Colour Matcher-Mixer

Using the Paint Colour Matcher/Mixer

Mixer Main Window (on start)

Components

The main window consists of a number of components:

• at the top is the standard Menu Bar with three menus:
  • File: which has items for printing the mixture data and exiting the program,
  • Paint Colour Series: which contains an item for opening Paint Selectors, and
  • Reference Resources: which provides an item for opening image viewers.
• next is a text entry field where notes concerning the intended use of the mixtures can be made.
• next is the main colour information display area:
  • the left hand side of this area is a notebook containing two colour wheels:
    • a Hue/Value wheel where paint colours (squares), mixed colours (circles) and target colours (triangles) are plotted as a function of their hue and value (lightness), and
    • a Hue/Chroma wheel where they are plotted as a function of their hue and chroma (colour purity i.e. the opposite of greyness).
  • the right hand side contains information about the current target colour (which will be indicated by bars on the Hue, Value and Chroma displays and a rectangular area of colour in the middle of the space under those displays) and the current mixture (which will display as triangular indicators on the Hue, Value and Chroma displays and as a solid colour around the target colour in the display area below them). There is a text entry box at the start for comments about this mixed colour.
• next is an area (empty in the above image) where the currently loaded paints are displayed in spinner entry boxes that allow the number of parts of that paint to be added to the mixture.
• next is a button box with buttons for a variety of actions:
  • New: specify a new target colour
  • Accept: accept the current mixed colour (and its target) and add it to the list of mixed colours (below).
  • Simplify: simplify the parts allocated to paints in the current mixture by dividing them by their greatest common divider.
  • Reset: reset the parts for all paints to zero (so you can start over).
  • Remove Unused Paints: remove all paints in the Paints area that are not contributing to either the current mixed colour or existing mixed colours. (Useful for decluttering before making a printout.
• next comes the list of already mixed paints.

Specifying a New Target Colour

To start mixing a new colour it is first necessary to specify the target colour.
This is achieved by pressing the New button on the mixer's button bar which will cause a target colour specification window to pop up.

Components

This window contains a number of components:

• at the top is a text entry field where a brief description of the colour should be entered.
• next is a set of Hex text entry/spinners which can be used to set the RGB value for the new colour (if known)
• next is a hue/value/chroma display for the colour

• then comes the area where the colour is displayed with a number of buttons around it for adjusting the colour:

  • Value++/Value--: adjust the colour's value (lightness),
  • <-/->: adjust the colour's hue, and
  • Greyness--/Greyness++: adjust the colour's greyness (or lack of chroma).

• next comes a Take Screen Sample button which enables the user to take a sample of an image on their screen and paste it into the colour area. NB This feature is not available on Windows (as it refuses to cooperate :-)) and Windows users should use Windows' built in ScreenClipper tool to take a sample.

• finally is the standard Cancel and OK button bar to either cancel or accept the specification.

When samples are pasted into the colour (using the pop menu that appears when the user presse the right hand button over the area) the average colour of all the pixels in all the samples is calculated and the colour is set to that value. The user can then use the buttons described above to adjust the colour. When the user is satisfied they should press the OK button.

The main mixer window will now contain the specified target colour. Note the vertical bars on the Hue/Value/Chroma display and the small cross hairs on the Hue/Value and Hue/Chroma wheels. These indicate the characteristics of the target colour and are intended to help the user both select paints and formulate the mixture.

Adding Paints to the Mixer

In order to add paints to the mixer it is first necessary to open a Paint Series Selector tool. This achieved via the Paint Colour Series->Open menu item and then selecting a Paint Series. Alternatively the Paint Colour Series->Load menu item can be used to load the series from a Paint Series Description file which will open a file selector tool to choose the file, load the series from the file and open a selector for the series paints. In the selector displayed below the ideal (imaginary) paint series has been loaded by selecting the "ideal.psd" file provided as part of this package. Note that the cross hairs indicating the target colour's characteristics has been superimposed
on the Hue/Value and Hue/Chroma wheels.

This set of (imaginary) paints is called ideal because it contains 6 colours equally spaced around the colour at the maximum chroma for each hue plus black and white. These paints are more than sufficient to mix any possible colour and are therefore useful for learning the principles of colour mixing before moving on to the much more daunting task of using paint colours that actually exist in the real world.

Choosing Paints

When choosing paints to mix a colour there are three components of the task to keep in mind:

1. Hue matching requires a minimum of two colours (unless a paint with the exact same hue as the colour exists) adjacent to (on the same side of the hue wheel) as the target colour (in this case choose Cyan and Blue),
2. Greyness is achieved by using a colour from the opposite of the Hue wheel to the target colour (in this case choose Yellow), and
3. Value can be adjusted using Black and/or White.

Paints are added to the mixer by selecting them in the list (left mouse button selects a single paint, control key plus left mouse button adds/subtracts a paint to/from the selection and shift key plus left mouse selects a range of paints) and then choosing Add from the popup menu raised by pressing the right mouse button.

The paints will then appear in the Paints section of the main mixer window as small rectangles with a spinner button inside that can be used to set the number of parts of that paint are in the mixture. Hovering the mouse button over a paint will cause its name to be displayed. Pressing the right mouse button over a paint will cause a popup menu appear with options to obtain more Information about the paint or Remove it from the mixer.

The above image depicts the mixer with matching in progress but still not a good match. Nevertheless, in order to illustrate a point in the next image, we will accept it by pressing the Accept button in the button bar.

This causes the mixture to be added to the list of mixed colours and the mixer to be reset ready for the next target colour to be specified. Notice that in the Hue wheels the target colour crosshairs have been replaced by a diamond shape of the appropriate colour and the mixture appears as a small coloured circle. If the match had been perfect these two would be on top of each other.

Mixed Colours List

As can be seen from the above diagram, the mixed colour list has a number of columns:

• the name of the colour (arbitrarily assigned to ensure uniqueness in the list),
• a patch showing the target colour that was Matched,
• the user's notes for this mixture (editable),
• the Value of the colour,
• the Hue of the colour,
• the estimated transparency (T) of the colour, and
• the estimated finish (F) of the colour.

The list can be sorted on any of these characteristics by clicking on the title for the appropriate column. The mixtures in the list are selectable and the right mouse button will popup a menu which allows for display of more Information about the selected mixture or its deletion from the list.

What About Real Paints

No Paint Series Description files for real paints are provided (at this time) but a separate tool, the [Paint Series Editor], is provided to enable users to create their own Paint Series Description files.