Kind of pattern selection using the Colorize feature

[monsterfox]

@Subpath The file contains 4 to 5 groups, with both paths and fills in black. I want them to appear as separate, independent shapes and automatically change into 4 to 5 different colors.

[Subpath]

@monsterfox
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I've been experimenting a bit with the designs in your file.
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Separate filled shapes and outlines

Filled objects can be separated from outline objects.
By selecting filled Shapes via.
Menu > Select > Styling > Filled
and move them to another Place
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Coloring Shapes

Coloring your Designs via Colorize makes no sense to me.
The Designs differ to much, have different number of objects
and/or the object order is different.

I developed a way, but I don't know if it will work for you.
It uses the "Selected Intersecting Shapes" feature to select shapes.
You could color them then.

The Video here show the Steps needed

Once the shapes are colored, you can select them
with via the Magic Wand Mode for selecting shapes.
Or via the way i showed in the Video.

Important!
The color for the circle is for selection purposes only.
So this color should not appear in the Design.

[monsterfox]

@Subpath Thank you for sharing. Although this approach doesn't quite fit my workflow, I've picked up some useful tips. My workflow is a bit complex and would take some time to explain—perhaps I'll make a video about it when I get the chance.

[Subpath]

@monsterfox

Your welcome.
A video sounds interesting; I'd also like to learn something new.
But no need to rush it; do it whenever it suits you.

[VectorStyler]

@monsterfox said in Kind of pattern selection using the Colorize feature:

It would be great if grouped objects could be treated as independent ones.

I need some examples for this where the selection is chaotic.

[Subpath]

@VectorStyler

In my opinion, it might look chaotic, but may not be really chaotic.

In all my attempts, using Colorize, the fill colors followed the selection
order of the shapes. I didn't get any different results in my experiments.

Only the trick with the ShapeBuilder to define a new selection order didn't
always work. I'll try to record a case if I see it again.

If you look at the Monsterfox sample file, the designs have different selection
orders. You can see this if you take a design and track the selection order
with "Previous" or "Next Selection." This could be the reason why the result
may look like chaotic / does not look as expected.
The Designs have also a different Object count.

[monsterfox]

@VectorStyler 0_1744971300530_4.vstyler

[Subpath]

@VectorStyler

I created a video here in which Colorize doesn't
follow the selection order.

Here's the video:

While experimenting with this again, I noticed an curious behavior:

I previously selected the shapes with the Magic Wand tool.

But when I select the same shapes again with the
Rectangular Selection tool, the coloring works as expected.

You can see this in this video.

[Subpath]

@VectorStyler

I think i got it

When using the Magic Wand tool to select
the shapes you want to Colorize

you have to pick/select the first shape you selected
with the Shape Builder tool.

Then everything will work as intended.

here the Video

I am fine with this, as it seems logical to me.

[Subpath]

@monsterfox , @VectorStyler
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You can't simply create a color palette and color
your shapes with it.

There is a little more to do then this

Either
You need to determine the object order and adjust the
colors in your palette to that order.

Or create the objects of your Design according to a specific system/order
so that the order in which the objects are created are always the same.

In addition, the number of shapes in the design must match
the number of colors in the color palette.

The Shape Builder trick can only be used to a limited extent here,
and only with objects that don't overlap.

Here is a video where I created a color palette according to
the selection order of your design.

Here the video