HELP: Remarks - Parse Rock Color from Text
The best way to enter the other rock image data is to enter your description of the bed in the Remarks / Notes / Comments Data Entry Dialog and build a list of bed descriptions and then select the " Compute other data entry data types from Remarks" button.

This will allow the program to automatically use the geological description lookup xml files to parse your text into the rock image tracks. This basically saves time and effort, instead of entering each track separately.
A Texture / Lithology example "very sandy slightly argillaceous dolomitic limestone; marine abundant trilobites, echinoderm fragments, corals, few bryozoa, broken brachiopods; very pale blue (5B8/2) color with moderate blue (5B5/6) stains; pyrite nodules and concretions, erosional bed". The phrase "very pale blue (5B8/2) color with moderate blue (5B5/6) stains" will be parsed into the primary and secondary colors respectively. very pale blue (5B8/2) is the main rock color, moderate blue (5B5/6) is the secondary color.

The parse engine will look for up to 3 colors to display from 3 color list xml lookup files, which are

  • Rock-Color Chart by the Rock-Color Chart Committee 1948
  • Munsell Soil Color Charts 2000
  • Other Colors where Munsell is not specifically listed in the rock description, 2 sources are used.
    • NBS/ISCC Color System Centroids1 This source had the Munsell Codes and RGB values so there was no need to do any computations.
    • TCCA Standard Color Cards2 This source provided CIE x, y, and Y values that were used to compute the RGB Values.
The program first decides which source was used by checking to see if a valid Munsell Code was provided. Many geologist in their description of the rock color will include the Munsell Code of the color in parenthesis, which this program will automatically strip in checking the code. If there is no Munsell Code or the Code is not in the Rock or Soil Catalog then the color name is compared to the "Other Colors" XML file. The parse engine is looking for up to three colors a primary color or the first color name that is encounterd, a secondary color and streak/stain color. The program is not reading any other descriptor except the color names so phrases like white streaks, or gray stains will only produce the colors white and gray. The order is determined by what the parser sees first.

The color name is very similar to the texture in that there are a number of levels a primary color and modifiers to the primary color, i.e. "very pale blue", "blue" is the primary color and "very pale" is the modifier. NOTE: Sometimes geologies will use a single color, i.e. "blue", which by itself will not produce anything, so "moderate" is automatically assumed and combined with the color name if no other valid modifiers exist, so "blue becomes "moderate blue".

NBS/ISCC Color System3 has defined a Universal Language of Color web page that explains the naming convention of colors.

To convert the Munsell Color Code to RGB values a file all.dat was downloaded from the Munsell Color Science Laboratory4. The description of this file was as follows,

These are all the Munsell data, including the extrapolated colors. Note that extrapolated colors are in some cases unreal. That is, some lie outsize the Macadam limits.

This file should be used for those performing multidimensional interpolation to/from Munsell data. You will need the unreal colors in order to completely encompass the real colors, which is required to do the interpolation when near the Macadam limits.

(six columns of Munsell hue, Munsell value, Munsell chroma, CIE x, y, and Y. The chromaticity coordinates were calculated using illuminant C and the CIE 1931 2 degree observer.)

References:

(1) NBS/ISCC Color System Centroids Copyright 2003 Voluntocracy http://tx4.us/nbs-iscc.htm
(2) Spectrophotometric and Colorimetric Determination of the Colors of the TCCA Standard Color Cards GENEVIEVE REIMANN, DEANE B. JUDD, and HARRY J. KEEGAN JOSA, Vol. 36, Issue 3, pp. 128-159 (1946)
(3) The NBS/ISCC Color System - The Universal Language of Color http://www.anthus.com/Colors/NBS.html
(4) Munsell Color Science Laboratory http://www.cis.rit.edu/mcsl/online/munsell.php

Author: John R. Victorine jvictor@kgs.ku.edu