Color matching?

Apologies if this is not the right group; seemed like a good shot to me
....

I'm trying to match some colors in an X11 environment. I pulled up the
Wikipedia article on the subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names

Found some colors I liked, copied the hex values into some code I didn't
write but was tying to make look a bit better, and looked at the
resulting colors.

Which weren't the same as the color blocks in the article.

Worse, when I went probing with a "digital color meter" app that samples
pixels on the screen, the RGB values from the Wikipedia page and the
ones put up by the program I'm running were not the same either -- that
is, the RGB hex values I read for the colors were not the ones I'd typed
in, and also did not match the color blocks on the web page.

This was on a Mac, but it seems to me that whatever color inaccuracies
or "translations" the machine was doing, it should do the same thing
both times.

So, can someone enlighten me as to why the color values were different?

Isaac

In article , isw
wrote:

I'm trying to match some colors in an X11 environment. I pulled up the
Wikipedia article on the subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names

Found some colors I liked, copied the hex values into some code I didn't
write but was tying to make look a bit better, and looked at the
resulting colors.

Which weren't the same as the color blocks in the article.

Worse, when I went probing with a "digital color meter" app that samples
pixels on the screen, the RGB values from the Wikipedia page and the
ones put up by the program I'm running were not the same either -- that
is, the RGB hex values I read for the colors were not the ones I'd typed
in, and also did not match the color blocks on the web page.

This was on a Mac, but it seems to me that whatever color inaccuracies
or "translations" the machine was doing, it should do the same thing
both times.

So, can someone enlighten me as to why the color values were different?

colour management.

everything you see on a mac display is colour managed. an rgb triplet
is device dependent and the mac is using the display profile (either
the default one or one you created).

set the digital color meter app to display native values and you should
get the same hex values you put in, but that's not all that helpful if
you want a specific colour.

On 25/05/2016 16:09, isw wrote:
Apologies if this is not the right group; seemed like a good shot to me
...

I'm trying to match some colors in an X11 environment. I pulled up the
Wikipedia article on the subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names

Found some colors I liked, copied the hex values into some code I didn't
write but was tying to make look a bit better, and looked at the
resulting colors.

Which weren't the same as the color blocks in the article.

Worse, when I went probing with a "digital color meter" app that samples
pixels on the screen, the RGB values from the Wikipedia page and the
ones put up by the program I'm running were not the same either -- that
is, the RGB hex values I read for the colors were not the ones I'd typed
in, and also did not match the color blocks on the web page.

This was on a Mac, but it seems to me that whatever color inaccuracies
or "translations" the machine was doing, it should do the same thing
both times.

So, can someone enlighten me as to why the color values were different?

Isaac

Is your monitor calibrated?

With colour-managed process I use for photo printing and printer, I've
sat down with my SO in front of a screen, adjusted played with colour on
screen, selected a colour, printed a decent size swatch, looked at on
walls, gone to hardware store where they've scanned the print using
their colorimeter, blended paint, and it's been as good as gold for the
level of accuracy required in that case.
If it's for some truly critical process then no - that's probably not
good enough.
If you want an answer then it might be a good idea to explain what
you're trying to achieve.
In the example I gave above, I know colour accuracy of the monitor is
withing limits of accuracy of what the eye can typically see, but that's
only as good as the accuracy of the profiles used for the printer, then
the scanner at the hardware shop, then the batch to batch variation in
the tinters used in the paint.

In article , Me
wrote:

On 25/05/2016 16:09, isw wrote:
Apologies if this is not the right group; seemed like a good shot to me
...

I'm trying to match some colors in an X11 environment. I pulled up the
Wikipedia article on the subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names

Found some colors I liked, copied the hex values into some code I didn't
write but was tying to make look a bit better, and looked at the
resulting colors.

Which weren't the same as the color blocks in the article.

Worse, when I went probing with a "digital color meter" app that samples
pixels on the screen, the RGB values from the Wikipedia page and the
ones put up by the program I'm running were not the same either -- that
is, the RGB hex values I read for the colors were not the ones I'd typed
in, and also did not match the color blocks on the web page.

This was on a Mac, but it seems to me that whatever color inaccuracies
or "translations" the machine was doing, it should do the same thing
both times.

So, can someone enlighten me as to why the color values were different?

Isaac

Is your monitor calibrated?

I don't see how that could matter since whatever it's adjustment is, it
should be the same on the right-hand side of the screen (where the
Wikipedia page was) and the left-hand side (where the colors I was
adjusting were).

And yes, it is calibrated, using Apple's built-in procedure.

Isaac

In article ,
nospam wrote:

In article , isw
wrote:

I'm trying to match some colors in an X11 environment. I pulled up the
Wikipedia article on the subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names

Found some colors I liked, copied the hex values into some code I didn't
write but was tying to make look a bit better, and looked at the
resulting colors.

Which weren't the same as the color blocks in the article.

Worse, when I went probing with a "digital color meter" app that samples
pixels on the screen, the RGB values from the Wikipedia page and the
ones put up by the program I'm running were not the same either -- that
is, the RGB hex values I read for the colors were not the ones I'd typed
in, and also did not match the color blocks on the web page.

This was on a Mac, but it seems to me that whatever color inaccuracies
or "translations" the machine was doing, it should do the same thing
both times.

So, can someone enlighten me as to why the color values were different?

colour management.

everything you see on a mac display is colour managed. an rgb triplet
is device dependent and the mac is using the display profile (either
the default one or one you created).

set the digital color meter app to display native values and you should
get the same hex values you put in, but that's not all that helpful if
you want a specific colour.

It was set that way, and no, the values did not match.

Isaac

On 2016-05-25 20:43:57 +0000, isw said:

In article , Me
wrote:

On 25/05/2016 16:09, isw wrote:
Apologies if this is not the right group; seemed like a good shot to me
...

I'm trying to match some colors in an X11 environment. I pulled up the
Wikipedia article on the subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names

Found some colors I liked, copied the hex values into some code I didn't
write but was tying to make look a bit better, and looked at the
resulting colors.

Which weren't the same as the color blocks in the article.

Worse, when I went probing with a "digital color meter" app that samples
pixels on the screen, the RGB values from the Wikipedia page and the
ones put up by the program I'm running were not the same either -- that
is, the RGB hex values I read for the colors were not the ones I'd typed
in, and also did not match the color blocks on the web page.

This was on a Mac, but it seems to me that whatever color inaccuracies
or "translations" the machine was doing, it should do the same thing
both times.

So, can someone enlighten me as to why the color values were different?

Isaac

Is your monitor calibrated?

I don't see how that could matter since whatever it's adjustment is, it
should be the same on the right-hand side of the screen (where the
Wikipedia page was) and the left-hand side (where the colors I was
adjusting were).

However, without a precisely calibrated display your Wikipedia
reference is not necessarily accurate.

And yes, it is calibrated, using Apple's built-in procedure.

....and that might be close enough for non-critical work, just as doing
the same for a PC display might be. However, it is not what many here
would consider an accurate display color calibration, especially if you
are looking for color consistency from display to output, either to
print, or to a third party display o the other side of the World.
On a display with calibration even somewhat off, producing consistent
color in prints and/or files for sharing is going to be an iffy
proposition.


--
Regards,

Savageduck

In article , isw
wrote:


And yes, it is calibrated, using Apple's built-in procedure.

that's not calibrated.

your eyeball is not an accurate instrument.

On Wed, 25 May 2016 13:43:57 -0700, isw wrote:

In article , Me
wrote:

On 25/05/2016 16:09, isw wrote:
Apologies if this is not the right group; seemed like a good shot to me
...

I'm trying to match some colors in an X11 environment. I pulled up the
Wikipedia article on the subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names

Found some colors I liked, copied the hex values into some code I didn't
write but was tying to make look a bit better, and looked at the
resulting colors.

Which weren't the same as the color blocks in the article.

Worse, when I went probing with a "digital color meter" app that samples
pixels on the screen, the RGB values from the Wikipedia page and the
ones put up by the program I'm running were not the same either -- that
is, the RGB hex values I read for the colors were not the ones I'd typed
in, and also did not match the color blocks on the web page.

This was on a Mac, but it seems to me that whatever color inaccuracies
or "translations" the machine was doing, it should do the same thing
both times.

So, can someone enlighten me as to why the color values were different?

Isaac

Is your monitor calibrated?

I don't see how that could matter since whatever it's adjustment is, it
should be the same on the right-hand side of the screen (where the
Wikipedia page was) and the left-hand side (where the colors I was
adjusting were).

My understanding from some previous discussion here is that some
browsers also adjust the colors under some conditions. So if the
colors on the r/s were in a browser, and the l/s colors were in
another app, that could explain it.

On 26/05/2016 10:29, Bill W wrote:
On Wed, 25 May 2016 13:43:57 -0700, isw wrote:

In article , Me
wrote:

On 25/05/2016 16:09, isw wrote:
Apologies if this is not the right group; seemed like a good shot to me
...

I'm trying to match some colors in an X11 environment. I pulled up the
Wikipedia article on the subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names

Found some colors I liked, copied the hex values into some code I didn't
write but was tying to make look a bit better, and looked at the
resulting colors.

Which weren't the same as the color blocks in the article.

Worse, when I went probing with a "digital color meter" app that samples
pixels on the screen, the RGB values from the Wikipedia page and the
ones put up by the program I'm running were not the same either -- that
is, the RGB hex values I read for the colors were not the ones I'd typed
in, and also did not match the color blocks on the web page.

This was on a Mac, but it seems to me that whatever color inaccuracies
or "translations" the machine was doing, it should do the same thing
both times.

So, can someone enlighten me as to why the color values were different?

Isaac

Is your monitor calibrated?

I don't see how that could matter since whatever it's adjustment is, it
should be the same on the right-hand side of the screen (where the
Wikipedia page was) and the left-hand side (where the colors I was
adjusting were).

My understanding from some previous discussion here is that some
browsers also adjust the colors under some conditions. So if the
colors on the r/s were in a browser, and the l/s colors were in
another app, that could explain it.

After re-reading the OP's first post, then that's probably the answer.
Do a screen-grab or snip off the wikipedia page, past into a graphics
application like Gimp, use a colour picker to read values from that.
On W10, page viewed in Chrome (with no colour management enabled), the
values I read are exactly what they say they are.

That said, if the browser is adjusting colour in those images on the
wikipedia page - which aren't bitmap images as such but HTML coded fill
colour for cells in a table - then something is wrong with the web
browser, by design or settings.

In article ,
Bill W wrote:

On Wed, 25 May 2016 13:43:57 -0700, isw wrote:

In article , Me
wrote:

On 25/05/2016 16:09, isw wrote:
Apologies if this is not the right group; seemed like a good shot to me
...

I'm trying to match some colors in an X11 environment. I pulled up the
Wikipedia article on the subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names

Found some colors I liked, copied the hex values into some code I didn't
write but was tying to make look a bit better, and looked at the
resulting colors.

Which weren't the same as the color blocks in the article.

Worse, when I went probing with a "digital color meter" app that samples
pixels on the screen, the RGB values from the Wikipedia page and the
ones put up by the program I'm running were not the same either -- that
is, the RGB hex values I read for the colors were not the ones I'd typed
in, and also did not match the color blocks on the web page.

This was on a Mac, but it seems to me that whatever color inaccuracies
or "translations" the machine was doing, it should do the same thing
both times.

So, can someone enlighten me as to why the color values were different?

Isaac

Is your monitor calibrated?

I don't see how that could matter since whatever it's adjustment is, it
should be the same on the right-hand side of the screen (where the
Wikipedia page was) and the left-hand side (where the colors I was
adjusting were).

My understanding from some previous discussion here is that some
browsers also adjust the colors under some conditions. So if the
colors on the r/s were in a browser, and the l/s colors were in
another app, that could explain it.

Doesn't explain why, when I measured the RGB values on the screen, they
did not match the numbers I typed in to get those very colors.

Isaac