Digital Color Swatches for the TOS Enterprise

[MGagen]

By now everyone has seen the paint specifications for the new 1:350 Enterprise. These are the colors chosen by Polar Lights as the best hobby paint equivalents to the custom paint mixes that Gary Kerr derived from his extensive research into the studio model.

Recently, the idea popped into my head to create a digital color guide for CGI modelers based on these colors. But rather than working from a second-generation match, I contacted Gary Kerr and he very graciously made up a fresh set of color swatches from his custom mixed paints and sent them to me.

After several attempts to get direct scans on calibrated equipment, I found that direct flatbed scanning did not yield predictable results. Pigments in some of the colors fluoresce oddly when scanned in this manner. I settled on photographing the swatches together under a professional studio lighting setup.

The attached file is the result. Each color is specified in sRGB, HSB and CIE Lab color spaces. The sample of each color will look accurate when viewed on a calibrated monitor mapped to an sRGB color profile. I am only distributing the file as a PNG image because the JPEG compression scheme compromises color somewhat to save space.

This color data is not intended to serve as a reliable formula for mixing custom paints. It is intended to provide the virtual modeler with a pallete of digital colors which, if used with a properly calibrated system, will produce a close match to the studio model.

I hope you find it useful.

MGagen

[Blip]

That. Is FREAKIN' AWESOME.

Thanks for all your efforts in generating this - I won't use it myself but it's certainly reassuring to know the old girl's real colours! Can't wait to see what the professional-level 3D modellers make of this.

[blssdwlf]

Thank you very much MGagen!

[TheSeeker]

Nice work!

[Psion]

Neat! This, of course, has been grabbed and saved for future reference.

Thanks, MGagen!

[FatherRob]

So, question from a non-CGI'er...

How would I use these color swatches to purchase paint for a physical model?

Rob+

[MGagen]

As I mentioned in my post, the data is not intended for that purpose. Theoretically, you can have paint mixed using the L*a*b numbers, but I can't vouch for how closely the result would match the original paints.

You would be better served to follow Polar Lights choice of hobby paints if you're making a physical model.

M.

[blssdwlf]

Already putting the colors to use

[MGagen]

blssdwlf wrote:

---

Already putting the colors to use

Great!

This is just the sort of work I'd hoped to lend a hand to.

Here's my take on the TOS K-7 using the same colors. Note that the hangar is merely a low poly version, not meant for closeups.

M.

[publiusr]

Looks faithful...

[Patrickivan]

I'm incorporating the colours into my 2398 Ottawa Class as an homage to TOS. Thanks!