Hi, Matlab is now shipping with a new default colormap, named "parula" [1,2]. It is meant to overcome the many issues of the current default "jet". It seems that the RGB values of this new colormap are already onnline [3]. So my question is: * is it worth adding this parula in the Matplotlib colormap collection ? (I think it is) * is there any copyright issue with that ? (I have no idea how copyrightable a list of numbers is !) (I'm not speeking of changing the *default* colormap since this is already discussed here https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/875) best, Pierre 1 http://blogs.mathworks.com/steve/2014/10/13/a-new-colormap-for-matlab-part-1-introduction/ 2 http://blogs.mathworks.com/steve/2014/10/20/a-new-colormap-for-matlab-part-2-troubles-with-rainbows/ 3 http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/158575-values-fo-colormap-parula
On 2014年10月20日, 9:50 PM, Pierre Haessig wrote: > Hi, > > Matlab is now shipping with a new default colormap, named "parula" > [1,2]. It is meant to overcome the many issues of the current default > "jet". It seems that the RGB values of this new colormap are already > onnline [3]. > > So my question is: > * is it worth adding this parula in the Matplotlib colormap collection ? > (I think it is) Yes, *if* the answer to your next question allows it. > * is there any copyright issue with that ? (I have no idea how > copyrightable a list of numbers is !) That's the big question: what is the IP status? Eric > > (I'm not speeking of changing the *default* colormap since this is > already discussed here https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/875) > > best, > Pierre > > 1 > http://blogs.mathworks.com/steve/2014/10/13/a-new-colormap-for-matlab-part-1-introduction/ > 2 > http://blogs.mathworks.com/steve/2014/10/20/a-new-colormap-for-matlab-part-2-troubles-with-rainbows/ > 3 > http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/158575-values-fo-colormap-parula > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Comprehensive Server Monitoring with Site24x7. > Monitor 10 servers for 9ドル/Month. > Get alerted through email, SMS, voice calls or mobile push notifications. > Take corrective actions from your mobile device. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/Zoho > _______________________________________________ > Matplotlib-devel mailing list > Mat...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel >
Le 21/10/2014 10:09, Eric Firing a écrit : > That's the big question: what is the IP status? So Nathaniel and I asked, and the blog post author, Steve Eddins, took the time to answer : Nathaniel and Pierre—Thanks for your interest in the new parula colormap. /Parula is the end result of a creative design effort over an extended period of time. I am pleased that you find it so appealing. The colormap is, however, MathWorks intellectual property, and it would not be appropriate or acceptable to copy or re-use it in non-MathWorks plotting tools./ You might look at other sources of high-quality colormaps. I have listed some in my technical paper on rainbow colormaps, published earlier this month on mathworks.com. http://blogs.mathworks.com/steve/2014/10/20/a-new-colormap-for-matlab-part-2-troubles-with-rainbows/#comment-27702 So they claim the IP. Next question is: is this claim valid, and I'm not a lawyer to answer it. I suspect that the answer could be country specific. The only things that bother me in this IP claim, is the status of all the plots produced with this colormap. They are in a sense a /derivative/ work, am I right ? So the question becomes : does Mathworks owns IP right for all these plots ?! Pierre
On 2014年10月28日, 10:30 PM, Pierre Haessig wrote: > Le 21/10/2014 10:09, Eric Firing a écrit : >> That's the big question: what is the IP status? > So Nathaniel and I asked, and the blog post author, Steve Eddins, took > the time to answer : > > Nathaniel and Pierre—Thanks for your interest in the new parula > colormap. /Parula is the end result of a creative design effort over > an extended period of time. I am pleased that you find it so > appealing. The colormap is, however, MathWorks intellectual > property, and it would not be appropriate or acceptable to copy or > re-use it in non-MathWorks plotting tools./ > > You might look at other sources of high-quality colormaps. I have > listed some in my technical paper on rainbow colormaps, published > earlier this month on mathworks.com. > > > http://blogs.mathworks.com/steve/2014/10/20/a-new-colormap-for-matlab-part-2-troubles-with-rainbows/#comment-27702 > > So they claim the IP. Next question is: is this claim valid, and I'm not > a lawyer to answer it. I suspect that the answer could be country specific. Regardless, we should respect their claim. I agree with the basic idea: it was the result of a creative process, and they choose to keep that as proprietary IP. Therefore mpl will not include a clone of this color map. If a user decides to make and use a clone, that's their business, not ours. We shouldn't encourage it. > > The only things that bother me in this IP claim, is the status of all > the plots produced with this colormap. They are in a sense a > /derivative/ work, am I right ? So the question becomes : does Mathworks > owns IP right for all these plots ?! Perhaps they could claim copyright infringement; but from the mpl perspective, I don't think it matters. The question will only arise in practice if a user makes a plot with a clone of parula, and Mathworks chooses to turn it into a legal issue. I think it is unlikely this will happen; but if and when it does, I don't think mpl will be involved. We will not be supplying the colormap or in any way encouraging or condoning its use in mpl, unless and until Mathworks releases it. Eric > > Pierre > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > _______________________________________________ > Matplotlib-devel mailing list > Mat...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel >
On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 8:50 AM, Pierre Haessig <pie...@cr...> wrote: > Hi, > > Matlab is now shipping with a new default colormap, named "parula" > [1,2]. It is meant to overcome the many issues of the current default > "jet". It seems that the RGB values of this new colormap are already > onnline [3]. > > So my question is: > * is it worth adding this parula in the Matplotlib colormap collection ? > (I think it is) > * is there any copyright issue with that ? (I have no idea how > copyrightable a list of numbers is !) The general rule is that copyright requires "creative expression". This is a pretty marginal case at best, since that the colormap appears to have been derived by solving an optimization problem, but worst case we could always re-solve that optimization problem ourselves. (I've played before with using CAM02-UCS to automatically generate perceptually uniform colormaps - it's not terribly difficult to do.) -n -- Nathaniel J. Smith Postdoctoral researcher - Informatics - University of Edinburgh http://vorpus.org
On 2014年10月21日, 6:27 AM, Nathaniel Smith wrote: > On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 8:50 AM, Pierre Haessig > <pie...@cr...> wrote: >> Hi, >> >> Matlab is now shipping with a new default colormap, named "parula" >> [1,2]. It is meant to overcome the many issues of the current default >> "jet". It seems that the RGB values of this new colormap are already >> onnline [3]. >> >> So my question is: >> * is it worth adding this parula in the Matplotlib colormap collection ? >> (I think it is) >> * is there any copyright issue with that ? (I have no idea how >> copyrightable a list of numbers is !) > > The general rule is that copyright requires "creative expression". > This is a pretty marginal case at best, since that the colormap > appears to have been derived by solving an optimization problem, but > worst case we could always re-solve that optimization problem > ourselves. (I've played before with using CAM02-UCS to automatically > generate perceptually uniform colormaps - it's not terribly difficult > to do.) > > -n > There are additional considerations, such as working well for the most common form of color-blindness, providing as much resolution as possible, and being aesthetically pleasing to most people. Eric
On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 8:09 PM, Eric Firing <ef...@ha...> wrote: > On 2014年10月21日, 6:27 AM, Nathaniel Smith wrote: >> On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 8:50 AM, Pierre Haessig >> <pie...@cr...> wrote: >>> Hi, >>> >>> Matlab is now shipping with a new default colormap, named "parula" >>> [1,2]. It is meant to overcome the many issues of the current default >>> "jet". It seems that the RGB values of this new colormap are already >>> onnline [3]. >>> >>> So my question is: >>> * is it worth adding this parula in the Matplotlib colormap collection ? >>> (I think it is) >>> * is there any copyright issue with that ? (I have no idea how >>> copyrightable a list of numbers is !) >> >> The general rule is that copyright requires "creative expression". >> This is a pretty marginal case at best, since that the colormap >> appears to have been derived by solving an optimization problem, but >> worst case we could always re-solve that optimization problem >> ourselves. (I've played before with using CAM02-UCS to automatically >> generate perceptually uniform colormaps - it's not terribly difficult >> to do.) >> > There are additional considerations, such as working well for the most > common form of color-blindness, providing as much resolution as > possible, and being aesthetically pleasing to most people. Sure, but the first two of those are just extra constraints on the optimization. Apparently they'll be making another blog post soon describing the actual constraints they used. -- Nathaniel J. Smith Postdoctoral researcher - Informatics - University of Edinburgh http://vorpus.org