There are many ways of representing an individual color. For a few colors, some commands in Active Worlds support the use of pre-defined color names, but for the rest of them an alternative method is needed. Hexadecimal RGB color values represent the amounts of Red, Green, and Blue light necessary to simulate the color with most standard televisions or computer monitors. Each of the three parts is represented as a two digit hexadecimal value in the range of 00 to FF, so the total hexadecimal RGB range is from 000000 to FFFFFF and includes a total of 16777216 distinct color representations. (1000000 hexadecimal = 16777216 decimal.) This page lists a few of them for you to choose from, to help you get a feel for the process of using hexadecimal RGB color values.

Most of the tables listed on this page contain groups of colors based on the pre-defined color names and are provided here with their hexadecimal RGB values for your convenience, for use with action commands such as sign, color, and light.

This group is based on the predefined colors named black, darkgrey, grey, lightgrey, and white, which are represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined colors named red, scarlet, brown, and salmon, which are represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined color named orangered, which is represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined color named tan, which is represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined color named copper, which is represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined colors named orange and gold, which are represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined color named bronze, which is represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined color named brass, which is represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined color named yellow, which is represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined colors named green and forestgreen, which are represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined color named aquamarine, which is represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined colors named cyan, teal, and turquoise, which are represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined color named skyblue, which is represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined color named silver, which is represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined colors named blue and navyblue, which are represented here along with similar colors:
 

This table includes various saturation levels and lightness levels of purple, based on the color designated as 8000FF in the hexadecimal RGB color numbering scheme:
 

This group is based on the predefined colors named magenta, orchid, and violet, which are represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined color named maroon, which is represented here along with similar colors:
 

This group is based on the predefined color named pink, which is represented here along with similar colors:
 

Note: In some cases, pre-defined color values have been represented on this page with a close approximation rather than their exact RGB value. For exact RGB values of pre-defined color names, see the colors help page.

Calculating RGB color representations

Each RGB color value representation is made up of three pairs of hexadecimal digits. A hexadecimal digit is one of the following characters: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F

Although the standard for hexadecimal characters is to use the decimal digits 0 through 9 and the upper case letters A through F as hexadecimal digits, lower case versions of the last 6 hexadecimal digits are also recognized by the Active Worlds browser. An RGB component color is made up of red light, green light, and blue light.

If this concept is unfamiliar to you, try thinking of it as a rainbow for the sake of simplicity. If you want the color orange you simply start with red and add a little green to it, because orange is between red and green on the rainbow. Likewise, if you want the color yellow you simply need to add more green light to your red light. For purple, just add a little red light to a strong blue light.

The six character hexadecimal representation consists of the first two digits on the left expressing the amount of red light, followed by the middle two digits expressing the amount of green light, followed by the final two digits on the right expressing the amount of blue light. Each of these component colors is represented by a pair of hexadecimal digits in the range of 00 through FF within that component's position in the RGB hexadecimal string. For those unfamiliar with counting in hexadecimal, the entire two digit hexadecimal range is as follows: 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 0A, 0B, 0C, 0D, 0E, 0F, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3E, 3F, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E, 4F, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 5E, 5F, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, 6E, 6F, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D, 7E, 7F, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E, 8F, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, 9E, 9F, A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, AA, AB, AC, AD, AE, AF, B0, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9, BA, BB, BC, BD, BE, BF, C0, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8, C9, CA, CB, CC, CD, CE, CF, D0, D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7, D8, D9, DA, DB, DC, DD, DE, DF, E0, E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6, E7, E8, E9, EA, EB, EC, ED, EE, EF, F0, F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8, F9, FA, FB, FC, FD, FE, FF.

Colors painted onto objects, along with other surface properties, will decide how much of what colors of light they will reflect. Keep in mind while choosing colors, that not only the objects surface properties but also the global and local lighting will effect how the colors of an object actually appears within the 3D environment.

For conversion to the decimal floating-point color values used with the RWX Color command, see the RGB color conversion page.