GrayLevel

GrayLevel[g]

represents a color in the grayscale color space with gray level g.

GrayLevel[g,a]

specifies opacity a.

GrayLevel["string"]

returns a color from an HTML color name etc.

GrayLevel[color]

returns the grayscale representation of color.

Details

  • GrayLevel is a color representing intensity in the monochrome grayscale color space as a shade of gray, where represents black and represents white.
  • The gray level must be a number between 0 and 1. »
  • On display devices with no native gray‐level capability, dither patterns are typically used.
  • If no opacity has been specified, GrayLevel[g] is equivalent to GrayLevel[g,1].
  • GrayLevel[g,a] is equivalent to {GrayLevel[g],Opacity[a]}. »
  • The alternative forms GrayLevel[{g}] and GrayLevel[{g,a}] can also be used.
  • ColorConvert can be used to convert between GrayLevel and other color spaces.
  • Style[expr,GrayLevel[…]] specifies that expr should be displayed with the specified gray level. »
  • For 3D surfaces, explicit GrayLevel directives define surface colors; the final shading depends on lighting.

Examples

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Basic Examples  (4)

Specify the gray level of graphics primitives:

Specify the gray level with opacity:

Specify the output gray level of expressions:

Specify the gray level of plots:

Scope  (1)

GrayLevel in 3D  (1)

Use diffuse surface color:

Use diffuse and specular surface color:

Use glow color, setting the diffuse surface color to black:

Generalizations & Extensions  (1)

Use Opacity with GrayLevel:

Use the opacity argument directly in GrayLevel:

Properties & Relations  (1)

GrayLevel of RGBColor can be computed in the following way:

From this formula we see that many colors will produce the same gray level G:

Use a color function in the RGB color space:

The corresponding gray-level colors:

Possible Issues  (2)

Gray-level values outside of the 0,1 range will be clipped:

The actual surface color depends on the colors of lights in 3D:

The default 3D lights contain several colored light sources:

Neat Examples  (2)

Visualizing the gray level with opacity:

White noise with opacity:

Wolfram Research (1988), GrayLevel, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/GrayLevel.html (updated 2021).

Text

Wolfram Research (1988), GrayLevel, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/GrayLevel.html (updated 2021).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 1988. "GrayLevel." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2021. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/GrayLevel.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (1988). GrayLevel. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/GrayLevel.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_graylevel, author="Wolfram Research", title="{GrayLevel}", year="2021", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/GrayLevel.html}", note=[Accessed: 23-July-2025 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_graylevel, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={GrayLevel}, year={2021}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/GrayLevel.html}, note=[Accessed: 23-July-2025 ]}