r3.colors(1)

📦
version 8.4.2 · 10 versions
, in fedora 44

💖 r3.colors 💖

okay bestie, this one's from the GRASS GIS User's Manual, and it's giving 3D-raster-glow-up energy. sit down, grab a lil snack, we're doing color tables ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

r3.colors — Creates/modifies the color table associated with a 3D raster map.

periodt. that's the whole job. 💅

🔑 KEYWORDS 🔑

raster3d, color table

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

r3.colors
r3.colors --help
r3.colors [-rwldngae]  [map=name[,name,...]]   [file=name]
[color=style]   [raster=name]   [raster_3d=name]   [rules=name]
[offset=float]   [scale=float]   [--help]  [--verbose]  [--quiet]
[--ui]

🎀 Flags 🎀

  • -r — Remove existing color table. bye bye color table, you're literally not invited anymore 😭
  • -w — Only write new color table if it does not already exist. protective queen behavior, no overwriting 🫶
  • -l — List available rules then exit. window shopping 🛍️
  • -d — List available rules with description then exit. same but with the little blurbs. and if a color rule is given, only this rule is listed 👑
  • -n — Invert colors. uno reverse card 💀
  • -g — Logarithmic scaling. math girlies rise 📈
  • -a — Logarithmic-absolute scaling. same but with the absolute value, no cap
  • -e — Histogram equalization. glow-up for your distribution ✨
  • --help — Print usage summary
  • --verbose — Verbose module output
  • --quiet — Quiet module output. shhh 🤫
  • --ui — Force launching GUI dialog

🧚 Parameters 🧚

  • map=name[,name,...] — Name of 3D raster map(s)
  • file=name — Input file with one map name per line. Input map names can be defined in an input file in case a large amount of maps must be specified. This option is mutual exclusive to the map option. (so like, pick one bestie, not both 🙈)
  • color=style — Name of color table

Options:

aspect, aspectcolr, bcyr, bgyr, blues, byg, byr, celsius,
corine, curvature, differences, elevation, etopo2, evi, fahrenheit,
forest_cover, gdd, grass, greens, grey, grey.eq, grey.log, grey1.0,
grey255, gyr, haxby, inferno, kelvin, magma, ndvi, ndwi, nlcd,
oranges, plasma, population, population_dens, precipitation,
precipitation_daily, precipitation_monthly, rainbow, ramp, random,
reds, roygbiv, rstcurv, ryb, ryg, sepia, slope, soilmoisture, srtm,
srtm_percent, srtm_plus, terrain, viridis, water, wave

and here's what each one actually is, no gatekeeping 💖:

  • aspect: aspect oriented grey colors [range: map values]
  • aspectcolr: aspect oriented rainbow colors [range: 0 to 360]
  • bcyr: blue through cyan through yellow to red [range: map values]
  • bgyr: blue through green through yellow to red [range: map values]
  • blues: white to blue [range: map values]
  • byg: blue through yellow to green [range: map values]
  • byr: blue through yellow to red [range: map values]
  • celsius: blue to red for degree Celsius temperature [range: -80 to 80]
  • corine: EU Corine land cover colors [range: 111 to 995]
  • curvature: for terrain curvatures (from v.surf.rst and r.slope.aspect) [range: map values]
  • differences: differences oriented colors [range: map values]
  • elevation: maps relative ranges of raster values to elevation color ramp [range: map values]
  • etopo2: colors for ETOPO2 worldwide bathymetry/topography [range: -11000 to 8850]
  • evi: enhanced vegetative index colors [range: -1 to 1]
  • fahrenheit: blue to red for Fahrenheit temperature [range: -112 to 176]
  • forest_cover: percentage of forest cover [range: 0 to 100]
  • gdd: accumulated growing degree days [range: 0 to 6000]
  • grass: GRASS GIS green (perceptually uniform) [range: map values]
  • greens: white to green [range: map values]
  • grey: grey scale [range: map values]
  • grey.eq: histogram-equalized grey scale [range: map values]
  • grey.log: histogram logarithmic transformed grey scale [range: map values]
  • grey1.0: grey scale for raster values between 0.0-1.0 [range: 0 to 1]
  • grey255: grey scale for raster values between 0-255 [range: 0 to 255]
  • gyr: green through yellow to red [range: map values]
  • haxby: relative colors for bathymetry or topography [range: map values]
  • inferno: perceptually uniform sequential color table inferno [range: map values]
  • kelvin: blue to red for temperature in Kelvin scale [range: 193.15 to 353.15]
  • magma: perceptually uniform sequential color table magma [range: map values]
  • ndvi: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index colors [range: -1 to 1]
  • ndwi: Normalized Difference Water Index colors [range: -200 to 200]
  • nlcd: US National Land Cover Dataset colors [range: 0 to 95]
  • oranges: white to orange [range: map values]
  • plasma: perceptually uniform sequential color table plasma [range: map values]
  • population: color table covering human population classification breaks [range: 0 to 2e+09]
  • population_dens: color table covering human population density classification breaks [range: 0 to 1e+09]
  • precipitation: precipitation color table (0..2000mm) [range: 0 to 7000]
  • precipitation_daily: precipitation color table (0..1000mm) [range: 0 to 10000]
  • precipitation_monthly: precipitation color table (0..1000mm) [range: 0 to 1000]
  • rainbow: rainbow color table [range: map values]
  • ramp: color ramp [range: map values]
  • random: random color table [range: map values]
  • reds: white to red [range: map values]
  • roygbiv: [range: map values] — yeah the manpage gives this one literally no description. it's just vibes iykyk 🌈
  • rstcurv: terrain curvature (from r.resamp.rst) [range: map values]
  • ryb: red through yellow to blue [range: map values]
  • ryg: red through yellow to green [range: map values]
  • sepia: yellowish-brown through to white [range: map values]
  • slope: r.slope.aspect-type slope colors for raster values 0-90 [range: 0 to 90]
  • soilmoisture: soilmoisture color table (0.0-1.0) [range: 0 to 1]
  • srtm: color palette for Shuttle Radar Topography Mission elevation [range: -11000 to 8850]
  • srtm_percent: color palette for Shuttle Radar Topography Mission using relative elevation [range: map values]
  • srtm_plus: color palette for Shuttle Radar Topography Mission elevation (with seafloor colors) [range: -11000 to 8850]
  • terrain: global elevation color table covering -11000 to +8850m [range: -11000 to 8850]
  • viridis: perceptually uniform sequential color table viridis [range: map values]
  • water: water depth [range: map values]
  • wave: color wave [range: map values]
  • raster=name — Raster map from which to copy color table. stealing the fit, respectfully 👀
  • raster_3d=name — 3D raster map from which to copy color table
  • rules=name — Path to rules file. "-" to read rules from stdin
  • offset=float — Offset for color rule values. New value = (old value + offset) * scale. Default: 0
  • scale=float — Scale for color rule values. New value = (old value + offset) * scale. Default: 1

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

r3.colors has exactly the same functionality as r.colors but for 3D raster maps. Please refer to r.colors. that's it, that's the tea — it's literally the 3D sibling, same brain, different dimension 🧠✨

🌟 EXAMPLES 🌟

r3.colors map=volume_1 color=gyr

look at her go. green → yellow → red, instant serve 🔥

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

  • r.colors
  • r.colors.out
  • r3.colors.out
  • v.colors
  • v.colors.out

See also wiki page Color tables (from GRASS User Wiki)

ColorBrewer is an online tool designed to help people select good color schemes for maps and other graphics. (queen behavior from ColorBrewer honestly 💅)

🫶 AUTHORS 🫶

Michael Shapiro and David Johnson Support for 3D rasters by Soeren Gebbert

🍓 SOURCE CODE 🍓

Available at: r3.colors source code (history)

Accessed: Saturday Jan 17 05:40:45 2026

Main index | 3D raster index | Topics index | Keywords index | Graphical index | Full index

okay so that's the whole page bestie. go forth and color your 3D rasters, you absolute main character 🌈

© 2003-2025 GRASS Development Team, GRASS GIS 8.4.2 Reference Manual — and yes, this lil masterpiece came to you courtesy of GRASS 8.4.2, under the name r3.colors(1). mwah 💋✨

📦 where this page comes from