Color is an essential element in the visual appearance of an object, in addition to texture, shape, brilliance and so on. Very often, color is characterized by data taken from a reference system such as a color atlas, or from a color space. In most of these spaces, color is identified by three values, e.g. one for lightness and two for chromaticity: hue and saturation.
This article introduces the basics of colorimetry, explaining first what color is, then how it's calculated and represented in a color space.Next, we describe how to compare colors, and the systems of acceptability linked to this comparison.The different types of devices used to measure color, before discussing various information linked to color controls, are the subject of a second article.
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