CMY & RGB values

[wyatt20019]

is there such thing that tells you so much CMY = this color. kinda like a recipe book for lights? does this exist. like 255 C & 100 M = this color?

[derekleffew]

There are many, but no universal one, as values will vary depending on the intensity and color of the original light source. Some consoles even have the information built-in. Tell the console you want the VL3000 to display R02 and it does it. But telling a MAC2000 to display R02 will look different. Same lamp, but different dichroic CMY colors and mixing system.

Most consoles treat RGB values as inverted CMY values, or the reverse.

Do you have a specific fixture for which you want a chart? And which conventional gel line would you prefer?

[lieperjp]

Most consoles treat RGB values inverted CMY values.

Do you have a specific fixture for which you want a chart? And which conventional gel line would you prefer?

Which gel numbers/colors would you suggest for both RGB, RGBA, and CMY mixing with gels from Rosco, Apollo, and Lee, dyed diffusions and cyc silks notwithstanding?

That sounds like a good way to begin.

[lieperjp]

Chart for Altman R40 Strip Lights
Chart for 14" Scoop lights, 375 watts (bulb type unknown.)

[wyatt20019]

not real sure. we have elation design wash 250's, elation CMY zoom 250's & Elation LED trackpod 84's. yes i realize they have color filters but i wanted something i could go off of so i could adjust acordingly.

[icewolf08]

Ocean Optics has a chart of CMY values for their SeaCahngers, but it probably wouldn't work for most fixtures because the SeaChanger used CMYxG.

The best thing to do is sit down in a dark theatre, and mix colors and write down the vales. Helps if you have some scrollers so that you can reference a bunch of different colors without getting up to change gels. Color mixing is and art.

[derekleffew]

...The best thing to do is sit down in a dark theatre, and mix colors and write down the vales. Helps if you have some scrollers so that you can reference a bunch of different colors without getting up to change gels. Color mixing is and art.

icewolf08 is absolutely correct. No chart will ever be 100% correct, even the ones in the consoles that have gel pickers.

Attached is a chart, courtesy of Morpheus Lights, for the ColorFader, which was the first three-string scroller, intended for use on incandescent fixtures.


At a minimum, one should immediately create color palettes for the seven basic colors (WHT, CYN, MAG, YEL, RED, GRN, CGO) as soon as one sits down at a console, if the console does not auto-generate them. Other colors needed will depend on the show and preference of the designer.

Copied from Christian Choi's Programming Tutorials:
The first color mixing colors that I’ll record in my color palette are the ones that are easiest to mix, the full primaries and secondary colors. To do this, I’ll select my color mixing fixtures and the first color I’ll record is full unadulterated magenta. I’ll record this color in the top right button of my screen. From there, I’ll roll in the cyan leaf in addition to the magenta. Any guesses which color this might mix? If you said congo you were correct. I’ll record the congo just under the magenta. Next I’ll completely roll out the magenta leaf and leave only the cyan leaf to be recorded. I’ll record cyan under the congo. Now I’ll add the yellow on top of the cyan which will mix a green. I’ll record the green just under the Cyan. If I take out the cyan leaf, I’ll leave only the yellow to be recorded under the green. This leaves me with just one more combination to record, which would be yellow plus magenta. This would mix a fire red. If you take a look at figure 8 you can see how the colors line up on the right side. From top to bottom wee have magenta, congo, cyan, green, yellow, and fire. To the left of these colors I’ll create about 5 lighter shades of each hue. When you combine 2 leafs such as cyan and yellow to mix a green, if you take the cyan out about 40% you will yield more of a yellow green or chartreuse. Instead, if you take out the yellow leaf 40% you will yield a blue green or turquoise. This demonstrates that with every combination you can have 2 possible hues of that color. When I organize my color palette, I’ll separate these 2 hues into 2 areas of the same row of palettes.

I’ll organize my color-mixing colors from darkest to lightest going left. It’s important that whatever organizational technique you come up with, you group similar shades of color together from darkest to lightest. When a designer asks for a color they rarely ask for it be the number of your palette, instead they’ll say "give me a blue-green". It’s then up to you to supply them with a blue-green. If they want a different blue-green, they’ll usually give you some indication as to whether they want a more or less saturated one or they’ll simply say "lighter" or "darker" and sometimes "bluer" or "greener". If your colors are organized chromatically and from darkest to lightest, it will be easy for you to keep up and finally produce the exact color the designer is looking for.

[wyatt20019]

i was just looking for kinda a generall one so i could go from there.

[derekleffew]

i was just looking for kinda a general one so i could go from there.

Let us know how accurate the ColorFader values are for your "elation design wash 250's, elation CMY zoom 250's & Elation LED trackpod 84's." [Invert (subtract from 100) the CMY values for the RGB fixture.]

If you want/need more colors than in the simplified one-page chart above, Morpheus' original is here.

Also see this newly created Collaborative Article: Color Mixing, Lighting.