Module cast

Traits and functions for casting colors to and from other data types.

The functions and traits in this module cast without changing the underlying data. See the convert module for how to convert between color spaces.

Traits or Functions?

This module provides both a set of traits (FromComponents, IntoUints, etc.) and a set of functions (from_component_slice, into_uint_array, etc.) that effectively implement the same functionality. The traits are all implemented using the functions, so they can be seen as bits of more implicit syntax sugar for the more explicit functions.

A general recommendation is to use the traits, since they provide mostly better ergonomics.

Arrays and Slices

Types that implement ArrayCast can be cast to and from arrays and slices with little to no overhead. This makes it easy to work with image buffers and types from other crates without having to copy the data first.

Casting can be either be done with the free functions in this module, or using the helper traits.

Casting Arrays

Arrays can be type checked to have the correct size at compile time, making casting free after optimization has removed the overhead from asserts. The same is true for arrays in slices and Vecs, because the length stays the same after casting.

use palette::{cast::{self, ArraysAsMut}, Srgb, IntoColor};

let color = cast::from_array::<Srgb<u8>>([23, 198, 76]).into_linear();
// Note: `Srgb::<u8>::from([23, 198, 76])` works too.

let mut buffer = [[64, 139, 10], [93, 18, 214]];
let color_buffer: &mut [Srgb<u8>] = buffer.arrays_as_mut();

for destination in color_buffer {
    let linear_dst = destination.into_linear::<f32>();
    *destination = (linear_dst + color).into_encoding();
}

Trying to cast a single array of the wrong size will not compile:

use palette::{cast, Srgb};

let color = cast::from_array::<Srgb<u8>>([23, 198]); // Too few components.

Casting Component Buffers

This is a common situation is image processing, where you have an image buffer, such as &mut [u8], &mut [f32], Vec<u8> or Vec<f32>, that you want to work with as colors. This buffer may, for example, be the content of an image file or shared with the GPU.

The downside, compared to having fixed size arrays, is that the length cannot be statically known to be a multiple of the color type’s array length. This adds a bit of error handling overhead, as well as for dividing or multiplying the length.

use palette::{cast::{self, TryComponentsAs}, Srgb};

let correct_buffer = [64, 139, 10, 93, 18, 214];
let should_be_ok: Result<&[Srgb<u8>], _> = correct_buffer.try_components_as();
assert!(should_be_ok.is_ok());

let incorrect_buffer = [64, 139, 10, 93, 18, 214, 198, 76];
let should_be_err: Result<&[Srgb<u8>], _> = incorrect_buffer.try_components_as();
assert!(should_be_err.is_err());

An alternative, for when the length can be trusted to be correct, is to use methods without the try_* prefix, such as ComponentsAs::components_as, or the from_component_* functions, that panic on error.

This works:

use palette::{cast::ComponentsAs, Srgb};

let correct_buffer = [64, 139, 10, 93, 18, 214];
let color_buffer: &[Srgb<u8>] = correct_buffer.components_as();

But this panics:

use palette::{cast::ComponentsAs, Srgb};

let incorrect_buffer = [64, 139, 10, 93, 18, 214, 198, 76];
let color_buffer: &[Srgb<u8>] = incorrect_buffer.components_as();

Casting Single Colors

The built-in color types implement AsRef, AsMut, From, Into, TryFrom and TryInto in addition to ArrayCast for convenient casting of single colors:

use core::convert::TryFrom;
use palette::Srgb;

let color = Srgb::from([23u8, 198, 76]);
let array: [u8; 3] = color.into();

let slice: &[u8] = color.as_ref();
assert!(<&Srgb<u8>>::try_from(slice).is_ok());

let short_slice: &[f32] = &[0.1, 0.5];
assert!(<&Srgb>::try_from(short_slice).is_err()); // Too few components.

Component Order

The component order in an array or slice is not always the same as in the color types. For example, a byte buffer that is encoded as ARGB will not cast to correct Rgba values. The components can be reordered after casting by using the Packed wrapper as an intermediate representation.

// `PackedArgb` is an alias for `Packed<rgb::channels::Argb, P = u32>`.
use palette::{rgb::PackedArgb, cast::ComponentsAs, Srgba};

let components = [1.0f32, 0.8, 0.2, 0.3, 1.0, 0.5, 0.7, 0.6];
let colors: &[PackedArgb<_>] = components.components_as();

// Notice how the alpha values have moved from the beginning to the end:
assert_eq!(Srgba::from(colors[0]), Srgba::new(0.8, 0.2, 0.3, 1.0));
assert_eq!(Srgba::from(colors[1]), Srgba::new(0.5, 0.7, 0.6, 1.0));

Unsigned Integers

Types that implement UintCast can be cast to and from unsigned integers of the same size. It’s a bit more limited than slices and arrays but it’s useful for common patterns like representing RGBA values as hexadecimal unsigned integers.

The Packed wrapper can be used as an intermediate format to make unpacking the values as simple as from or into. It’s also possible to choose a channel order to be something other than what the default From implementations would use.

// `PackedArgb` is an alias for `Packed<rgb::channels::Argb, P = u32>`.
use palette::{rgb::PackedArgb, cast::UintsAs, Srgba};

let raw = [0xFF7F0080u32, 0xFF60BBCC];
let colors: &[PackedArgb] = raw.uints_as();

assert_eq!(colors.len(), 2);
assert_eq!(Srgba::from(colors[0]), Srgba::new(0x7F, 0x00, 0x80, 0xFF));
assert_eq!(Srgba::from(colors[1]), Srgba::new(0x60, 0xBB, 0xCC, 0xFF));

Structs

• BoxedSliceCastError
  The error type returned when casting a boxed slice of components fails.
• Packed
  A color packed into a compact format, such as an unsigned integer.
• SliceCastError
  The error type returned when casting a slice of components fails.
• VecCastError
  The error type returned when casting a Vec of components fails.

Enums

• VecCastErrorKind
  The type of error that is returned when casting a Vec of components.

Traits

• ArrayCast
  Marker trait for types that can be represented as a fixed size array.
• ArraysAs
  Trait for casting a reference to collection of arrays into a reference to collection of colors without copying.
• ArraysAsMut
  Trait for casting a mutable reference to collection of arrays into a mutable reference to collection of colors without copying.
• ArraysFrom
  Trait for casting a collection of arrays from a collection of colors without copying.
• ArraysInto
  Trait for casting a collection of arrays into a collection of colors without copying.
• AsArrays
  Trait for casting a reference to a collection of colors into a reference to a collection of arrays without copying.
• AsArraysMut
  Trait for casting a mutable reference to a collection of colors into a mutable reference to a collection of arrays without copying.
• AsComponents
  Trait for casting a reference to a collection of colors into a reference to a collection of color components without copying.
• AsComponentsMut
  Trait for casting a mutable reference to a collection of colors into a mutable reference to a collection of color components without copying.
• AsUints
  Trait for casting a reference to a collection of colors into a reference to a collection of unsigned integers without copying.
• AsUintsMut
  Trait for casting a mutable reference to a collection of colors into a mutable reference to a collection of unsigned integers without copying.
• ComponentOrder
  Packs and unpacks color types with some component order.
• ComponentsAs
  Trait for casting a reference to collection of color components into a reference to collection of colors without copying.
• ComponentsAsMut
  Trait for casting a mutable reference to collection of color components into a mutable reference to collection of colors without copying.
• ComponentsFrom
  Trait for casting a collection of color components into a collection of colors without copying.
• ComponentsInto
  Trait for casting a collection of color components from a collection of colors without copying.
• FromArrays
  Trait for casting a collection of colors from a collection of arrays without copying.
• FromComponents
  Trait for casting a collection of colors from a collection of color components without copying.
• FromUints
  Trait for casting a collection of colors from a collection of unsigned integers without copying.
• IntoArrays
  Trait for casting a collection of colors into a collection of arrays without copying.
• IntoComponents
  Trait for casting a collection of colors into a collection of color components without copying.
• IntoUints
  Trait for casting a collection of colors into a collection of unsigned integers without copying.
• TryComponentsAs
  Trait for trying to cast a reference to collection of color components into a reference to collection of colors without copying.
• TryComponentsAsMut
  Trait for trying to cast a mutable reference to collection of color components into a mutable reference to collection of colors without copying.
• TryComponentsInto
  Trait for trying to cast a collection of color components from a collection of colors without copying.
• TryFromComponents
  Trait for trying to cast a collection of colors from a collection of color components without copying.
• UintCast
  Marker trait for types that can be represented as an unsigned integer.
• UintsAs
  Trait for casting a reference to a collection of unsigned integers into a reference to a collection of colors without copying.
• UintsAsMut
  Trait for casting a mutable reference to a collection of unsigned integers into a mutable reference to a collection of colors without copying.
• UintsFrom
  Trait for casting a collection of unsigned integers from a collection of colors without copying.
• UintsInto
  Trait for casting a collection of unsigned integers into a collection of colors without copying.

Functions

• from_array
  Cast from an array to a color type.
• from_array_array
  Cast from an array of arrays to an array of colors.
• from_array_box
  Cast from a boxed array to a boxed color type.
• from_array_mut
  Cast from a mutable array reference to a mutable color type reference.
• from_array_ref
  Cast from an array reference to a color type reference.
• from_array_slice
  Cast from a slice of arrays to a slice of colors.
• from_array_slice_box
  Cast from a boxed slice of arrays to a boxed slice of colors.
• from_array_slice_mut
  Cast from a mutable slice of arrays to a mutable slice of colors.
• from_array_vec
  Cast from a Vec of arrays to a Vec of colors.
• from_component_array
  Cast from an array of color components to an array of colors.
• from_component_slice
  The same as try_from_component_slice but panics on error.
• from_component_slice_box
  The same as try_from_component_slice_box but panics on error.
• from_component_slice_mut
  The same as try_from_component_slice_mut but panics on error.
• from_component_vec
  The same as try_from_component_vec but panics on error.
• from_uint
  Cast from an unsigned integer to a color type.
• from_uint_array
  Cast from an array of unsigned integers to an array of colors.
• from_uint_mut
  Cast from a mutable unsigned integer reference to a mutable color type reference.
• from_uint_ref
  Cast from an unsigned integer reference to a color type reference.
• from_uint_slice
  Cast from a slice of unsigned integers to a slice of colors.
• from_uint_slice_box
  Cast from a boxed slice of unsigned integers to a boxed slice of colors.
• from_uint_slice_mut
  Cast from a mutable slice of unsigned integers to a mutable slice of colors.
• from_uint_vec
  Cast from a Vec of unsigned integers to a Vec of colors.
• into_array
  Cast from a color type to an array.
• into_array_array
  Cast from an array of colors to an array of arrays.
• into_array_box
  Cast from a boxed color type to a boxed array.
• into_array_mut
  Cast from a mutable color type reference to a mutable array reference.
• into_array_ref
  Cast from a color type reference to an array reference.
• into_array_slice
  Cast from a slice of colors to a slice of arrays.
• into_array_slice_box
  Cast from a boxed slice of colors to a boxed slice of arrays.
• into_array_slice_mut
  Cast from a mutable slice of colors to a mutable slice of arrays.
• into_array_vec
  Cast from a Vec of colors to a Vec of arrays.
• into_component_array
  Cast from an array of colors to an array of color components.
• into_component_slice
  Cast from a slice of colors to a slice of color components.
• into_component_slice_box
  Cast from a boxed slice of colors to a boxed slice of color components.
• into_component_slice_mut
  Cast from a slice of colors to a slice of color components.
• into_component_vec
  Cast from a Vec of colors to a Vec of color components.
• into_uint
  Cast from a color type to an unsigned integer.
• into_uint_array
  Cast from an array of colors to an array of unsigned integers.
• into_uint_mut
  Cast from a mutable color type reference to a mutable unsigned integer reference.
• into_uint_ref
  Cast from a color type reference to an unsigned integer reference.
• into_uint_slice
  Cast from a slice of colors to a slice of unsigned integers.
• into_uint_slice_box
  Cast from a boxed slice of colors to a boxed slice of unsigned integers.
• into_uint_slice_mut
  Cast from a mutable slice of colors to a mutable slice of unsigned integers.
• into_uint_vec
  Cast from a Vec of colors to a Vec of unsigned integers.
• map_slice_box_in_place
  Map values of color A to values of color B without creating a new Box<[B]>.
• map_vec_in_place
  Map values of color A to values of color B without creating a new Vec.
• try_from_component_slice
  Cast from a slice of color components to a slice of colors.
• try_from_component_slice_box
  Cast from a boxed slice of color components to a boxed slice of colors.
• try_from_component_slice_mut
  Cast from a mutable slice of color components to a slice of colors.
• try_from_component_vec
  Cast from a Vec of color components to a Vec of colors.

Derive Macros

• ArrayCast