That is, even if you adopt the CMYK color model instead of RGB (which is already difficult, because conversions from RGB to CMYK are heavily device-dependent and far from straightforward), this will probably still not satisfy the urge to mix pure blue (0, 0, 255) with pure yellow (255, 255, 0) and get green. Using a subtractive color model instead will produce the results that you want.ĮDIT: Of course, that's easier said than done. You should be able to immediately see the problem. Looking at the two diagrams at the bottom, you'll see the RGB color model (additive) on the left, versus the CMYK color model (subtractive) on the right. It turns out that what you and I learned in grade school is really more accurately known as a subtractive color model, versus the additive color model used by RGB. Red + yellow is (510, 255, 0), so when you multiply that by 0.5, you get orange (255, 127, 0). It's probably more of an anomaly than anything that you get the expected result when mixing red and yellow. When you multiply white by 0.5, you get a gray color, because 255 * 0.5 = 127. When you fully mix yellow (255, 255, 0) and blue (0, 0, 255), you get the color represented by (255, 255, 255), or white.
![255 255 255. rgb 255 255 255. rgb](https://www.htmlcsscolor.com/preview/gallery/FF4600.png)
Conversely, the color black (0, 0, 0) is the "default" state of the display device-when no color light is displayed ("0"), the result is black, or the absence of color. In RGB, the color white is represented as (255, 255, 255), which equates to "all on." The full value for each of the red, green, and blue color components is displayed, which creates such a high light intensity that we perceive the color as white. But that's not how you and I learned to mix colors in grade school.
255 255 255. rgb how to#
It's perfectly logical for a video display device (such as a monitor or television) that only knows how to display colors by mixing varying amounts of 3 pre-defined colors: red, green, and blue. The best explanation is that the RGB color model is somewhat unintuitive for us humans.