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- Path: sparky!uunet!infoserv!decwrl!hal.com!darkstar.UCSC.EDU!gerri
- From: gerri@cse.ucsc.edu (Gerri McLellan)
- Newsgroups: ba.seminars,ucsc.baskin.general
- Subject: UCSC CE/CIS Research Seminar 2/18/93
- Date: 27 Jan 1993 17:21:28 GMT
- Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz (CE/CIS Boards)
- Lines: 54
- Distribution: ba; ucsc
- Message-ID: <1k6gaoINN1sg@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: rio.ucsc.edu
-
- UC Santa Cruz: Computer & Information Sciences, and
- Computer Engineering
-
- RESEARCH SEMINAR: Thursday, February 18, 1993, 10:30 - 11:30 AM
- Room 330, Applied Sciences Building
-
-
- Charles Poynton, Sun Microsystems, Mountain View, California, will speak
- on "Giving Numbers to Colors, or, Why is Sky Blue=235, Red=135,
- Green=206?"
-
- Abstract:
-
- Light interacts with objects according to the laws of physics and
- chemistry. However, colors are perceived by the eye and the brain. To
- compute realistic representations of real or imagined colored objects
- requires an understanding of the linkage between physics and perception.
- In this talk, I will explain and demonstrate the subtle and delicate
- mapping from spectral distributions to the sensation of color. An
- understanding of this interaction is necessary to make effective use of
- color in computing, whether for the numerical description of colors
- (such as paint), or the coding of color images.
-
- These two domains -- physics and perception -- are commonly confused in
- computing. Synthetic computer graphics calculations usually approximate
- the physical mixing of light using just three samples of visible light
- wavelengths. But these samples do not necessarily have a direct
- correspondence with the three channels of human color vision.
-
- Computer graphics calculations are usually performed using linear light
- values. The nonlinear nature of perception has been exploited for many
- years in photography, printing and television. I will discuss how
- computing can learn from these disciplines to achieve better picture
- quality.
-
- Different display systems have different interpretations of colors. For
- example, the triplet [0, 0, 255] may produce two different colors --
- both loosely described as blue -- on two different monitors. The RGB triplet
- [135, 206, 235] may describe Sky Blue on a particular display system.
- But without specification of the color characteristics of the display system
- this information is not particularly useful, because the triplet cannot
- be assumed to generate sky blue on a display different from the one that
- originated the data. To have two systems display the same blue -- to get
- the systems to match color accurately -- requires software that
- transforms colors in accordance with human perception. I will outline the
- transformations necessary to accomplish this sort of color matching, and
- will explain how emerging "color management system" technology is likely
- to bring these capabilities to computer users within the next few years.
- _________________________________________________________________________
-
- Anyone needing special arrangements to accommodate a disability is
- encouraged to call Gerri McLellan at the Baskin Center - (408) 459-3695.
-
-
-