Pipette

HSV Color Model

In the HSV color model, a color is defined by its hue (H), its saturation (S) and its lightness or blackness value and so, it resembles the human color perception more than the additive and the subtractive color models. It is easy to adjust a color by its saturation and brightness. Accordingly in most graphic applications you can define a color according to the HSV color model.

The hue (H) is given as an angle on the chromatic circle, therefore it can reach values between 0° and 360°. 0° corresponds to the color red, 120° corresponds to the color green and 240° corresponds to the color blue. The saturation (S) is declared as percentages and can therefore reach values between 0% and 100% (or 0 to 1). A saturation of 100% means a completely saturated and pure color, the smaller the saturation, the more the color turns to a neutral gray. The lightness or blackness value (V) is also given as a percentage, where 0% means no brightness (hence black) and 100% full brightness, hence a spectrum between the pure color (saturation of 100%) and white (saturation of 0%).

If both, the saturation as well as the lightness are 100%, a pure color results. If the saturation is 0% and the lightness is 100% it is white and for all cases in which the lightness is 0% it is black. These relationships can be easily lookalike by trying in the program pipette.

In the program pipette, the percentages for the HSV color model can be found in the sixth row ("HSV").

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