Command/definecolor

\definecolor

Syntax (autogenerated)

\definecolor[...][...=...,...]
[...]	name
r	number
g	number
b	number
c	number
m	number
y	number
k	number
h	number
s	number
v	number
w	number
x	number
a	number none normal multiply screen overlay softlight hardlight colordodge colorburn darken lighten difference exclusion hue saturation color luminosity
t	number

\definecolor[...][...]
[...]	name
[...]	color

Syntax

\definecolor[...][...,...=...,...]
[...]	name
r	number red channel (RGB)
g	number green channel (RGB)
b	number blue channel (RGB)
c	number cyan channel (CMYK)
m	number magenta channel (CMYK)
y	number yellow channel (CMYK)
k	number black channel (CMYK)
s	number gray value (Grayscale), if v isn't set
h	number hue (HSB/HWB, 0–360)
s	number saturation (HSB)
v	number brightness/value (HSB), blackness (HWB)
w	number whiteness (HWB)
t	number transparency factor
a	number alternative (transparency method)
p	number spotcolor percentage
e	text spotcolor name
x	text Hexadecimal RGB value (like in HTML)

Description

\definecolor associates a name with a color, for later use with the \color command.

Hex colors in MkII

To use hexadecimal colors in MkII you need to load the proper module first:

\setupcolor[hex]

Then the colors can be specified with

\definecolor[hex-red][h=FF0000] % it’s h instead of x in MkII

Transparency

Regarding the key a, which means transparency alternative method, there are a certain number of values (actually at least 13, from 0 to 12) whose meanings can be seen from below:

\definetransparency [none]        [0]
\definetransparency [normal]      [1]
\definetransparency [multiply]    [2]
\definetransparency [screen]      [3]
\definetransparency [overlay]     [4]
\definetransparency [softlight]   [5]
\definetransparency [hardlight]   [6]
\definetransparency [colordodge]  [7]
\definetransparency [colorburn]   [8]
\definetransparency [darken]      [9]
\definetransparency [lighten]    [10]
\definetransparency [difference] [11]
\definetransparency [exclusion]  [12]

Defining derivative colors

Colors defined in terms of other colors are processed at the Lua end, unless they are direct clones. In that case, the new name is never told to Lua. That means that this does not work:

% direct clone, processed by TeX
\definecolor[ColorA][red]
% fails, ColorA not known to Lua
\definecolor[ColorB][.5(ColorA)]

Writing it as a fake fraction works.

% definition involves a fraction, processed by Lua.
\definecolor[ColorA][1.0(red)]
% succeeds
\definecolor[ColorB][.5(ColorA)]

Example

% rgb
\definecolor[bluu][r=.25, g=.1, b=1]
Hey, \color[bluu]{look at that!}

% hex
\definecolor[salmon][x=AB5757]
Hey, \color[salmon]{look at that!}

\definecolor[brightorange][c=0, m=.4325, y=.9286, k=.0118]
Hey, \color[brightorange]{orange you glad I didn't say banana?}

\definecolor[darknavy][c=.9753, m=.4444, y=0, k=.6824]
Hey, \color[darknavy]{is this dark navy?}

See also

• Color
• \definetransparency

Help from ConTeXt-Mailinglist/Forum

All issues with:

• definecolor on the mailing list (all results)
• definecolor on the mailing list (subject only)
• definecolor on stack exchange
• definecolor in ConTeXt's source