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Inkplate 5V2 – Display modes

As mentioned on the previous page, Inkplate 5V2 has two different display modes: black and white (1-bit) mode and grayscale (3-bit) mode. This page contains more information on both.

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 pixel and a single white pixel:

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

Grayscale mode​

3-bit or grayscale mode offers the possibility to draw in 8 different levels of brightness, not just black and white. See below for an approximate visualization of black levels as they correspond to their numerical value in code:

3bit grayscale
Black levels in 3-bit mode

Let's draw a couple of pixels of different brightness levels:

#include "Inkplate.h"
Inkplate inkplate(INKPLATE_1BIT);
void setup() {
  inkplate.begin();
  // Clear the display
  inkplate.clearDisplay();
  inkplate.display();
  // Draw a black pixel at x=100, y=100
  inkplate.drawPixel(100,100,0);
  // Draw a white pixel at x=200, y=200
  inkplate.drawPixel(200,200,7);
  inkplate.drawPixel(200,250,3);
  inkplate.drawPixel(250,200,2);
  inkplate.display(); // Show on the display
}
void loop() {
}

Full example​

Inkplate5V2_Black_And_White.ino

Full example using black and white display mode on Inkplate 5V2.

Inkplate5V2_Grayscale.ino

Full example using grayscale display mode on Inkplate 5V2.