Preferences
Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Add-ons ▸ PROTO:COLOR — ProtoTools, then expand the entry.
Quick Assign shortcut
Ctrl+Q out of the box. Pick any letter or digit as the Key, and combine it with Ctrl, Shift, and Alt in any combination. The keymap updates immediately — no restart.
Worth rebinding if Ctrl+Q collides with something in your own setup.
Defaults
These set the starting value of the matching option in every new scene. Change them once instead of adjusting the panel every time.
| Preference | Default | Sets |
|---|---|---|
| Default Swatch Columns | 4 | Swatches per row in the palette grid |
| Default Lock Palette Colors | off | Whether swatch color fields start read-only |
| Default Show Remove Buttons | off | Whether each swatch starts with a ✕ button |
| Default Allow Object Mode Assignment | on | Whether Assign works outside Edit Mode |
| Default Clean Up Only Unused | on | Whether Clean Up limits itself to unused materials |
| Default Allow More Than 64 Colors | off | Whether the 64-color extraction cap is lifted |
Warnings
| Preference | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in Warning Cooldown (sec) | 3.0 | How long before the "this palette is built-in" warning can appear again. 0 to 120 |
| Allow Editing Built-in Palettes | off | Lets you add, remove, and edit colors on the bundled Dawnbringer 32 and Zughy 32 palettes |
Leaving Allow Editing Built-in Palettes off is the safer habit — load a bundled palette, then save it under your own name from the Palette Presets tab.
Palettes
Palette Folder Override points the library at a folder of your choosing instead of the default config location. Useful for a Dropbox or version- controlled palette collection shared between machines.
Leave it empty to use the default:
%APPDATA%\Blender Foundation\Blender\<version>\config\protocolor\palettes\Merge Materials
Restore Behavior sets the default for Restore Original Materials:
- Reassign originals, keep others (default) — only reclaims faces still wearing a generated material.
- Replace with originals only — clears the slots and rebuilds from the snapshot.
The same control appears in the Merge Materials tab, so you can override it per scene without coming back here.