←back to thread

Why does the chromaticity diagram look like that?

(jlongster.com)
276 points samwillis | 7 comments | 26 Jul 24 18:19 UTC | HN request time: 1.036s | source | bottom
Show context
PaulHoule ◴[26 Jul 24 20:02 UTC] No.41081764[source]▶
That particular version of the chromaticity diagram makes it look like the colors missing from your display are various shades of laser pointer green as opposed to all the shades of red and blue that are missing because really saturated red and blue primaries are too dim (per unit of energy) to use.

See https://nanosys.com/blog-archive/2012/08/14/color-space-conf...

I learned a lot more about color management than I wanted to know in the progress of making red-cyan stereograms because I found when I asked for sRGB red I was getting something like (180,16,16) on my high gamut monitor which resulted in serious crosstalk between the channels.

Right now I am working with a seamstress friend on custom printed fabrics and I have a flower print where yellow somehow turned to orange in the midst of processing the image and I want to get it debugged and thoroughly proofed before I send out the order... I am still learning more than I want to know about color management.

replies(4): >>41082054 #>>41082342 #>>41087720 #>>41088485 #
1. ThrowawayTestr ◴[26 Jul 24 20:37 UTC] No.41082054[source]▶
>Right now I am working with a seamstress friend on custom printed fabrics and I have a flower print where yellow somehow turned to orange in the midst of processing the image

That's why Pantone makes so much money.

replies(1): >>41084042 #
2. lolinder ◴[27 Jul 24 02:22 UTC] No.41084042[source]▶
And, importantly, that's why Pantone isn't just a freeloader making money off of nothing the way that some of the more clickbaity parts of the internet represent them. They're not solving an easy problem, if they were they wouldn't get paid.
replies(2): >>41084167 #>>41084365 #
3. ttoinou ◴[27 Jul 24 02:59 UTC] No.41084167[source]▶
Aren’t they (present humans) simply profiting from work done decades ago (past humans, not them) through patents or others kinds of IP / protections granted by governments ? Surely it was original and useful before but now it’s part of humans knowledge base
replies(1): >>41086958 #
4. Dylan16807 ◴[27 Jul 24 04:00 UTC] No.41084365[source]▶
They solve a very real problem with most of their products. Universal physical references and supplies are great.

But charging for the libraries that list a basic sRGB or CMYK code for each Pantone color is a pain in the ass leech.

replies(1): >>41094062 #
5. itishappy ◴[27 Jul 24 14:49 UTC] No.41086958{3}[source]▶
Somewhat, but that work has utility to this day. You can find competing products out there if you don't want to pay Pantone's rates, but there's a reason many people still work with Pantone. It's a universal language of sorts.

https://www.culturehustleusa.com/products/freetonebook

replies(1): >>41089445 #
6. marcosdumay ◴[27 Jul 24 21:25 UTC] No.41089445{4}[source]▶
What defines them as "leeches" or not is if they keep adding value to their work.

Passively profiting from some work done decades ago makes them something you want to destroy; increasingly improving their catalogue with valuable new tones and knowledge makes them something you want to protect.

7. PaulHoule ◴[28 Jul 24 16:03 UTC] No.41094062{3}[source]▶
Pantone is not the immediate answer to my problem because my image is photographic. Pantone's strength is that you can mix a few colorants from a library to make a number of precise spot colors many of which can't be rendered in CYMK. It has dayglo, metallic and all sorts of amazing things.

My vendor (Spoonflower) takes sRGB and will sell me a set of color swatches with hex code labels that I can use, like the Pantone book, to calibrate color by eye or colorimeter, etc.

Spoonflower will give me a %10 commission if somebody buys my product in their marketplace, but the product is expensive, a luxurious fabric that costs $20 a yard costs upwards of $50 if it is inkjet printed. For all this the only material investment is proofing, prototyping and showpiece production.

If I really wanted to make money though I could find another vendor who, I think, could set up a run of 10,000 yards on an offset lithography press. The litho process is more tolerant than inkjet so the shop can mix up Pantone colors as spots.

My photo is mostly monochromatic and might come across well in spot color so it might be a choice to pick a color I like out of the Pantone book if I was working with a larger run print shop. Problem is I'd have to put up quite a bit of money and then warehouse the stuff and be really certain people will buy it or I can make something out of it.

My photo is monochromatic and might do OK if I thought a Pantone chip was close to the object color I could do it in spot but this time I'm going to do it by sRGB chips.