Inkplate 10 – Display modes

As mentioned on the previous page, Inkplate 10 has two different display modes: black and white (1-bit) mode and grayscale (3-bit) mode. This page contains more information on both.

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Black and white mode

1-bit or black and white mode is the simpler and faster display mode. In this mode, pixels are either black or white. You can use shorthand defines BLACK and WHITE when selecting colors in this mode. For example, to draw and display a single black and a single white pixel:

#include "Inkplate.h"
Inkplate display(INKPLATE_1BIT);
void setup() {
  display.begin();
  // Clear the display
  display.clearDisplay();
  display.display();
  // Draw a black pixel at x=100, y=100
  display.drawPixel(100,100,BLACK);
  // Draw a white pixel at x=200, y=200
  display.drawPixel(200,200,WHITE);
  display.display(); // Show on the display
}
void loop() {
}

ℹ️

The clear e-Paper, the blank canvas, is WHITE in this context. The white pixel in the above code snippet will not be visible when drawn on an already clear screen.

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Grayscale mode

In 3-bit or grayscale mode you get 8 levels of brightness instead of only black and white, where 0 is black and 7 is white. Below is an approximate visualization of those levels and the numerical value each one has in code:

Black levels in 3-bit mode

Let's draw a couple of rectangles (with a black outline) of different brightness levels:

#include "Inkplate.h"
Inkplate display(INKPLATE_3BIT);

void setup() 
{
  display.begin();
  // Clear the display
  display.clearDisplay();
  display.display();

  // Draw a filled rectangle with a black outline at (100, 100)
  display.fillRect(100, 100, 10, 10, 0); // Black fill
  display.drawRect(100, 100, 10, 10, 0); // Black outline

  // Draw a filled rectangle with a black outline at (200, 200)
  display.fillRect(200, 200, 10, 10, 7); // White fill
  display.drawRect(200, 200, 10, 10, 0); // Black outline

  // Draw a filled rectangle with a black outline at (200, 250)
  display.fillRect(200, 250, 10, 10, 3); // Mid gray fill
  display.drawRect(200, 250, 10, 10, 0); // Black outline

  // Draw a filled rectangle with a black outline at (250, 200)
  display.fillRect(250, 200, 10, 10, 2); // Dark gray fill
  display.drawRect(250, 200, 10, 10, 0); // Black outline

  display.display(); // Show on the display
}

void loop() 
{
}

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Full example

Inkplate10_Black_And_White.ino

Full example using black and white display mode on Inkplate 10.

Inkplate10_Grayscale.ino

Full example using grayscale display mode on Inkplate 10.