Originally posted by Aero_Shodanjo:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> But never have the illusion you will have the perfect color. Since even IF it is perfect on your monitor. It won't be on someone elses....
But as long as the RGB values are the same isnt it that it's only a matter of difference of each monitors capability to distinguish different colors?
I dont really pay attention to the on-screen colors appearance, not as much as I used to anyway, cos they may and always differ time to time, that's why getting the accurate RGB values is a requirement for me. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
It has to do with the capability of hardware to display different colors. But Gamma also has a big influence.
RGB values are calculated from Munsell values.
Gamma is part in that formula. Since the gamma settings of the player watching your skin is a big X, the RGB values also are a guess.
If you buy RAL software it comes with colorswatches for Photoshop. They have a big range of different swatches for different monitors and printers etc.
I 'standarize' at a normal monitor with the lists I make.
You cannot have accurate RGB values. They can only be accurate under specific conditions. Are those conditions different, they are not accurate anymore.
And which accurate RGB values would you want? That of the color as it was supposed to be?
The color like it can from the factory?
The color like it looked like after a year?
No two production batches of the same paint from the same factory look exactly the same. And if the paint comes from different factories the differences are even bigger.
Right now I'm painting my house. I've got an old can of paint from brand A and bought a new one from brand B. The difference in color of the two doors I painted with it have more difference then two colorchips of some RGB color chart I have seen people discussion about.
Take a look at the Hurricane photographs (Tutorials, remark on weathering) at my website. On one of them you see the yellow nose from the right side. You can clearly see the never (darker looking) yellow and a big part where the new paint is stripped off, showing the older yellow paint. That one looks much brighter. The bottom picture on that same page shows the first aid hatch. Look at the blue around it. It shows repairs in paint. See the difference in color...
And I have had that two colors from one chart (I think RAL) that were so close to eachother that in RGB you get the same value for both of them.
And for example: you are painting some Japanese aircraft right now. As long as someone is not able to find the correct color information from Japanese archives, then someone will compare it from aircraft that survived. Most of the time it will be compared with the FS595b system. As my Russian colorchart shows, the closest match can be far off. Only with luck you will have a perfect match. And as long as people stick with comparing everything with the FS595b system, even though better data is available, we will never have accurate data.
I stick with my point that there is way too much involved to get perfect colors. Beside difference in the actual used paint (between factories), aging of paint we have the fact that we have too little resources to know the right colors for every country.
Even museums make mistakes there. Often because they lack the time and resources to do better research, sometimes because better information is hard to find.
I did a test with the Dutch Fokker D.XXI. In the museum it is at display with wrong colors (wreckage of aircraft with the Dutch colors was found after this replica was made) I showed people in my squadron the skin of the 3D model with the colors used in the museum and one with the colors as found on the wreckage. All preferred the museum colors as they had grown to believe those as the correct ones.
I think I have named very many sources to keep a discussion about colors alive until the end of the world.
See it on the bright side: some of these reasons also give you enough room to play with colors to get the nicest looking result.
Anyway I keep on trying to find the best direct translation available. So, first actual Munsell color information to RGB. Otherwise translation from an old system to a still existing system of the same country (like RLM to RAL where both were compared in official documents). And as last choice the closest match in FS595b.
There are allready many sources that compare every color system to FS595b. I hope to give a good (and in some cases better) alternative to that. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying comparing with FS595b is wrong. But it's an US system and one with more colors then most other (still known) systems. But comparing everything with FS595b is something like comparing everything with RAL and skinning and painting USAF aircraft with RAL numbers. So, I'm allways looking for a more direct link.
I'm allways open for new information. If people think they have information (books, internet sources etc.) I should take a look at, I invite them to get in touch with me.