Color Mixing Models and Real Pigment Behavior

All flashcards

Additive mixing

In the ideal model, it combines light so mixture brightness equals the sum of component brightnesses; no light produces black.

RGB primaries and pairwise mixtures

The primaries are red, green, and blue. Equal red and green make yellow, green and blue make cyan, and blue and red make magenta.

Subtractive mixing

Colorants or filters absorb portions of light. In the ideal model, combining them removes more light, making the mixture darker than either component.

CMY and CMYK

CMY uses cyan, magenta, and yellow. CMYK adds black ink to produce dark blacks more effectively in printing.

Average mixing and the Newton disc

Average mixing produces a result with brightness equal to the average of the components. A Newton disc is a wheel with colored wedges that appear to blend when spun quickly.

Quiz questions

1. In an RGB display, what color is produced when none of the primaries are present?Answer: Black
2. In the ideal CMY model, what color results when all three primaries are absent?Answer: White
3. What color results from an equal mixture of cyan and magenta in the CMY model?Answer: Blue
4. Which idealized model most closely describes how opaque pigment mixtures combine reflected light?Answer: Average mixing
5. Why does adding more ink usually reduce brightness in halftone printing?Answer: More ink absorbs more of the light returning from the paper.