Dataplot Reference Manual
Volume 1: Commands

Chapter 11: Color

The graphics devices that Dataplot supports vary widely in the degree to which they support color. However, for the sake of device independence, all devices will recognize the same set of color names and color indices. If a given device does not support a requested color, DATAPLOT maps it to the closest available supported color (closest is somewhat arbitrary, although we tried to be reasonably consistent).

Dataplot adopted its color scheme from Release 3 of X11 with a few additions from Release 4. It also uses the RGB values from Release 4 for those devices that support direct RGB specification. Although these values should be reasonably robust, different devices will generate different colors from them.

Note 2020/11

Dataplot added additional colors from the current X11 versions. Specifically, colors 89 to 162 in the list below were added in the 2020/11 version.

Note 2020/11

Dataplot added support for specifying colors as RGB triplets. This is implemented via RGB COLOR commands. For example, there is now a LINE RGB COLOR command in addition to the LINE COLOR command.

Dataplot still supports a number of devices that do not provide full RGB color support. To handle this, Dataplot first checks if the device has full RGB color support. If so, Dataplot uses the settings from the RGB COLOR command (if given). If the device does not support full RGB colors or if no RGB COLOR command was issued, then the setting from the COLOR command is used.

Dataplot does not provide any built-in templates for RGB color schemes. However, the following website provides 165 different RGB color schemes developed by Cynthia Brewer (you can download an Excel file that contains the schemes).

http://colorbrewer.org/

Numerous other RGB color templates are available. A discussion of color schemes is given by Paul Tol is available at

https://personal.sron.nl/~pault/data/colourschemes.pdf

The following is the list of colors that DATAPLOT recognizes. Only the first 4 characters of the color name are significant and colors can also be specified by an index.

Color	Index	Dataplot Name
WHITE	0	WHIT
BLACK	1	BLAC
RED	2	RED
BLUE	3	BLUE
GREEN	4	GREE
MAGENTA	5	MAGE
ORANGE	6	ORAN
CYAN	7	CYAN
YELLOW	8	YELL
YELLOW GREEN	9	YGRE
DARK GREEN	10	DGRE
LIGHT BLUE	11	LBLU
BLUE VIOLET	12	VBLU
VIOLET RED	13	VRED
DARK SLATE GRAY	14	DGRA,DGRY
LIGHT GRAY	15	LGRA,LGRY
AQUAMARINE	16	AQMA
BROWN	17	BROW
CADET BLUE	18	CABL
CORAL	19	CORA
CORNFLOWER BLUE	20	CBLU
DARK OLIVE GREEN	21	DOGR
DARK ORCHID	22	DORC
DARK SLATE BLUE	23	DSBL
DARK TURQUOISE	24	DTUR
FIREBRICK	25	FIRE
FOREST GREEN	26	FGRE
GOLD	27	GOLD
GOLDENROD	28	GLDR
GRAY	29	GRAY, GREY
INDIAN RED	30	IRED
KHAKI	31	KHAK
DIM GRAY	32	DMGR
LIGHT STEEL BLUE	33	LSBL
LIME GREEN	34	LGRE
MAROON	35	MARO
MEDIUM AQUAMARINE	36	MAQU
MEDIUM BLUE	37	MBLU
MEDIUM FOREST GREEN	38	MFGR
LIGHT GOLDENROD YELLOW	39	MGLD
MEDIUM ORCHID	40	MORC
MEDIUM SEA GREEN	41	MSGR
MEDIUM SLATE BLUE	42	MSBL
MEDIUM SPRING GREEN	43	MSPG
MEDIUM TURQUOISE	44	MTUR
MEDIUM VIOLET RED	45	MVRD
MIDNIGHT BLUE	46	MDBL
NAVY BLUE	47	NAVY
ORANGE RED	48	ORED
ORCHID	49	ORCH
PALE GREEN	50	PGRE
PINK	51	PINK
PLUM	52	PLUM
PURPLE	53	PURP
SALMON	54	SALM
SEA GREEN	55	SGRE
SIENNA	56	SIEN
SKY BLUE	57	SKBL, SKYB
SLATE BLUE	58	SBLU
SPRING GREEN	59	SPGR
STEEL BLUE	60	STBL
TAN	61	TAN
THISTLE	62	THIS
TURQUOISE	63	TURQ
VIOLET	64	VIOL
WHEAT	65	WHEA
GREEN YELLOW	66	GYEL
LIGHT CYAN	67	LCYA
BLUE2	68	BLU2
BLUE3	69	BLU3
BLUE4	70	BLU4
CYAN2	71	CYA2
CYAN3	72	CYA3
CYAN4	73	CYA4
GREEN2	74	GRE2
GREEN3	75	GRE3
GREEN4	76	GRE4
YELLOW2	77	YEL2
YELLOW3	78	YEL3
YELLOW4	79	YEL4
ORANGE2	80	ORA2
ORANGE3	81	ORA3
ORANGE4	82	ORA4
RED2	83	RED2, LRED
RED3	84	RED3
RED4	85	RED4
MAGENTA2	86	MAG2, LMAG
MAGENTA3	87	MAG3
MAGENTA4	88	MAG4
LIGHT CORAL	89	LCOR
DARK SALMON	90	DSAL
LIGHT SALMON	91	LSAL
CRIMSON	92	CRIM
DARK RED	93	DRED
LIGHT PINK	94	LPIN
HOT PINK	95	HPIN
DEEP PINK	96	DPIN
PALEVIOLETRED	97	PVRE
TOMATO	98	TOMA
DARK ORANGE	99	DORA
LIGHT YELLOW	100	LYEL
LEMON CHIFON	101	LCHI
PAPAYA WHIP	102	PAPW
MOCASIN	103	MOCA
PEACH PUFF	104	PPUF
PALE GOLDENROD	105	PGRO
DARK KHAKI	106	DKHA
LAVENDER	107	LAVE
FUCHSIA	108	FUCH
MEDIUM PURPLE	109	MPUR
AMETHYST	110	AMET
DARK VIOLET	111	DVIO
DARK MAGENTA	112	DMAG
INDIGO	113	INDI
CHARTEUSE	114	CHAR
LAWN GREEN	115	LAGR
LIME	116	LIME
LIGHT GREEN	117	LIGR
OLIVE DRAB	118	ODRA
OLIVE	119	OLIV
DARK SEA GREEN	120	DSGR
LIGHT SEA GREEN	121	LSGR
DARK CYAN	122	DCYA
TEAL	123	TEAL
PALE TURQUOISE	124	PTUR
AQUA	125	AQUA
POWDER BLUE	126	PBLU
LIGHT SKY BLUE	127	LSKB
DARK SKY BLUE	128	DSKB
DODGER BLUE	129	DODB
ROYAL BLUE	130	RBLU
DARK BLUE	131	DSKB
CORNSILK	132	CORN
BLANCHED ALMOND	133	BLAL
BISQUE	134	BISQ
NAVAJO WHITE	135	NAVW
BURLY WOOD	136	BWOO
ROSY BROWN	137	ROSB
SANDY BROWN	138	SANB
DARK GOLDENROD	139	DGRO
PERU	140	PERU
CHOCOLATE	141	CHOC
SADDIE BROWN	142	SADB
SNOW	143	SNOW
HONEYDEW	144	HONE
MINT CREAM	145	MCRE
AZURE	146	AZUR
ALICE BLUE	147	ABLU
GHOST WHITE	148	GHOS
WHITE SMOKE	149	WSMO
SEA SHELL	150	SEAS
BEIGE	151	BEIG
OLD LACE	152	OLDL
FLORAL WHITE	153	FLOR
IVORY	154	IVOR
ANTIQUE WHITE	155	ANTI
LINEN	156	LINE
MISTY ROSE	157	MROS
GAINSBORO	158	GAIN
SILVER	159	SILV
DARK GRAY	160	DAGR
LIGHT SLATE GRAY	161	LSLG
SLATE GRAY	162	SLGR

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

G0	=	BLACK
G1-G99	=	GRAY SCALE FROM BLACK TO WHITE
G100	=	WHITE

Gray scale values can also be specified with negative indices (that is, -1 through -100).

Devices that do not support gray scale will map gray scale colors to either black or white. These are primarily older essentially obsolete devices.

Penplotters no longer automatically map an index to the corresponding slot. Dataplot assumes the following slot to color mapping:

4 PENS	8 PENS
BLACK	BLACK
RED	RED
BLUE	BLUE
GREEN	GREEN
	MAGENTA
	ORANGE
	CYAN
	YELLOW

You can use the <HPGL/CALCOMP/ZETA> PEN MAP command to specify a different slot to color mapping for HP-GL, Calcomp, and Zeta plotters respectively.

The following command shows the available colors.

SHOW COLORS

The following commands show the colors available on the various color devices that DATAPLOT supports. That is, they show the color you actually get with the requested DATAPLOT color for that device.

SHOW COLORS TEKT 4115
SHOW COLORS TEKT 4662
SHOW COLORS TEKT 4027
SHOW COLORS HP 2622
SHOW COLORS CALCOMP
SHOW COLORS ZETA
SHOW COLORS CGM
SHOW COLORS GENERAL
SHOW COLORS SUN
SHOW COLORS REGIS
SHOW COLORS POSTSCRIPT
SHOW COLORS X11
SHOW COLORS PC

For some color display terminals (e.g., Tektronix 4105/7/9/15), the color can be altered locally after the plot has been generated on the screen. This gives the analyst a "second chance" if the original color choices do not mix well.

Finally, be wary of the idiosyncracies of color hardcopy devices. They rarely capture the same color hues as on the screen (e.g., the Tektronix 4662 ink jet plotter maps a brilliant blue on the 4105/7/9/15 screen into a drab purple on the hardcopy). Also note that it is common for color hardcopies to map screen white into hardcopy black and vice versa.

Note that the Postscript device is set to black and white by default. To activate color for Postscript devices, do the following:

DEVICE 2 POSTSCRIPT
DEVICE 2 COLOR ON

Note that the order of these commands is relevant. Alternatively, you can specify that Postscript devices should be color be default by entering the command (before the DEVICE 2 POSTSCRIPT command)

SET POSTSCRIPT COLOR DEFAULT ON