[BMWCSRegistry] Re: Colors

[Paul Schiemer]

Art was speaking of color rendition when it comes to Joe's fine handiwork at
making an excellent, clickable reference via a web page.

Thing about color in the 'digital' world is that it's never the same way
twice.
My computer screen may have a gamma setting slightly different than Art's or
Joe's, and- thereby- color luminance may be presented differently on each
screen.
There's no way to get it exact (well, no easy way.)

Additionally, one computer may be using a different KLUT (color lookup
table) than another, and the graphics card could be limited to a narrower
range of available colors.
No telling; my KA 'killer' system in my office has a graphics card that
costs as much as some entire computer systems- and it could display Chamonix
on my hi-res flat panel as slightly brighter white than on an old CRT with
256 colors.

All in the same ballpark, mind you- but all slightly different.

For those who may have missed Joe's E3 colors page:
http://www.sandlapperbmw.org/e3/color/2800colors.htm

(still, just about the coolest bit of handiwork I've seen in a long time!)

Here's a what if; let us suppose you want to reproduce a factory color for a
vehicle restoration. You want it to be 'exact'.
You can take a color photograph of the car from day one, the factory sales
brochure with color chart, and a chip of paint from the car itself to a
professional auto paint supply- asking them to match the factory color.
Guess what? All three samples are bound to be different- way different.

They'll do a spectral analysis and get a range of values for each one, then
sum them to come up 'somewhere in the middle' of all three.
There's no exacting science to hitting that magical mark of perfection when
it comes to colors on old cars.

Ultimately- it's what satisfies the beholder in the end that matters.
If Art says that's pastelblau on his car, that's what it is!
Billy Bob pulls up in his all original pastelblau, parks it right next to
Art's freshly painted one- there is bound to be a difference between them.
Just the nature of the process.