CS112: Lab 3 :: Exploring color in MATLAB

Specifying Colors in MATLAB

Colors can be specified in three different ways in MATLAB:

short name (e.g. 'r' )
long name (e.g. 'red')
RGB triple (e.g. [1 0 0])

Here are the eight predefined colors in MATLAB with their names and RGB equivalents:

RGB value	Short name	Long name
[1 1 0]	y	yellow
[1 0 1]	m	magenta
[0 1 1]	c	cyan
[1 0 0]	r	red
[0 1 0]	g	green
[0 0 1]	b	blue
[1 1 1]	w	white
[0 0 0]	k	black

How to make up your own colors

A subtle pink? A deep burgundy? A neon chartreuse? You can specify the RGB values and create any color you like. Below is a table of some sample colors:

whitebg([255/255 153/255 255/255])	whitebg([102/255 0/255 51/255])

whitebg([0/255 204/255 55/255])	whitebg([153/255 255/255 0/255])

These color combinations are available here (and many other places, just Google "RGB chart").

Note:

RGB color has a range [0 255] for each of the 3 colors (red/green/blue)
each color is divided by 255 to keep it within the [0 1] range that MATLAB requires
in the plots above, the color is the background color of the axes -- MATLAB automatically adjusts the other colors in the plot for suitable contrast

Where to use color in MATLAB?

line/marker/font colors
background color of plot
background color of axis (whitebg changes background color for all axes in the figure, and any new following fugures.)

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