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Fundamentals of Industrial Color Technology

SCOPE of this training program:

Our objective in the development of this training program is to present enough color science background to serve as a primer for first time users of computerized color instruments for industrial quality control and color mixing systems. It is aimed at people who are relatively new to the commercial use of color instruments, but will be associated with operating a computerized color system or working with the output of a color system in their day to day job responsibilities. It is also designed to act as a review for more experienced color system operators and as a resource for color system trainers.

DESIGN of the program:

This training program is written in a simplified, but technically accurate fashion. A diagrammatic set of symbols plus text is used to present the basics of color technology from the human and color instrument point of view. Concepts are presented, repeated and then reinforced. Repeats of the same symbols are used to help the user understand the relationships of concepts and build on the basics as the program is run. The user can go straight through the program or can move around from subject to subject if you wish to go back or move to a subject that you need to review or need information about. The glossary of technical color terms and definitions follow as a resource and can be used interactively with the training program.

The program starts with an overview of color science and color instruments, then details the elements that create the human perception of color. We begin with the technology of light, what it is and how it serves as the basic generator of color. During the section about light we also relate light to the way that we design and build the light source in a color measuring instrument and how we computer predict the effect of different light sources on colored objects. We then move on to the way light mixes to create additive color and how light and an object interact to form reflective and transmitted color in liquids and solids. Absorption and scattering of light is then reviewed to explain how subtractive color mixing occurs and how it can be computer predicted.

Once you understand light and the relationship of light to create the "colored" object, we then bring the source of the color light stimulation into the human eye. An explanation is developed as to how the human vision system develops as the input to human judgment and provides the background for the mathematical simulation of the standard observer and color difference equations as the basis for computer controlled, colored products.

This background sets the stage for an explanation of color instruments and how color computers work. We cover the basics of the use of color instruments and provide suggested procedures and practices in measuring color, the development of colorant databases and the use of the colorant data in computer color matching and correction.