Create Your Own Colormaps

• author: Hamid Ali Syed
• email: windcirculation[at]gmail[dot]com
• date: Sep 04, 2023

Introducing Colormaps

Overview

Welcome to this interactive tutorial on creating custom colormaps. By the end of this post, you’ll be able to design your own colormaps effortlessly by manipulating RGB lines according to your preferences.

Step 1: Design Your Colormap

1. Visit https://syedha.com/colormaps.
2. Use the interactive tool to drag the RGB lines until you achieve your desired colormap.

Step 2: Copy Your Colormap

1. In the ‘Copy Your Colormap’ section, select the option to copy the colormap as plain text.
2. Click the ‘Copy’ button to copy the colormap matrix to your clipboard.

Step 3: Apply Your Colormap

1. Launch Jupyter Notebook or your preferred Python environment.

2. Run the following code while the copied matrix is still in your clipboard:

    import pandas as pd
    import matplotlib as mpl
    import numpy as np
   
    def create_colorbar_from_clipboard():
        df = pd.read_clipboard(header=None)
        df.columns = ['R', 'G', 'B']
        c = np.array(df/255.0)
        cm = mpl.colors.ListedColormap(c)
        return cm
   
    cmap = create_colorbar_from_clipboard()
    cmap
   

Congratulations! You’ve successfully created your custom colormap. Feel free to reach out if you need further assistance or have any questions.

Best,
Hamid