Array Profile Colours

In the database window, use the right-click menu option Array Profile Colours (VACOLOR GX) to specify a colour zone file used for colouring individual profiles in an array channel profile display.

Set Profile Colours for an Array Channel dialog options

Array channel

Select the array channel to update.

Script Parameter: VACOLOR.CHAN

Colour table

Select the colour scheme used to render the colour zone file.

Hovering over a colour scheme entry displays a tooltip with the name of the colour table and its folder.

To change the selection, click the colour entry and browse through the available scheme categories.

Script Parameter: VACOLOR.FILE

Application Notes

Mapping Colours to Array Channel Windows

When displaying profiles or symbols of an array channel using the normal method, colours from the selected colour zone file are automatically mapped to individual elements of the array channel in the following manner:

  • The colour zone file is internally converted into an ITR object, which assigns individual colours to value ranges.

  • The values are equally spaced from 0 to 1.

  • For example, with 8 colours, the mapping is:

    Colour Value Range
    1 0 ≤ value < 0.125
    2 0.125 ≤ value < 0.25
    3 0.25 ≤ value < 0.375
    4 0.375 ≤ value < 0.5
    5 0.5 ≤ value < 0.625
    6 0.625 ≤ value < 0.75
    7 0.75 ≤ value < 0.875
    8 0.875 ≤ value ≤ 1.0

When an array channel is displayed, the index of each element (window index) is mapped using the following formula:

value = (window index) / (number of windows - 1)

Examples:

  • For 8 windows:

    Window Value Colour
    0 0.00 1
    1 0.14 2
    2 0.28 3
    3 0.43 4
    4 0.57 5
    5 0.71 6
    6 0.86 7
    7 1.00 8

  • For 4 windows:

    Window Value Colour
    0 0.00 1
    1 0.33 3
    2 0.67 6
    3 1.00 8

If you have fewer windows than colours, the mapping will take the first and last colours and one or more of the intervening colours.

If there are more windows than colours, the windows are grouped. For instance, if you were using "8.tbl" and an array channel with 32 windows, then the windows will be grouped 4 per colour.

Custom Colour Mapping

To assign specific colours to individual windows non-linearly:

  • Create a colour zone file with the same number of entries as the array channel.

  • This enables one-to-one mapping for colours.

  • For equal grouping, use a common divisor (e.g., 8 colours for 256 windows = 32 windows per colour).

Symbol Colouring

  • Symbols now inherit the same colours as profile lines.

  • Colours configured in the Profile Options dialog are overridden, except for the colour used to plot the channel name and labels.

Profile Colour File Types

You can specify a colour zone file to colour individual profiles in an array channel profile display. The following file types can be used for assigning colours to array profiles in the profile window:

*.tbl
*.zon
*.itr
*.lut

See Also: