Is there a Munsell HVC color conversion in EasyMatch QC? Follow

FAQ: "Do you offer a Munsell HVC color conversion in your EasyMatch QC software?"

The Munsell HVC or Hue Value Chroma color scale is a visual reporting scale based on paint and plastic chips not as precise as colorimetric scales such as L*, a*, b*. The HVC values are the designation of the nearest Munsell Color chip that matches a sample color.

Think of color communication as being at 3 levels:

• Word descriptors – “What is Salmon Pink?” Words often mean different colors to different people and it is both a subjective and imprecise means to communicate color.

• Visual Color Standards – These usually feature color chips of some type like Munsell, Pantone, Natural Color Systems, RAL, Federal Standard 595c.The best ones cover most of color space and are arranged in a systematic manner. These visual color standards do provide a physical representation (paint or plastic chip) of the color. The chip chosen is closest to the target color but there may be a visual difference such as when surface characteristics differ.  Although still subjective, these visual color standards are better than words as a color reference.

• Colorimetric Measurements – Measure the actual product in a precise and objective manner using colorimetric instruments and color scales. Color measurement is sufficient by itself for precise definition of color, but the expression in communicating often becomes to correlate back to less precise visual color standards or word descriptors.

FAQ: “Is there an easy way to report Munsell HVC values for my product colors?”

HunterLab does not offer a Munsell HVC Color conversion in our software, but there are other options.

Wallkill Color offers two cost effective options for reporting Munsell Color:

1. Free Excel file of 2352 Munsell colors with corresponding color values that you can search to find the nearest Munsell color and report it.
2. A software conversion program available for reasonable $ where you can enter or cut-and-paste colorimetric values from EasyMatch QC and have the program report the corresponding Munsell color values.

Another good site by Bruce Lundquist for visualizing the display of Munsell Colors as a visually uniform color space.

Posted by Shannon and Gordon