Newbie here - Question on Color Matching

[ItzBrenden]

Hey everyone! Been a loooong time Halo fan and am new to the costuming scene. Just got my 3D printers set up and can not WAIT to work on some armor. Planning on doing an ODST for myself and a Vale Costume for my daughter. Wanted to pick your guys brains when it came to color matching.... More precisely when it comes to Olympia Vale's armor. I found the textures in the file's section and wanted to know the best way to go about color matching? I have a spray booth in my garage that I use for vehicles and what not - but I am wondering the best way to get an accurate pick off those textures. Should I import the texture into Photoshop and just use the color picker on a concentrated red spot? I know there is a degree of weathering to her "red" and "yellow".

Thank you in advance. I look forward to sharing my progress on here with you all.

 

[S229]

I would like to start this off, as well as forewarn you that I have absolutely no idea how to color match digitally, as i'm not a computer guy.

But, if it was me, (keep in mind this is a bit more labor intensive) but i'd pull up a good reference picture of the color/ armour you're going for on your phone and go to your local paint/ hardware store and try and match as close as you can. Then, go and find paint in that color/ close to that color at your local hardware store. If it's a super specific color, you may have to buy more than one color to mix and match until you find the proper color. You also may be able to search it up on the google and find a forum post or a thread on reddit or something about the correct color.

But again, I have no idea how to do any of that stuff digitally and this is just what I would do if I needed to color match.

I hope this helped!

 

[ItzBrenden]

I would like to start this off, as well as forewarn you that I have absolutely no idea how to color match digitally, as i'm not a computer guy.

But, if it was me, (keep in mind this is a bit more labor intensive) but i'd pull up a good reference picture of the color/ armour you're going for on your phone and go to your local paint/ hardware store and try and match as close as you can. Then, go and find paint in that color/ close to that color at your local hardware store. If it's a super specific color, you may have to buy more than one color to mix and match until you find the proper color. You also may be able to search it up on the google and find a forum post or a thread on reddit or something about the correct color.

But again, I have no idea how to do any of that stuff digitally and this is just what I would do if I needed to color match.

I hope this helped!

Thanks so much for the advice and taking the time to give some thoughts. I actually have a fan deck for paint colors and I think this will be a good way to go if I don't yield any results digitally. Reds have always been a challenging color for me when it comes to which ones look better for armor.

 

[S229]

No problem, mate. Just trying my best to help out if I can. Can't wait to see progress!

 

[TurboCharizard]

Hey everyone! Been a loooong time Halo fan and am new to the costuming scene. Just got my 3D printers set up and can not WAIT to work on some armor. Planning on doing an ODST for myself and a Vale Costume for my daughter. Wanted to pick your guys brains when it came to color matching.... More precisely when it comes to Olympia Vale's armor. I found the textures in the file's section and wanted to know the best way to go about color matching? I have a spray booth in my garage that I use for vehicles and what not - but I am wondering the best way to get an accurate pick off those textures. Should I import the texture into Photoshop and just use the color picker on a concentrated red spot? I know there is a degree of weathering to her "red" and "yellow".

Thank you in advance. I look forward to sharing my progress on here with you all.

The quick and easy way to colour match that I use is to find an in game engine reference scene with even lighting and bringing that into Inkscape to get a RGB hex value for the colour. After that I take it to a converter like Encolorpedia to find the closest matching commercial paint. I like working with airbrushes so finding a near match with Vallejo or similar paint lines helps a lot or you can get a pantone match and have paint mixed at most hardware stores.

Hex Color Codes, Paint Matching and Color Picker

Hex color codes, HTML colors, paint matching, directory and color space conversions.

encycolorpedia.com

Sample of how I build my swatches. The left column is the RGB from the game reference and the right column is the near match paint.

 

[Littlefoot1221]

I’d recommend using the white plastidip to seal it vs the black as it works as a better base to get the correct color you’re looking for. Especially for red and yellow. They should come out a bit brighter than if you use the black