Huesfrom

Huesfrom is a term used in color science and digital art to describe a method for deriving a set of color hues from a source distribution to produce a target hue distribution. The concept treats hue as a circular quantity and focuses on mapping hues while preserving other color attributes such as saturation and lightness.

Definition and purpose: Given a source hue distribution Hs and a target hue distribution Ht, huesfrom computes a function that remaps hue values to reflect the target while maintaining perceptual relationships between colors. It is commonly used in palette design, color grading, and generative art to translate existing color characteristics into new stylistic directions.

Principle and mechanism: In practice, huesfrom involves estimating statistical properties of the hue distributions, such as the mean direction and circular dispersion, and constructing a mapping that aligns Hs with Ht. Implementations typically convert colors to a hue-based color space (for example HSL or HSV), apply the hue remapping, and convert back. Because hue is circular, the algorithm must handle wrap-around and avoid artifacts at boundary values like 0 and 360 degrees.

Applications: The technique is applied in color grading workflows, palette generation, data visualization, and theming for user interfaces or digital artwork, where a single hue transformation can yield cohesive yet distinct color stories.

Limitations and variants: Limitations arise when the target hue distribution conflicts with perceptual constraints of saturation and luminance or when source and target palettes overlap extensively. Variants may incorporate smoothing, probabilistic sampling from target distributions, or perceptual weighting to refine the remapping.

See also: Color theory, Hue, HSL/HSV, Color mapping, Color transfer, Palette generation.