HSV Color Spaces

[This is preliminary documentation and subject to change.]

Hue, saturation, and value (HSV) color spaces are often used by artists. The hue is what we normally think of as color. Saturation is the amount of gray, white, or black that is mixed into the color. Zero saturation indicates no hue, just grayscale. The value component of the HSV space is a measure of its brightness. The HSV color space is normalized.

The preceding figure shows a line drawing of HSV space in the form of a hexcone. Each of its cross sections is a hexagon. At the vertices of each cross section are the colors red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and magenta. A color in HSV space is specified by stating a hue angle, the saturation level, and the value level. A hue angle of zero is red. The hue angle increases in a counterclockwise direction. Complementary colors are 180° apart.

HSV color spaces can be device dependent or device independent.