CoreGraphics 学习摘记 之 Color and Color Spaces

About Color and Color Spaces

A color in Quartz is represented by a set of values. The values are meaningless without a color space that dictates how to interpret color information. In Quartz, color also has an alpha value that specifies the transparency of a color.

Table 4-1  Color values in different color spaces

Values	Color space	Components
240 degrees, 100%, 100%	HSB	Hue, saturation, brightness
0, 0, 1	RGB	Red, green, blue
1, 1, 0, 0	CMYK	Cyan, magenta, yellow, black
1, 0, 0	BGR	Blue, green, red

The Alpha Value

Figure 4-2  A comparison of large rectangles painted using various alpha values

In the normal blend mode (which is the default for the graphics state) Quartz performs alpha blending by combining the components of the source color with the components of the destination color using the formula:

destination = (alpha * source) + (1 - alpha) * destination

where source is one component of the new paint color and destination is one component of the background color. 

You can supply an alpha value as the last color component to all routines that accept colors. You can also set the global alpha value using the  CGContextSetAlpha  function. Keep in mind that if you set both, Quartz multiplies the alpha color component by the global alpha value.

To allow the page itself to be fully transparent, you can explicitly clear the alpha channel of the graphics context using the CGContextClearRect function, as long as the graphics context is a window or bitmap graphics context.

Creating Color Spaces

Important: iOS does not support device-independent or generic color spaces. iOS applications must use device color spaces instead.

Creating Device Color Spaces

You create a device color space by using one of the following functions:

• CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceGray for a device-dependent grayscale color space.

• CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB for a device-dependent RGB color space.

• CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceCMYK for a device-dependent CMYK color space.

Setting and Creating Colors

You can use the functions CGContextSetFillColorSpace and CGContextSetStrokeColorSpace to set the fill and stroke color spaces, or you can use one of the convenience functions (listed in Table 4-2) that set color for a device color space.

Table 4-2  Color-setting functions

Function	Use to set color for
CGContextSetRGBStrokeColor CGContextSetRGBFillColor	Device RGB. At PDF-generation time, Quartz writes the colors as if they were in the corresponding generic color space.
CGContextSetCMYKStrokeColor CGContextSetCMYKFillColor	Device CMYK. (Remains device CMYK at PDF-generation time.)
CGContextSetGrayStrokeColor CGContextSetGrayFillColor	Device Gray. At PDF-generation time, Quartz writes the colors as if they were in the corresponding generic color space.
CGContextSetStrokeColorWithColor CGContextSetFillColorWithColor	Any color space; you supply a CGColor object that specifies the color space. Use these functions for colors you need repeatedly.
CGContextSetStrokeColor CGContextSetFillColor	The current color space. Not recommended. Instead, set color using a CGColor object and the functions CGContextSetStrokeColorWithColor andCGContextSetFillColorWithColor.

If you reuse colors in your application, the most efficient way to set fill and stroke colors is to create a CGColor object。 You can keep the CGColor object around as long as you need it. You can improve your application’s performance by using CGColor objects directly. You create a CGColor object by calling the function CGColorCreate, passing a CGColorspace object and an array of floating-point values that specify the intensity values for the color. The last component in the array specifies the alpha value.

Setting Rendering Intent

To set the rendering intent, call the function CGContextSetRenderingIntent, passing a graphics context and one of the following constants:

• kCGRenderingIntentDefault. Uses the default rendering intent for the context.

• kCGRenderingIntentAbsoluteColorimetric. Maps colors outside of the gamut of the output device to the closest possible match inside the gamut of the output device. This can produce a clipping effect, where two different color values in the gamut of the graphics context are mapped to the same color value in the output device’s gamut. This is the best choice when the colors used in the graphics are within the gamut of both the source and the destination, as is often the case with logos or when spot colors are used.

• kCGRenderingIntentRelativeColorimetric. The relative colorimetric shifts all colors (including those within the gamut) to account for the difference between the white point of the graphics context and the white point of the output device.

• kCGRenderingIntentPerceptual. Preserves the visual relationship between colors by compressing the gamut of the graphics context to fit inside the gamut of the output device. Perceptual intent is good for photographs and other complex, detailed images.

• kCGRenderingIntentSaturation. Preserves the relative saturation value of the colors when converting into the gamut of the output device. The result is an image with bright, saturated colors. Saturation intent is good for reproducing images with low detail, such as presentation charts and graphs.