Converting from HSV (HSB in Java) to RGB without using java.awt.Color (disallowed on Google App Engine)

Question

I figured I should post this question, even if I have already found a solution, as a Java implementation was not readily available when I searched for it.

Using HSV instead of RGB allows the generation of colors with the same saturation and brightness (something I wanted).

Google App Engine does not allow use of java.awt.Color, so doing the following to convert between HSV and RGB is not an option:

Color c = Color.getHSBColor(hue, saturation, value);
String rgb = Integer.toHexString(c.getRGB());

Edit: I moved my answer as described in the comment by Nick Johnson.

Ex animo, - Alexander.

Answer 1

Use ColorUtils which provides

HSLToColor(float\[\] hsl) 

And

[RGBToHSL(int r, int g, int b, float\[\] hsl)]

Methods which are very easy to convert to each other!

For example:

float[] hsl = new float[]{1.5, 2.0, 1.5};
int color = ColorUtils.HSLToColor(hsl);

Now get the color

float[] hslStub = new float[3];
float[] hslFromColor = ColorUtils.colorToHSL(color, hslStub);

Now get the hsl

Here is the sourcecode.

Answer 2

Using SWT you can use following code snippet:

RGB rgb = new RGB(r, g, b);
float[] hsbColor = rgb.getHSB();
rgb = new RGB(hsbColor[0], hsbColor[1], hsbColor[2]);

Answer 3

The solution was found here: http://martin.ankerl.com/2009/12/09/how-to-create-random-colors-programmatically/

Martin Ankerl provides a good post on the subject, and provides Ruby script. For those too busy (or lazy) to implement it in Java, here's the one I did (I am sure it can be written more effectively, please feel free to comment):

public static String hsvToRgb(float hue, float saturation, float value) {
    float r, g, b;

    int h = (int)(hue * 6);
    float f = hue * 6 - h;
    float p = value * (1 - saturation);
    float q = value * (1 - f * saturation);
    float t = value * (1 - (1 - f) * saturation);

    if (h == 0) {
        r = value;
        g = t;
        b = p;
    } else if (h == 1) {
        r = q;
        g = value;
        b = p;
    } else if (h == 2) {
        r = p;
        g = value;
        b = t;
    } else if (h == 3) {
        r = p;
        g = q;
        b = value;
    } else if (h == 4) {
        r = t;
        g = p;
        b = value;
    } else if (h <= 6) {
        r = value;
        g = p;
        b = q;
    } else {
        throw new RuntimeException("Something went wrong when converting from HSV to RGB. Input was " + hue + ", " + saturation + ", " + value);
    }

    String rs = Integer.toHexString((int)(r * 255));
    String gs = Integer.toHexString((int)(g * 255));
    String bs = Integer.toHexString((int)(b * 255));
    return rs + gs + bs;
}

Answer 4

I don't know anything about color math, but I can offer this alternative structure for the code, which tickles my aesthetic sense because it made it obvious to me how each of the 6 cases is just a different permutation of value, t and p. (Also I have an irrational fear of long if-else chains.)

public static String hsvToRgb(float hue, float saturation, float value) {

    int h = (int)(hue * 6);
    float f = hue * 6 - h;
    float p = value * (1 - saturation);
    float q = value * (1 - f * saturation);
    float t = value * (1 - (1 - f) * saturation);

    switch (h) {
      case 0: return rgbToString(value, t, p);
      case 1: return rgbToString(q, value, p);
      case 2: return rgbToString(p, value, t);
      case 3: return rgbToString(p, q, value);
      case 4: return rgbToString(t, p, value);
      case 5: return rgbToString(value, p, q);
      default: throw new RuntimeException("Something went wrong when converting from HSV to RGB. Input was " + hue + ", " + saturation + ", " + value);
    }
}

public static String rgbToString(float r, float g, float b) {
    String rs = Integer.toHexString((int)(r * 256));
    String gs = Integer.toHexString((int)(g * 256));
    String bs = Integer.toHexString((int)(b * 256));
    return rs + gs + bs;
}

Answer 5

You should use the HSBtoRGB implementation provided by Oracle, copying its source code into your project. java.awt.Color is open-source. The algorithms provided by Peter Recore and Yngling are not robust and will return illegal RGB values like "256,256,0" for certain inputs. Oracle's implementation is robust, use it instead.

Answer 6

My code for converting:

     /**
     * @param H
     *            0-360
     * @param S
     *            0-100
     * @param V
     *            0-100
     * @return color in hex string
     */
    public static String hsvToRgb(float H, float S, float V) {

        float R, G, B;

        H /= 360f;
        S /= 100f;
        V /= 100f;

        if (S == 0)
        {
            R = V * 255;
            G = V * 255;
            B = V * 255;
        } else {
            float var_h = H * 6;
            if (var_h == 6)
                var_h = 0; // H must be < 1
            int var_i = (int) Math.floor((double) var_h); // Or ... var_i =
                                                            // floor( var_h )
            float var_1 = V * (1 - S);
            float var_2 = V * (1 - S * (var_h - var_i));
            float var_3 = V * (1 - S * (1 - (var_h - var_i)));

            float var_r;
            float var_g;
            float var_b;
            if (var_i == 0) {
                var_r = V;
                var_g = var_3;
                var_b = var_1;
            } else if (var_i == 1) {
                var_r = var_2;
                var_g = V;
                var_b = var_1;
            } else if (var_i == 2) {
                var_r = var_1;
                var_g = V;
                var_b = var_3;
            } else if (var_i == 3) {
                var_r = var_1;
                var_g = var_2;
                var_b = V;
            } else if (var_i == 4) {
                var_r = var_3;
                var_g = var_1;
                var_b = V;
            } else {
                var_r = V;
                var_g = var_1;
                var_b = var_2;
            }

            R = var_r * 255; // RGB results from 0 to 255
            G = var_g * 255;
            B = var_b * 255;
        }

        String rs = Integer.toHexString((int) (R));
        String gs = Integer.toHexString((int) (G));
        String bs = Integer.toHexString((int) (B));

        if (rs.length() == 1)
            rs = "0" + rs;
        if (gs.length() == 1)
            gs = "0" + gs;
        if (bs.length() == 1)
            bs = "0" + bs;
        return "#" + rs + gs + bs;
    }

Example of use on Android:

tv.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor((ColorOperations.hsvToRgb(100, 100, 57))));

Answer 7

The answer by @Peter Recore do not use rounding.

Probably somewhat more correct way to use it is to copy the content from java.awt.Color and this is how it looked in Java 6:

 public static int HSBtoRGB(float hue, float saturation, float brightness) {
        int r = 0, g = 0, b = 0;
        if (saturation == 0) {
            r = g = b = (int) (brightness * 255.0f + 0.5f);
        } else {
            float h = (hue - (float)Math.floor(hue)) * 6.0f;
            float f = h - (float)java.lang.Math.floor(h);
            float p = brightness * (1.0f - saturation);
            float q = brightness * (1.0f - saturation * f);
            float t = brightness * (1.0f - (saturation * (1.0f - f)));
            switch ((int) h) {
            case 0:
                r = (int) (brightness * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                g = (int) (t * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                b = (int) (p * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                break;
            case 1:
                r = (int) (q * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                g = (int) (brightness * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                b = (int) (p * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                break;
            case 2:
                r = (int) (p * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                g = (int) (brightness * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                b = (int) (t * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                break;
            case 3:
                r = (int) (p * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                g = (int) (q * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                b = (int) (brightness * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                break;
            case 4:
                r = (int) (t * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                g = (int) (p * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                b = (int) (brightness * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                break;
            case 5:
                r = (int) (brightness * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                g = (int) (p * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                b = (int) (q * 255.0f + 0.5f);
                break;
            }
        }
        return 0xff000000 | (r << 16) | (g << 8) | (b << 0);
    }

Rounding here seems to be correct.