diff --git a/PythonAPI/pycocotools/ColorLookUp.py b/PythonAPI/pycocotools/ColorLookUp.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2feab5ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/PythonAPI/pycocotools/ColorLookUp.py
@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+color_lut = {1: '#000080',
+ 2: '#00008B',
+ 3: '#0000CD',
+ 4: '#0000FF',
+ 5: '#006400',
+ 6: '#008000',
+ 7: '#008080',
+ 8: '#008B8B',
+ 9: '#00BFFF',
+ 10: '#00CED1',
+ 11: '#00FA9A',
+ 12: '#00FF00',
+ 13: '#00FF7F',
+ 14: '#00FFFF',
+ 15: '#00FFFF',
+ 16: '#191970',
+ 17: '#1E90FF',
+ 18: '#20B2AA',
+ 19: '#228B22',
+ 20: '#2E8B57',
+ 21: '#2F4F4F',
+ 22: '#2F4F4F',
+ 23: '#32CD32',
+ 24: '#3CB371',
+ 25: '#40E0D0',
+ 26: '#4169E1',
+ 27: '#4682B4',
+ 28: '#483D8B',
+ 29: '#48D1CC',
+ 30: '#4B0082',
+ 31: '#556B2F',
+ 32: '#5F9EA0',
+ 33: '#6495ED',
+ 34: '#663399',
+ 35: '#66CDAA',
+ 36: '#696969',
+ 37: '#696969',
+ 38: '#6A5ACD',
+ 39: '#6B8E23',
+ 40: '#708090',
+ 41: '#708090',
+ 42: '#778899',
+ 43: '#778899',
+ 44: '#7B68EE',
+ 45: '#7CFC00',
+ 46: '#7FFF00',
+ 47: '#7FFFD4',
+ 48: '#800000',
+ 49: '#800080',
+ 50: '#808000',
+ 51: '#808080',
+ 52: '#808080',
+ 53: '#87CEEB',
+ 54: '#87CEFA',
+ 55: '#8A2BE2',
+ 56: '#8B0000',
+ 57: '#8B008B',
+ 58: '#8B4513',
+ 59: '#8FBC8F',
+ 60: '#90EE90',
+ 61: '#9370DB',
+ 62: '#9400D3',
+ 63: '#98FB98',
+ 64: '#9932CC',
+ 65: '#9ACD32',
+ 66: '#A0522D',
+ 67: '#A52A2A',
+ 68: '#A9A9A9',
+ 69: '#A9A9A9',
+ 70: '#ADD8E6',
+ 71: '#ADFF2F',
+ 72: '#AFEEEE',
+ 73: '#B0C4DE',
+ 74: '#B0E0E6',
+ 75: '#B22222',
+ 76: '#B8860B',
+ 77: '#BA55D3',
+ 78: '#BC8F8F',
+ 79: '#BDB76B',
+ 80: '#C0C0C0',
+ 81: '#C71585',
+ 82: '#CD5C5C',
+ 83: '#CD853F',
+ 84: '#D2691E',
+ 85: '#D2B48C',
+ 86: '#D3D3D3',
+ 87: '#D3D3D3',
+ 88: '#D8BFD8',
+ 89: '#DA70D6',
+ 90: '#DAA520',
+ 91: '#DB7093',
+ 92: '#DC143C',
+ 93: '#DCDCDC',
+ 94: '#DDA0DD',
+ 95: '#DEB887',
+ 96: '#E0FFFF',
+ 97: '#E6E6FA',
+ 98: '#E9967A',
+ 99: '#EE82EE',
+ 100: '#EEE8AA',
+ 101: '#F08080',
+ 102: '#F0E68C',
+ 103: '#F0F8FF',
+ 104: '#F0FFF0',
+ 105: '#F0FFFF',
+ 106: '#F4A460',
+ 107: '#F5DEB3',
+ 108: '#F5F5DC',
+ 109: '#F5F5F5',
+ 110: '#F5FFFA',
+ 111: '#F8F8FF',
+ 112: '#FA8072',
+ 113: '#FAEBD7',
+ 114: '#FAF0E6',
+ 115: '#FAFAD2',
+ 116: '#FDF5E6',
+ 117: '#FF0000',
+ 118: '#FF00FF',
+ 119: '#FF00FF',
+ 120: '#FF1493',
+ 121: '#FF4500',
+ 122: '#FF6347',
+ 123: '#FF69B4',
+ 124: '#FF7F50',
+ 125: '#FF8C00',
+ 126: '#FFA07A',
+ 127: '#FFA500',
+ 128: '#FFB6C1',
+ 129: '#FFC0CB',
+ 130: '#FFD700',
+ 131: '#FFDAB9',
+ 132: '#FFDEAD',
+ 133: '#FFE4B5',
+ 134: '#FFE4C4',
+ 135: '#FFE4E1',
+ 136: '#FFEBCD',
+ 137: '#FFEFD5',
+ 138: '#FFF0F5',
+ 139: '#FFF5EE',
+ 140: '#FFF8DC',
+ 141: '#FFFACD',
+ 142: '#FFFAF0',
+ 143: '#FFFAFA',
+ 144: '#FFFF00',
+ 145: '#FFFFE0',
+ 146: '#FFFFF0',
+ 147: '#FFFFFF',
+ 148: ''}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/PythonAPI/pycocotools/coco.py b/PythonAPI/pycocotools/coco.py
index e4182c74..ff8836ff 100644
--- a/PythonAPI/pycocotools/coco.py
+++ b/PythonAPI/pycocotools/coco.py
@@ -52,10 +52,12 @@
 import numpy as np
 import copy
 import itertools
-from . import mask as maskUtils
+import mask as maskUtils
 import os
 from collections import defaultdict
 import sys
+from ColorLookUp import color_lut as color_code
+
 PYTHON_VERSION = sys.version_info[0]
 if PYTHON_VERSION == 2:
     from urllib import urlretrieve
@@ -81,7 +83,8 @@ def __init__(self, annotation_file=None):
         if not annotation_file == None:
             print('loading annotations into memory...')
             tic = time.time()
-            dataset = json.load(open(annotation_file, 'r'))
+            with open(annotation_file, 'r') as f:
+                dataset = json.load(f)
             assert type(dataset)==dict, 'annotation file format {} not supported'.format(type(dataset))
             print('Done (t={:0.2f}s)'.format(time.time()- tic))
             self.dataset = dataset
@@ -230,12 +233,32 @@ def loadImgs(self, ids=[]):
         elif type(ids) == int:
             return [self.imgs[ids]]
 
-    def showAnns(self, anns, draw_bbox=False):
+    def showAnns(self, anns, cats, draw_bbox=False, bbox_line_width=2, class_based_colors=False, label_polygons=False, label_font_size=5, draw_mask=False):
         """
         Display the specified annotations.
         :param anns (array of object): annotations to display
+        :param cats (array of object): categories to be considered
+        :param draw_bbox (bool): weather to draw bboxes while showing anns
+        :param bbox_line_width (int): line width while drawing bbox
+        :param class_based_colors (bool): draw bboxes/masks with colors specific to each category
+        :param label_polygons (bool): label category name next to the polygons
+        :param label_font_size (int): change the font-size for labels
+        :param draw_mask (bool): Disable auto drawing of mask and allow the used to choose.
         :return: None
         """
+
+        def getCategoryName(cats, cat_id):
+            """
+            get Category name given a category id.
+            :cats (dictionary)           : Dictionary containing all the categories.
+            :cat_id (integer)            : Category ID of which the name is required.
+            :return: imgs (object array) : loaded img objects
+            """
+            cat = [cat["name"] for cat in cats if cat["id"] == cat_id]
+            return cat[0]
+
+
+
         if len(anns) == 0:
             return 0
         if 'segmentation' in anns[0] or 'keypoints' in anns[0]:
@@ -248,9 +271,15 @@ def showAnns(self, anns, draw_bbox=False):
             ax = plt.gca()
             ax.set_autoscale_on(False)
             polygons = []
+            labels = []
             color = []
+
             for ann in anns:
-                c = (np.random.random((1, 3))*0.6+0.4).tolist()[0]
+                if class_based_colors:
+                    c = color_code[ann["category_id"]]
+                else:
+                    c = (np.random.random((1, 3))*0.6+0.4).tolist()[0]
+
                 if 'segmentation' in ann:
                     if type(ann['segmentation']) == list:
                         # polygon
@@ -292,12 +321,19 @@ def showAnns(self, anns, draw_bbox=False):
                     poly = [[bbox_x, bbox_y], [bbox_x, bbox_y+bbox_h], [bbox_x+bbox_w, bbox_y+bbox_h], [bbox_x+bbox_w, bbox_y]]
                     np_poly = np.array(poly).reshape((4,2))
                     polygons.append(Polygon(np_poly))
-                    color.append(c)
-
-            p = PatchCollection(polygons, facecolor=color, linewidths=0, alpha=0.4)
-            ax.add_collection(p)
-            p = PatchCollection(polygons, facecolor='none', edgecolors=color, linewidths=2)
+                    #color.append(c)
+                if label_polygons:
+                    labels.append([ann["bbox"][0]-2, ann["bbox"][1]-5, getCategoryName(cats, ann["category_id"])])
+
+            if draw_mask:
+                p = PatchCollection(polygons, facecolor=color, linewidths=0, alpha=0.4)
+                ax.add_collection(p)
+            p = PatchCollection(polygons, facecolor='none', edgecolors=color, linewidths=bbox_line_width)
             ax.add_collection(p)
+
+            for label in labels:
+                ax.annotate(label[2], (label[0], label[1]), size=label_font_size)
+
         elif datasetType == 'captions':
             for ann in anns:
                 print(ann['caption'])
@@ -314,7 +350,8 @@ def loadRes(self, resFile):
         print('Loading and preparing results...')
         tic = time.time()
         if type(resFile) == str or (PYTHON_VERSION == 2 and type(resFile) == unicode):
-            anns = json.load(open(resFile))
+            with open(resFile) as f:
+                anns = json.load(f)
         elif type(resFile) == np.ndarray:
             anns = self.loadNumpyAnnotations(resFile)
         else:
@@ -438,4 +475,4 @@ def annToMask(self, ann):
         """
         rle = self.annToRLE(ann)
         m = maskUtils.decode(rle)
-        return m
\ No newline at end of file
+        return m