If you find the default 3dsMax color selector somewhat limiting then I have a treat for you. CoolPicker! A freebie that was originally developed by Daniel Rind, then updated by our Maxscript/SDK QA specialist Chris Johnson, only to then be released to the public as open source.

CoolPicker is a great tool for those needing that extra level of refinement when selecting colors.

Thanks to the kind people over at Max Plugins.de this freebie continues to live on. There is both a 32bit and a 64 bit version.

Simply place the CoolPick dlu in your plug-in folder in the 3dsmax root directory. Then, inside of Max, go to your customize > preferences and at the bottom of the UI Display dialog, there is a drop down menu where you can select Cool Pick color selector.

Now, when you choose colors, the new color selector will pop up.

*NOTE* Using this plug-in will not affect your ability to send renderings to other machines that do not have it installed.

Special thanks to Miles Walker @ HOK for reminding me of this freebie!