Dataplot: Colors

Dataplot Supports 89 Colors

You can specify 89 different colors within Dataplot. These colors are based on X11 Release 4. A given output device (monitor, laser printer, penplotter) may or may not have the capacity to generate all 89 colors; if the capacity does not exist, then a mapping of the 89 colors onto a subset supported by the particular device will occur.

Note: The 2020/11 version of Dataplot made two significant upgrades to Dataplot's use of color.

Based on more recent versions of X11, the number of supported colors was increased from 89 to 163.
For devices that support it, you can now specify RGB colors. Dataplot still supports devices that do not have full RGB support. To handle this, Dataplot first checks if the device supports RGB color. If so, and if an RGB color has been specified, then Dataplot uses the RGB color setting. If the device does not support RGB color or if no RGB color has been specified, then Dataplot uses the standard color setting. For example,
If a device does not support RGB color, it will use RED and if it does support RGB color it will use the (211,11,88) RGB settings for the color.
For each COLOR command in Dataplot, there is now a RGB COLOR variant. An RGB color is specified as as set of three numbers (or parameters). RGB values are given in the range 0 to 255. To turn off the RGB color, use "-1 -1 -1" (any negative values will have the same effect).
The help files for the various COLOR commands have been updated to include the new RGB COLOR commands. For example, HELP LINE COLOR will include the documentation for both LINE COLOR and LINE RGB COLOR.

Colors Can Be Specified with Either a Name or an Index

Colors can be specified with either a name or an index. For example,

LINE COLOR YELLOW or
LINE COLOR 8

Index Maps to a Specific Color

In Dataplot, an index maps to a specific color (e.g., index 3 is equivalent to BLUE). The advantage of this is that names and indices are consistent across devices. The disadvantage is that using indices for colors can be somewhat counter intuitive on a specific device. For example, the VGA device supports 15 colors. However, using indices 1 through 15 will not yield 15 unique colors on the VGA.

Within Dataplot, you can view a file that lists the index to color mapping by entering the command

LIST COLORS. (be sure to include the trailing .) This file also gives information regarding how many colors various graphics devices available in Dataplot actually support.

Color Support on Specific Graphics Devices

The following graphics devices support all 163 colors.

X11
QWIN (command line version of Dataplot on Windows using the Intel compiler)
AQUA (for MacOS)
POSTSCRIPT
SVG (Scalable Vector Graphis)
CGM
CAIRO
LIBPLOT

The LaTex device currently only supports the original 89 colors. This may be updated at a later date.

The following graphics devices support 15 colors.

QWIN (not in true color mode) - white, black, red, blue, green, magenta, cyan, yellow, light cyan, light blue, gray, light gray, dark gray, red2, magenta2

The following graphics devices support 8 colors:

TEKTRONIX 4115 - white, black, red, blue, green, magenta, cyan, yellow
TEKTRONIX 42XX - white, black, red, blue, green, magenta, cyan, yellow
TEKTRONIX 43XX - white, black, red, blue, green, magenta, cyan, yellow
TEKTRONIX 4027 - white, black, red, blue, green, purple, orange, yellow
HPGL (non-9872 models) - black, red, blue, green, magenta, orange, cyan, yellow
HP 2622 - white, black, red, blue, green, magenta, cyan, yellow
GENERAL - white, black, red, blue, green, magenta, cyan, yellow

The following graphics devices support 7 colors:

SUN/SUNVIEW - white, black, red, blue, green, magenta, yellow

The following graphics devices support 4 colors:

HPGL (9872 model) - black, red, blue, green
TEKTRONIX 4662 - black, red, blue, green
CALCOMP - black, red, blue, green
ZETA - black, red, blue, green

Displaying the Color Mapping for a Specific Graphics Device

For details of the color mapping for a device, use the SHOW command, as in

To capture such a listing to a file (e.g., JUNK.), which may be viewed either within Dataplot via the LIST command or later upon exit from Dataplot, enter

CAPTURE JUNK.
SHOW VGA COLORS
END OF CAPTURE
LIST JUNK.

Penplotters Are a Special Case

Penplotters are a special case in two ways.

First, different models may support a varying number of pens. For the more common plotter models, the user can set the number of slots (e.g., SET CALCOMP COLORS 16).
Second, penplotters provide a "slot" into which the user can load an arbitrary pen. When Dataplot sets a color for penplotter, it maps a color to a fixed slot (e.g., BLUE goes to slot 3 which may or may not actually contain a blue pen). The <device> PEN MAP command can be used to define the color to slot number mapping for plotters.

Table Showing Supported Colors in Dataplot

The following table shows the supported colors in Dataplot. It shows both the name and corresponding index number. The last column shows the actual color that the VGA device will generate for the requested color (use the SHOW COLORS <device> command to see this for other devices).

Magenta
Dataplot Color Table
Color Dataplot
Name Dataplot
Index VGA Output
(15-color)

White WHITE 0 White

Black BLACK 1 Black

Red RED 2 Red

Blue BLUE 3 Blue

Green GREEN 4 Green

Magenta MAGENTA 5 Magenta

Orange ORANGE 6 Orange

Cyan CYAN 7 Cyan

Yellow YELLOW 8 Yellow

Yellow Green YGRE 9 Yellow

Dark Green DGRE 10 Green

Light Blue LBLU 11 Light Blue

Blue Violet VBLU 12 Blue

Violet Red VRED 13 Red

Dark Slate Gray DGRA 14 Dark gray

Light Gray LGRA 15 Light Gray

Aquamarine AQUA 16 Cyan

Brown BROWN 17 Brown

Cadet Blue CABL 18 Light Blue

Coral CORAL 19 Light RED

Cornflower Blue CBLU 20 Blue

Dark Olive Green DOGR 21 Green

Dark Orchid DORC 22 Magenta

Dark Slate Blue DSBL 23 Blue

Dark Turquoise DTUR 24 Magenta

Firebrick FIRE 25 Yellow

Forest Green FGRE 26 Green

Gold GOLD 27 Yellow

Goldenrod GLDR 28 Yellow

Gray GRAY 29 Gray

Indian Red IRED 30 Light Red

Khaki KHAKI 31 YELLOW

Dim Gray DMGR 32 Light Gray

Light Blue Steel LSBL 33 Light Blue

Lime Green LGRE 34 Green

Maroon MAROON 35 Magenta

Medium Aquamarine MAQU 36 Light Cyan

Medium Blue MBLU 37 Light Blue

Medium Forest Green MFGR 38 Green

Medium Goldenrod MGLD 39 Yellow

Medium Orchid MORC 40

Medium Sea Green MSGR 41 Green

Medium Slate Blue MSBL 42 Light Blue

Medium Spring Green MSPG 43 Green

Medium Turquoise MTUR 44 Light Magenta

Medium Violet Red MVRD 45 Magenta

Midnight Blue MDBL 46 Blue

Navy NAVY 47 Blue

Orange Red ORED 48 Red

Orchid ORCHID 49 Light Magenta

Pale Green PGRE 50 Green

Pink PINK 51 Red

Plum PLUM 52 Magenta

Purple PURPLE 53 Magenta

Salmon Salmon 54 Yellow

Sea Green SGRE 55 Green

Sienna SIENNA 56 Magenta

Sky Blue SKBL 57 Light Cyan

Slate Blue SBLU 58 Blue

Spring Green SPGR 59 Green

Steel Blue STBL 60 Blue

Tan TAN 61 Brown

Thistle THISTLE 62 Yellow

Turquoise TURQ 63 Magenta

Violet VIOLET 64 Magenta

Wheat WHEAT 65 Yellow

Green Yellow GYEL 66 Green

Light Cyan LCYA 67 light Cyan

Blue2 BLU2 68 Blue

Blue3 BLU3 69

Blue4 BLU4 70 Blue

Cyan2 CYA2 71 Cyan

Cyan3 CYA3 72 Cyan

Cyan4 CYA4 73 Cyan

Green2 GRE2 74 Green

Green3 GRE3 75 Green

Green4 GRE4 76 Green

Yellow2 YEL2 77 Yellow

Yellow3 YEL3 78 Yellow

Yellow4 YEL4 79 Yellow

Orange2 ORA2 80 Yellow

Orange3 ORA3 81 Yellow

Orange4 ORA4 82 Yellow

Red2 RED2 83 Red

Red3 RED3 84 Red

Red4 RED4 85 Red

Magenta2 MAG2 86 Magenta

Magenta3 MAG3 87 Magenta

Magenta4 MAG4 88 Magenta

Light Coral LCOR 89 Red

Dark Salmon DSAL 90 Red

Light Salmon LSAL 91 Red

Crimson CRIM 92 Red

Dark Red DRED 93 Red

Light Pink LPIN 94 Red

Hot Pink HPIN 95 Red

Deep Pink DPIN 96 Red

PaleVioletRed PVRE 97 Red

Tomato TOMA 98 Red

Dark Orange DORA 99 Red

Light Yellow LYEL 100 Orange

Lemon Chifon LCHI 101 Orange

Papaya Whip PAPW 102 Orange

Mocasin MOCA 103 Orange

Peach Puff PPUF 104 Orange

Pale Goldenrod PGRO 105 Orange

Dark Khaki DKHA 106 Orange

Lavender LAVE 107 Magenta

Fuchsia FUCH 108 Magenta

Medium Purple MPUR 109 Magenta

Amethyst AMET 110 Magenta

Dark Violet DVIO 111 Magenta

Dark Magenta DMAG 112 Magenta

Indigo INDI 113 Magenta

Charteuse CHAR 114 Green

Lawn Green LAGR 115 Green

Lime LIME 116 Green

Light Green LIGR 117 Green

Olive Drab ODRA 118 Green

Olive OLIV 119 Green

Dark Sea Green DSGR 120 Green

Light Sea Green LSGR 121 Green

Dark Cyan DCYA 122 Blue

Teal TEAL 123 Blue

Pale Turquoise PTUR 124 Blue

Aqua AQUA 125 Blue

Powder Blue PBLU 126 Blue

Light Sky Blue LSKB 127 Blue

Dark Sky Blue DSKB 128 Blue

Dodger Blue DODB 129 Blue

Royal Blue RBLU 130 Blue

Dark Blue DBLU 131 Blue

Cornsilk CORN 132 Brown

Blanched Almond BLAL 133 Brown

Bisque BISQ 134 Brown

Navajo White NAVW 135 Brown

Burly Wood BWOO 136 Brown

Rosy Brown ROSB 137 Brown

Sandy Brown SANB 138 Brown

Dark Goldenrod DGRO 139 Brown

Peru PERU 140 Brown

Chocolate CHOC 141 Brown

Saddie Brown SADB 142 Brown

Snow SNOW 143 Black

Honeydew HONE 144 Black

Mint Cream MCRE 145 Black

Azure AZUR 146 Black

Alice Blue ABLU 147 Black

Ghost White GHOS 148 Black

White Smoke WSMO 149 Black

Sea Shell SEAS 150 Black

Beige BEIG 151 Black

Old Lace OLDL 152 Black

Floral White FLOR 153 Black

Ivory IVOR 154 Black

Antique White ANTI 155 Black

Linen LINE 156 Black

Misty Rose MROS 157 Black

Gainsboro GAIN 158 Black

Silver SILV 159 Black

Dark Gray DAGR 160 Black

Light Slate Gray LSLG 161 Black

Slate Gray SLGR 162 Black

Gray Scale

In addition, gray scale can be specified with the following scheme.

G0 Black

G1-G99 Gray scale from black to white

G100 White

Negative Indices for Gray Scales

Gray scales can also be specified with negative indices (-1 through -100). Currently, Postscript and X11 support gray scale. Other devices will map gray scale to either black or white.

Colors Can Have a Different Appearance on Different Graphics Devices

Be aware that different hardware devices can render a given color quite differently. For some graphics devices, the colors are essentially fixed and Dataplot simply tries to map a Dataplot color to the closes available color on that device (in some cases, the choices are a bit arbitrary). Even for devices that support full RGB (Red, Green, Blue, each represented by an integer value in the range 0 to 255) specification (e.g., Postscript, X11, SVG), there can be differences in the colors actually rendered. Dataplot specificies a consistent set of RGB values, but this does not garauntee that the color will look the same on different hardware.

Dataplot Graph Showing Different Colors

The following graphs show the Dataplot colors.

Graph in PDF format Macro used to generate the graph

RGB Color Palettes

In order to make the RGB color commands more useful, a number of RGB color palettes have been collected in the file rgb_color_schemes.txt. This file currently contains 271 color palettes:

The first is due to Okabe and Ito and defines a color palette that is useful for addressing color blindness.
The remaining palettes are the "ColorBrewer" palettes developed by Dr. Cynthia Brewer of Penn State University.

There are many color palettes that have been proposed, but these palettes should provide a good starting point for Dataplot applications. The files "rgb_color_palettes.dp" and "rgb_color_palettes_labels.dp" were added to the "programs" sub-directory. These files are used to generate a Postscript file displaying the color palettes in "rgb_color_schemes.txt".

Dataplot Graphs Showing RGB Color Palettes

The following graphs show the Dataplot colors.

Graphs in PDF format Macro used to generate the graph

Date created: 06/05/2001
Last updated: 04/29/2022
Please email comments on this WWW page to alan.heckert@nist.gov.