color_distance: Calculate color distance between two or more colors

In jmw86069/colorjam: Jam Color manipulation functions

Calculate color distance between two or more colors

Description

Calculate color distance between two or more colors

Usage

color_distance(
  x,
  y = NULL,
  method = c("cie2000", "cie94", "cie1976", "cmc", "euclidean"),
  use_white = "F5",
  do_plot = FALSE,
  ...
)

Arguments

x	character color, required input colors. When y is supplied, values in y are recycled to length(x), and each entry in x is directly compared to y. When y is not supplied, x is compared to itself, returning a matrix.
y	character color, default NULL
method	character, default 'cie2000', the color distance method, passed to farver::compare_colour(). In future, this argument may permit additional distance methods, and/or specific color function, in order to impose other criteria and adjustments.
use_white	character default "F5" representing the white reference, any value recognized by farver::as_white_ref(). The default 'F5' represents 'daylight fluorescent' and in qualitative testing was most effective when defining color distances. The typical default 'D65' is 'daylight 6500K' and is typically used for neutral daylight without blue (cool) or yellow (warm) shifted background lighting.
...	additional arguments are passed to farver::compare_colour()

Details

Color distance is calculated using farver::compare_colour(), with some defaults intended in future to assist with color blindness calculations.

Value

numeric color distance with length(x) entries when both x and y are supplied, or a numeric matrix with color distances between all entries in x.

• An attribute 'method' is added with the color distance used, mainly so the method can be used by show_color_distance(), but also by other methods as relevant.

Examples

color_distance("red", "firebrick", use_white="D65")

color_distance(grDevices::palette.colors(15))

pc <- rainbowJam(5)
cd <- color_distance(pc);
show_color_distance(cd, pc=pc, column_title="rainbowJam()");

pc <- grDevices::palette.colors(15);
cd <- color_distance(pc);
show_color_distance(cd, pc=pc, column_title="palette.colors()");

jmw86069/colorjam documentation built on June 10, 2025, 12:02 p.m.