To anyone who has used the Benjamin Moore Personal Colour Viewer software...
Have you ever had the issue that the paint colour you choose looks nothing like the original when it is "painted" on your personal photograph? I've calibrated my monitor, and the colour I choose looks normal on the virtual paint chip, but when it paints the colour onto my photograph it looks nothing like it (i.e. the Dry Sage colour looks almost white?? Black Bean Soup is like light taupe?!) Has anyone figured out a way around this? Weird.
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Thanks! I'll give that a try....
This is what I did to be able to see something that looked more like the paint chip. It isn't perfect, but it is better than nothing.
1) Calibrate your monitor following the Let's Paint program instructions (right click desktop, click properties, settings, advanced, color management, select sRGB Color Space Profile and push set as default.)
2) Next I downloaded the free MonitorTest software by PassMark Software.
3) Run the software and run each gamma red, green and blue tests. Write down the gamma for each one when the strip looks the same color as the background. Alternatively, instead of running the software you could use my gamma settings which are Red 1.65, Green 1.55, and blue 1.10.
4) Open up your video card control center. I have an ATI video card so I open up the Catalyst Control Center and Nvidia also has a control center. Go to the color area where you can change the gamma, brightness, and contrast for red, green, and blue.
5) Set the brightness for each one to 0, and set the contrast for each one to 100. Now change the gamma for each one to the values that you wrote down during the monitor test or use mine. If you have the option to, you will want to save these settings as a profile so that you can change back to your normal settings for all of your other software.
I still find that I have to tweak the gamma settings when I am in the Let's Paint program to make it look like the chip. I know this is a lot of work. I really wish that the software was designed so that we didn't have this problem.
Your computer reads colour differently than the human eye. The software is not a science, unfortunately :-) It gives you an idea and sets the tone but the colour match is impossible :-)
Virtual color is all about managing gray, If you have a paint program, try painting the garage door and front door gray first. A gray that looks to be about the same value as the color you want it painted with. Save your revised photo, then take it into your visualizer program and see if the colors come out a little better.
I wasn't expecting the software to show me exact colours - but I did think that it would show me a similar colour as the one I chose. I must have to do with the colour I'm putting it on top of - although it was just white?!
I took a photo of the exterior of my house - which currently has a white garage and front door - and tried to overlay a sage green colour and a dark brown/black colour. The problem is that when I overlay them onto my house photo, they are NOTHING like the actual colour. The dark brown/black looked like a very light beige/taupe and the sage green looked like a soft orangy/yellow. Both were nothing even close to the colours of the original virtual paint chips. I could understand if they were maybe lighter shades because they are being layered over white (which would be fine, I'd just imagine them lighter) but they are not even in the same colour family. Very strange.
I'll have to take another photo of my house from a different angle or something to see if that helps...or put my photo up here and have everyone's expertise to help me decide. :)
It seems to me that the colour you're "painting" over has an effect on what the new colour looks like too.
The personal viewer isn't perfect, but it's still a helpful tool (in my opinion, anyway :) ).
JMac. I am an architectural color consulant and painting virtually is part of our services. My background is in graphic design and that is where I learned about color management.
Bottomline is those paint-at-home visualizer aren't worth a whole lot. The way the color was built to begin with (quality of the virtual paint chips) is questionable and secondly to sync up the different gamut of colors involved requires specialized software and know-how.
Even programs like Photoshop that has built-in management tools requires enhancement for any type of quality production.
Use the at-home visualizers with great caution. IMO the only thing they are good for is to get a loose idea of hue. i.e. do you like your house better with green trim or red trim. No specific color determinations should made from those types of visualizers. Know that its' not you and it's not anything that you did or didn't do. Just the nature of the beast.
Hope that helps.