Chromatics (of Human Perception)

The retina contains cells called rods & cones.

There are three types of cones:
  • S (short-wavelength) ~420nm, violet
  • M (middle-wavelength) ~534nm, green
  • L (long-wavelength) ~563nm, yellowish green

Colors stimulate each cone type in different proportions—
each color accorded a tristimulus value.
The set of all possible tristimulus values yields the visible color space (10 million colors).

There is one type of rod:
Rods are only informative in dim light,
when the cones are understimulated.

The brain processes tristimulus values into three opponent channels:
  • red-green
  • blue-yellow
  • black-white (luminance)

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