Colour Science & Perception
what the eye settles, and what it cannot
Generator

Two identical grey patches on different surrounds

Both inner squares are #818181. The one on the dark field looks lighter. The values are checked to be equal before the figure is drawn, so the claim is a fact about the drawing rather than a promise.
Two identical grey patches on different surroundsBoth inner squares are #818181. The one on the dark field looks lighter. The values are checked to be equal before the figure is drawn, so the claim is a fact about the drawing rather than a promise.on a dark fieldon a light fieldboth patches are #818181checked equal

Drawn at its defaults, in what the brain does that the numbers do not. It takes 3 options, and the essays below show what each placement asks of it.

Called by 2 essays

the blast radius of changing it

What the brain does

These two patches are identical

It is the most repeated and least checkable sentence in visual perception, because the whole point is that it does not look true. Every instance here is computed, and checked before the figure is drawn.

 Matching and measuring

Matching is not appearance

CIE XYZ predicts when two lights will look the same under identical viewing conditions. It was never a model of how anything looks, and most of the confusion in applied colour comes from using it as one.

All 155 generators · what each essay asks for instead