Interview a color management expert, to learn his impressions of the precise measurement and appearance of paints today.
By X-Rite
Felix Schmollgruber studied printing and media technology at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich (Germany) and began his professional career in June 2001 at GretagMacbeth, in Martinsried (Germany). His challenge was to explore industrial colour management in the paint, plastics and automotive sectors.
After six years as sales director of GretagMacbeth and also X-Rite, he moved to the new company's European headquarters in Switzerland as a technical support engineer and training expert with the aim of helping customers in the implementation and troubleshooting of their X-Rite solutions.
Schmollgruber currently leads the group of application and technical support specialists in EMEA.
In this Q&A session, Felix addresses the challenges of accurate and reliable measurement
of the color and appearance of today's sophisticated paints and varnishes.
How do multi-angle spectrophotometers fit into the continuity of total appearance capture?
Felix Schmollgruber: Users can measure solid colors using the 45: or sphere spectrophotometers. Whenever it is necessary to accurately represent the color of more complex materials or whose colors change according to the viewing angle, the solution is a multi-angle spectrophotometer, which provides the lighting and observation angles necessary to capture all the characteristics of such materials.
Finally, when you want to capture a faithful digital representation of the physical reality of a material to create a physically correct digital model that can be used by most 3D rendering solutions, the TAC7 scanner and the rest of the components of the TAC ecosystem come into play: Pantora Material Hub, which is a library of materials, and Virtual Light Booth, which allows you to display and manipulate the virtual image. In many cases, materials will be defined in Pantora Material using TAC's AxF file format, and a subset of this data can be used to specify the correct level of color and appearance characteristics to other parties involved in the supply chain who do not need the level of detail that TAC captures.
Tell us, what has changed in the world of paints and varnishes that requires a higher level of sophistication in color measuring instruments?
Felix Schmollgruber: The first generation of special effects paints for automobiles used aluminum flakes to achieve what in the sector is known as "flop color". When the sample is tilted, its appearance changes. Effect paintings also enhance shapes, highlighting details that are not easy to perceive with a flat paint. This can be seen in the image (see graph 1), the difference between using a flat white paint and a silver paint with special effects.
The second generation introduced a greater degree of complexity with perlescent pigments or "color floppers". These are pigments with nanocoating that divide light causing a shining effect. It can be aluminum or mica flakes. One of the most common is Merck's Xirallic, in which aluminum flakes are coated with a thin film of titanium dioxide, which provides the brilliant effect that audiences are looking for.
On the one hand, the public has the need to be able to measure more color angles based on more than one direction of illumination. On the other, car manufacturers need to be able to quantify the bright effect of Xirallic pigment, which requires a texture measurement. Other well-known brands of special effects pigments are Miraval, Meoxal, Iriodin, Pyrisma, Biflair and Colorstream. They allow you to see brightness in the near field, but also from a distance, especially in the sun. If the sky is cloudy, the bright effect becomes invisible and only the roughness is maintained. This is the remnant texture created by the scales of the paint layer. The market needs to quantify and measure both factors. And from X-Rite we are working to provide more solutions.
What is X-Rite's role in measuring and handling special effects paints and varnishes?
Felix Schmollgruber: For more than 60 years, X-Rite has been a global company in color science and technology. For many car manufacturers, our multi-angle spectrophotometers have become an essential tool for color measurement throughout the entire supply chain. In recent years, automotive paints and materials from other sectors have become more complex, and more and more you want to capture more detail, not only the color, but also the complex appearance characteristics of special effects paints and varnishes that can change depending on the angle of viewing.
Our R&D experts work intensively to resolve this issue. Meanwhile, X-Rite's new range of multi-angle spectrophotometers remains a market-leading solution for use in the automotive sector and other industries that require this type of colour measurement.
We thank Felix Schmollgruber, for sharing his experience and knowledge with us. We hope to continue talking about the new advances that occur.
* X-Rite company specialized in color trends, science and technology. www.xrite.com
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