Introduction to Color Design

CS237 Assignment #4

 

 

1. Dates

Out     

Tues, 9/24

Due

Thurs, 9/26

 2. Goals

  1. Gain a conceptual understanding of the characteristics of color and its use in graphic presentation.
  2. Learn to experiment effectively with color, gaining control over its visual effects.
  3. Gain experience with color effects in relationship to the Cave.

3. Readings

Tufte, Edward, Envisioning Information, Chapter 3, Color and Information

 

Read either Zwimfter for computer color or Hornung for mixed color:

Zwimfter, Moritz Color Light Sight Sense, plates 315-470;

Hornung, David, Handmade Color, Part Two: First Principles

 

Read 3D Fluid Visualization paper.  Read the abstract.  Mostly look at the pictures and evaluate what you think makes them work and what makes them fail.

Read Virtual Wind Tunnel paper enough to understand what is happening visually.

Read Illuminated Lines paper enough to understand what is happening visually.

Read two local papers about cave artery visualization and particle flurries.

4. Assignment

Part One of this assignment should be completed in groups.  Part Two is optional and can be completed in groups or on your own.

 

Part One: Figure and Ground Relationships in Color

Your assignment can be completed on the computer or with gouache paint (opaque watercolor). If you use the computer (PhotoShop, Illustrator or other graphic program), read the selections from Zwimfter listed above. If you use paint, read the selections from Hornung. 

 

Using the medium that you selected, design a simple graphic composition showing a colored figure (any shape, geometric or organic) against a colored ground. There should be no line or border separating the figure from the ground.  Do fifteen variations of this composition, changing the figure, the ground or both.  See Figure 1, below, for an example. Address the following issues:

 

  1. Distinction between figure and ground based on Hue, three variations.
  2. Distinction between figure and ground based on Value, three variations.
  3. Distinction between figure and ground based on Chroma, three variations.
  4. Distinction based on Value and Hue, three variations
  5. Distinction based on Hue and Chroma, three variations.

 

In each category, your variations should include one with a visually stronger figure, one where figure and ground are closely related, and one in which the ground is stronger.

 

If you are using gouache, follow the mixing procedures described in Hornung P.1-6, with your palette consisting of the six co-primaries listed on p. 6. plus white. The studies should be done on watercolor paper or light Bristol board, using a #4 watercolor brush.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1: Changing ground in a simple composition.

 

 

Experiment with the three variables of color: Hue, Value and Chroma. Notice especially the effect that a change in the color of the ground will have on the color of the figure, and vice-versa. For example on the right in Figure 1, the hue of the ground has shifted in the direction of red, with a darker value. The result is to change the effect of the green figure: lighter and more intense. The green has not changed in reality, only its effect.

 

Part Two: Color Use in the Cave

We have prepared a simple figure/ground composition in the Cave that you will load, adjust, and re-save.  First, run cs237-setup-asgn4 from your account to create a course/cs237/asgn4 directory and copy the support files to it.  Then cd to that directory and run cavepainting with the command “cavepainting cave glueconfig-asgn4”.  You will see a “painting” where each wall of the Cave has different foreground and background elements.  Each of these elements is a CavePainting object, so you can select it by holding down the 2nd button from the left on the wand and moving the wand on top of the object.  Once the object is selected (a white bounding box appears around it) release the selection button.  Now, you can pop up the color picker with the top button on the stylus.  Move the stylus through the color space to select a new color for the object.  Once you have a color you like, press the top stylus button again to keep that color for the selected object. 

 

In this part of the assignment, you should recolor the three foreground/background situations in the asgn4 painting that you are given to again create a distinction between the foreground and the background.  For the foreground/background pair on the left wall of the Cave, make the foreground visually stronger.  For the pair on the front wall of the Cave, make the figure and the ground closely related.  For the pair on the right wall of the Cave, make the ground stronger than the figure.  Use something that you learned from Part One of the assignment, but this time feel free to vary any combination of Hue, Value, and Chroma.  If you found a set of colors that worked well in your 2D examples, you might try those exact colors in this 3D example.  Don’t worry if it doesn’t work the way you expect in 3D in the Cave.  This is a valuable lesson to learn.  Report on the color choices you tried and your evaluation of their success in illustrating a distinction between the foreground and background elements.  Was this more or less difficult to do in the Cave?  What were the differences with the 2D situation?  Remember when using the 3D color picker, that Hue is represented around the equator of the color space.  Value changes as you move from the center of the space toward the outside, and Chroma changes as you move up and down in the space.

 

Of course, save your revised color choices to a file, by pressing the “S” key on clio’s keyboard.  Remember to place your mouse in the Buttons Keyboard window.  Rename this file with “mv saved-painting.cps my-asgn4.cps” and edit the LOAD_PAINTING line the glueconfig-asgn4 file to load my-asgn4.cps.  Test loading up your painting again before class.

 

5. Resources

5.1 Cave Import

Use the same program that you did for assignment 2, just use the images you created for this assignment and save to a different VRML file.

 

6. Questions

  1. What distinctions of color seem most vivid in creating figure/ground distinction?
  2. How can you alter one color in a figure/ground relationship to connect or move closer to another?  How can you disconnect or move a color away from another?  Is there more than one method for accomplishing each of these goals?  Which seems to be the most effective?
  3. Are there colors that seem better suited for the figure or for the ground?
  4. How might color variation show variation in the data, while maintaining effective figure/ground visualization?
  5. Make a list pros and cons for each of the visualization methods from the readings.
  6. Did you complete Part Two of the assignment?  If not, tell us what you imagine the case might be for the following questions based on your experience so far in the Cave.                     
  7. How do colors translate from monitor or page to the Cave?  Are there categories of color or individual colors that seem more effective in the Cave?

7. Checklist

o     Read four papers and design readings.

o     Created 15 variations of figure/ground composition in 2 colors.

o     Answered assignment questions.

-----  If you do Part 2 -----

o     Ran cs237-setup-asgn4

o     Started CavePainting with glueconfig-asgn4

o     Created 3 variations of figure/ground composition and saved to a file.

o     Renamed saved-painting.cps to something more appropriate.

o     Tested loading your saved painting.

 

7. Timing Estimates

 

            1:40 readings

1:30 figure/ground compositions

            1:00 part 2 in the Cave (optional)

            0:20 answer questions