Molten iron and molten copper icons are hard to tell apart

[CheeseMcBurger]

TL;DR

Give the molten iron and molten copper recipe icons distinct colors so they can be told apart without hovering.

What?

The recipe icons for molten iron and molten copper use the same sprite and differ only by a small tinted area on the pour. At the size they appear in the assembler recipe picker, that difference is almost invisible — I have to hover to know which one I'm clicking. Even at larger sizes they are difficult to distinguish.

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Two sets of recipes in the very same panel do it much better:

The ore-melting recipes work because the ore takes up a large area of the icon in its own distinct color — blue-grey for iron ore, orange-brown for copper ore — and the crucible itself is colored to match, so the whole icon carries the distinction rather than one small detail.
The casting recipes (casting iron, casting copper) read instantly too, because they show the actual plate/gear.

There's no ambiguity in either case at any size. Applying the same approach to the plain molten fluids — tinting the crucible itself, or otherwise letting the metal's color occupy a large share of the icon — would fix it.

Why?

These are the only icons in this panel that can't be identified at a glance. Every neighboring recipe already solves the problem, so the inconsistency stands out and costs an unnecessary hover every time you set up or change a foundry recipe. Making them distinguishable brings them in line with the rest of the panel and removes a small but repeated friction point.

[The-Zee-System]

+1 for accessibility for people who have eye sight problems or colour differential problems

[eugenekay]

The ore-melting recipes work because the ore takes up a large area of the icon in its own distinct color — blue-grey for iron ore, orange-brown for copper ore — and the crucible itself is colored to match, so the whole icon carries the distinction rather than one small detail.
The casting recipes (casting iron, casting copper) read instantly too, because they show the actual plate/gear.

There's no ambiguity in either case at any size. Applying the same approach to the plain molten fluids — tinting the crucible itself, or otherwise letting the metal's color occupy a large share of the icon — would fix it.

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molten-copper.png (11.68 KiB) Viewed 267 times

The Crucible is tinted already ??? It is not as evident at the smaller scales, but there is a noticeable color difference.


Provided for reference only, the new "Melting" recipes incorporate the "Liquid" icon, along with the components used to craft it (Ore + Calcite); this is in line with other Intermediate combination recipes like Coal Liquefaction. I think it looks great.

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iron-ore-melting.png (14.32 KiB) Viewed 267 times

Edit: Are you talking about the "from Lava" recipes? These lack a Crucible entirely, so I'm not sure what more could be Recoloured here.

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molten-copper-from-lava.png (10.91 KiB) Viewed 249 times

They do follow the same pattern of being constructed from the Lava and Stone Icons, and the "liquid puddle" represented in the Fluid icons.

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I have never had a problem telling these two recipes apart.... the Iron one has a lower sort value so it always appears before Copper.

[CheeseMcBurger]

[…] Are you talking about the "from Lava" recipes? […]

Yes, these are what I am talking about.

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