AssignValueColor and TakeValueColor issues

[smessall]

I've got the following code where I'm trying to paint histogram bars on a gradient with a low average magenta and a high average cyan, but the bars aren't painting the right color. They just paint cyan and I'm honestly not sure where it's getting cyan because if I change dynamic colors away from cyan and magenta the bars still paint cyan.

If I comment out the SumTick.hide(); line I can see that SumTick is using the correct colors, but for TL and TH the plot doesn't seem to be pulling the colors correctly and using them.

Any suggestions?

declare lower;

plot SumTick = (close("$TICK") + high("$TICK") + low("$TICK")) /3;
SumTick.AssignNormGradientColor(14, Color.MAGENTA, color.CYAN);
SumTick.hide();

def TickHigh = high("$TICK");
def TickLow = low("$TICK");
def TickDiff;

if TickHigh > 0 and TickLow > 0 {
    TickDiff = TickLow;
} else if TickHigh < 0 and TickLow < 0  {
    TickDiff = TickHigh;
} else {
    TickDiff = 0;
}

plot ZL = 0;
ZL.AssignValueColor(color.GRAY);

plot ZLfill = 0;
ZLfill.AssignValueColor(if TickDiff != 0 then color.BLACK else color.ORANGE);
ZLfill.SetPaintingStrategy(PaintingStrategy.HISTOGRAM);

plot TD = TickDiff;
TD.SetPaintingStrategy(PaintingStrategy.HISTOGRAM);
TD.SetDefaultColor(color.BLACK);

plot TH = TickHigh;
TH.SetPaintingStrategy(PaintingStrategy.HISTOGRAM);
TH.AssignValueColor(SumTick.TakeValueColor());

plot TL = TickLow;
TL.SetPaintingStrategy(PaintingStrategy.HISTOGRAM);
TL.AssignValueColor(SumTick.TakeValueColor());

 

[BillW]

You can change colorNormLength to anything you want. Try 2 for what I think you want

declare lower;
input colorNormLength = 25;

plot SumTick = (close("$TICK") + high("$TICK") + low("$TICK")) /3;


def TickHigh = high("$TICK");
def TickLow = low("$TICK");


SumTick.DefineColor("Highest", CreateColor(0,255, 255));
SumTick.DefineColor("Lowest", CreateColor(255, 0, 255));
SumTick.AssignNormGradientColor(colorNormLength, SumTick.color("Lowest"), SumTick.color("Highest"));

 

[smessall]

I've tried various values for the length in the original code and it didn't seem to make any difference. If I add the plots for TD and TH to your code I get basically what I was getting before. Without those plots your code plots bars that are colored nicely but doesn't show anything above the 0 line for low readings or below the 0 line for high readings. I'd still like the highs and lows included for the bars. The idea is show cyan if $TICK is running high and magenta if it's running low, but encompass the whole range for the $TICK values in a particular bar.

 

[MerryDay]

@smessall
I haven't a clear idea of what you are attempting. My basic understanding is that you have plots on top of plots on top of plots.
And out of all those plots you want to know why the cyan is the only showing up?

You might be having a problem with the order of your plots? Perhaps the ones that you are not seeing are under the cyan?
Read more here : https://usethinkscript.com/threads/thinkorswim-chart-study-and-thinkscript-plot-hierarchy.3276/

 

[smessall]

Basically I have a 5 minute /MES chart. At the bottom I want to see $TICK, the full bar from low to high, and I want it colored based on whether the summation ((high+low+close)/3) is high or low.
The way I have it right now TH plots the high value for $TICK and TL plots the low value for $TICK. If I plot them as histograms then I get a bar that goes from low to high. Now I want to use the summation gradient as the colors for those plots, which should come from SumTick. The SumTick is just there to create the color gradient, the plot is hidden off the chart. If I don't hide the SumTick plot I can see that it's doing the colors right. Those colors just don't seem to be translating to the TL and TH like they should by using AssignValueColor and TakeValueColor. The TL and TH plots seem to just be using a default color of cyan and I don't understand why.

 

[MerryDay]

I am not seeing any cyan.
But there is an issue with your code. You can't use the TakeValue function to assign a color from the AssignGradient function. TakeValue can only be used where a defined color value exists. Gradients by definition do not have specific assigned values.

 

[smessall]

That must be the issue then, thanks for the help. I'll explore other ways of coloring the bars, probably just coloring cyan or magenta based on whether SumTick is above 0 or not.