From 6618c9e4060da66964bd5707be442ba3f0f156ef Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Paul Davis <paul@linuxaudiosystems.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 15:51:57 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] use HSV to pick random colors and avoid over-saturation or
 over-brightness

---
 gtk2_ardour/utils.cc | 13 ++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/gtk2_ardour/utils.cc b/gtk2_ardour/utils.cc
index cab8b1ff7c..c0fc619f68 100644
--- a/gtk2_ardour/utils.cc
+++ b/gtk2_ardour/utils.cc
@@ -755,6 +755,13 @@ unique_random_color (list<Gdk::Color>& used_colors)
 
 	while (1) {
 
+		double h, s, v;
+
+		h = fmod (random(), 360.0);
+		s = (random() % 65535) / 65535.0;
+		v = (random() % 65535) / 65535.0;
+
+#if 0
 		/* avoid neon/glowing tones by limiting them to the
 		   "inner section" (paler) of a color wheel/circle.
 		*/
@@ -764,7 +771,11 @@ unique_random_color (list<Gdk::Color>& used_colors)
 		newcolor.set_red (random() % max_saturation);
 		newcolor.set_blue (random() % max_saturation);
 		newcolor.set_green (random() % max_saturation);
-
+#else
+		s = min (0.5, s); /* not too saturated */
+		v = max (0.9, v);  /* not too bright */
+		newcolor.set_hsv (h, s, v);
+#endif
 		if (used_colors.size() == 0) {
 			used_colors.push_back (newcolor);
 			return newcolor;