from Hacker News

Color: From Hexcodes to Eyeballs (2018)

by qubitcoder on 11/28/23, 10:37 PM with 10 comments

  • by lifeisstillgood on 11/29/23, 11:48 PM

    There is a Cambridge University legend of one of the Dons who no-one could catch in conversation on any subject where the Don did not have a robust and detailed understanding- they tried physics and geography, national and local physics. Till one day a post-grad studied up on Norweigian First Division football, and buttonholed the man at lunch and asked about the prospects for Ham-Kam in the upcoming match.

    And the Don leaned over to get his sandwich and without looking back said "Well I would have said it's an easy win but with Bondevik being injured in the last game I think their defence is lacking ..."

    I know I should go and spend a few days learning what the relationship between cones in my eyes and intensity of photons is and how it affects color perception.

    But I just don't know how some people find the time to learn the Norwegian football leagues - not because it might come in handy, not because i'm not smart enough, but I just don't know how to arrange the worlds information so it can arrive in my perception so I can learn it.

    In short it's not about smart, it's not about hard work, it's about which hard work and how to keep learning more.

    I am just not sure how many years left there are to give to whimesy

  • by jmiskovic on 11/29/23, 12:16 PM

    (2018), but still relevant and a great read.

  • by turtledragonfly on 11/30/23, 12:06 AM

    This is a nice article, bringing together various color/perception concepts.

    For those interested, you may also like the article introducing the "OK Lab" color space[1] and others by the same author[2].

    It's my current favorite, though definitely not perfect.

    [1] https://bottosson.github.io/posts/oklab/

    [2] https://bottosson.github.io/posts/

  • by uoaei on 11/30/23, 12:32 AM

    I found this video from acerola another excellent introduction to color theory vis a vis computer graphics: https://youtu.be/fv-wlo8yVhk?si=zfG_lxcXPhx3op_h

  • by teddyh on 11/29/23, 10:57 PM

    See also the Color FAQ: <https://poynton.ca/ColorFAQ.html>

  • by amadeoeoeo on 11/29/23, 9:32 PM

    I wonder how the brain would perceive a single cone excitation. Could this be achieved via chemicals?

  • by COAGULOPATH on 11/30/23, 12:23 AM

    Incredibly good article. He writes about as clearly as you can about such a knotty subject.

    Related xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1882/