Specifying Block Diagram Colors

How to Specify Block Diagram Colors

You can specify the foreground and background colors of any block or annotation in a diagram, as well as the diagram's background color. To set the background color of a block diagram, select Screen color from the Format menu. To set the background color of a block or annotation or group of such items, first select the item or items. Then select Background color from the Format menu. To set the foreground color of a block or annotation, first select the item. Then select Foreground color from the Format menu.

In all cases, a menu of color choices is displayed. Choose the desired color from the menu. If you select a color other than Custom, the background or foreground color of the diagram or diagram element is changed to the selected color.

Back to Top

Choosing a Custom Color

If you choose Custom, The Simulink Choose Custom Color dialog box is displayed.

The dialog box displays a palette of basic colors and a palette of custom colors that you previously defined. If you have not previously created any custom colors, the custom color palette is all white. To choose a color from either palette, click the color, and then click the OK button.

Back to Top

Defining a Custom Color

To define a custom color, click the Define Custom Colors button on the Choose Custom Color dialog box.

The dialog box expands to display a custom color definer.

The color definer allows you to specify a custom color by

• Entering the red, green, and blue components of the color as values between 0 (darkest) and 255 (brightest)

• Entering hue, saturation, and luminescence components of the color as values in the range 0 to 255

• Moving the hue-saturation cursor to select the hue and saturation of the desired color and the luminescence cursor to select the luminescence of the desired color

The color that you have defined in any of these ways appears in the Color|Solid box. To redefine a color in the Custom colors palette, select the color and define a new color, using the color definer. Then click the Add to Custom Colors button on the color definer.

Back to Top

Specifying Colors Programmatically

You can use the set_param command at the MATLAB command line or in an M-file program to set parameters that determine the background color of a diagram and the background color and foreground color of diagram elements. The following table summarizes the parameters that control block diagram colors.

You can set these parameters to any of the following values:

• 'black', 'white', 'red', 'green', 'blue', 'cyan', 'magenta', 'yellow', 'gray', 'lightBlue', 'orange', 'darkGreen'

• '[r,g,b]'

  where r, g, and b are the red, green, and blue components of the color normalized to the range 0.0 to 1.0.

For example, the following command sets the background color of the currently selected system or subsystem to a light green color:

set_param(gcs, 'ScreenColor', '[0.3, 0.9, 0.5]')

Back to Top

Displaying Sample Time Colors

The blocks and lines in your model can be color coded to indicate the sample rates at which the blocks operate.

To enable the sample time colors feature, select Sample Time Colors from the Format menu.

The Simulink software does not automatically recolor the model with each change you make to it, so you must select Update Diagram from the Edit menu to explicitly update the model coloration. To return to your original coloring, disable sample time coloration by again choosing Sample Time Colors.

The color that is assigned to each block depends on its sample time relative to other sample times in the model. This means that the same sample time may be assigned different colors in a parent model and in models that it references. (See Referencing a Model.)

For example, suppose that a model defines three sample times: 1, 2, and 3. Further, suppose that it references a model that defines two sample times: 2 and 3. In this case, blocks operating at the 2 sample rate appear as green in the parent model and as red in the referenced model.

It is important to note that Mux and Demux blocks are simply grouping operators; signals passing through them retain their timing information. For this reason, the lines emanating from a Demux block can have different colors if they are driven by sources having different sample times. In this case, the Mux and Demux blocks are color coded as hybrids (yellow) to indicate that they handle signals with multiple rates.

Similarly, Subsystem blocks that contain blocks with differing sample times are also colored as hybrids, because there is no single rate associated with them. If all the blocks within a subsystem run at a single rate, the Subsystem block is colored according to that rate.

Back to Top

Selecting Objects

Connecting Blocks

Related Products & Applications

• Simulink
• Control Design
• Signal Processing & Communications
• Model-Based Design
• Physical Modeling
• Verification & Validation

Get Simulink trial software

Learn more about Simulink through this collection of videos, articles, technical literature and the Getting Started with Simulink Guide.

Get this Simulink Kit