Matching Paint RGB Values

[Anonymous]

Dulux paints in Australia now give RGB values for all their colours. This is extremely useful to get the exact colour and see what it looks like on buildings.

Please go to http://www.dulux.com.au/html/specifier/colour_atlas.aspx select a colour and double click. It gives the RGB values as well as other technical information. I have tested in ArchiCAD and it gives the exact colour.

Now we just have to get the light right on the colours to get a clear impression.

Regards,

[Anonymous]

Resene do as well:
www.resene.co.nz / www.resene.com.au

[Anonymous]

Ha !
Well done... I asked Solver to supply RGB values, & they declined. Something about RGB not giving a true representation of the colour...? It's very good of them to do that, especially considering it makes it much easier for competitors to rip-off their colours ???

[Dwight]

While it might be given merely as a lame excuse for not having the RGB values to hand, claiming RGB values to not be accurate color representation of a painted surface in a rendering has some validity.

I often encounter reluctance to share information, whether it is a developer unwilling to give a rendering of a building or a paint maker willing to do anything more than give a paint chip. Who needs the liability?

LightWorks users will know the frustration of seeing the fine Benjamin Moore paint line turned into fine LightWorks materials [color, sheen, roughness,etc, all included] and not be useable in Archicad because we can edit our materials. Some applications can lock material settings. We can't. Therefore Benjamin Moore and others feel that they are exposed to lawsuits when their materials are misrepresented.

The main reason paint manufacturers might not feel basic RGB values don't represent true paint color is that the user must still employ the color value in a material. In controlling the reflectivity of the material, color can be distorted. Pages 88+89 of my book discuss how to radically alter surface color using reflectance settings.

[Djordje]

Don't forget the RAL colour AddOn.

[Anonymous]

The benefit of the paint manufacturer supplying the colour RGB is the architect can show a very close image of the actual colour being proposed for the wall, surface, etc. I have just prepared a colour board for a building in Archicad, without little manufacturer colour chips, just from the RGB paint values. This was then simply be emailed to the client.

Generic colour systems do not reflect actual colours. I cant find the RAL Add On since ArchiCAD 9? The Goodies folder is no longer in the AC11 folder. Has it been placed elsewhere or is it a special Add On from elsewhere?

[Dwight]

With all due respect, while the RGB value provided by the manufacturer is a good start and just fine for analytical views or a color board, sole reliance on the RGB values to establish color in a rendered material is poppycock.

Attached is a rendering of five objects with a uniform RGB value, each with different light reflection settings. Which one is accurate? Of course, i have exaggerated the problem with wacky settings, but get the point that even a few points of reflectivity inaccuracy will change the apparent RGB value.

This is just a caution to users that color is not that easy to replicate and that there's big trouble waiting.

[Anonymous]

That is why I said in the first posting: "Now we just have to get the light right on the colours to get a clear impression. "

In terms of the 3D model the lighting is of incredible importance to get a true rendering of the colour as Dwight's demonstration shows. If the lights are set wrongly, in terms of the time of day, cloud cover, artificial light, etc, a truly distorted vision of the final building colours can be created.

[Dwight]

Don't think that I missed your comment - this is different.

I appreciate the fact that the sun is yellow - never white [except in Lower Hutt, NZ] and that the sky adds blue in any lively scene. Rendering with white light inevitably makes dull imagery. The most accurate rendering color is achieved when the blue and yellow are neutrally balanced.

Getting the light "right" is essential, but, instead, my point addresses material making and how improper reflection settings unexpectedly alter a material's color. Furthermore, ignoring this aspect of material color wastes the effort of getting the RGB values to start with.

Lighting color aside, the reflectivity of materials is what determines their final color - in a rendering.

Those five boxes rendered are the same RGB color and in the same light. They appear to have radically different colors because i altered each light reflection amount. These reflectivities must be adjusted for each new material since they address specific behavior. When making materials, have you been ignoring the ambient, diffuse and specular reflectivity of your surfaces?

[Anonymous]

Sorry I missed your point. Of course the reflectivity is of significant importance too. I always spend considerable time tweaking ambient, diffuse and specular reflectivity features of surfaces.

However it doesn't detract from the point of this posting that it is great to finally have RGB values for colours. This is a significant advancement from the paint manufactures in our country in my opinion and will assist architects.