Question

I currently use the following function to generate a random hexadecimal representation of a color.

function getRandomColor($max_r = 192, $max_g = 192, $max_b = 192) {
    if ($max_r > 192) { $max_r = 192; }
    if ($max_g > 192) { $max_g = 192; }
    if ($max_b > 192) { $max_b = 192; }
    if ($max_r < 0) { $max_r = 0; }
    if ($max_g < 0) { $max_g = 0; }
    if ($max_b < 0) { $max_b = 0; }

    return '#' . dechex(rand(0, 192)) . dechex(rand(0, 192)) . dechex(rand(0, 192));
}

Notice that I set the max value to be 192 instead of 255 for the sole reason that I am avoiding very light colors, for the purpose that I would be using the random color as foreground in a white background.

My question is how do I generate an indefinitely numbered set of colors where there are no colors that are almost the same. e.g.: #D964D9 & #FF3EFF ?

Answer 1

It might be better to use HSV coordinates. If you don’t need white or black, you can set S and V to their maximum values, and generate H values that are not too close to each other (mod 360 degrees). Then convert to RGB.