Plot color palettes (to see their colors).

seecol provides an interface to plotting (or "seeing") the colors of a palette or comparing multiple color palettes.

seecol(
  pal = "unikn_all",
  n = "all",
  alpha = NA,
  hex = NULL,
  rgb = NULL,
  col_bg = NULL,
  col_brd = NULL,
  lwd_brd = NULL,
  grid = TRUE,
  title = NA,
  mar_note = NA,
  pal_names = NA,
  ...
)

Arguments

pal	A single color palette (as a vector of colors), multiple color palettes (as a list), or a recognized keyword (as a character string). Default: pal = "unikn_all". Recognized keywords are: "unikn_all": All color palettes defined in unikn "unikn_basic": All basic palettes. "pair_all": All palettes with pairwise colors. "pref_all": All preferred colors and their gradients. "grad_all": seecol does also recognize keywords (e.g., "all_unikn") or keywords without "unikn" (e.g., "basic").
n	Number of colors to show or use. If n is lower or higher than the length of the current color palette pal, the color palette is reduced or extrapolated (using grDevices::colorRampPalette). Default: n = "all" (i.e., show all colors in palette).
alpha	A factor modifying the opacity alpha (as in adjustcolor) to a value in [0, 1]. Default: alpha = NA (i.e., no modification of opacity).
hex	Should HEX color values be shown? Default: hex = NULL (i.e., show HEX color values when there is sufficient space to print them).
rgb	Should RGB color values be shown? Default: rgb = NULL (i.e., show RGB color values when there is sufficient space to print them).
col_bg	Color of plot background. Default: col_bg = NULL.
col_brd	Color of shape borders (if shown). Default: col_brd = NULL.
lwd_brd	Line width of shape borders (if shown). Default: lwd_brd = NULL.
grid	Show grid in the color plot? Default: grid = TRUE.
title	Plot title (as a character string). Default: title = NA creates a default title.
mar_note	Optional margin note (on bottom right). Default: mar_note = NA (i.e., no margin note).
pal_names	Names of color palettes or colors (as a character vector). Default: pal_names = NA (for default names).
...	Other graphical parameters (passed to plot).

Details

seecol has two main modes, based on the contents of its pal argument:

1. if pal = "unikn_all" or a list of multiple color palettes:

   Plot visual vectors of all current color palettes for comparing them.

2. if pal is set to a specific color palette (or a vector of multiple colors or color palettes):

   Plot the current color palette and optional details on its colors.

The title and pal_names arguments add control over plotted text labels. However, the length of a character vector provided to pal_names must correspond to the number of (custom) color palettes or colors.

See also

usecol for using a color palette; defpal to define new color palettes; grepal for finding named colors; shades_of to define shades of a given color; pal_unikn for the default uni.kn color palette.

Other color functions: grepal(), newpal(), shades_of(), usecol()

Examples

# See multiple color palettes: 
seecol()  # default: seecol(pal = "all") 

# See details of one color palette: 
seecol(pal_unikn)  # see a specific color palette

# Combining colors or color palettes: 
seecol(c(rev(pal_seeblau), pal_seegruen))        # combine color palettes
seecol(c(rev(pal_seeblau), "white", pal_pinky))  # combine color palettes and color names
seecol(c("black", "firebrick", "gold"))          # combine color names

# Using n to reduce or extend color palettes:
seecol(n =  3)  # viewing reduced ranges of all palettes
seecol(n = 12)  # viewing extended ranges of all palettes

seecol(pal_unikn, n = 5, 
       title = "Reduced version of pal_unikn (n = 5)")  # reducing pal_unikn
seecol(pal_seeblau, n = 8, 
       title = "Extended version of pal_seeblau (n = 8)")  # extending pal_seeblau

# Combining and extending color palettes: 
seecol(c(rev(pal_seeblau), "white", pal_bordeaux), n = 17, 
       title = "Diverging custom color palette (with 17 colors)")

# Defining custom color palettes:
pal_mpg <- c("#007367", "white", "#D0D3D4")  # mixing hex values and color names
names(pal_mpg) <- c("mpg green", "mpg white", "mpg grey")  # color names

pal_bdg <- usecol(c(Bordeaux, "gold"), n = 10)  # using usecol

# Viewing extended color palette: 
seecol(pal_mpg, n = 9, title = "Custom color palette of the Max Planck Society")

# Comparing (and labeling) custom color palettes: 
seecol(list(pal_mpg, pal_bdg, pal_unikn), n = 7,
       pal_names = c("Max Planck", "Bordeaux-Gold", "Uni Konstanz"), 
       title = "Comparing and labeling custom color palettes")

## Viewing color palettes from other packages: 
# library(RColorBrewer)
# seecol(brewer.pal(name = "RdBu", n = 11))  # viewing "RdBu" palette from RColorBrewer

## Extending color palettes:
# seecol(brewer.pal(name = "RdBu", n = 11), n = 15)  # extending palette to 15 colors