Colormap Editor

What it Does

The colormap editor allows different operations:

• Creating a new colormap from scratch
• Loading a colormap from multiple formats
• Editing the current colormap
• Saving the current colormap to multiple formats

General Description

The colormap editor is made up of several components:

• The menu bar contains many actions related to colormap files or editing. See below for more detailed descriptions.
• The scaling mode drop down changes the way the colormap is scaled to data.
  • Percentage Based colormaps scale themselves relative to whatever data they are applied to.
  • Fixed Range colormaps specify a range of absolute values.
• The blending mode drop down changes the way colors blend between values.
  • In Smooth Mode, colors blend smoothly and continuously from value to value.
  • In Banded Mode, the colormap is divided into discrete ranges or bands of solid color.
  • In Mixed Mode, the color immediately above and below each value can be specified allowing both smooth and discrete transitions.
• The table is where the colormap data can be viewed and edited. Cells can be edited via double click or the F2 key. The context menu provides some editing conveniences. The actual columns displayed in the table depend on the current blending mode.
  • In Smooth Mode, Value and Color columns are shown.
  • In Banded Mode, Range and Color columns are shown.
  • In Mixed Mode, Value, Color Below and Color Above columns are shown.
• The preview shows the current state of the colormap being edited. The dashed lines represent the top and bottom of the colormap's range. The sections outside these dashed lines show the above and below range colors.
• At the bottom of the window are the standard dialog buttons. While the colormap editor is a dialog, it also behaves much like a stand alone colormap editing application. This makes the meaning of the dialog buttons somewhat less obvious.
  
  • The Apply button applies the colormap as shown in the dialog to the selected layers. This operation is completely independent of any loading or saving of colormap files that was done.
  • The OK button is identical to the Apply button, except that it closes the dialog.
  • The Cancel button closes the dialog without applying the current colormap to the selected layers. It does not cancel any previous presses of the Apply button or any file based operations performed while the dialog was open.

Menu bar Actions

• Colormap Menu
  • New... - Shows the New Colormap dialog for creating a new colormap from scratch, which shows:
    • Scaling type
    • Blending mode
    • Minimum and maximum values
    • Minimum and maximum colors
    • The number of stops
    • A preview of the stop values based on the values chosen
  • Load from File... - Opens a colormap file from disk, replacing the currently loaded colormap. Note that this colormap is not immediately applied to the selected layers, OK or Apply must still be pressed. The supported formats are:
    • Fledermaus CMAP Files (*.cmap)
    • QINSy CLR Files (*.clr)
    • QINSy XML Files (*.xml)
    • ASCII Files (*)
    • Caris Files (*.cma)
    • Gimp/POV-Ray Files (*)
    • GMT Files (*.cpt)
    • GRASS Files (*)
  • Save to File... - Saves the current colormap to disk as a colormap file. The supported formats are:
    • Fledermaus CMAP Files (*.cmap)
    • QINSy XML Files (*.xml)
    • ASCII Files (*)
• Edit Menu
  • Copy - Copies the current value or color to the clipboard.
  • Paste - Pastes a value or color from the clipboard.
  • Interpolate Values Between Selected Rows - Evenly spaces the values between the first and last selected rows.
  • Interpolate Colors Between Selected Rows - Evenly blends the colors between the first and last selected rows.
  • Reverse Colormap: Reverses the position of every color in the colormap. The minimum color becomes the maximum color, and so on. No change is made to the values.
• Rows Menu
  • Insert Row - Inserts a new row above the selected row. The value and color are interpolated to be halfway between the surrounding rows.
  • Delete Row - Removes the selected row.
  • Change Number of Rows... - Rescales the colormap to have the specified number of evenly spaced rows.
  • Rescale Full Range... - Rescales a fixed range colormap to a new minimum and maximum.