Thanks! It was pretty cool when I found the post on how to change a color sample set to a custom color picker with a click & a drag, so I'm already grateful for these forums
I forgot to mention, the color sample files I posted have the colors named with the schminke number and name for easy cross-referencing.
Method: I grabbed the colors by copying the screen on an art supply web-site. I had to do 16 different screen shots to copy all the colors. I copied the jpgs into ArtRage and also Excel. I went through the Excel listing and tagged each color by category. Then I copied and pasted the category listings and sorted to count how many I had in each category and re-categorized as necessary (like combining dark/med/lt browns into one category; combining orange-red, brick-red and red into one category; etc)
Then I used the color picker in ArtRage to create color sample sets for each category and dragged the sample sets to create the custom color pickers.
The 400-color Schminke pastel set is about $1300, so I figure I just saved myself a bunch of money
Good to hear! I actually use these collections all the time now, though I've added shades to a couple of the groupings (a bunch of purples and some green-blues). I think of them as color boxes; if I want a blue then I open the blue box and pick one out. Sometimes I'll go to the precise color picker from there to refine the shade, but it gives me a starting point. Then I save whatever colors I use to the local sample set so that I can pick up the same shade later in the painting/drawing. Have fun!