Function of Light

Properties of Color

Expressive Qualities

Optical Effects

Additive

People who work with light, such as theatre technicians or computer artists, use the additive color system. In this system, beams of red, green and blue light are mixed to create all of the colors. (Additive is also known as RGB.) Mixing light using the RGB system is very different from mixing paints utilizing the subtractive color system. Some of the most striking differences are that red and green make yellow, and mixing all of the colors together makes white instead of the gray one creates when mixing the primary pigments together.

 

Click on any combination of the flashlights to turn them off and on. How does light combine to form colors in the additive system?