As you know there are many color systems out there. For example there is RGB, HSB, LCh, or Lab just to name a few. They all have in common that they use three numbers to specify a color. For example R=255, G=0, and B=0 describe a pure Red Tone in the RGB-system (RGB stands for Red/Green/Blue), whereas the mixture of R=128, G=128 and B=128 results in a neutral Mid Gray. This description of three color components between 0 and 255 allows to specify 256 x 256 x 256 = 16, 8 Million different colors.

Why is it always three numbers? Because our eyes have three kinds of cone cells that are sensitive to three different regions of colored light similar to the RGB-pixels on a camera chip.

Now you might say that the color system CMYK used in print has four numbers. This is correct, however, printing would work with the three colors CMY (Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow) as well. The fourth color Black (or K = Key color) is added to increase contrast, stabilize the print and save money, because black ink is less expensive and back in the old printing days most of the printing was black text.

How do we select colors on a computer screen? With a tool called „Color Picker“ which is part of every program which allows you to handle colors, from text editors to graphic tools, to CAD programs.

Let’s have a look at the top dog of image editing: Adobe Photoshop.

Basically the Color Pickers of other color-related applications are not much different. They are brainchildren of the 1990s and somehow are all cumbersome to handle. Why? As we described a color value is always a triplet of three numbers. Three numbers mean three coordinates that define a location in a three-dimensional space. But the Color Pickers let you select the colors only in a 2D plane. Yes, there is always a slider for the third dimension, but this is not the real thing.

So we thought it is time for a revolution in finding and picking the right color. This is why we came up with the first easy-to-use Color Picker in 3D, where you can navigate directly in the three-dimensional color space. It is like cruising with a spaceship through orbit. Welcome to the 3D world!