Colors in Matlab

RGB colors

For coding purposes colors are mostly specified in RGB, which stands for Red, Blue and Green. The values range from 0 to 1. As an example: the color red is given by the triple [1,0,0]. Since it is hard to know what a certain triple (e.g. [0.5, 1, 0.5]) stands for it is more easy to call them by their name.

We have created a few functions for RGB colors by their names:

• <RGBcolors> for english names
• <RGBkleuren> for dutch names
• <RGBfarben> for german names
• <RGBcolores> for spanish names

A few examples:

>>colores.AZUL_CLARO
ans = 0.5000   0.5000   1.0000

>>kleuren.FELROZE
ans = 0.5000   0.5000   1.0000

>>farben.BLAU
ans = 0.0000   0.0000   1.0000

>>colors.LIME
ans = 0.0000   1.0000   0.0000

All the named colors are:

RGB Code	Hex Code	English Name	Nederlandse Naam	Deutsche Name	Nombre en Español	Kleur
[0.00, 1.00, 0.00]	#00FF00	Lime	Limoen	Limettengrün	Lima
[1.00, 0.00, 0.00]	#FF0000	Red	Rood	Rot	Rojo
[0.00, 0.00, 1.00]	#0000FF	Blue	Blauw	Blau	Azul
[0.00, 1.00, 1.00]	#00FFFF	Cyan	Cyaan	Cyan	Cian
[1.00, 0.00, 1.00]	#FF00FF	Magenta	Magenta	Magenta	Magenta
[1.00, 1.00, 0.00]	#FFFF00	Yellow	Geel	Gelb	Amarillo
[0.00, 0.00, 0.00]	#000000	Black	Zwart	Schwarz	Negro
[0.50, 0.50, 0.50]	#808080	Grey	Grijs	Grau	Gris
[1.00, 1.00, 1.00]	#FFFFFF	White	Wit	Weiß	Blanco
[0.50, 0.00, 0.00]	#800000	Maroon	Kastanjebruin	Kastanienbraun	Granate
[0.00, 0.50, 0.00]	#008000	Green	Groen	Grün	Verde
[0.00, 0.00, 0.50]	#000080	Navy Blue	Marineblauw	Marineblau	Azul Marino
[0.00, 0.50, 0.50]	#008080	Olive	Olijf	Olive	Oliva
[0.50, 0.00, 0.50]	#800080	Purple	Paars	Lila	Morado
[0.50, 0.50, 0.00]	#808000	Teal	Zeegroen	Türkis	Verde azulado
[0.50, 0.00, 1.00]	#8000FF	Indigo	Indigo	Indigo	Índigo
[0.50, 1.00, 0.00]	#80FF00	Chartreuse	Chartreuse	Chartreuse	Chartreuse
[0.00, 0.50, 1.00]	#0080FF	Royal Blue	Koningsblauw	Königsblau	Azul Real
[1.00, 0.00, 0.50]	#FF0080	Hot Pink	Felroze	Knallrosa	Rosa Brilliante
[1.00, 0.50, 0.00]	#FF8000	Orange	Oranje	Orange	Naranja
[0.00, 1.00, 0.50]	#00FF80	Spring Green	Lentegroen	Frühlingsgrün	Verde Primavera
[0.50, 0.50, 1.00]	#8080FF	Light Blue	Lichtblauw	Hellblau	Azul Claro
[0.50, 1.00, 0.50]	#80FF80	Light Green	Lichtgroen	Hellgrün	Verde Claro
[1.00, 0.50, 0.50]	#FF8080	Salmon	Zalmroze	Lachs	Salmón
[0.50, 1.00, 1.00]	#80FFFF	Aquamarine	Aquamarijn	Aquamarin	Aguamarina
[1.00, 0.50, 1.00]	#FF80FF	Orchid	Orchidee	Orchidee	Orquídea
[1.00, 1.00, 0.50]	#FFFF80	Light Yellow	Lichtgeel	Hellgelb	Amarillo Claro

Color maps

You can make a color map for plots like surface plots:

map = [RGBcolors.LIME, RGBcolors.BLUE, RGBcolors.MAGENTA];
colormap(map);
surf(peaks);

Name	Description
parula	A smooth, perceptually uniform colormap with blue-to-yellow transitions, default in MATLAB since version R2014b.
turbo	A vibrant, perceptually uniform colormap with a wide dynamic range, transitioning from blue to red via green and yellow.
hsv	A circular colormap representing the hue component in the HSV color space, cycling through the full range of colors.
hot	A colormap with transitions from black to red, then yellow, and finally white, typically used for thermal or intensity data.
cool	A simple linear colormap that transitions smoothly from cyan to magenta, often used for contrast with warm color schemes.
spring	A pastel colormap transitioning from magenta to yellow, often used to represent seasonal or thematic data.
summer	A light green to yellow colormap that gives a warm, sunny feel, used for representing continuous data.
autumn	A colormap with warm tones transitioning from red to yellow, evoking the colors of autumn leaves.
winter	A cool colormap transitioning from blue to green, commonly used to represent water or icy conditions.
gray	A simple grayscale colormap, transitioning linearly from black to white, often used in intensity maps.
bone	A colormap with a grayscale base, but with a slight blue tint, designed for displaying images of bones and x-rays.
copper	A colormap transitioning from black to copper-brown, useful for visualizing data with metallic or heat-related themes.
pink	A pastel colormap with a gradient from dark to light pink, often used for softer data visualizations.
lines	A colormap with distinct, evenly spaced colors, designed for line plots with many different lines.
jet	A rainbow colormap transitioning from blue to red, previously the default in MATLAB, but criticized for non-uniform perceptual changes.
colorcube	A discrete colormap that uses a fixed set of distinct colors, typically used for categorical or label-based data.
prism	A repeating sequence of vivid colors, often used for periodic or cyclic data.
flag	An alternating red, white, blue, and black colormap, often used for data with binary or oscillating patterns.