Revisiting the Optical Society of America Uniform Color Scales system: past, present and future challenges

Abstract

As a tribute to Claudio Oleari (1944‐2018), in this article we remember some of his ideas about the role of physics and engineering in modern colour science. In particular, we consider his emphasis on the strong content of the work carried out during 1947‐1974 by the Committee on Uniform Scales of the Optical Society of America. Oleari considered the Optical Society of America Uniform Color Scales system a very useful basis for new developments in colour science, including approximately uniform colour spaces, colour difference formulae and chromatic adaptation transforms. Papers published by Oleari and colleagues constitute an original alternative approach to the current generalised assumption of CIELAB made by most researchers and practitioners of colour science. We should seek a deeper understanding of colour vision to allow the development of new colour spaces, in which colour appearance could be more neatly expressed.

Problems in image target-based color correction

“…However, was demonstrated that the statistical differences reachable are marginal [14] and then the original formulation remains the more easily and reliably usable. Moreover, we compared the CIEDE2000 formula with the Euclidean color-difference formula for small-medium color differences in log-compressed OSA-UCS (Optical Society of America's committee on Uniform Color Scales) space [15,16]. Our attempt is inspired by the study [17], where the UCS diagram based on CIELUV color space is used to evaluate two color difference formulae ∆E00 and ∆EE for measuring the visual data.…”

Complex process of image color correction: a test of a target-based framework

“…In SHAFT the optimization process is guided in the original formulation by an iterative CIEDE2000 variation comparison. In this work is presented a variant of the framework replacing the CIEDE2000 with the Euclidean color-difference formula for small-medium color differences in log-compressed OSA-UCS (Optical Society of America's committee on Uniform Color Scales) space [7], [8]. Our attempt has been inspired by the study [9], where the UCS diagram based on CIELUV color space is used to evaluate two color difference formulae ∆E00 and ∆EE for measuring the visual data.…”