FAQ: “Do you offer a Munsell HVC colour conversion in your EasyMatch QC software?”
The Munsell HVC or Hue Value Chroma colour 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 Colour chip that matches a sample colour.
Think of colour communication as being at 3 levels:
- Word descriptors – “What is Salmon Pink?” Words often mean different colours to different people and it is both a subjective and imprecise means to communicate colour.
- Visual Colour Standards – These usually feature colour chips of some type like Munsell, Pantone, Natural Colour Systems, RAL, Fed Std 595c.The best ones cover most of colour space and are arranged in a systematic manner. These visual colour standards do provide a physical representation (paint or plastic chip) of the colour. The chip chosen is closest to the target colour but there may be a visual difference such as when surface characteristics differ. Although still subjective, these visual colour standards are better than words as a colour reference.
- Colorimetric Measurements – Measure the actual product in a precise and objective manner using colorimetric instruments and colour scales.
FAQ: “Is there an easy way to report Munsell HVC values for my product colours?”
HunterLab does not offer a Munsell HVC Colour conversion in our software, but there are other options.
Wallkill Colour offers two cost effective options for reporting Munsell Colour:
- Free Excel file of 2352 Munsell colours with corresponding colour values that you can search to find the nearest Munsell colour and report it.
- 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 colour values.
Another good site by Bruce Lindbloom for visualizing the display of Munsell Colours as a visually uniform colour space.
