In computer graphics, we enjoy the breadth of 16.7 million unique colors with which to fill and stroke. This is commonly called 24-bit color, usually organized in 8-bit color component channels of red, green, and blue. Digging down, each color channel has a brightness capability of 2 (a binary value) to the 8th power, equaling 256 values, going from 0 to 255.

Unlike physical pigments which are subtractive, digital color is additive: yellow is achieved by specifying full red and green, for example.

Because digital color is not easily defined by mixing red, green, and blue, Alvy Smith (an accomplished artist and original cofounder if Pixar Studios) created a different color model, called HSV (Hue, Saturation and Value, also called Lightness, Brightness, and Luminance—same difference). The HSV color model engenders the same colors as the RGB color model and all apps I know of can switch views of color models on the fly. Color models are assigned to color modes.

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