How to use Tikz to calculate and use successive color values with text?

Question

I'd like to use Tikz to algorithmically generate some text that has a color value based on calculations. Take the following, for example:

  \documentclass{standalone}
  \usepackage{tikz}
  \begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}
      \foreach \i in {0, 1, ..., 10} {
          \draw (\i, 0) node {\textcolor[gray]{0.5}A};
      }
  \end{tikzpicture}
  \end{document}

This displays a row of "A"s in a gray:

How do I go about calculating the 0.5 value to, for example, display this set of "A"s in varying levels of gray, such as a black to white gradient? Could I use this same method to calculate arbitrary RGB values?

Answer 1

Yes, you can vary the gray levels, and the following can be used also to general non-gray colors.

\documentclass{standalone}
  \usepackage{tikz}
  \begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}
      \foreach \i [evaluate=\i as \j using {int(\i*10)}] in {0, 1, ..., 10} {
          \draw (\i, 0) node[text=gray!\j!white] {A};
      }
  \end{tikzpicture}
  \end{document}

Answer 2

Just for fun, another foreach solution:

\documentclass{standalone}
  \usepackage{tikz}
  \begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}
      \foreach \i [count=\j] in {0, 10, ..., 100} {
          \draw (\j, 0) node[text=blue!\i!red] {A};
      }
  \end{tikzpicture}
  \end{document}

Answer 3

You can evaluate a variable within the foreach loop itself (see page 904 of 3.0.1a manual).

Here since you want to go from black to white, you can do:

\documentclass{standalone}
  \usepackage{tikz}
  \begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}
      \foreach \i [evaluate=\i as \gradient using 100-\i*10] in {0, 1, ..., 10} {
          \draw (\i, 0) node[text=black!\gradient] {A};
      }
  \end{tikzpicture}
  \end{document}

Answer 4

A slightly different syntax than what marmot proposed, but with the same effects

\documentclass[tikz,border=3.14pt]{standalone}
  \begin{document}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
      \draw foreach \i [evaluate=\i as \j using {int(\i*10)}] in {0, 1, ..., 10} {
          (\i, 0) node[text=gray!\j!white] {A}
      };
  \end{tikzpicture}
  \end{document}