Colors as a Three-Dimensional Universe
As shown above, the expressions of colors do not fit into a two-dimensional system but can best be represented in a three-dimensional universe. The three basic properties of color and their three-dimensional representation was first proposed by Albert H. Munsell, an American artist and teacher of the fine arts. He attached separate attributes such as hue, value and chroma to each of these three basic properties and also established other color concepts. The three elements, hue, value and chroma, are the three axes of the three-dimensional universe of color coordinates that forms the color sphere shown in Figure. 2.
Munsell Specification
Color is a phenomenon recognized by seeing and feeling. The expression method systematized based on human feeling is the specification method by three attributes. Hue, lightness, and chroma are defined as the elements of color that a human being feels, and each is systematized to be seen with equal rates perceptively. This system is provided for in the JIS. Color specification is expressed in the order of hue and lightness/chroma, for example, bright red is specified as 5R 4/14. Colors as white, gray, etc., which do not have hue, are specified with the achromatic color mark N and the lightness, for example, as N5.
