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RGB Distance Calculation

When you pick colours for a mobile device on your fancy 16-million-or-so-individual-colours monitor you need to be sure the mobile device with it’s much smaller colour depth can represent your colours distinctly, that the device’s palette will be able to ‘see’ the difference between your 2 stylish grays and not turn it into a big blob.

For the Sony Ericsson K750i any 2 colours with a RGB distance greater than 12 will survive.

So, to calculate the RGB distance between two reds for example, RGB (164, 12, 0) and RGB (195, 38, 26) first calculate the differences between the individual colours:

R: 195 - 164 = 31 G: 38 - 12 = 26
B: 26 - 0 = 26

Add the squares of the three colour differences together:

31² + 26² + 26² = 2,313

The RGB distance is the square root of the sum of the squares above:

RGB distance = √2,313 = 48

48 is greater than the stated threshold of 12 for this device so we’re laughing. Of course, trial and error is probably quicker but I just thought this was kind of interesting.

«2 CommentsAugust 13, MMV»

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