Get Pixel Color from Canvas on Mousemove

Overview

This post explores how you can retrieve the RGB values of the pixel under the mouse cursor while moving over a canvas element. We'll provide a comprehensive approach with a self-contained example.

Solution

To achieve this, first create a canvas with the desired dimensions:

Fill the canvas with elements such as squares:

const example = document.getElementById('example');
const ctx = example.getContext('2d');

ctx.fillStyle = randomColor();
ctx.fillRect(0, 0, 50, 50);

ctx.fillStyle = randomColor();
ctx.fillRect(55, 0, 50, 50);

ctx.fillStyle = randomColor();
ctx.fillRect(110, 0, 50, 50);

Finally, add the mousemove event handler that captures the pixel values at the cursor's position:

$('#example').mousemove(function(e) {
  // Calculate the position relative to the canvas
  const pos = findPos(this);
  const x = e.pageX - pos.x;
  const y = e.pageY - pos.y;
  const coord = `x=${x}, y=${y}`;

  // Get the pixel value
  const c = this.getContext('2d');
  const p = c.getImageData(x, y, 1, 1).data;

  // Convert to hex format
  const hex = "#"   ("000000"   rgbToHex(p[0], p[1], p[2])).slice(-6);

  // Display the color information
  $('#status').html(coord   "
"   hex);
});

Utility Functions

This code relies on supporting functions for finding the element's position and converting RGB values to hex. Define these functions as follows:

function findPos(obj) {
  let curleft = 0, curtop = 0;
  if (obj.offsetParent) {
    do {
      curleft  = obj.offsetLeft;
      curtop  = obj.offsetTop;
    } while (obj = obj.offsetParent);
    return { x: curleft, y: curtop };
  }
  return undefined;
}

function rgbToHex(r, g, b) {
  if (r > 255 || g > 255 || b > 255) throw "Invalid color component";

  return ((r << 16) | (g << 8) | b).toString(16);
}

function randomInt(max) {
  return Math.floor(Math.random() * max);
}

function randomColor() {
  return `rgb(${randomInt(256)}, ${randomInt(256)}, ${randomInt(256)})`;
}

Live Example

Visit the following link to see the full example in action:

https://bl.ocks.org/wayneburkett/ca41a5245a9f48766b7bc881448f9203