tvomiting-colors.txt - monochromatic - monochromatic blog: http://blog.z3bra.org
HTML git clone git://z3bra.org/monochromatic
DIR Log
DIR Files
DIR Refs
---
tvomiting-colors.txt (3037B)
---
1 # Vomiting colors
2
3 09 June, 2015
4
5 Creating colorschemes is one of the hardest part of customizing your desktop.
6 The easiest way to create a new one is to start from a wallpaper made of colors
7 you like, and then rework it afterward.
8
9 the best tool for this job is without any doubt
10 [colors](http://git.2f30.org/colors) by sin. It uses [k-means
11 clustering](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-means_clustering) to extract
12 dominant colors from a PNG file, and is able to set those clusters in different
13 ways.
14
15 Without any further commenting, let's see how it works with this magnificent
16 picture, randomly taken from the internet:
17
18 [](http://pub.z3bra.org/monochromatic/img/20150609-bamboo.png)
19
20 `colors` allow you to choose the number of clusters you want to see on the
21 output, so in our case, we'll output 16. It's possible that `colors` don't
22 output the number of clusters you asked for. You can "force" outputing empty
23 clusters with `-e`.
24
25 
26
27 Then you can choose how to set your clusters (from the hue domain or pixel space
28 at the time of writing). Another solution when you don't get the number of
29 colors you asked for (in my case, I only got 12 colors with -h), is to just ask
30 for more, and truncate the output. It might give better colors than with `-e`
31 sometimes.
32
33 
34 
35
36 And then you can randomize the output, if you feel in the mood! You could also
37 try using the [k-medians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-medians) method, which
38 takes longer but provides a better output regarding the initial file
39
40 
41
42 Try different pictures and flag combinations for better results!
43
44 Once you have your output of choice, you can export it as an XRDB colorscheme
45 with the following script:
46
47 #!/bin/sh
48
49 CPT=0
50 while read HEXCODE; do
51 printf '*color%d: %s\n' "$CPT" "$HEXCODE"
52 CPT=$(expr $CPT + 1)
53 done | column -t
54
55 This will allow live theme trying with the following command:
56
57 colors -n 16 bamboo.png | toxrdb | xrdb -merge
58
59 Another nice way I found to create colorscheme is by randomizing the colors from
60 the hue domain, resulting in a monochromatic scheme that fits entirely you
61 wallpaper. This works by outputing 32 colors, extracting the 16 colors in the
62 middle and randomizing them. this way, your colors will not be too dark or too
63 light.
64
65 
66
67 You can then make a script to change your wall every now and then, and change
68 the colorscheme on the fly. Your colorscheme will ALWAYS match your current
69 mood!
70
71 <video controls>
72 <source src="http://pub.z3bra.org/monochromatic/vid/20150609-matchlook.webm" type="video/webm">
73 </video>
74
75
76 **Keep tweaking!**