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3D Software Pulls Switch on the Swatch

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

More items for Quality Control

The venerable paint swatch may be headed for the history books, in the wake of a new partnership that will provide real-time 3D color renderings and animation of transportation and aerospace coatings.

The new initiative teams up DuPont Performance Coatings with Luxion, a leading developer of advanced 3D rendering and lighting technology. DuPont will link its proprietary digital color-rendering technologies with Luxion’s digital object rendering software, called KeyShot.

KeyShot

The technology allows users to see subtle changes in paints under shifting lighting conditions.

Aimed at expanding material colors options, the combined technologies provide DuPont’s transportation and aerospace customers with “a full understanding” of how their painted products appear in real time without using physical samples, the companies said in a release.

Glimpses of Glints

The goal is to give automotive, aviation and other transportation customers a clearer view of the subtle color changes that occur in paint—particularly in metallic paints—under changing illumination conditions.

“Accurate digital color rendering is important in communicating color in any industry under different illuminating conditions,” the companies said. “Today’s methods are growing to expand into the newest pigment and paint technologies as they become available.”

KeyShot will offer designers and customers the ability to visually display colors from DuPont’s automotive color libraries. The technology allows users to instantly apply and view dozens of accurate coating colors under real-world lighting conditions. The improved digital model can enhance product development, sales and marketing processes, the companies say.

DuPont Performance Coatings is a pioneer in color automotive coatings. Nearly a century ago, the company became the first to develop a car paint that was not black. DuPont has been using color rendering technology for 40 years. The company was also the first to use colorimeters in automotive coatings, apply algorithms to measure, and adjust color formulas.

The Science of Color

“DuPont Performance Coatings is pleased to partner with Luxion, a leading visualization software developer,” said Dan Benton, DPC’s North America color marketing manager. “The combination of digital solutions from Luxion and DuPont will allow customers to accurately render objects and color, allowing for faster decision making, and lower costs.”

Added Dr. Henrik Wann Jensen, Luxion’s co-founder and chief scientist: “We’re extremely pleased to be the technology partner of coatings industry leader DuPont Performance Coatings, to take advantage of their color science initiatives.

“This is an excellent demonstration of two companies in different industries coming together to deliver a rendering software solution that customers have needed for many years.”