How color works in the image editor: colorize versus mono output, the ink and paper colors, all 24 built-in palettes, generating a palette from your photo, Color studio, the 37 cinematic grades, and the duotone and gradient map ramps.
Bitgrain gives you four separate ways to control color. They work at different stages, so it helps to know which one to reach for:
| Tool | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| colorize | Bottom toolbar | Chooses between the photo's own colors and two-tone black and white. |
| Palette | Bottom toolbar, palette | Snaps every output color to the nearest color in a fixed set. |
| Grade | Bottom toolbar, grade | Replaces the effect with a film style color grade applied to the whole photo. |
| Color studio | Canvas tools, top left | Reads colors out of your photo for reference. It doesn't change the image. |
The colorize button (a wand icon, called color on mobile) switches color output on and off. It is on by default, and it is highlighted when on.
The ASCII, braille and contour popovers have their own color toggle that controls this same setting, so switching it in one place switches it everywhere.
In the image editor, two-tone output is drawn in black ink (#000000) on a warm cream paper (#fdf6e3). These two colors are fixed. That cream paper is also the color that becomes see-through when you turn on transparent background in the export panel, which is how you get a clean cutout of just the ink.
A few effects bring their own colors:
For those controls, see Creative effects and ASCII and text textures. If you need full control over ink and paper colors, or want to place the result in a layout, take it into Studio.
Open palette in the bottom toolbar to see the list. Each row shows up to five of the palette's colors. Click one to apply it, and the whole output snaps to the nearest color in that set. The palette is applied after the effect, so it works with dither, halftone and the other effects alike.
Click No palette at the top of the list to remove the palette. With no palette, whether you get color or black and white is decided by colorize.
Tip: Palettes with very few colors (Gameboy DMG, CGA, Gameboy Pocket) look best with dithering, because dithering mixes the few available colors into the illusion of in-between tones.
| Palette | Colors | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Gameboy DMG | 4 | The original handheld's four shades of olive green. |
| NES | 56 | The full console palette, broad and slightly muted. |
| C64 | 16 | Commodore 64 colors, warm browns and pastel blues. |
| Apple II | 16 | Apple II colors, including its magentas and oranges. |
| CGA | 4 | Black, cyan, magenta and white, the classic PC look. |
| PICO-8 | 16 | The fantasy console's bright, friendly set. |
| ZX Spectrum | 15 | Hard, fully saturated primaries and secondaries. |
| MSX | 16 | MSX computer colors, greens and soft reds. |
| Risograph | 8 | Paper white, yellow, orange, fluorescent pink, purple, blue, teal and black, like common riso inks. |
| Gameboy Pocket | 4 | Four neutral greys from white to black. |
| Sepia | 7 | Old photograph browns from deep umber to cream. |
| Cyanotype | 7 | Blueprint blues from navy to near white. |
| Duotone Magenta | 6 | A dark plum to pale pink ramp. |
| Sunset | 6 | Deep purple through rose and orange to warm cream. |
| Mono Cream | 5 | Soft black to cream, a gentle monochrome. |
| Thermal | 7 | Heat camera colors from black through red to yellow and white. |
| Forest | 6 | Dark pine to pale sage. |
| Arctic | 6 | Deep navy to white, cold and clean. |
| Vaporwave | 6 | Deep violet, magenta, hot pink and cyan. |
| Neon | 6 | Near black with hot pink, yellow, cyan and green. |
| Noir | 6 | Six neutral greys, black to white. |
| Vintage | 6 | Faded browns and creams. |
| Amber CRT | 6 | Old amber monitor phosphor. |
| Green CRT | 6 | Old green monitor phosphor. |
At the bottom of the palette list, Generate from image reads the current preview and builds an eight-color palette from it using median cut, skipping near-black pixels. The new palette appears as Aura Gen and is applied immediately.
Because it samples the preview (the processed result, not the original photo), running it again after changing the effect or adjustments gives a different set. A good pattern is to set up your look with colorize on, generate the palette, then fine tune.
Note: A generated palette is kept by copy recipe link and by custom presets, which store the actual colors. A
.btgfile and a community recipe only remember built-in palettes by name, so a generated palette is dropped from those.
Color studio (the palette icon in the canvas tools at the top left, desktop only) is a reference tool. It reads the dominant colors of your original photo and helps you build a color scheme from them. It never changes the image.
4, 6, 8 (the default) or 12.Press Escape or click outside the dialog to close it. For deeper color work, see Color tools in Studio.
Open grade in the bottom toolbar (a clapperboard icon, called film grade in the mobile effects sheet). The popover, titled Cinematic Color Grades, shows every grade as a live thumbnail rendered on a sample photo. Click one to apply it to your image.
A grade is a whole look on its own. When one is active:
To go back to your effect, open grade and click Remove grade. Your previous effect settings are still there.
Note: The grade popover says "Full quality, PNG export, Always free", and the export button shows "free" while a grade is on. Downloads still follow your plan's normal watermark and size rules. See Exporting.
| Grade | What it does |
|---|---|
| Portra 400 | Warm, gentle portrait film with soft contrast. |
| Fuji 400H | Cool shadows with a green and blue lean, airy highlights. |
| Kodak Gold | Warm, golden consumer film with punchier contrast. |
| Ektar 100 | Vivid, saturated color with boosted reds and blues. |
| Tri-X 400 | Black and white with strong, gritty contrast. |
| Blockbuster | The teal and orange movie look: warm highlights, cool shadows. |
| Bleach Bypass | Desaturated with harsh, silvery contrast. |
| Cross Process | Shifted colors: greenish shadows, warm highlights, pulled blues. |
| CineStill 800T | Tungsten film: cool overall with a red glow in the brightest areas. |
| Nolan Steel | Mostly desaturated, cold and steely, with high contrast. |
| Duotone | Maps the image from deep navy to pale blue. |
| Thermal | A heat camera ramp from black through blue, green and yellow to red and white. |
| Infrared | Infrared film: bright foliage, dark skies, hard contrast. |
| Silver Gelatin | Black and white print with slightly warm shadows. |
| Moonfire | Deep blue shadows against warm highlights, very dramatic. |
| Velvia 50 | Saturated slide film, especially rich greens. |
| Golden Hour | Warm, glowing highlights with a hint of cool in the shadows. |
| Matte Fade | Lifted blacks and softened color for a faded, matte finish. |
| Kodachrome 64 | Warm reds and deep, slightly yellow blues. |
| Dusk | Blue shadows with a soft warm glow up top. |
| Amber | Warm, partially desaturated amber tone. |
| Anamorphic | Blue lean in shadows and highlights, a widescreen movie feel. |
| HP5 Push | Pushed black and white film: heavy contrast, deep blacks. |
| Vintage Print | Faded, warm, low contrast old print. |
| Cyberpunk | Magenta and cyan push with strong contrast. |
The last twelve grades ignore the photo's colors and map its brightness onto a ramp. Shadows take the first color and highlights take the last. They are perfect for posters, album art and brand-colored imagery.
| Grade | Ramp |
|---|---|
| Duo Riso Pink | Deep indigo to riso pink |
| Duo Noir Gold | Near black to soft gold |
| Duo Indigo Mint | Indigo to bright mint |
| Duo Oxblood | Oxblood to warm paper white |
| Duo Electric | Midnight navy to electric sky blue |
| Duo Plum Peach | Plum to peach |
| Duo Slate Ice | Slate to icy white |
| Duo Forest Lime | Forest green to lime |
| Map Sunset | Purple, then pink red, then warm yellow |
| Map Vaporwave | Deep violet, then hot pink, then cyan |
| Map Ember | Near black, then ember red, then gold |
| Map Toxic | Dark green, then green, then acid yellow |
The Duo grades use two colors and the Map grades use three.