Color Scale Bar - Vector, Color Relief, 3D Surface, and Point Cloud Maps

A color scale bar is a legend that shows the fill assigned to vector symbols on a 1-grid vector map or a 2-grid vector map, or the colors used in a color relief map, 3D surface map, or point cloud map. Color scale bars can be added to 2D and 3D maps, but have slightly different options. Color scale bars for contour and wireframe map layers are similar, but have slightly different options.

Click on the color scale bar to open the color scale properties in the Properties window.

Color Scale Bar Visibility

The color scale bar display can be turned on or off in the Contents window by checking or clearing the box to the left of the color scale bar name.

Adding a Color Scale Bar

To add a color scale bar to a vector map:

Click on the vector layer to select it.
In the Properties window, click on the Symbol tab.
Specify the fill properties to use for the vectors in the Color Scaling section.
Check the Show color scale box to activate the color scale bar.

To add a color scale bar to a color relief, surface, or point cloud map:

Click on the color relief, surface, or point cloud layer to select it.
In the Properties window, click on the General tab.
Check the Show color scale box to activate the color scale bar.

Removing a Color Scale Bar

A color scale bar can be removed by clicking on the color scale bar and pressing the DELETE key on the keyboard. Alternatively, you can clear the Show color scale box in the layer properties.

Using a Logarithmic Scale on a Color Scale Bar

The color scale bar reflects the scaling of the colormap. To set the colormap to use a logarithmic scale for a vector map:

Click on the vector map layer to select it.
In the Properties window, click on the Symbol tab.
Click the next to Color Scaling to open the Color Scaling section.
Set the Scaling method to By magnitude or By grid file.
Click the next to the Vector colors colormap.
Check the Logarithmic scaling option and click OK.
The color scale bar is automatically updated to show logarithmic scaling.

To set the colormap to use a logarithmic scale for a color relief, surface, or point cloud map:

Click on the color relief, surface, or point cloud layer to select it.
In the Properties window, click on the General tab.
Click the next to the Colors colormap for a color relief map layer. Click the next to the Upper colormap for a 3D surface map layer. Click the next to Colormap for a point cloud layer.
Check the Logarithmic scaling option and click OK.
The color scale bar is automatically updated to show logarithmic scaling.

Editing a Color Scale Bar

To modify a color scale bar, click on the color scale bar to select it. The properties are listed in the Properties window.

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