QUANTIFYING COLOR APPEARANCE .1. LUTCHI COLOR APPEARANCE DATA

The work described here forms part of a research project entitled Predictive Perceptual Colour Models. The aim of this project is to develop a colour appearance model capable of predicting changes of colour appearance under various different viewing conditions. This will provide industry with a quantitative measure for assessing the quality of colour reproduction and enable more rapid and accurate proofing simulations in the graphic art industry. A large-scale experiment has been carried out in which colour appearance was assessed under a wide range of viewing conditions. The parameters studied were (1) D65, D50, white fluorescent, and tungsten light sources, (2) luminance levels of about 40 and 240 cd/m2, (3) five background conditions: white, grey, black, grey with white border, and grey with black border, and (4) two media: luminous colours (displayed on a high-resolution colour monitor) and nonluminous colours (presented in a viewing cabinet). Each colour was assessed by a panel of six or seven observers using a magnitude estimation method. In total, 43,332 estimations were made, and these form the LUTCHI Colour Appearance Data. Data analysis has been carried out to examine the reliability of the experimental results and to understand the effects of the various viewing parameters studied. (Part II of this article describes how the LUTCHI Colour Appearance Data has been used to test the performance of various colour spaces and models.)