Need advice for color consistency

[monson67]

I'm looking to create a significant number of materials for a number of assorted products - 60 different color options for 10 or so products. Color accuracy and consistency across products and scenes is critical.

Are there guidelines I should follow as I begin creating these colors/materials?
Which environment should I create them in if I want to later show these colors in a number of different environments?
Are there certain settings or values that I should use or in the environment tab or the lighting tab (e.g. Brightness and Contrast)?

Any other advice for something that I haven't considered would be greatly appreciated as well.

[guest84672]

Are you trying to replicate physical materials in digital form?

[monson67]

Yes

[guest84672]

What kind of materials are they?

In order to get accurate representation, you would need the following at a minimum:
- Measured color values
- Measured gloss (roughness)
- Consistent / neutral lighting (D55/65)

You can enter the measured values directly into the KeyShot materials. As far as lighting goes, you can either set this up through an HDRI if you have access to it, or use KeyShot's physical lights to set up a lighting environment using these lighting intensities.

I hope this helps you to get started. Do you happen to have any of the material information already?

[monson67]

How do you go about measuring glossiness/roughness?

[guest84672]

You will need some special devices - a gloss meter, and a color meter. What kind of materials are they? Plastics? Metals?

[monson67]

Paints, plastics, vinyls and metals. Do you have any recommendations for brands or specific models of meters?

[Speedster]

Material appearance is highly dependent on the environment HDR.  Although more work for you, I would suggest you choose or create say three environments, with (depending on the product scope) at least one "studio" rig, and one with physical lights in a typical studio rig layout of fills and keys.

Then create an equal number of material library folders, each named for easy reference.  You can then carefully tweak the materials to react properly (to the eye) to each environment. 

This would go a long way to attaining consistency, and is a good investment in the long run.

Above all, use a GOOD monitor that can be color calibrated with a Spyder or other calibration device.  I use an EIZO monitor, which is simply an amazing viewport and easily calibrated.  It also has a deep "light shield" to block glare.  My office is a medium grey, and I keep it rather dark.  But the EIZO can even adjust to changes in ambient light.  They are expensive, but again, it's the most important tool you have next to KeyShot!

Even if you carefully measure gloss, reflection, etc., you will finally have to trust your eye.  And be aware that many folks are colorblind, with one of the three primary forms.  So, especially for product layouts and catalogues, you have to be aware of this.  Note that the EIZO also has the option of toggling between the three forms, so you can actually "see" as others might.

Bill G

[DMerz III]

Very informative Speedster, thanks.