Computer programs like Adobe Photoshop can generate a mixture of two 'computer' colors by using the Gradient control. However, the resulting colors diverge from the equivalent paint mixtures in both hue and value. This study examines why programs like Photoshop are unable to simulate paint or pigment mixtures, and offers a solution using Photoshops existing tools. The article discusses how a library of colors, simulating paint mixtures, is created from 13 artists' colors. The mixtures can be imported into Photoshop as a color swatch palette of 1248 colors and as 78 continuous or stepped gradient files, all accessed in a new software package, Chromafile.

Date Published: 6 June 2002
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 4421, 9th Congress of the International Colour Association, (6 June 2002); doi: 10.1117/12.464690

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4421:
9th Congress of the International Colour Association
Robert Chung; Allan Rodrigues, Editor(s)