CIEfarverum

CIEfarverum, also known as the CIE 1931 color space, is a standard model developed by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE) in 1931. It is widely used in color science and technology to describe the colors that the human eye can perceive. The model is based on the trichromatic theory of color vision, which suggests that the human eye has three types of color receptors, each sensitive to different ranges of wavelengths.

The CIEfarverum is a two-dimensional chromaticity diagram that plots the chromaticity coordinates of colors. These coordinates are derived from the tristimulus values (X, Y, Z), which represent the responses of the three types of color receptors to a given color stimulus. The Y value corresponds to the luminance, while the X and Z values are used to calculate the chromaticity coordinates (x, y) using the formulas x = X / (X + Y + Z) and y = Y / (X + Y + Z).

The CIEfarverum diagram is a horseshoe-shaped curve that represents the locus of colors that can be produced by a mixture of three primary colors. The curve is bounded by the spectral locus, which represents the colors that can be produced by monochromatic light of different wavelengths, and the line of purples, which represents the colors that can be produced by a mixture of red and blue light.

The CIEfarverum is widely used in various applications, including colorimetry, color reproduction, and color management. It provides a standardized way to describe and compare colors, allowing for consistent color reproduction across different devices and media. However, it has some limitations, such as the metamerism problem, where two colors with different spectral compositions can appear the same under one illuminant but different under another. Despite these limitations, the CIEfarverum remains an essential tool in the field of color science and technology.