400 nm 500 nm 600 nm 700 nm

UV IR

violet indigo blue green yellow orange red

CO L O R S P A C E
L*
White L*100

The luminous intensity of a color — i.e.,

its degree of lightness — is called its value.
Colors can be classified as light or dark
+b* when comparing their value.
h 90º

+b*
Hue is the attribute of a
color by which we distinguish
red from green, blue from
yellow and so forth

Color Difference ΔE*ab (S = Standard, T = Trial) L*50

-a* +a*
+a* -a*
h 0º
h 180º C*0
ΔE*ab = (ΔL*)² + (Δa*)² + (Δb*)² 360º
a
ΔE*ab = (ΔL*)² + (ΔC*)² + (ΔH*)²
rom
Δ*L = L*T - L*S lightness difference
C h
Δ*a = a*T - a*S red-green difference
Δ*b = b*T - b*S yellow-blue difference
C*ab = a*² + b*² chroma
Hueº C*60

B-b*-
B- h°*ab = arctan (b*/a*) hue-angle
Chroma — also known as saturation,
describes the vividness or dullness
of a color — how close the color is
h 270º
to either gray or the pure hue.
For C*ab greater than 10: The following gives a better description: -b*
Colors in the center are gray (dull)
ΔC*ab = C*abT - C*abS Chroma difference and become more saturated (vivid)
as they move toward the perimeter.
ΔH*ab = 2 C*abT - C*abS • sin(Δh°ab/2) Hue difference

Black L*0
L*

CIELAB CMC is not a color space but CMC CIELCH

rather a tolerancing system.
CMC tolerancing is based on 90˚
+b* CIELCH and provides better + b*
Yellow
agreement between visual Yellow Yellow
assessment and measured
color difference.
Hue

Tolerance ellipsoids
are tightly packed C*

in the orange region.

h˚

-a*
Green
+a*
Red
Green Red 180˚ –Green
a* + a* 0˚
Red

Tolerance ellipsoids
are larger in the
green region.

Samples within the box L*=100

white
and not in the ellipsoid Blue
a* -b* are numerically correct b*
h°*
– b* Standard

b* b* but visually unacceptable Blue

Lightness

Blue +b*yellow
C* 270˚ H*

Lightness
Standard
Lightness (L*)

-a*
h°*
Samples within green C*=0
L*
Hue
b*
+a*
the ellipsoid Chroma C*
red
C*=60
are visually acceptable
-b* Hue
blue

h°*

C* Ch
a* a* black
rom
a
C*

a* L*=0

CIELAB tolerance box Numerically correct vs. visually acceptable Tolerance ellipsoid Δ Ecmc tolerance vs. visually acceptable CIELCH tolerance wedge

CIELAB tolerancing uses rectangular coordinates (If X/Xn, Y/Yn or Z/Zn is < .008856, The CMC equation allows the viewer to vary the overall size of the ellipsoid to better match what CIELCH users must choose a difference limit for ΔL* (lightness),
based on the following formulas: modified formulas are applied.) is visually acceptable. By varying the commercial factor (cf), the ellipsoid can be made as large or ΔC* (chroma) and ΔH* (hue). This creates a wedge-shaped box
small as necessary to match visual assessment. The cf value is the tolerance, which means that if around the standard. Since CIELCH is a polar-coordinate system,
L* = 116 (Y/Y n)1/3-16 (Subscript T indicates trial and
cf=1.0, then ΔE CMC less than 1.0 would pass, but more than 1.0 would fail. Since the eye will the tolerance box can be rotated in orientation to the hue angle.
a* = 500[(X/X n)1/3 - (Y/Y n)1/3 ] subscript S indicates standard.)
generally accept larger differences in lightness (l) than in chroma (c), a default ratio for (l:c) is 2:1. Compared with the ellipsoid, it more closely matches human perception.
b* = 200[(Y/Y n)1/3 - (Z/Zn)1/3 ] A 2:1 ratio will allow twice as much difference in lightness as in chroma. This reduces the amount of disagreement between the observer and instrumental values.
Δ E* ab = [(∆ L*) 2 + (∆ a*) 2 + ∆ b*) 2 ] 1/2
Δ L* = L *T - L*S
Δ a* = a*T - a*S
Δ b* = b *T - b*S

U30 Ultralume D65 Daylight Typical Spectral Reflectance Curves

S S

100 100 β
β β [%]
[%] [%]
100

0 0 0
400 λ [nm] 700 400 λ [nm] 700 400 λ [nm] 700

100 100 β
300 400 500 600 700 I [nm] 300 400 500 600 700 I [nm] β β [%]
[%] [%]
100

S A Incandescent S Cool White Fluorescent

0 0 0
400 λ [nm] 700 400 λ [nm] 700 400 λ [nm] 700

100 100 β
β β [%]
[%] [%]
100

0 0 0
400 λ [nm] 700 400 λ [nm] 700 400 λ [nm] 700
300 400 500 600 700 I [nm] 300 400 500 600 700 I [nm]

Asesores y Soluciones en Color S. de R.L. de C.V.

Calzada de las Aguilas #1992
Col. Lomas de Axomiatla, CDMX
Phone (+52) 55 5062-5100 / 6845-8803
ventas@atamez.com