analysis tool built with AutoHotkey v2. It provides detailed pixel inspection, multiple color formats, and practical tools for designers, developers, and digital artists.

🌟 Key Features

• Integrated Color Palette: Save sampled colors to a persistent palette. Supports up to 52 colors with automatic persistence across sessions.
• Smart Palette Management: Automatically prevents duplicate colors and includes a "Sort" feature to organize colors by perceptual luminance (dark to light).
• Modern Menu Bar Interface: Quick access to all features via a structured menu system (File, Settings, Palette, Help).
• GDI+ Pixel Zoom Preview: Inspect screen pixels in detail with a real-time zoom preview from 2x to 72x.
• DPI-Aware Sampling: Uses per-monitor DPI awareness and physical-coordinate capture for precise color picking on mixed-DPI multi-monitor setups.
• Active Pixel Highlighting: The center pixel is marked with a high-contrast double border (black + white) for clear visibility.
• Flexible UI Controls: Toggle Zoom, Grid lines, and Auto-Update via checkboxes or the menu bar.
• Extensive Color Format Support: HEX, DEC, RGB, RGB (%), RGBA, BGR, CMYK, HSL, and HSV.
• Color Name Recognition: Detects standard named colors (e.g., AliceBlue, Crimson) instantly.
• Detailed RGB Analysis: Displays channel values numerically and with visual progress bars that change color based on intensity.
• Configurable Hotkeys: F1/F2 shortcut keys can be customized via settings.ini.
• Unified Settings Persistence: All settings (zoom, grid, auto-update, always-on-top) and the palette are saved and restored from a single settings.ini file.
• Keyboard Shortcuts Dialog: View all active shortcuts at a glance via Help → Keyboard Shortcuts.
• Precision Shortcuts: Custom hotkeys for micro-movements and quick actions, scoped to the main window to avoid conflicts.

⌨️ Shortcuts and Usage

1. Track Motion: Move the mouse anywhere on screen to inspect the current pixel in real time.
2. Pause/Resume Updates: Press F1 to toggle live updates (or use the Update checkbox/menu).
3. Save Color to Palette: Press F2 (or use the Add button/menu) to save the current color.
4. Precision Mouse Move (main window must be active):
   • Ctrl + Arrow Keys: Move the cursor by 1 pixel.
   • Ctrl + Shift + Arrow Keys: Move the cursor by 10 pixels.
5. Adjust Zoom:
   • Use the Mouse Wheel to increase/decrease zoom.
   • Use the Zoom Slider for direct level selection.
6. Toggle Zoom/Grid:
   • Use the Zoom checkbox/menu to show/hide zoom preview.
   • Use Grid lines checkbox/menu to switch grid overlay on/off.
7. Copy Values: Click any Copy button to send the selected value to clipboard.
8. View Shortcuts: Use Help → Keyboard Shortcuts to see all active key bindings.

Note: F1 and F2 hotkeys are configurable via settings.ini ([Hotkeys] section). They are scoped to the main window and do not conflict with other applications.

🛠️ Technical Setup

Standalone Version (.exe)

Download and run the .exe file for your system from the releases page.

Running from Source

1. Install AutoHotkey v2.
2. Download the source AS Pixel Color.ahk, color_names.ahk and app_icon.ico files from the src/ folder.
3. Place required files in the same directory.
4. Run the script by double-clicking the AS Pixel Color.ahk file.

📝 Version History

• v2.5 (2026-02-20):

  • Replaced palette.txt with a unified settings.ini file that persists all application state: zoom level, zoom/grid/auto-update/always-on-top toggles, and the color palette.
  • Added configurable hotkeys: F1 (Toggle Update) and F2 (Add Color) can now be reassigned via settings.ini under the [Hotkeys] section.
  • Added Keyboard Shortcuts dialog (Help → Keyboard Shortcuts) showing all active key bindings.
  • Scoped F1/F2 hotkeys to the main window only (no longer global), preventing conflicts with other applications.
  • Arrow-key precision movement hotkeys also scoped to main window active state.

• v2.4 (2026-02-17):

  • Added Color Palette system with persistence (palette.txt).
  • Implemented Duplicate Prevention and Luminance Sorting for the palette.
  • Added a Comprehensive Menu Bar for better feature accessibility.
  • Expanded UI layout to accommodate the palette and improved control grouping.
  • Added F2 shortcut for adding colors to the palette.
  • Refactored technical core with a centralized CONFIG object.

• v2.3 (2026-02-16):

  • Added DPI-aware capture flow with physical cursor/pixel sampling support.
  • Refactored screen capture and zoom rendering to a bitmap-based, nearest-neighbor pipeline.
  • Improved edge behavior by capturing an extra ring and safely filling out-of-screen regions.
  • Updated zoom step set to 2x-72x with refined progression.
  • Updated UI controls: dedicated Zoom toggle placement and About button.
  • Kept refresh performance optimized with change-driven updates and render locking.

• v2.2 (2026-02-14):

  • Added a Grid lines toggle for the zoom preview.
  • Reworked zoom system with predefined zoom steps and improved slider/mouse-wheel behavior.
  • Improved preview logic to keep an adaptive visible area and more stable centering.
  • Improved multi-monitor and screen-edge capture safety.
  • Refactored update flow with centralized APP/State objects and render lock.
  • Optimized refresh behavior to redraw only when position/color/zoom changes.
  • Improved color conversion flow by reusing shared HSX calculations.

• v2.1 (2026-02-13):

  • Added high-contrast active pixel highlighting.
  • Added precision keyboard shortcuts for 1px and 10px cursor movement.
  • Refactored grid updates for smoother performance.

• v2.0 (2026-02-12):

  • Introduced GDI+ advanced zoom grid.
  • Added HSL, HSV, and CMYK color formats.
  • Added color name identification.
  • Redesigned and modernized UI.
  • Added mouse wheel zoom control.

• v1.4 (2025-05-04):

  • Code optimization and performance improvements.

• v1.3 (2024-04-18):

  • Added Always on Top option and tray icon adjustments.

• v1.0 (2024-03-20):

  • Initial release.

👤 Author

Mesut Akcan
Email: makcan@gmail.com
Blog: akcanSoft Blog | Mesut Akcan Blog
YouTube: YouTube Channel

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Open a pull request or submit an issue to suggest features or report bugs.