Two Applications of Vectorial Color: Camera Design and Lighting of Colored Objects

Abstract: Color stimuli are described by 3-vectors, which can be added to model color mixing, yet vector diagrams are rare. A set of orthonormal opponent color matching functions leads to better vectors, solving old problems. OCIS codes: (330.0330) Vision, color, and visual optics; (110.2970) Image detection systems. 1. History of science and the peculiar status of lighting. Figure 1 reviews physics and engineering since about the time of Galileo, summarizing a longer chronology on the author’s web site[1]. Most dates are from Wikipedia, but the longer timeline has other citations. Fig. 1. Some key developments in physics since Galileo. Mechanics, meaning the study of motion, is a prototype for other developments. The topic called “Vis viva dispute ” is based on Ref. [2]. Figure developed by Nicholas J. Worthey Textbooks now teach that momentum mv is conserved in a collision, but kinetic energy mv2 can also be conserved. These confusing facts were resolved by the “vis viva dispute ” [2], a topic in Fig. 1. In round numbers then, there was a 100-year age of vis viva within the 200-year era of mechanics. Systematic study of electricity took about 100 years. From Newton’s “New Theory about Light and Colors ” [3] to Frederic Ives’s color photos based on the trichromatic theory of color vision[4] was about a 200-year era of color fundamentals. In the 1800s, great minds worked to refine mathematical methods and complete classical physics. For example