color-coding of thermal energy

[pixelzoom]

In #320, @jonathanolson said that the MoveToTrashButton is (by default) color-code to thermal energy:

The button is used in ESP, MAS, and Pendum Lab. E.g. in MAS:

If this is supposed to be color-code to thermal energy, then why is it not using PhetColorScheme.HEAT_THERMAL_ENERGY, which is new Color( 255, 85, 0 )? It's currently using baseColor: new Color( 230, 230, 240 ).

I also see no use of PhetColorScheme.HEAT_THERMAL_ENERGY in these sims, so this problem likely extends beyond the MoveToTrashButton. Colors are probably duplicated within and across sims. And we should examine whether PhetColorScheme.HEAT_THERMAL_ENERGY current value is correct.

@arouinfar?

[pixelzoom]

Correction - the red arrow color in MoveToTrashButton is actually #f05a28. I don't know if that's equivalent to PhetColorScheme.HEAT_THERMAL_ENERGY = rgb( 255, 85, 0 ).

I also don't see #f05a28 used elsewhere in these 3 sims, so I'm not sure how/where they're specifying the color for the thermal bar in the bar graphs, which had better match the arrow in the button.

[pixelzoom]

#f05a28 is the same as rgb( 240, 90, 40 ). So this differs from PhetColorScheme.HEAT_THERMAL_ENERGY, which is rgb( 255, 85, 0 ).

[pixelzoom]

From EnergySkateParkColorScheme:

thermalEnergy: new Color( '#FF5500' ), // red colorblind

This does in fact match PhetColorScheme.HEAT_THERMAL_ENERGY. But it should be using PhetColorScheme.HEAT_THERMAL_ENERGY. And the MoveToTrashButton is currently color-coded incorrectly.

[pixelzoom]

In #320 and 5f1402c, I've set the default arrow color of MoveToTrashButton to PhetColorScheme.HEAT_THERMAL_ENERGY.

[arouinfar]

@pixelzoom Illustrator says that rgb(255, 85, 0) is equivalent to #ff5500.

In mockups, the arrow is rgb(255, 85, 0) (RED_COLORBLIND/HEAT_THERMAL_ENERGY). I don't know why a different red was used in some implementations of the MoveToTrashButton. This was never a design request, nor can I remember ever being asked what color to use (the ESPB design predates me).

My guess is that MAS looked to PL's usage of this button. PL was not originally ported in-house, and the dev probably just used some random red that looked about right, rather than seeing what had been done previously in ESPB.

[arouinfar]

Since it looks like @pixelzoom already made the commits to update the default color to PhetColorScheme.HEAT_THERMAL_ENERGY, I'll go ahead and close.

[pixelzoom]

Not ready to close. None of these 3 sims is using PhetColorScheme.HEAT_THERMAL_ENERGY. ESP has duplicated that color. And I haven't discovered what the other 2 sims are doing.

[pixelzoom]

This problems extends to the other energy colors.

PhetColorScheme:

var RED_COLORBLIND = new Color( 255, 85, 0 );
var TAN_ORANGE = new Color( 236, 153, 55 );

HEAT_THERMAL_ENERGY: RED_COLORBLIND,
...
KINETIC_ENERGY: Color.GREEN,  // 0,255,0
...
POTENTIAL_ENERGY: Color.BLUE, // 0,0,255
...
TOTAL_ENERGY: TAN_ORANGE,

EnergySkateParkColorScheme:

    kineticEnergy: new Color( '#00cc1a' ),
    potentialEnergy: new Color( '#3282D7' ),
    thermalEnergy: new Color( '#FF5500' ), // red colorblind
    totalEnergy: new Color( '#B4B400' ), // dirty yellow

@arouinfar is there any reason why EnergySkateParkColorScheme should not be using PhetColorScheme?

[arouinfar]

@pixelzoom I would argue that some of the colors used for energy in PhetColorScheme are antiquated.

To be clear, I think that energy colors should be consistent across sims, so it's great to point out these inconsistencies. However, using rgb(0, 0, 255) for gravitational potential energy and rgb(236, 153, 55) for total energy are definitely legacy artifacts.

Perhaps it would be better to discuss the energy colors in PhetColorScheme in a separate scenery-phet issue? Otherwise, this issue can be renamed and we can continue on here.

[pixelzoom]

@jessegreenberg @samreid @jonathanolson @Denz1994 please note that ESP, MAS, and Pendulum Lab are now explicitly setting options.arrowColor for your instance(s) of MoveToTrashButton (formerly ClearThermalButton). And you all seem to be using different colors for energy.

[pixelzoom]

@arouinfar said:

I would argue that some of the colors used for energy in PhetColorScheme are antiquated.

Then let's fix them.

[pixelzoom]

I'll create a new issue for fixing the energy colors in PhetColorScheme.

[pixelzoom]

New issue is #456. Closing this issue.