Color Toolbox

Digital color is an attempt to simulate real-world color as perceived by the human visual system. Color, itself, is a creation of the human visual system that senses a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The Young-Helmholtz theory of color vision dates back to the mid-nineteenth century and is the foundation of the tristimulus theory used in Colorimetry (color matching functions). Color Appearance Models, including color distance functions, attempt to model human perception. These disciplines form the basis for this application.

This application reflects the MATLAB implementation of Colorimetry and Color Appearance Models. To implement MATLAB arrays, the Color Toolbox app uses a class to represent a vector. Thus, the MATLAB array becomes an array of one or more objects. While MATLAB defines functions in "m" files, this app uses a combination of activities and functions to emulate MATLAB. In essence, this app presents a unified user interface to MATLAB functions. This means that all parameters required in MATLAB are present in this app.

Every image editor uses these functions, but often hides the minute details. This app separates every step in the process, and only presents options that are relevant to that step. It is a journey through the world of color simulation. The app uses the Munsell Color System to represent the subtractive colors of objects versus the additive colors of RGB.

Every screen has a help icon on the toolbar. It is there to help you understand the contents of the screen. Every attempt has been made to insure a common view for all screens. This app was meant for exploring.

Your feedback is important.

This is a beta release, with the following limitations:

1. For all supported Illuminates, only the 2 degree observer angle is currently supported.

2. The only supported Rendering Intent is the Absolute intent.

3. Currently, the MacAdam Limit only applies to Munsell Renotation colors.