Wired — a contender for the worst reporting on color ever.

[MarkM]

I know, poor reporting about color science is not surprising or unusual. But I'm not sure I've ever seen it so bad in such a large publication:

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/3-d-map-shows-colors-see-cant-name/

My favorite quote:

…like CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) and RGB (red, green, blue). Both of those gamuts exist only in two dimensions.

Seriously…is it that hard?

[digitaldog]

Shocking. At least the author is being called out in the comments. I would have thought better of Wired.

I love the idiotic comment “this has never been done before”. GamutViewer from X-rite, ColorThink Pro from Chromix, to name just two products has been doing this for at least a decade. And so thanks to this hype, a grant? Ridiculous.

[Tim Lookingbill]

I can't tell if the article is poorly written or the author isn't understanding what he's talking about, maybe a bit of both. It goes in and out of something that resembles logic but nothing about color that makes sense at least to me as a former illustrator and graphic designer.

First he says a couple of artists and a physicist are collaborating to create software that can name colors that don't currently have a descriptive name and then says they're going to use a number system as the naming convention which has never been done before. WTF?! Are they kidding? It's been done before ad nauseum. I can't believe the physicist didn't tell them.

And they're going to get a government grant for that?!

Here's a useful guide for Pantone colors, some outside of AdobeRGB gamut, defined in Lab space...

http://www.umsiko.co.za/links/color.html

[Tim Lookingbill]

Anyone here with software that can place a pantone color within a 3D gamut map?

I'm curious to see where Pantone 313C "rich cyan" is located. It's a color my DSLR and display can't reproduce but I found on an inkjet print off a Fuji Frontier drylab at my local Walgreens.

I located the closest match on my aging 747XR Pantone Color Formula Guide swatch book as 313C (L*52, a/-46, b/-44).

Just curious where it lies within a 3D gamut model.

[digitaldog]

ColorThink Pro can do this, you’ve got Lab values.

[digitaldog]

(L*52, a/-46, b/-44) falls outside Adobe RGB (1998). No problem with ProPhoto RGB.

[Tim Lookingbill]

(L*52, a/-46, b/-44) falls outside Adobe RGB (1998). No problem with ProPhoto RGB.

Beautiful!

Then my eyes and the ICC profile 3D model of that printer compared to AdobeRGB in Colorsync I downloaded from Fuji's European site weren't lying to me.

Thanks a lot, Andrew.

Too bad you can't link to this more informative thread in that Disqus comment section of that ridiculous article.

[Tim Lookingbill]

I'm getting me some grant money!

[Simon Garrett]

I would have thought better of Wired.

I wouldn't.  It's articles are frequently misinformed, although this one plumbed new depths. 

[fdisilvestro]

I wouldn't.  It's articles are frequently misinformed, although this one plumbed new depths. 

+1