The Colour & Vision Research laboratory and database are based at the Institute of Ophthalmology, which is part of University College London. The Institute and CVRL are associated with Moorfields Eye Hospital. The Institute is next door to Moorfields Eye Hospital near Old Street tube station (see directions). We are also closely associated with the Color EngineeringLab at Zhejiang University in China.
At the Colour & Vision Research laboratory, we investigate normal and clinical human visual perception. Our research focuses on questions about colour vision, light and dark adaptation, night-time vision, the temporal and spatial properties of vision, understanding early visual processing, and film and colour. Our primary goal is to understand the nature of the mechanisms that underlie normal visual perception.
The CVRL database, first set up in 1995 at UC San Diego, provides an annotated library of downloadable standard data sets relevant to colour and vision research. The focus of this site is primarily scientific and technical, but some introductory background information is also provided.
A consistent set of functions for modeling colour vision based on the Stockman & Sharpe (2000) cone fundamentals and on our more recent luminous efficiency measurements are summarized under the category CVRL functions. These functions are tabulated in 0.1, 1 and 5 nm steps and can be returned as csv, xml, or tabular data or as dynamic plots.
The Stockman & Sharpe cone fundamentals are the basis of a CIE proposal for physiologically-relevant colour matching functions. These functions, which are indentical to the CVRL functions, are summarized under the category CIE 2006 LMS functions. The CIE functions are also tabulated in 0.1, 1 and 5 nm steps, and can also be returned as csv, xml, or tabular data. The CIE 2015 XYZ colour matching functions, which are a linear transformation of the LMS functions has now been proposed and can be found here.
The database also includes the individual colour matching measurements made by Stiles & Burch. These have been compiled and cross-checked with the help of Boris Oicherman, Alexander Logvinenko and Abhijit Sarkar from hard copies of the original data provided by Pat Trezona and Mike Webster. They can be downloaded as Excel files and are available for both 2° and 10° colour matches.
Other data sets, which are provided as csv files, include cone fundamentals, colour matching functions, chromaticity coordinates, prereceptoral filter density spectra, photopigment spectra, and CIE standards. More information about how to use the database can be found here.
We welcome corrections, comments, suggestions and contributions. Please e-mail a.stockman@ucl.ac.uk
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CVRL functions | |
| Functions developed as part of of our research program. | ||
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CIE physiologically-relevant LMS functions | |
NEW CIE physiologically-relevant XYZ functions | |
| CIE (2006) LMS cone fundamental CMFs. | Proposed CIE XYZ CMFs transformations from the CIE (2006) LMS cone fundamentals. | |||
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Stiles & Burch 2° CMFs |  |
Stiles & Burch 10° CMFs | |
| Individual 2°data as an Excel file. | Individual 10°data as an Excel file. | |||
The information and data on this website are provided free of charge as a service to the vision science community. They were believed to be correct at the time of posting. Their use and any consequences arising from their use are the sole responsibility of the user.
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