Question about color inversion?

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Question:

This might seem a little random and abstract!.!.!.but I hope someone can figure out what I'm trying to say!.

I know that I can take a black and white image, and "invert" it so that what used to be black is now white, and what used to be white is now black!. Does a similar transformation exist "in color!?" In short, is there such a thing as "color inversion!?"

How is such a transformation defined!? For example, how to you know what blue "becomes" when inverted!? Is there a norm for this, or is it a sort of arbitrarily defined mapping between colors!?

I was thinking that the most logical (to me!) way to do this would be by flipping a color wheel -- blue inverts to orange and orange to blue, because they are on opposite sides of the wheel!. Are there color inversions that are not involutions!? (something like red "inverts" to blue, which "inverts" to yellow!?)

[in case it helps, I'm a musician, and I'm interested in seeing about color analogies to pitch-class set transformations!.!.!.]

Thanks for any thoughts!!
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Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

To really get a good perspective on how color inversion works, you have to look at color in the digital realm!.!.!.

Colors are defined on the computer screen by a number of different formulas, one of which being RGB (combined values of red, green, and blue)!. You might familiar with this if you've ever adjusted your monitor settings!.

The value of each RED, GREEN, and BLUE range from 0 - 255!. If you look at black having a value of RED = 0, GREEN = 0, and BLUE = 0, the inverse of black would be white at RED = 255, GREEN = 255, and BLUE = 255!.

So essentially INVERTING a color is finding the difference between the current value and 255, Another example being Orange (R=255, G=100, B=0) is the inverse of Light Blue (R=0, G=155, B=255)!. Same applies for any color combination!.

While your color wheel logic is semi-accurate, you have to think of it in digital terms of RGB, as opposed to "real" colors!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Your color wheel analogy is exactly right!. If you have ever seen a piece of color film negative, you will note that red objects are green and green things are red!. Orange is blue, yellow is purple!.

If you have any graphics software applications, like Photoshop, you can do an "invert" function and get the exact effect you describe!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

well i took this image! - http://www!.realcolorwheel!.com/colorwheel!.!.!.
and inverted it!

i saved it and ti's pretty close to the other side of the wheel!!
http://i376!.photobucket!.com/albums/oo210!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

All you need to reference is a color wheel!. It will tell you what the opposite color is and also tell you what color combinations create other colors!. All primaries are the basic principles that make up all other colors!. Www@QuestionHome@Com