{"title":"Performance of Chromatic Adaptation Transforms for Stimuli at Different Chroma Levels","authors":"Yuetong Shen, Minchen Wei","doi":"10.1002/col.70108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/col.70108","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Chromatic adaptation transform (CAT) plays an important role in uniform color spaces and color appearance models, with great efforts made to collect corresponding color datasets for developing CATs. These datasets, however, were generally collected using surface color samples (i.e., Munsell samples) and conventional displays having relatively small color gamut. The development of display technologies has allowed a larger color gamut and stimuli with higher chroma levels. In this study, the calculations using the NCS color samples suggested the poor performance of the six CATs (i.e., von Kries, Sharp, CIECAT97, CMCCAT2000, CIECAT02, and CIECAT16) for stimuli with high chroma levels. A short-term memory matching experiment was then carried out, asking observers to adjust the color appearance of a stimulus under a 6500 K condition to match the appearance of 28 stimuli under a 2700 K condition. Also, the observers performed achromatic matching under the 2700 K condition. The results clearly suggested the poor performance of all the six CATs. Though using the adjusted white points, instead of the chromaticities of the 2700 K condition, in the CAT calculations can significantly improve the average performance of all the six CATs, the worse performance of all the six CATs for the stimuli having high chroma levels remained same, suggesting the necessity to carry out further investigations.</p>","PeriodicalId":10459,"journal":{"name":"Color Research and Application","volume":"51 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/col.70108","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148467207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Color-Managed Workflow for Specular Gloss Control","authors":"Donatela Saric, Aditya Suneel Sole","doi":"10.1002/col.70105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/col.70105","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Gloss is a critical attribute of printed materials, strongly influencing both visual appearance and perceived quality. However, gloss management is not yet integrated into standard color management workflows, limiting the ability to achieve a consistent print appearance. To address this gap, we investigated the relationship between ink tone value, substrate type, and specular gloss measurements. Based on these findings, we propose a regression model that predicts the varnish tone value (TV) required to reproduce a target specular gloss (<span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <msup>\u0000 <mn>60</mn>\u0000 <mo>°</mo>\u0000 </msup>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ {60}^{{}^{circ}} $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math>) using the color descriptors <span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mtext>CIELAB</mtext>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ CIELAB $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math> <span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <msup>\u0000 <mi>L</mi>\u0000 <mo>*</mo>\u0000 </msup>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ {L}^{ast } $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math>, Chroma (<span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>CIE</mi>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ CIE $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math> <span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <msup>\u0000 <mi>C</mi>\u0000 <mo>*</mo>\u0000 </msup>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ {C}^{ast } $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math>), and specular gloss measurements at <span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <msup>\u0000 <mn>60</mn>\u0000 <mo>°</mo>\u0000 </msup>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$$ {60}^{{}^{circ}} $$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math>. Validation with <i>Torso Gloss Meter</i> samples showed that target specular gloss and color values can be reproduced with good accuracy, while also highlighting limitations arising from printing-process variability and the absence of surface texture in the current model. Overall, the study demonstrates an approach that extends conventional color management by linking ICC-based color control with a regression-based gloss predictor in a single workflow.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":10459,"journal":{"name":"Color Research and Application","volume":"51 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148462714","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Chromatic Shifts: A Study of Color in Architectural Representations Across Design Stages","authors":"Nur Sipahioglu, Ethem Gürer","doi":"10.1002/col.70106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/col.70106","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This paper presents a mixed-method study that combines qualitative coding with quantitative computational analysis to investigate the use of representational color across the architectural design process by comparing sketches, technical drawings, and buildings. Eighty-eight works by 50 architects/designers were analyzed using TinEye's MulticolorEngine for palette extraction and CIELAB for perceptual measurements, which generated a quantitative report on color visibility and palette formation in architectural representations. The study shows that color use is not linear but conditional and practice-dependent as sketches tend to exaggerate chroma for representational purposes, technical drawings minimize it in line with conventions of clarity, consistent with representational conventions that emphasize clarity, and photographs reintroduce color but with low median chroma due to material and contextual neutrality. Qualitative coding distinguishes between color as an entity in itself and color as a representation, revealing its dual role across stages. Few studies have systematically investigated the architectural design process from sketches to realized buildings through computational color extraction. Thus, this study contributes to the intersection of design research and color science through a reproducible methodology for analyzing color visibility, palette tendencies, and practice-specific trajectories in architecture.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":10459,"journal":{"name":"Color Research and Application","volume":"51 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148462712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cheng Gao, Kaida Xiao, Michael R. Pointer, Changjun Li
{"title":"Surface Color Gamut and Its Visualization","authors":"Cheng Gao, Kaida Xiao, Michael R. Pointer, Changjun Li","doi":"10.1002/col.70103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/col.70103","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Surface color gamuts play a critical role in color management and in evaluating the color-reproduction capabilities of devices such as visual displays, printers, and other output media. Existing gamuts, most notably the Pointer Gamut and the ISO Reference Color Gamut (ISO 12640-3:2007), are defined by CIELAB coordinates under fixed viewing conditions (e.g., CIE illuminant C or D50). However, the reflectance spectra of their defining samples are not available, and these gamuts have been shown to inadequately represent the full diversity of real surface colors. Their applicability is further constrained by their dependence on specific illuminants. This study introduces a new surface color gamut derived from two comprehensive datasets: 142896 measured reflectance spectra from a wide range of materials, and 422 spectral power distributions (SPDs) of illuminants, including CIE standard illuminants (D65, A, D50), illuminant C, the F-series, daylight variants (D55, D75), and various LED sources. From these datasets, a representative subset of 501 reflectance spectra was selected to construct a gamut that remains valid across all 422 viewing conditions (SPDs combined with the CIE 1931 color-matching functions). The paper also presents visualization techniques for this new gamut and provides comparative analyses with the Pointer Gamut, the ISO-RCG, and standard color spaces such as sRGB, Display-P3, and BT.2020.</p>","PeriodicalId":10459,"journal":{"name":"Color Research and Application","volume":"51 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/col.70103","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148386321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"In Memoriam: Professor Rolf G. Kuehni (1938–2026)","authors":"Renzo Shamey","doi":"10.1002/col.70102","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/col.70102","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The international color science community has lost one of its most influential scholars, historians, educators, and dedicated stewards with the passing of Professor Rolf Georg Kuehni on April 12, 2026, at the age of 88. A former Editor of <i>Color Research and Application</i>, an internationally respected authority in color science and technology, and a passionate advocate for color education, Professor Kuehni's legacy is deeply interwoven with the development of modern color science and with the many individuals and institutions he influenced throughout his remarkable life.</p><p>Born in Langnau im Emmental, Switzerland, Rolf Kuehni came from an old Swiss family and spent his early years in the town of Schönenwerd, where his father worked as a shoe designer for the Bally Shoe Company. From an early age, he was immersed in an environment where craftsmanship, materials, and aesthetics were closely linked. He later moved to Krefeld, Germany, where he studied textile chemistry at Fachhochschule Niederrhein, receiving his degree in 1961.</p><p>Following graduation, Prof. Kuehni began working at CIBA in Basel, Switzerland, under the supervision of Dr. Paul Ulrich, a research chemist with broad interests in color science and color literature. Ulrich introduced the young Kuehni to early psychological and scientific writings on color, helping to spark what would become a lifelong intellectual journey. Although Prof. Kuehni initially focused on practical problems related to dye strength determination through transmittance and reflectance measurements, he soon became deeply aware of the limitations of existing instrumentation and methods during a period of rapid technological development.</p><p>In 1963, he moved to the United States, eventually becoming a dual citizen. Two years later he joined Verona Dyestuffs, owned by Bayer Corporation, where he served as Manager of Development and Color Physics. This role marked the beginning of his pioneering involvement in computer colorant formulation and color quality control. Recognizing the transformative potential of emerging technologies, Prof. Kuehni persuaded management to acquire an IBM 1130 computer, which enabled the development of advanced approaches to color formulation and measurement at a time when industrial color computation was still in its infancy.</p><p>Over the course of his industrial career, Professor Kuehni advanced to senior leadership positions, including Vice President Marketing/Textile Products for Bayer Corporation in the United States and later Vice President of DyStar Corporation. Yet even while carrying major executive responsibilities, he maintained a deep and sustained commitment to color science research and scholarship. He consistently sought to bridge industrial practice with theoretical understanding, helping connect color technology with the broader scientific study of human color perception.</p><p>Professor Kuehni's scientific contributions spanned an extraordinary range of ","PeriodicalId":10459,"journal":{"name":"Color Research and Application","volume":"51 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/col.70102","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148282277","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eric Kirchner, Unnikrishnan Koodali, Pim Koeckhoven
{"title":"Gloss Appearance of Metallic Coatings","authors":"Eric Kirchner, Unnikrishnan Koodali, Pim Koeckhoven","doi":"10.1002/col.70101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/col.70101","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The visual glossiness of paint samples is known to depend on the type of lighting, but there is a lack of quantitative studies. This is particularly true for effect paints such as metallic coatings. We investigate factors influencing gloss appearance using paint samples varying in color and glossiness. Eight observers assessed glossiness for 119 samples under two different types of lighting using the psychophysical method of magnitude estimation. Our results confirm that for high-gloss samples, distinctness-of-image dominates gloss perception, whereas contrast gloss dominates for low-gloss samples. We show that the critical glossiness level separating these cases depends on the type of lighting. We report a repeatability for gloss appearance of 6.9 Gloss Units for solid colors observed inside a light booth. Similar values were found for metallic paints and for observations under diffuse lighting. Our results show that visual glossiness assessments are highly inaccurate for dark matte paint samples with lightness value 20 < L* < 40 and glossiness 20 < Gloss60 < 50. Deviations often larger than 10 Gloss Units occur as visual overestimations of glossiness for observations in both light booth and diffuse room. For the diffuse room, the overestimations gradually become underestimations for lighter, glossier paint samples with L* > 40 and Gloss60 > 50 Gloss Units. We find that metallic colors closely follow the same trends as solid colors. Quantitatively, the influence of the metallic character of coatings on gloss perception is smaller than the influence from sample color (lightness) and from the type of lighting.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":10459,"journal":{"name":"Color Research and Application","volume":"51 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148237568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Vladimir Oličkov, Nemanja Kašiković, Miljana Prica, Sandra Dedijer, Željko Zeljković
{"title":"Color Management in Can Printing Proofing: A Colorimetric Comparison of Conventional and Digital Technologies","authors":"Vladimir Oličkov, Nemanja Kašiković, Miljana Prica, Sandra Dedijer, Željko Zeljković","doi":"10.1002/col.70100","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/col.70100","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Accurate color reproduction in metal can printing is critical for brand consistency and production efficiency, yet this field remains underrepresented in research, with most studies focusing on less complex printing substrates and processes. In beverage can decorating, high-speed cylindrical printing and reflective surfaces make color management particularly challenging. This study evaluates the colorimetric reliability of conventional and digital proofing technologies used in dry offset can printing, with the aim of assessing whether digital proofing can function as a credible and operationally sustainable alternative to traditional methods. A widely used red spot color, representative of common industrial applications, served as the reference. Both systems were assessed using spectrophotometric measurements and visual evaluation. Results show that conventional proofing provides the most reliable prediction of final print outcomes, while digital proofing offers consistent color reproduction, faster turnaround, and reduced material use. Based on these insights, a hybrid industrial model is recommended—digital proofing as the primary tool for initial evaluation and collaboration, with conventional proofing reserved for final validation when necessary. Future research should expand toward a broader range of brand colors with complex visual designs, where limitations of digital proofing extend beyond color accuracy to full visual fidelity, as well as the influence of coatings.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":10459,"journal":{"name":"Color Research and Application","volume":"51 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148174004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Weaving Replicability, Predictability, and Renewability Into Color Design Knowledge Flow for Emotional Bionic Color Design","authors":"Haoyi Lin, Pohsun Wang","doi":"10.1002/col.70098","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/col.70098","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Traditional color design often encounters problems such as extraction confusion, tangled choice, and empirical judgment, which restrict the replicability, predictability, and renewability of color knowledge. Bridging this gap, this study proposed an integrated bionic knowledge graph (BioKG), response surface methodology (RSM), and multi-objective firefly algorithm (MOFA) framework aiming to establish a systematic design knowledge flow for emotional bionic color design. Firstly, BioKG integrated semantic associations among natural colors, entities, and human emotions, ensuring the structuring and replicability of color knowledge. Secondly, the experimental color parameters were determined through Box–Behnken design, and predictive mapping between the color parameters and the emotional responses was achieved by using RSM. Furthermore, MOFA with a soft constraint was designed to optimize the color scheme of multi-emotion coupling. Subsequently, the proposed design knowledge flow was examined through a case study on the exterior color of new energy vehicles (NEVs). Results indicate that color knowledge is replicated in BioKG, predicted in RSM, and renewed in MOFA, thereby enabling the rapid generation of color schemes. User evaluation further suggested improved effectiveness and creative performance of each module compared with traditional processes in various task scenarios, such as product innovation, event marketing, and brand promotion. Ablation study also suggested that BioKG enabled replicable knowledge, RSM reduced design prediction costs, and MOFA supported scheme renewability under multi-objective optimization. Application insights based on NEVs exterior–interior color comparison suggest that the workflow is reusable across adjacent contexts under consistent constraints, while the evidence remains domain-bounded. Overall, this offers a systematic solution from the perspective of knowledge flow for emotion-driven color design within the NEVs application scope.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":10459,"journal":{"name":"Color Research and Application","volume":"51 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148174205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xiaoyu Shang, Min Huang, Xuping Gong, Xiu Li, Ruili He
{"title":"Study on Preferred Memory Color Based on Printed Images","authors":"Xiaoyu Shang, Min Huang, Xuping Gong, Xiu Li, Ruili He","doi":"10.1002/col.70097","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/col.70097","url":null,"abstract":"<p>To determine the preferred memory color ranges in printed images and to provide guidance for ink separation and ink adjustment in the printing process, this study conducted preference evaluation experiments based on eight types of memory-color images, including sky, fruit, and skin tones, selected from the ISO 400 standard image set. Two ink adjustment methods were applied respectively to the original images: total ink limit settings ranging from 260% to 330% and channel-wise ink adjustments for cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K). A total of 1056 printed images (8 image types × 132 ink adjustments) were produced, and the preference evaluations were conducted by 15 observers with normal color vision. The results show that, for different image contents, the highest average preference scores were generally observed under the 300% total ink limitation; the observers preferred the skin color with CIELAB hue angles between 39.7° and 47.9° and exhibited stronger preference for highly saturated fruit colors and sky blues. Overall, this study proposes an ink adjustment strategy for achieving preferred memory colors in printed images, which can reduce ink consumption, improving perceived color quality and production efficiency in the printing industry.</p>","PeriodicalId":10459,"journal":{"name":"Color Research and Application","volume":"51 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/col.70097","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148173778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Determination of Kubelka–Munk Coefficients of Precolored Cotton Fibers and Its Application in Color Matching of Color Spun Fabric","authors":"Junfeng Li, Yanqin Cui, Miaoxin Li, Shiwei Liu, Dehong Xie, Chun-ao Wei","doi":"10.1002/col.70099","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/col.70099","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Accurate estimation of the absorption (<i>K</i>) and scattering (<i>S</i>) coefficients in the two-constant Kubelka–Munk (KM) model is essential for spectral reflectance prediction and color matching in precolored fiber blends. However, conventional least squares approaches often suffer from numerical instability and require large amounts of calibration data, limiting their practical use in real-world manufacturing. This study presents an improved least squares method that incorporates a simple constraint by fixing the scattering coefficient of the undyed white fiber. This modification reduces the number of unknowns and improves the conditioning of the coefficient matrix, enabling accurate KM coefficient estimation even with limited calibration data. The method is evaluated on 48 blending samples of five pre-colored cotton fibers using cross-validation over a range of training sample sizes. Prediction performance is assessed using CIEDE2000 color difference (Δ<i>E</i><sub>00</sub>), spectral root mean square error (<i>RMSE</i>), and the condition number of the system matrix. Results show that the proposed method achieves lower prediction errors and improved numerical stability compared to the original formulation, even with fewer training samples. These advantages make the method readily applicable in industrial color spinning and sustainable textile coloration.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":10459,"journal":{"name":"Color Research and Application","volume":"51 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148173779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}