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phpccolorsgimp

Calculate colour temperature in K


I have written a lib for working with colours and stuck trying to calculate Tc(k). From what I have read working in the CIE 1931 XYZ colour space is the way to go and it can be obtained using xyY.

So far I have got everything correct to the point of figuring out the correct x and y from :

          X                 Y
x = ____________  y = ____________
    ( X + Y + Z)      ( X + Y + Z)

The numbers much up to the chart, but cant find anything that details how you go from x and y to Tc(K)

enter image description here

eg: For #FF0000 I get the following.

x: 0.64007449945677
y: 0.32997051063169

I have read a number of papers on the topic and litterally all the wikipedia articles. All the questions I have come across on SO simply link to a wiki article on colours, not seen one that has the actual formula for calculating Tc(k)


Solution

  • I done some digging in some open source apps and found something in UFRaw. I have not quite figured out what is going on exactly.

    Also found a paper that seems to cover the topic quite well.

    Converted to php and this is what I have so far:

    $temp = array(9500, 7000, 5500, 3750, 3000, 2700, 2250, 1800, 1500);
    $hex = array('9DBEFF', 'E4EEFF', 'FFE4BE', 'FFA04C', 'FF7A26', 'FF6A19', 'FF500B', 'FF3403', 'FF2300');
    
    echo '<h3>K -> RGB</h3>';
    foreach ($temp as $k) {
        $rgb = ColourConverter::temperature2rgb($k);
        echo sprintf('<div style="background-color:rgb(%s); text-align: center; width: 100px; height: 25px; clear: both;">%s</div>', implode(', ', $rgb), $k);
    }
    
    echo '<h3>RGB -> K</h3>';
    foreach ($hex as $v) {
        $rgb = array_values(ColourConverter::hex2rgb($v));
        $k = round(ColourConverter::rgb2temperature($rgb[0], $rgb[1], $rgb[2]));
        echo sprintf('<div style="background-color:rgb(%s); text-align: center; width: 100px; height: 25px; clear: both;">%s</div>', implode(', ', $rgb), $k);
    }
    

    Reference

    My output:

    output

    Pretty close but not 100% yet. (Found a bug in my code and it is now almost perfect)

    • The colours are slightly off going from k -> rgb
    • It does not work doing k -> rgb -> k. You don't get back to the same value.

    Code

    UFRaw line 246-294

    void Temperature_to_RGB(double T, double RGB[3])
    {
        int c;
        double xD, yD, X, Y, Z, max;
        // Fit for CIE Daylight illuminant
        if (T <= 4000) {
            xD = 0.27475e9 / (T * T * T) - 0.98598e6 / (T * T) + 1.17444e3 / T + 0.145986;
        } else if (T <= 7000) {
            xD = -4.6070e9 / (T * T * T) + 2.9678e6 / (T * T) + 0.09911e3 / T + 0.244063;
        } else {
            xD = -2.0064e9 / (T * T * T) + 1.9018e6 / (T * T) + 0.24748e3 / T + 0.237040;
        }
        yD = -3 * xD * xD + 2.87 * xD - 0.275;
    
        // Fit for Blackbody using CIE standard observer function at 2 degrees
        //xD = -1.8596e9/(T*T*T) + 1.37686e6/(T*T) + 0.360496e3/T + 0.232632;
        //yD = -2.6046*xD*xD + 2.6106*xD - 0.239156;
    
        // Fit for Blackbody using CIE standard observer function at 10 degrees
        //xD = -1.98883e9/(T*T*T) + 1.45155e6/(T*T) + 0.364774e3/T + 0.231136;
        //yD = -2.35563*xD*xD + 2.39688*xD - 0.196035;
    
        X = xD / yD;
        Y = 1;
        Z = (1 - xD - yD) / yD;
        max = 0;
        for (c = 0; c < 3; c++) {
            RGB[c] = X * XYZ_to_RGB[0][c] + Y * XYZ_to_RGB[1][c] + Z * XYZ_to_RGB[2][c];
            if (RGB[c] > max) max = RGB[c];
        }
        for (c = 0; c < 3; c++) RGB[c] = RGB[c] / max;
    }
    
    void RGB_to_Temperature(double RGB[3], double *T, double *Green)
    {
        double Tmax, Tmin, testRGB[3];
        Tmin = 2000;
        Tmax = 23000;
        for (*T = (Tmax + Tmin) / 2; Tmax - Tmin > 0.1; *T = (Tmax + Tmin) / 2) {
            Temperature_to_RGB(*T, testRGB);
            if (testRGB[2] / testRGB[0] > RGB[2] / RGB[0])
                Tmax = *T;
            else
                Tmin = *T;
        }
        *Green = (testRGB[1] / testRGB[0]) / (RGB[1] / RGB[0]);
        if (*Green < 0.2) *Green = 0.2;
        if (*Green > 2.5) *Green = 2.5;
    }