Colourmap

Common errors

• ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'colormap'

  cause Attempted to import 'colormap' (without 'u') when the installed package is 'colourmap' (with 'u').
  fix Change your import statement to `from colourmap import colourmap`.

• TypeError: generate_unique_colors() got an unexpected keyword argument 'cmap_name'

  cause You are trying to specify a colormap by name directly with a 'cmap_name' argument, which is not supported by this library's `generate_unique_colors` function. It implicitly uses an internal colormap or expects `input_colors`.
  fix If you want to use a specific colormap (e.g., from matplotlib or seaborn), first generate a list of colors from that colormap using its respective library, and then pass that list to `colourmap.generate_unique_colors` via the `input_colors` parameter.

Warnings

• gotcha There are multiple Python packages with similar names ('colormap', 'cmap', 'colormaps'). Ensure you are installing and importing 'colourmap' (with 'u') if you intend to use this specific library.
  Fix: Verify your `pip install` command and `from ... import ...` statements. The correct installation is `pip install colourmap` and the main import is `from colourmap import colourmap`.
• gotcha The `generate_unique_colors` function can take either `n_colors` (to generate from an internal colormap) or `input_colors` (to sample from a provided list). Using both might lead to unexpected behavior or an error depending on the implementation details for argument precedence.
  Fix: Always pass either `n_colors` OR `input_colors`, but not both, to `generate_unique_colors` for clarity and predictable results. Consult the official documentation for specific argument priority if both are present.

Install

• pip install colourmap Latest stable version

Imports

• colourmap

  from colourmap import colourmap

  The package name and the main function/class are both 'colourmap' (with 'u').

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to generate unique colors using the `colourmap` function from a default colormap or a provided list of colors. It also shows the utility functions for converting between RGB and HEX color formats. The core functionality is `generate_unique_colors` which can take an `n_colors` parameter or an `input_colors` list.

from colourmap import colourmap

# Generate 5 unique colors from a default colormap
colors_hex = colourmap.generate_unique_colors(n_colors=5)
print(f"Generated HEX colors: {colors_hex}")

# Generate 3 unique colors from a specified list of input colors (e.g., using a seaborn palette)
# For demonstration, we'll use a simple list; in a real scenario, this might come from seaborn.color_palette
input_palette = ['#1f77b4', '#ff7f0e', '#2ca02c', '#d62728', '#9467bd', '#8c564b']
colors_from_palette_hex = colourmap.generate_unique_colors(input_colors=input_palette, n_colors=3)
print(f"Generated HEX colors from palette: {colors_from_palette_hex}")

# Convert RGB to HEX
rgb_color = (255, 0, 0)
hex_color = colourmap.rgb_to_hex(rgb_color)
print(f"RGB {rgb_color} to HEX: {hex_color}")

# Convert HEX to RGB
hex_color_input = '#00FF00'
rgb_color_output = colourmap.hex_to_rgb(hex_color_input)
print(f"HEX {hex_color_input} to RGB: {rgb_color_output}")