Visualize the Color and Appearance of Paints and Coatings
Coatings manufacturers often struggle to set clear expectations with brands and designers for how a new coating color will look on a final product. Creating a virtual rendering is a cost-effective and sustainable way to perform meaningful reviews and get stakeholder feedback before production even begins.
Challenges
When presenting new colors and pigment choices, coatings manufacturers must bridge the gap between design expectations and the manufacturing process.
- Color and appearance attributes can change based on surface shape and viewing conditions
- Prototypes are expensive to produce and require long approval cycles
- Creating and shipping prototypes restricts manufacturers on the number of color samples they can present
- Assembled parts must match regardless of material type and assembled geometry
- Physical prototypes leave a gap between initial approval and achievable color throughout production
- Identifying a color issue after production wastes time and materials
Solution
Although measuring a coating with a multi-angle spectrophotometer captures precise color and appearance values, the numbers don’t tell the whole story. PANTORA offers advanced functions to fully visualize color and appearance in real life image quality based on the shape, surface type, and assembly angle of the parts.
Instead of fabricating prototypes to demonstrate how color will appear on the final product, coatings manufacturers can use the PANTORA desktop application to create a physically accurate virtual representation. This enables designers, engineers, and brand stakeholders to visualize a painted form from multiple angles and simulate how color and effects will react under different lighting conditions.
Powered by X-Rite’s AxF format, this representation can be visualized within PANTORA as well as imported into third-party visualization and simulation tools for use in a range of industries, including automotive, consumer electronics, durable and home goods, cosmetics, etc.
Results
Creating a virtual rendering that goes beyond color to capture full material appearance is a fast, easy, and economical way to gain stakeholder buy-in.
- Sets realistic expectations by accurately characterizing color and coating effects like sparkle and coarseness on a surface
- Allows coating paint manufacturers to economically present a wide range of color options
- Generates fast approval without the time and material waste of prototypes
- Visualizes multiple components to ensure part to part harmony
- Identifies color issues before production begins by applying to a virtual replica that includes different surfaces, curves, and edges
- Establishes a spectral and texture data audit trail for formulation and production QC to ensure consistency through the process
- Ensures fast and easy material specifications and enables reuse though a digital repository
How it Works
- The coatings manufacturer uses the MA-T 12 to measure the target color. With twelve angles of measurement and color imaging, it fully characterizes both color and effects like sparkle and coarseness.
- PANTORA locates, acquires, and imports digital materials as AxF files, applies the material to arbitrary geometry, and renders it in real-time in a virtual scene for an immersive digital material evaluation experience.
- The coatings manufacturer sends the digital rendering to designers, brands, and all stakeholders for review and approval through a third-party rendering solution or PLM system.
- These digital materials can be stored, managed, viewed, and edited in AxF from a centralized location for future recipes and to create marketing materials.
Learn more about paint color measurement
Featured Products
A desktop application designed to simplify the management of a large volume of complex color and appearance data. It acts as the epicenter of appearance workflows, connecting digital material input sources with output designations such as third-party rendering software and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Systems.
A multi-angle spectrophotometer to establish the strictest standards for extreme effect finishes. With an RGB color camera and 12 angles of measurement, the MA-T12 can characterize special effect materials and ensure consistency across adjacent parts in distributed supply chains.
Third Party Rendering Software
Renderings made using PANTORA can be viewed by brands and designers using AxF-enabled rendering software solutions. Visit our website for the most current list of vendors: https://www.xrite.com/axf.
PANTORA can help coatings manufacturers visualize the color and appearance of paints and coatings to present more options at the design phase and speed approvals. Learn more at https://www.xrite.com/pantora-software.
