9.5.2

122 • CHAPTER 3
CONFIGURATION • 123
Typical output devices for color are printers, imagesetters and computer screens. The rst two use the
subtractive method of color mixing (CMYK) and will not be part of our discussion here. Most important
for CINEMA 4D is the additive method of color mixing, which is the one used for representing colors
on monitors. CINEMA 4D characterizes all colors using three numerical values.
Two different color models are used, which you can easily toggle between. Probably the best known
model is RGB, which is used by most graphics applications because it is best suited to the hardware
components for image and color output. The most commonly used output device is the computer
screen, which has a grid consisting of ne dots made up from a red, a green and a blue point. These
points can be addressed by an electron beam. By aiming the beam at not just one color dot but, for
example, the red and the green, the added color value is yellow.
Figure 1 (left): The spectral sensitivity and overlapping of the sensitive ranges make characterization of
colors extremely difcult. Figure 2 (right): By beaming different intensities at the three dots it is possible
to generate many colors mixed from these basic primary colors.