Why use RGB instead of RYB? RGB (red, green, blue) and RYB (red, yellow, blue) are two different color models used in art and design. RGB is the standard model used for digital displays and imaging, while RYB is a historical model used in traditional paint mixing. There are several key reasons why RGB tends to be preferred over RYB in most modern applications:
RGB is the native color model of digital devices. Pixels on digital screens emit red, green, and blue light to create all the colors we see. Image sensors also capture color in RGB. Using RGB ensures accurate color representation when creating, editing, and displaying digital images and media. RYB can introduce inaccuracies when converting to/from RGB.
RGB aligns with modern color science. The RGB model is based on the trichromatic theory of human color perception, matching the cones in our eyes that detect red, green, and blue wavelengths of light. This makes RGB a good model for replicating how we see color digitally. RYB’s origins are more historical than scientific.
RGB provides a larger gamut of colors. The RGB color space contains more discernible colors than the gamut available in RYB. With RGB you aren’t limited to the colors possible with traditional pigments. Pure saturated cyans and vivid violets, for example, are outside the RYB gamut but within RGB.
RGB enables consistent color mixing. Combining RGB colors adds the component values linearly. Mixing RYB pigments doesn’t blend cleanly or predictably. RGB provides control and precision for combining hues in color editing software.
In summary, because of its digital foundations, alignment with human vision, larger gamut, and reliable color mixing, RGB serves as the standard model for digital, web, TV, game, and graphic design work today. RYB remains useful for traditional painting but has limitations in the digital realm.
The History and Origins of RYB
The RYB color model originated in the 18th century as a way to systematize color mixing for painters. Before RYB, artists relied on their intuition when blending pigments on a palette. RYB established a structured approach based on three primary colors and the resulting secondary mixtures.
Here’s a brief history behind the development of the RYB system:
– Early color theorists like Isaac Newton proposed that the primaries were red, yellow, and blue. These seemed logical as the building blocks for mixing other hues.
– In 1704, German philosopher J.C. Le Blon theorized that all colors derive from three primaries. He used red, yellow, and blue in his color etchings.
– In 1725, French priest N. O. De La Porte published a book formalizing RYB primary colors and demonstrating how to mix them into secondary shades.
– The RYB model was widely adopted by artists and teachers over the 18th and 19th centuries. It influenced color instruction at art academies.
– RYB provided a structured way to think about color relationships on the artist’s palette. However, it was based more on artistic tradition than the emerging science of color vision.
While useful for grinding and mixing artist pigment, RYB has origins as an intuitive approach rather than a model of human visual response. Modern understanding of colorimetry has since paved the way for improved color systems like RGB.
Limitations of the RYB System
While RYB provided a foundation for artists to systematically blend pigments, it has some inherent limitations that RGB improves upon:
– Restricted gamut – No pure red, green or blue pigments existed when RYB was established. The RYB gamut is smaller than what humans can perceive and display digitally.
– Impure primaries – Traditional RYB primaries were mineral pigments that defied pure hues. Cadmium red, lead-tin yellow, and ultramarine blue approximate but don’t match pure red, green, and blue wavelengths.
– Inconsistent mixing – Blending RYB pigments together doesn’t create clean secondary or tertiary colors. Mixing blue and yellow makes a dull green unlike pure hues in nature.
– Black desaturation – Adding black pigment to RYB colors mutes them towards grey rather than smoothly desaturating the hue. RGB allows true shade and tint adjustment.
– Hue shifting – Within RYB, it’s difficult to keep a paint mixture at the same exact hue while only changing its brightness and saturation. The hue often shifts when mixing white, black, or other colors.
– No pure green – In the RYB system, green is considered a secondary mix of yellow and blue pigments. There is no available green primary unlike in RGB.
Due to these technical paint mixing limitations, RYB fails to match human color perception. RGB provides a complete palette natively suited for on-screen media.
The RGB Color Model and Digital Displays
RGB, which stands for red, green, and blue, is the predominant color model used for digital images, video, TV, web, games, and other media. Here’s an overview of the RGB system and why it’s effective for modern displays:
– Additive primaries – Instead of pigments, RGB is based on red, green, and blue light. Combining colored light adds the components to recreate a wide gamut of hues.
– Matches human vision – RGB aligns with the cone cells in our retinas that detect red, green, and blue wavelengths. This mimics how we see color.
– Emitted light – Pixels on screens directly emit red, green, and blue light. RGB is the native model for displaying images on monitors.
– Larger gamut – RGB can create more discernible colors than possible with RYB pigment mixing, especially vivid cyans, magentas, and saturated hues.
– True primaries – Lasers and LEDs can produce pure wavelengths of red, green, and blue light unmatched by any paint pigments.
– Consistent mixing – Combining RGB colors adds the value of each channel directly. The mixtures remain exact and predictable.
– Perceptual encoding – RGB can be gamma adjusted to map to human perception. This optimizes use of bits when digitally encoding colors.
Due to its suitability for digital imaging, RGB provides a complete color space for on-screen media and ensures accurate color reproduction. RYB can’t match its performance.
Converting Between RYB and RGB
Because RYB and RGB are fundamentally different color systems, converting colors accurately between them is challenging:
– There are no direct color equivalents between RYB pigments and RGB wavelengths of light. For example, cadmium red paint reflects orangey light unlike pure red RGB light.
– The RGB gamut has colors outside the range of RYB. Saturated purples, cyans, and greens can’t be replicated with RYB pigment mixing.
– Similarly, browns and earthy tones available in RYB lie outside the RGB gamut. RGB can’t directly produce these colors.
– Converting RYB to RGB risks unexpected hue shifts. A color balanced in a RYB painting may take on different nuances in RGB.
– The RYB primaries themselves have no exact RGB values. RYB red, yellow, and blue are only rough approximations within RGB.
– RGB mixes additively while RYB combines more opaquely so color mixtures won’t translate the same across models.
Here is a sample color conversion table showing very rough RYB and RGB equivalents:
| RYB Color | Approx. RGB Equivalent |
| Cadmium Red | (255, 70, 60) |
| Lead-Tin Yellow | (255, 190, 0) |
| Ultramarine Blue | (70, 70, 255) |
As seen above, accurate RYB to RGB conversion is near impossible. Starting colors in RGB is best for digital media. RYB is better suited to traditional paints rather than digital imaging.
Advantages of the RGB Model
Here are some of the key technical advantages of using the RGB color model compared to RYB:
– Wider gamut – RGB produces a broader range of colors, especially cyans, greens, and magentas impossible with RYB pigment mixing.
– Additive mixing – Combining RGB colors adds their components for accurate, linear color mixing. RYB blending is less predictable.
– True primaries – Lasers produce pure RGB primaries at specific wavelengths. No RYB pigment has a perfect hue like pure red, green or blue light.
– Perceptual encoding – RGB allows gamma correction to match human perception. This provides superior color reproduction compared to RYB.
– Digital native – RGB is natively suited for digital cameras, scanners, displays, and image formats. RYB introduces analog/digital conversion errors.
– Consistent hues – Adjusting the brightness of an RGB hue preserves the original color. RYB colors shift unpredictably when mixing with white/black.
– Modern colorimetry – RGB better represents how human vision detects color based on modern color science. RYB is an outdated, prescientific system.
For today’s digital graphics and media, RGB offers unparalleled color precision and flexibility compared to the traditional RYB approach.
Examples Comparing RYB and RGB
Here are some examples that demonstrate the differences between the RYB and RGB color systems:
Pure green
– RYB can’t produce a vivid pure green as it lacks a green primary. Mixing blue and yellow pigments makes a dull, desaturated green.
– RGB can display 100% vivid greens by turning up just the green component. This pure vivid green is impossible in RYB.
Shades and tints
– Adding white and black pigments to RYB colors mutes them towards grey rather than smoothly lightening or darkening the hue.
– In RGB, tints and shades maintain the same hue while changing brightness. Green stays green even at light and dark shades.
Cyan vs. green-blue
– In RYB, mixing green and blue paint creates an olive muddy color, not a pure vibrant cyan.
– RGB can combine saturated green and blue light to form vibrant cyans beyond the RYB gamut.
Magentas
– The most vivid magentas can’t be replicated with RYB due to impure primaries and restricted gamut. RGB produces rich, saturated magentas.
– RYB purples and reds are more muted and earthy compared to RGB’s pure, electric hues.
As seen above, the RYB and RGB models yield very different results for mixing, shading, and producing saturated colors. RGB aligns better with digital media and human vision.
Conclusion
While the RYB color model provides a framework for blending artist pigments, RGB is better suited for modern digital graphics, video, and photography. Because it matches human color vision, provides a wider gamut, and enables precise color mixing, RGB serves as the standard for all visual media displayed on screens.
The days of RYB dominance are waning as digital processes expand across art and design fields. RGB offers a complete color space natively compatible with camera sensors, software, and displays. Adopting RGB over RYB ensures accurate color representation and vivid hues in the digital realm.