Applying Colors
Click a petal to apply its color to the selected layers. The default behavior creates a linked fill, meaning the layer’s fill color is driven by a reference to the petal.
| Click | Action |
|---|---|
| Click | Apply as linked fill |
| Shift + click | Apply as linked stroke |
| Cmd/Ctrl + click | Apply as both linked fill and stroke |
| Alt/Option + click | Apply as unlinked fill (plain color, no link) |
| Alt/Option + Shift + click | Apply as unlinked stroke |
A ripple animation plays on the petal when the color is successfully applied.
How Linking Works
The linking mechanism differs between After Effects and Illustrator.
After Effects
When you apply a linked color in After Effects, Petals:
- Creates a palette composition if one doesn’t exist. This is a hidden composition named after Petals that stores all palette data.
- Creates a palette layer inside that composition with one color property per petal, identified by a stable petal ID.
- Writes an expression on the target layer’s fill or stroke that reads the color value from the palette layer.
Because every linked layer reads from the same source, changing a petal’s color in Petals updates all linked layers immediately.
Illustrator
When you apply a linked color in Illustrator, Petals:
- Creates a swatch group in the document’s swatches panel if one doesn’t exist.
- Creates a spot color swatch for each petal.
- Applies the swatch to the target object’s fill or stroke.
Spot color linking means that when you edit a petal, Petals updates the underlying swatch definition and all objects using that swatch reflect the change.
Linked vs Unlinked
Linked colors stay in sync when you edit the palette. In After Effects, they require the palette composition to exist. In Illustrator, they require the swatch group to be present.
Unlinked colors (Alt/Option + click) apply a plain color value with no link. Use this when you want to set a specific color without ongoing sync, or when working with layers or objects that don’t support linking.
Stroke Width
When applying a stroke, Petals uses the layer’s existing stroke width. If the stroke width is zero (or doesn’t exist), Petals falls back to the default stroke width configured in settings (default: 3px).
Renaming Palettes
Click the palette name in the top bar to rename it. In After Effects, when you rename a project palette, Petals automatically retargets all linked expressions in the current composition to use the new name. No links are broken by a rename.
Syncing Changes
Petals continuously syncs the palette data with the host application. When you edit, add, or remove a petal, the palette composition (After Effects) or swatch group (Illustrator) updates automatically. This happens in the background through a deferred queue, so rapid edits are batched efficiently.