How to derive a spectrum from an RGB triplet

The accurate display of synthetic images requires careful attention to color. Simply modeling color with an RGB triplet leads to color aliasing. Most color antialiasing techniques begin with a specification of color as a spectral energy distribution. There are two apparent hurdles to be overcome to support the spectral model in rendering systems. One is the difficulty of interactively designing a spectral description of a desired color. The other problem is the difficulty of converting existing and useful libraries of RGB triplets into equivalent spectral representations. A simple method that takes as input an RGB triplet viewed on a given monitor and computes a corresponding spectrum for use in a rendering system is presented.<>