Albert Munsell, Color Notation 1905
Munsell's color notation was the first to arrange the color perception components—hue, value, and chroma—into a three-dimensional arrangement. There 10 hues in Munsell's notation: R, YR, Y, GY, G, BG, B, PB, P, RP. Value ranges from 0 (black) to 10 (white). Chroma ranges from 0 (gray) to 30+. The hue is specified first, followed by value/chroma; e.g., 5R 3/4 is a red of value 3, chroma 4. There is a reasonable introduction to Munsell in the Wikipedia. Data for conversion from Munsell to CIE xyY can be found here. An online tool for exploring Munsell (unfortunately, Windows only) can be found here.
Uncalibrated Munsell to RGB conversion tables (gamma 2.2)
| value/hue
|
5R |
5YR |
5Y |
5GY |
5G |
5BG |
5B |
5PB |
5P |
5RP
|
| 9
|
254 221 217
|
255 222 197
|
253 228 111
|
205 244 46
|
113 254 190
|
73 254 233
|
181 238 252
|
217 229 249
|
237 223 253
|
248 222 229
|
| 8
|
252 184 177
|
254 187 133
|
231 199 34
|
176 215 8
|
46 228 161
|
56 223 207
|
81 218 255
|
167 203 255
|
225 185 255
|
252 181 204
|
| 7
|
253 143 136
|
253 149 39
|
202 172 23
|
151 187 12
|
43 197 140
|
57 193 181
|
37 189 225
|
124 176 248
|
213 147 253
|
255 137 182
|
| 6
|
253 95 95
|
217 125 27
|
173 145 17
|
128 158 36
|
32 167 120
|
47 164 155
|
30 160 192
|
52 150 251
|
206 102 253
|
252 86 163
|
| 5
|
244 8 60
|
183 101 14
|
143 120 34
|
104 131 29
|
10 139 98
|
45 135 129
|
28 132 160
|
38 124 211
|
198 30 248
|
231 28 142
|
| 4
|
191 26 52
|
146 80 21
|
114 95 27
|
82 105 23
|
34 109 80
|
33 107 104
|
18 105 129
|
5 98 176
|
160 17 198
|
184 20 117
|
| 3
|
143 24 45
|
111 60 21
|
87 72 23
|
61 80 19
|
28 83 62
|
28 81 80
|
31 79 95
|
22 74 132
|
122 8 150
|
138 19 92
|
| 2
|
102 13 41
|
83 41 10
|
63 51 11
|
42 57 12
|
25 58 45
|
8 58 58
|
10 57 71
|
18 52 95
|
87 10 106
|
98 11 71
|
Uncalibrated neutral values (gamma 2.2)
| Neutral
|
RGB
|
| N10
|
255 255 255
|
| N9.5
|
243 243 243
|
| N9
|
228 228 228
|
| N8
|
200 200 200
|
| N7
|
173 173 173
|
| N6
|
147 147 147
|
| N5
|
122 122 122
|
| N4
|
97 97 97
|
| N3
|
73 73 73
|
| N2
|
52 52 52
|
| N1
|
34 34 34
|
| N0
|
0 0 0
|
= more useful colors (gamma 2.2)
| value/hue
|
10PB |
10GY |
10Y
|
| 9
|
227 226 247
|
134 255 119
|
240 235 16
|
| 8
|
199 195 252
|
26 233 42
|
211 206 21
|
| 7
|
173 163 252
|
35 201 46
|
182 178 44
|
| 6
|
150 131 249
|
31 170 44
|
154 151 35
|
| 5
|
135 91 252
|
28 141 41
|
127 125 31
|
| 4
|
128 25 248
|
24 112 37
|
101 100 24
|
| 3
|
99 18 186
|
6 85 30
|
77 75 22
|
| 2
|
72 13 131
|
15 60 28
|
55 54 13
|
Hue, value, and chroma are all equal perceptual spacing!
Each hue goes from 0 to 10, e.g. 2.5RP; value goes from 0 to 10; and chroma goes from 0 to 30+
