Color Conversion

 
There are many ways of representing color values. Probably the most popular in computer graphics is to assign a numeric value to each of three different colors of light which can be displayed by a traditional cathode ray tube such as that of a standard color television. These values for red, green, and blue can also be expressed in several different ways but always represent a level of intensity within the range from none of that color component to the highest brightness available for it.

The RWX Color command uses a floating-point decimal range from 0 to 1 for each component, and action commands used by Active Worlds builders expect either a pre-defined color name or a string of six characters made up of a two digit integer hexadecimal number in the range from 00 to FF for each of the three components. You may also find while setting colors within various dialog boxes that an integer decimal range from 0 to 255 is often used. The first table on this page lists the pre-defined colors that can be used with some of the action commands along with conversions to the three types of RGB representations just mentioned.

Color Name

=

RWX

Decimal Integer

Hexadecimal

aquamarine

#

.439 .858 .576

red=112 green=219 blue=147

70DB93

black

#

0 0 0

red=0 green=0 blue=0

000000

blue

#

0 0 1

red=0 green=0 blue=255

0000FF

brass

#

.709 .65 .258

red=181 green=166 blue=66

B5A642

bronze

#

.549 .47 .325

red=140 green=120 blue=83

8C7853

brown

#

.65 .164 .164

red=166 green=42 blue=42

A62A2A

copper

#

.72 .45 .2

red=184 green=115 blue=51

B87333

cyan

#

0 1 1

red=0 green=255 blue=255

00FFFF

darkgrey

#

.188 .188 .188

red=48 green=48 blue=48

303030

forestgreen

#

.137 .556 .137

red=35 green=142 blue=35

238E23

gold

#

.803 .498 .196

red=205 green=127 blue=50

CD7F32

green

#

0 1 0

red=0 green=255 blue=0

00FF00

grey

#

.439 .439 .439

red=112 green=112 blue=112

707070

lightgrey

#

.75 .75 .75

red=192 green=192 blue=192

C0C0C0

magenta

#

1 0 1

red=255 green=0 blue=255

FF00FF

maroon

#

.556 .137 .419

red=142 green=35 blue=107

8E236B

navyblue

#

.137 .137 .556

red=35 green=35 blue=142

23238E

orange

#

1 .498 0

red=255 green=127 blue=0

FF7F00

orangered

#

1 .14 0

red=255 green=36 blue=0

FF2400

orchid

#

.858 .439 .858

red=219 green=112 blue=219

DB70DB

pink

#

1 .43 .78

red=255 green=110 blue=199

FF6EC7

red

#

1 0 0

red=255 green=0 blue=0

FF0000

salmon

#

.435 .258 .258

red=111 green=66 blue=66

6F4242

scarlet

#

.549 .09 .09

red=140 green=23 blue=23

8C1717

silver

#

.9 .909 .98

red=230 green=232 blue=250

E6E8FA

skyblue

#

.196 .6 .8

red=50 green=153 blue=204

3299CC

tan

#

.858 .576 .439

red=219 green=147 blue=112

DB9370

teal

#

0 .439 .439

red=0 green=112 blue=112

007070

turquoise

#

.678 .917 .917

red=173 green=234 blue=234

ADEAEA

violet

#

.309 .184 .309

red=79 green=47 blue=79

4F2F4F

white

#

1 1 1

red=255 green=255 blue=255

FFFFFF

yellow

#

1 1 0

red=255 green=255 blue=0

FFFF00

Click the # link on any of the color samples to find more colors of the same hue.

Numeric conversion

For those who find hexadecimal numbers less than intuitive, the following two tables are provided. One table lists exact integer conversions from a range of decimal numbers to their hexadecimal equivalents. The other table lists conversions from a range of hexadecimal values to approximate floating-point decimal equivalents based on the division of the integer by the decimal value 255.

Here is the decimal to hexadecimal conversion chart.

Range

Hexadecimal Conversion

0 - 15

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

16 - 31

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F

32 - 47

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F

48 - 63

30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 3A 3B 3C 3D 3E 3F

64 - 79

40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 4A 4B 4C 4D 4E 4F

80 - 95

50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 5A 5B 5C 5D 5E 5F

96 - 111

60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 6A 6B 6C 6D 6E 6F

112 - 127

70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 7A 7B 7C 7D 7E 7F

128 - 143

80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 8A 8B 8C 8D 8E 8F

144 - 159

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 9A 9B 9C 9D 9E 9F

160 - 175

A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 AA AB AC AD AE AF

176 - 191

B0 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 BA BB BC BD BE BF

192 - 207

C0 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 CA CB CC CD CE CF

208 - 223

D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 DA DB DC DD DE DF

224 - 239

E0 E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 E8 E9 EA EB EC ED EE EF

240 - 255

F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 FA FB FC FD FE FF

Here is the hexadecimal to floating-point conversion chart based on dividing the integer value by decimal 255. Values listed in this chart are rounded leaving enough precision to represent a clear distinction between values for efficient use with the RWX Color command.

Range

Floating-Point Decimal Conversion

00-07

0 .003 .007 .01   .015 .019 .02 .027

08-0F

.03 .035 .039 .04   .047 .05 .054 .058

10-17

.06 .066 .07 .074   .078 .08 .086 .09

18-1F

.094 .098 .1 .105   .109 .11 .117 .12

20-27

.125 .129 .13 .137   .14 .145 .149 .15

28-2F

.156 .16 .164 .168   .17 .176 .18 .184

30-37

.188 .19 .196 .2   .203 .207 .21 .215

38-3F

.219 .22 .227 .23   .235 .239 .24 .247

40-47

.25 .254 .258 .26   .266 .27 .274 .278

48-4F

.28 .286 .29 .294   .298 .3 .305 .309

50-57

.31 .317 .32 .325   .329 .33 .337 .34

58-5F

.345 .349 .35 .356   .36 .364 .368 .37

60-67

.376 .38 .384 .388   .39 .396 .4 .403

68-6F

.407 .41 .415 .419   .42 .427 .43 .435

70-77

.439 .44 .447 .45   .454 .458 .46 .466

78-7F

.47 .474 .478 .48   .486 .49 .494 .498

80-87

.5 .505 .509 .51   .517 .52 .525 .529

88-8F

.53 .537 .54 .545   .549 .55 .556 .56

90-97

.564 .568 .57 .576   .58 .584 .588 .59

98-9F

.596 .6 .603 .607   .61 .615 .619 .62

A0-A7

.627 .63 .635 .639   .64 .647 .65 .654

A8-AF

.658 .66 .666 .67   .674 .678 .68 .686

B0-B7

.69 .694 .698 .7   .705 .709 .71 .717

B8-BF

.72 .725 .729 .73   .737 .74 .745 .749

C0-C7

.75 .756 .76 .764   .768 .77 .776 .78

C8-CF

.784 .788 .79 .796   .8 .803 .807 .81

D0-D7

.815 .819 .82 .827   .83 .835 .839 .84

D8-DF

.847 .85 .854 .858   .86 .866 .87 .874

E0-E7

.878 .88 .886 .89   .894 .898 .9 .905

E8-EF

.909 .91 .917 .92   .925 .929 .93 .937

F0-F7

.94 .945 .949 .95   .956 .96 .964 .968

F8-FF

.97 .976 .98 .984   .988 .99 .996 1

You may notice that the hexadecimal representation is much more concise, which is exactly what makes it so popular.