"Kenneth" <kdw### [at] gmailcom> wrote:

> Hmm, a dubious distinction :-0
>
> OK, you asked for it. But gamma is such a tricky and complex subject that I may
> come across as either sounding like a genius, or sounding  like an idiot.

I think gamma is one of things that _seems_ complex simply because there's no
visual and interactive roadmap.

I've had to memorize things, and use or teach subjects that people's popular
perception is that they are "lofty" or "complicated" - yet these same people
know THOUSANDS of song lyrics, driving directions, and play very layered,
conditional video and other games all the time.

In the same way that the graph shows arrows representing conversions between the
different curves, I'd like it if we could have a collection macros that do the
same thing - with a switch to turn on some text output to the debug stream
describing the inputs and results.  "Converting linear rgb <r, g, b> to sRGB
<sr, sg, sb>..."   or some such thing.

and if everything were expressed as function{}s, then it would be easy to have a
macro that creates a graph like you attached.

I would also like to have a way to do what clipka was cautioning me about -
where a palette of srgb colors could be lightened or darkened using a
multiplier, and the math would be correct to do it in the proper color space.

Because we've all been around the block enough times to _know_ that this kind of
thing is going to crop up again and again and again.

I think you invested a few well-spent hours familiarizing yourself with the
topic, and now it's time to "write it down" in a way that exactly matches how
POV-Ray handles the conversion, and is accessible in a way that users don't have
to reinvent the wheel in order to ascend that learning curve.

I have the POV-planet project, the Bezier stuff, the quilted pattern all
swirling around - but I can help out with getting the function {} structure and
syntax right, and maybe dig up POV-Ray's source code to see exactly what's going
on there.

Good work, Sir.
It's a pleasure to have you back   :)

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