RGB to HSL and back, calculation problems

Question

I'm trying to convert RGB to HSL and I also want to convert from HSL to RGB, I have written a class for it but if I do RGB->HSL->RGB to try if it works I get a different value.

Example case: if you create a HSLColor object by doing HSLColor MyTestConversion = HSLColor.FromRGB(Colors.Green); and then do Color ExpectedGreenHere = MyTestConversion.ToRGB() you get a different color than Colors.Green while it was the original input so something goes wrong..

This is the code i'm using:

public class HSLColor
{
    public float Hue;
    public float Saturation;
    public float Luminosity;

    public HSLColor(float H, float S, float L)
    {
        Hue = H;
        Saturation = S;
        Luminosity = L;
    }

    public static HSLColor FromRGB(Color Clr)
    {
        return FromRGB(Clr.R, Clr.G, Clr.B);
    }

    public static HSLColor FromRGB(Byte R, Byte G, Byte B)
    {
        float _R = (R / 255f);
        float _G = (G / 255f);
        float _B = (B / 255f);

        float _Min = Math.Min(Math.Min(_R, _G), _B);
        float _Max = Math.Max(Math.Max(_R, _G), _B);
        float _Delta = _Max - _Min;

        float H = 0;
        float S = 0;
        float L = (float)((_Max + _Min) / 2.0f);

        if (_Delta != 0)
        {
            if (L < 0.5f)
            {
                S = (float)(_Delta / (_Max + _Min));
            }
            else
            {
                S = (float)(_Delta / (2.0f - _Max - _Min));
            }

            float _Delta_R = (float)(((_Max - _R) / 6.0f + (_Delta / 2.0f)) / _Delta);
            float _Delta_G = (float)(((_Max - _G) / 6.0f + (_Delta / 2.0f)) / _Delta);
            float _Delta_B = (float)(((_Max - _B) / 6.0f + (_Delta / 2.0f)) / _Delta);

            if (_R == _Max)
            {
                H = _Delta_B - _Delta_G;
            }
            else if (_G == _Max)
            {
                H = (1.0f / 3.0f) + _Delta_R - _Delta_B;
            }
            else if (_B == _Max)
            {
                H = (2.0f / 3.0f) + _Delta_G - _Delta_R;
            }

            if (H < 0) H += 1.0f;
            if (H > 1) H -= 1.0f;
        }

        return new HSLColor(H, S, L);
    }

    private float Hue_2_RGB(float v1, float v2, float vH)
    {
        if (vH < 0) vH += 1;
        if (vH > 1) vH -= 1;
        if ((6 * vH) < 1) return (v1 + (v2 - v1) * 6 * vH);
        if ((2 * vH) < 1) return (v2);
        if ((3 * vH) < 2) return (v1 + (v2 - v1) * ((2 / 3) - vH) * 6);
        return (v1);
    }

    public Color ToRGB()
    {
        Color Clr = new Color();
        float var_1, var_2;

        if (Saturation == 0)
        {
            Clr.R = (Byte)(Luminosity * 255);
            Clr.G = (Byte)(Luminosity * 255);
            Clr.B = (Byte)(Luminosity * 255);
        }
        else
        {
            if (Luminosity < 0.5) var_2 = Luminosity * (1 + Saturation);
            else var_2 = (Luminosity + Saturation) - (Saturation * Luminosity);

            var_1 = 2 * Luminosity - var_2;

            Clr.R = (Byte)(255 * Hue_2_RGB(var_1, var_2, Hue + (1 / 3)));
            Clr.G = (Byte)(255 * Hue_2_RGB(var_1, var_2, Hue));
            Clr.B = (Byte)(255 * Hue_2_RGB(var_1, var_2, Hue - (1 / 3)));
        }

        return Clr;
    }
}

Used reference: EasyRGB Color Math

Answer 1

The problem I see in your code is the following:

float _R = (R / 255);

You are basically doing integer division here, so you are losing tons of precision.

Try changing it to:

float _R = (R / 255f);

(and the same for the other 2 lines).

Also, to increase precision even more, better to use double instead of float.

Answer 2

Common bug. You've got

    public static HSLColor FromRGB(Byte R, Byte G, Byte B)
    {
        float _R = (R / 255);
        float _G = (G / 255);
        float _B = (B / 255);

Tell me precisely what values of R can result in _R not being 0. (Hint: there's only one).

Edit: you've got the same problem in ToRGB() with 1/3.

Answer 3

Besides the precision issues I think your actual algorithm is incorrect. This should be your FromRGB:

    public static HSLColor FromRGB(Byte R, Byte G, Byte B)
    {
        float _R = (R / 255f);
        float _G = (G / 255f);
        float _B = (B / 255f);

        float _Min = Math.Min(Math.Min(_R, _G), _B);
        float _Max = Math.Max(Math.Max(_R, _G), _B);
        float _Delta = _Max - _Min;

        float H = 0;
        float S = 0;
        float L = (float)((_Max + _Min) / 2.0f);

        if (_Delta != 0)
        {
            if (L < 0.5f)
            {
                S = (float)(_Delta / (_Max + _Min));
            }
            else
            {
                S = (float)(_Delta / (2.0f - _Max - _Min));
            }


            if (_R == _Max)
            {
                H = (_G - _B) / _Delta;
            }
            else if (_G == _Max)
            {
                H = 2f + (_B - _R) / _Delta;
            }
            else if (_B == _Max)
            {
                H = 4f + (_R - _G) / _Delta;
            }
        }

        return new HSLColor(H, S, L);
    }

The next thing you need to understand is that we're taking integer RGB values from 0 to 255 and converting them to decimal values from 0 to 1. The HSL that we get back will thus need to be converted to the normal degree/percent/percent that you're used to. The H value returned should be from 0 to 6 so to convert it to degrees you just multiply by 60. H can actually be negative sometimes so if it is just add 360;

            //Convert to degrees
            H = H * 60f;
            if (H < 0) H += 360;

S and L also need to be multiplied by 100 to give you a percentage from 0 to 100.

UPDATE

This code should get you from HSL to RGB. It assumes that the HSL values are still in their decimal format. Also, I used double instead of float in the code below for better precision.

    public Color ToRGB()
    {
        byte r, g, b;
        if (Saturation == 0)
        {
            r = (byte)Math.Round(Luminosity * 255d);
            g = (byte)Math.Round(Luminosity * 255d);
            b = (byte)Math.Round(Luminosity * 255d);
        }
        else
        {
            double t1, t2;
            double th = Hue / 6.0d;

            if (Luminosity < 0.5d)
            {
                t2 = Luminosity * (1d + Saturation);
            }
            else
            {
                t2 = (Luminosity + Saturation) - (Luminosity * Saturation);
            }
            t1 = 2d * Luminosity - t2;

            double tr, tg, tb;
            tr = th + (1.0d / 3.0d);
            tg = th;
            tb = th - (1.0d / 3.0d);

            tr = ColorCalc(tr, t1, t2);
            tg = ColorCalc(tg, t1, t2);
            tb = ColorCalc(tb, t1, t2);
            r = (byte)Math.Round(tr * 255d);
            g = (byte)Math.Round(tg * 255d);
            b = (byte)Math.Round(tb * 255d);
        }
        return Color.FromArgb(r, g, b);
    }
    private static double ColorCalc(double c, double t1, double t2)
    {

        if (c < 0) c += 1d;
        if (c > 1) c -= 1d;
        if (6.0d * c < 1.0d) return t1 + (t2 - t1) * 6.0d * c;
        if (2.0d * c < 1.0d) return t2;
        if (3.0d * c < 2.0d) return t1 + (t2 - t1) * (2.0d / 3.0d - c) * 6.0d;
        return t1;
    }