Color & Color Models

Color Basics
• Importance of color in computer graphics will continue to
increase as color monitors & color hard copy devices become
more & more popular.
• Color is a complex subject that draws on concepts & results
from physics,art & graphics design.
• Color of an objects depends not only on the object itself, but
also on the light source illuminating it, on the color of
surrounding area & on the human visual system.
 Color Model
Color Model: It is an abstract mathematical model describing
the way color can be represented as tuple of numbers, typically
it is three or four.

Color Space : When color model is associated with a precise

description of how the components are to be interpreted the
resulting set of colors is called color space.
 CIE XYZ color space
• One of the first mathematically defined color
spaces is the CIE XYZ color space created by
the International Commission in 1931.

• The CIE( Commission International del

Eclairage) has defined a set of three color-
matching functions.
CIE COLOR SPACE
CIE COLOR SPACE
 Chromaticity
Chromaticity is an objective specification of the quality
of a color regardless of its luminance.

It is determined by its hue and colorfulness

Hue determines the weakness or intensity of a color .

Colorfulness is the difference between a color against

gray
 Chromaticity Diagram
• When we plot the normalized amount x and y
for colors visible in the spectrum we obtain the
tongue shaped curve.

• This curve is called the chromaticity diagram.

• Points along the curve are the pure color in the

spectrum, labeled according to the wavelength
in nanometer from red end to violet end.
 Chromaticity Contd…
• The chromaticity of a color was specified by
the two derived parameters x and y, two of
the three normalized values which are
functions of all three values X, Y, and Z.

• Since we have normalized against the

luminance ,Parameter x and y are called the
chromaticity value because they only depends
on the hue & purity.
Chromatic diagram
 Terminology
1) Gamut : Usually ,any color model use combination of two to three
colors to produce wide range of colors, called the color gamut for
that model.

2) Primary color: The basic color used to produce color gamut in a

particular model are called primary color.

3) Secondary Color: The different color obtained by mixing the primary

color are called the secondary color.

4) Complementary color : When two color sources are combined to

produce white color . e.g
Red & Cyan, green & magenta, blue & yellow are the complementary
colors.
 Color Model
• A color model is a method for explaining the
properties or behavior of color within some
particular context.
• No single color model can explain all aspects
of color,so we make use of different models to
describe the different perceived
characteristics of color.
 RGB COLOR MODELS
• In the RGB model, each color appears as a combination of
red, green, and blue.

• This model is called additive, and the gamut of this model

are red, green and blue.

• These three primary colors can be added to produce the

secondary colors.

• Magenta (red + blue), Cyan (green + blue), and Yellow (red

+ green). The combination of red, green, and blue at full
intensities makes white.
RGB & CMY
 RGB COLOR MODEL
Cyan (011)

Yellow (110)

White (111)

Black (000)

Magenta (101)
 CMY COLOR MODEL
In this model Cyan , magenta and yellow colors
are used as (Gamut) primary color.

The Cartesian co-ordinate system are same as

that of RGB except that white instead of black at
the origin.
CMY COLOR MODEL
RGB & CMY
 HIS model
• Hue: it indicates pure color of light.
• Saturation: it indicates how much white light is
mixed with color.
• Intensity: it tells about the shade.
 HSV model
• HSV stands for Hue-Saturation-Value

• Described by a hexcone derived from the RGB cube

 HSV model,cont’d
• Hue (0-360°); ”the
color”, (128)

• Saturation (0-1); ”the

amount of white” (130)

• Value (0-1); ”the amount

of black” (23)
 HSV cond..
1) Hue is represented as an angle about the vertical axis, ranging
from (0-360). 0 degree at red , Yellow at 60 degree, Vertices of
the hex cone are separated by 60 degree.

2) Saturation is represented as the ratio of purity of a selected

hues. The maximum purity is at S=1.
e.g at S=0.5 the hue is said to be half pure.

3) Values V varies from 0 at the apex and 1 at the top of the hexcon.
The apex represents the black. At the top of the hex cone colors
have the maximum intensity. When we have v=1 & s=1 we have
the pure hue.
 Adding the black decreases the setting for
v ,while s is held constant.
e.g: To get a dark blue , v could be set at 0.4,
s=1 & h=240.

Similarly ,when white is to be added ,parameter

s is decreased while keeping v constant.
e.g: A light blue can be designated as s=0.3, v=1 ,
h=240.
 HSV model,cont’d
The human eyes are capable to distinguish 128
different hues, 130 different saturation and 23
shades can be detected . It means that we can
distinguish 128*130*23 = 382720

In Computer Graphics, 128 hues , 8 saturation levels

and 15 values settings are suffecient
ie 128*8*15 = 15360 colors.
 HLS Model
• Three color parameter in this model are
H: HUE
L:Lightness
S: Saturation

1) HUE:
• It has the same meaning as in the HSV model.It specifies

an angle about vertical axis that locates a chosen hue.

• In this model H= 00 corresponds to blue.The remaining
colors are specified around the perimeter of the cone.
• Magenta is at 600, Red is at 1200 , Cyan is at H=1800
 HLS Contd…
2) Lightness:
• The vertical axis in this model is called the lightness L. At
L =0 we have Black and at L=1,it is white.
• Gray scale is along the L axis and the “Pure
hues” lies on L=0.5.

3) Saturation:
• Saturation parameter S again specifies relative
purity of the color .This parameter varies from 0-1, and
pure hues are those for which S= 1 and L=0.5.
• As S decreases the hue are said to be less pure.
• At S=0 we have Gray scale
HLS COLOR Model
 YIQ Color Model
• Y : Luminance (Brightness)
• I : Inphase
• Q: Qudrature.

This Model is used by NTSC to form the

composite video signal used for television.
 YIQ Contd….
• Parameter Y is used to represent the Luminance or
brightness while chromaticity information (hue & purity) is
incorporated into I and Q.

• Since Y contains the luminance information so black &

white television monitors uses only the Y signal.

• Parameters I contains orange-Cyan hue information that

provide the tone shading and having a bandwidth of 1.5
MHZ.

• Parameters Q carries green-magenta hue information in a

bandwidth of 0.6 MHZ.
 Signal conversion
• An RGB Signal can be converted to a television signal
using an NTSC encoder, which converts the RGB
values to YIQ values, then modulate and
superimpose the I and Q information on the Y signal.

• Similarly an NTSC signal can be converted to an RGB

signal using an NTSC decoder, which separate the
video signal into the YIQ components then converts
to the RGB values.
 Color Table
• Color table has 8 bit of control over each of the red , green &
blue . Therefore they have the 256 intensity levels

• So with the 256 intensity levels of each color we can produce

16,777,216 different colors.

• So to specify color of any pixel 24 bits(ie 8 bit per color) are

required.

• To store 24 bit information of each color (ie 16,777,216) is not

cost effective.
 Color Table
• Therefore in normal practice only few color is specified in the
table called color table.

• A color table allows us to map between a color index in the

frame buffer and a color specification.

• If a color table has 256 color entries then the table can show
any of the 256 of 16,777,216 possible colors.
 Color table
• Each entry in the table is 24 bit specifying one color.The
colors specified in the color table are available for selection
color.

• We can change the available color in the color table by

changing the color information, however at a time only 256
color can be displayed.

• The colors in the color table are referred by the color index.
 Color Mixing
Two or more color can be added together to produce a new color . There are
two types of color mixing

1) Additive color mixing:

An additive color model involves light emitted directly from a source or
illuminant of some sort. The additive reproduction process usually uses red,
green and blue light to produce the other colors.

Combining one of these additive primary colors with another in equal

amounts produces the additive secondary colors cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Combining all three primary colors in equal intensities produces white.

Additive Color Mixing
 Color Mixing
2) Subtractive color mixing:
Subtractive color mixing involves the selectively absorption of
the wavelength. Cyan , Magenta and yellow are subtractive
primaries.

If a white light will pass through a yellow filter the yellow filter
absorb blue and transmit red & green , therefore yellow can be
considered as B Filter.

Similarly magenta subtract or absorb green from the white light

and cyan subtract or absorb Red from the white light.
 Subtractive color mixing
• A subtractive color model explains the mixing of paints, dyes,
inks, and natural colorants to create a full range of colors,
each caused by subtracting (that is, absorbing) some
wavelengths of light and reflecting the others.

• The color that a surface displays depends on which colors of

the electromagnetic spectrum are reflected by it and
therefore made visible.
Subtractive color mixing
 Applications of Colors
• Use in marketing
• Specific color meaning
• Attractive attension
• Indivisual differences