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Re: Plot colors [message #84995 is a reply to message #84980]

Thu, 20 June 2013 20:22

Jim Pendleton
Messages: 165
Registered: November 2011

Senior Member

On Thursday, June 20, 2013 10:10:53 AM UTC-6, David Fanning wrote:
> David Fanning writes:
>
>
>
>>
>
>> Mats Löfdahl writes:
>
>>
>
>>> OK, so you're no better than me... :o)
>
>>
>
>> Yes, that's what I'm saying. :-)
>
>>
>
>>> But I can't help thinking that there should be a better way. Something
>
>>> like picking colors that are evenly distributed in some color space and
>
>>> at the same distance from white? I don't know. I think I can handle
>
>>> thinking about gray scale pretty well but colors are trickier.
>
>>
>
>> Well, I do tend to prefer the number 6 values in the Brewer color tables
>
>> as plot colors (these are on the right-hand side of cgPickColorName, to
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>> the right of the column of beige colors, "red6", "pbg6", "ygb6" etc.).
>
>> These are probably constructed from an HSV color scheme along the lines
>
>> you suggest.
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>
>
> As you can see by the response to your question, there are only three
>
> people in the world who could give a flying fig about color in their
>
> graphics plots, and none of them work at ExelisVis, as you can tell from
>
> the hideous yellow that is used as the default color of the Surface
>
> function.
>
>
>
> I'm just saying, you may have to look elsewhere for color advice. ;-)
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
>
> David
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> David Fanning, Ph.D.
>
> Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
>
> Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.idlcoyote.com/
>
> Sepore ma de ni thue. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")

At the risk of rudely double-posting... A general rule of thumb is that if you print your color output on a black and white printer and you are unable to distinguish the data you're attempting to highlight, you're using an improper color table or display idiom. There will be someone in your audience (perhaps someone who controls your project's funding) who won't see what's obvious to you.

You might be surprised by the number of folks in VIS consulting who have various issues distinguishing colors, whether it's a common problem like red/green deficiency as I have, or something more obscure. It makes us think out of the box, relative to color information.

When in doubt we rely more on line thicknesses and styles, and try to make the scenes less complex.

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[Message index]

		Plot colors By: Mats Löfdahl on Wed, 19 June 2013 23:59
		Re: Plot colors By: David Fanning on Thu, 20 June 2013 05:28
		Re: Plot colors By: Mats Löfdahl on Thu, 20 June 2013 08:44
		Re: Plot colors By: David Fanning on Thu, 20 June 2013 08:52
		Re: Plot colors By: David Fanning on Thu, 20 June 2013 09:10
		Re: Plot colors By: Mark Piper on Thu, 20 June 2013 09:54
		Re: Plot colors By: David Fanning on Thu, 20 June 2013 09:55
		Re: Plot colors By: Jim Pendleton on Thu, 20 June 2013 20:22
		Re: Plot colors By: David Fanning on Thu, 20 June 2013 20:28
		Re: Plot colors By: Michael Galloy on Thu, 20 June 2013 10:24
		Re: Plot colors By: Mats Löfdahl on Thu, 20 June 2013 11:25
		Re: Plot colors By: allisonjaynes on Tue, 09 July 2013 15:56
		Re: Plot colors By: Chip Helms on Wed, 10 July 2013 10:24
		Re: Plot colors By: David Fanning on Wed, 10 July 2013 10:29

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