Color Pickers

Color selection and editing widgets in Dear ImGui

Color widgets provide an intuitive way for users to select and edit colors. Dear ImGui offers both inline color editors and full picker popups.

Color Edit Widgets

ColorEdit3()

Edit RGB color (3 components):

IMGUI_API bool ColorEdit3(const char* label, float col[3], ImGuiColorEditFlags flags = 0);

label · const char* · required

Widget label

col · float[3] · required

RGB color array (values 0.0 to 1.0)

static float color3[3] = { 1.0f, 0.5f, 0.0f };  // Orange
ImGui::ColorEdit3("Color", color3);

ColorEdit4()

Edit RGBA color (4 components with alpha):

IMGUI_API bool ColorEdit4(const char* label, float col[4], ImGuiColorEditFlags flags = 0);

static ImVec4 color = ImVec4(0.45f, 0.55f, 0.60f, 1.00f);
ImGui::ColorEdit4("MyColor", (float*)&color);

// With flags
ImGui::ColorEdit4("Color HSV", (float*)&color, ImGuiColorEditFlags_DisplayHSV);
ImGui::ColorEdit4("Color Float", (float*)&color, ImGuiColorEditFlags_Float);

ColorEdit widgets display a colored square that can be:

• Left-clicked to open a color picker
• Right-clicked to open options menu
• Ctrl+Clicked on components to input values directly

Color Picker Widgets

ColorPicker3() / ColorPicker4()

Full-featured color picker:

IMGUI_API bool ColorPicker3(const char* label, float col[3], ImGuiColorEditFlags flags = 0);
IMGUI_API bool ColorPicker4(const char* label, float col[4], ImGuiColorEditFlags flags = 0,
                            const float* ref_col = NULL);

ref_col · const float*

Optional reference color to display for comparison

static ImVec4 color = ImVec4(0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f, 1.0f);

// Basic picker
ImGui::ColorPicker4("##picker", (float*)&color);

// With reference color
ImVec4 ref_color(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f);
ImGui::ColorPicker4("##picker", (float*)&color, 0, (float*)&ref_color);

Color Button

ColorButton()

Display a colored square button:

IMGUI_API bool ColorButton(const char* desc_id, const ImVec4& col,
                           ImGuiColorEditFlags flags = 0, const ImVec2& size = ImVec2(0, 0));

ImVec4 color(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f);

// Basic color button
if (ImGui::ColorButton("MyColor##3b", color)) {
    // Button was clicked
}

// Larger color button without picker
ImGui::ColorButton("##color", color, ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoPicker, ImVec2(80, 80));

Color Edit Flags

Customize color widget behavior with flags:

Display Mode Flags

// No alpha component
ImGui::ColorEdit4("RGB", col, ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoAlpha);

// Display as HSV instead of RGB
ImGui::ColorEdit4("HSV", col, ImGuiColorEditFlags_DisplayHSV);

// Display as hexadecimal
ImGui::ColorEdit4("Hex", col, ImGuiColorEditFlags_DisplayHex);

// Display with float values
ImGui::ColorEdit4("Float", col, ImGuiColorEditFlags_Float);

Picker Mode Flags

// Use hue bar picker (default for ColorPicker)
ImGui::ColorPicker4("##p", col, ImGuiColorEditFlags_PickerHueBar);

// Use hue wheel picker
ImGui::ColorPicker4("##p", col, ImGuiColorEditFlags_PickerHueWheel);

Alpha Flags

Alpha Display

// Force alpha to 1.0 (opaque)
ImGui::ColorEdit4("Color", col, ImGuiColorEditFlags_AlphaOpaque);

// Alpha channel without background grid
ImGui::ColorEdit4("Color", col, ImGuiColorEditFlags_AlphaNoBg);

// Half preview of alpha
ImGui::ColorEdit4("Color", col, ImGuiColorEditFlags_AlphaPreviewHalf);

// Show alpha bar
ImGui::ColorPicker4("##picker", col, ImGuiColorEditFlags_AlphaBar);

Interaction Flags

// Disable drag and drop
ImGui::ColorEdit4("Color", col, ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoDragDrop);

// Disable right-click options menu
ImGui::ColorEdit4("Color", col, ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoOptions);

// Disable picker popup (button only)
ImGui::ColorButton("##btn", color, ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoPicker);

// No border around color button
ImGui::ColorButton("##btn", color, ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoBorder);

// No tooltip on hover
ImGui::ColorButton("##btn", color, ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoTooltip);

Custom Color Picker Popup

Create a custom picker popup with palette:

static ImVec4 color = ImVec4(0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f, 1.0f);
static ImVec4 backup_color;

bool open_popup = ImGui::ColorButton("MyColor##3b", color);
ImGui::SameLine(0, ImGui::GetStyle().ItemInnerSpacing.x);
open_popup |= ImGui::Button("Palette");

if (open_popup) {
    ImGui::OpenPopup("mypicker");
    backup_color = color;
}

if (ImGui::BeginPopup("mypicker")) {
    ImGui::Text("MY CUSTOM COLOR PICKER");
    ImGui::Separator();
    
    ImGui::ColorPicker4("##picker", (float*)&color,
                        ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoSidePreview | ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoSmallPreview);
    ImGui::SameLine();
    
    ImGui::BeginGroup();
    ImGui::Text("Current");
    ImGui::ColorButton("##current", color, ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoPicker, ImVec2(60, 40));
    ImGui::Text("Previous");
    if (ImGui::ColorButton("##previous", backup_color, ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoPicker, ImVec2(60, 40)))
        color = backup_color;
    ImGui::EndGroup();
    
    ImGui::EndPopup();
}

Color Palette

Create a palette of saved colors:

// Initialize palette
static bool palette_init = true;
static ImVec4 saved_palette[32];

if (palette_init) {
    for (int n = 0; n < 32; n++) {
        ImGui::ColorConvertHSVtoRGB(n / 31.0f, 0.8f, 0.8f,
            saved_palette[n].x, saved_palette[n].y, saved_palette[n].z);
        saved_palette[n].w = 1.0f;
    }
    palette_init = false;
}

// Display palette
for (int n = 0; n < 32; n++) {
    ImGui::PushID(n);
    if ((n % 8) != 0)
        ImGui::SameLine(0.0f, ImGui::GetStyle().ItemSpacing.y);
    
    if (ImGui::ColorButton("##palette", saved_palette[n],
                           ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoAlpha | ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoPicker,
                           ImVec2(20, 20))) {
        current_color = saved_palette[n];
    }
    
    // Drag and drop support
    if (ImGui::BeginDragDropTarget()) {
        if (const ImGuiPayload* payload = ImGui::AcceptDragDropPayload(IMGUI_PAYLOAD_TYPE_COLOR_3F))
            memcpy((float*)&saved_palette[n], payload->Data, sizeof(float) * 3);
        if (const ImGuiPayload* payload = ImGui::AcceptDragDropPayload(IMGUI_PAYLOAD_TYPE_COLOR_4F))
            memcpy((float*)&saved_palette[n], payload->Data, sizeof(float) * 4);
        ImGui::EndDragDropTarget();
    }
    
    ImGui::PopID();
}

Color Conversion Utilities

// HSV to RGB
float r, g, b;
ImGui::ColorConvertHSVtoRGB(h, s, v, r, g, b);

// RGB to HSV
float h, s, v;
ImGui::ColorConvertRGBtoHSV(r, g, b, h, s, v);

// ImVec4 to ImU32
ImU32 color_u32 = ImGui::ColorConvertFloat4ToU32(ImVec4(1.0f, 0.5f, 0.0f, 1.0f));

// ImU32 to ImVec4
ImVec4 color_vec4 = ImGui::ColorConvertU32ToFloat4(0xFF8000FF);

Set Color Edit Options

Set default options for all color widgets:

IMGUI_API void SetColorEditOptions(ImGuiColorEditFlags flags);

// Set default picker type and display mode
ImGui::SetColorEditOptions(ImGuiColorEditFlags_PickerHueWheel | ImGuiColorEditFlags_DisplayRGB);

Complete Example

void ShowColorDemo() {
    ImGui::Begin("Color Demo");
    
    static ImVec4 color = ImVec4(0.45f, 0.55f, 0.60f, 1.00f);
    
    // Inline color editor
    ImGui::Text("Inline editor:");
    ImGui::ColorEdit3("RGB", (float*)&color);
    ImGui::ColorEdit4("RGBA", (float*)&color);
    
    ImGui::Spacing();
    
    // Color with HSV display
    ImGui::Text("HSV display:");
    ImGui::ColorEdit4("Color HSV", (float*)&color, ImGuiColorEditFlags_DisplayHSV);
    
    ImGui::Spacing();
    
    // Color button only (no inputs)
    ImGui::Text("Button only:");
    ImGui::ColorEdit4("##button", (float*)&color,
                      ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoInputs | ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoLabel);
    
    ImGui::Spacing();
    ImGui::Separator();
    ImGui::Spacing();
    
    // Full color picker
    ImGui::Text("Full picker:");
    static ImGuiColorEditFlags picker_flags = ImGuiColorEditFlags_None;
    ImGui::CheckboxFlags("With Alpha", &picker_flags, ImGuiColorEditFlags_AlphaBar);
    ImGui::CheckboxFlags("Hue Wheel", &picker_flags, ImGuiColorEditFlags_PickerHueWheel);
    
    ImGui::ColorPicker4("##picker", (float*)&color, picker_flags);
    
    ImGui::End();
}

HDR Colors

Enable HDR mode to allow values beyond 0.0-1.0 range:

static float hdr_color[3] = { 2.5f, 1.0f, 0.5f };
ImGui::ColorEdit3("HDR Color", hdr_color, ImGuiColorEditFlags_HDR);

With ImGuiColorEditFlags_HDR, the color components can go beyond the normal 0.0-1.0 range, useful for emission colors or bloom effects.

Best Practices

Use ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoAlpha when you only need RGB colors without transparency.

ColorEdit returns true every frame the color is being edited. Check the return value only if you need to respond to changes.

Enable drag and drop between color widgets automatically unless you specify ImGuiColorEditFlags_NoDragDrop.