With an NCS+ Pro subscription, you can identify the NCS colour of the surfaces you scan with your Colourpin II / SE / Pro. This means that you can not only find the closest matching NCS standard colour, but also identify so-called "in-between" NCS, i.e. non-standardised colour codes, characterised by their missing "S" in front of the colour code.
Innovative function leveraging the Natural Colour System
The Natural Colour System can describe any colour that the human eye can see and is not confined to the 2.050 colours comprising the colours found for example in the NCS Index, Atlas, Block and Album. The NCS standard range has been carefully curated and developed since its inception in 1979 (which started out with a selection of 1.412 standard colours) and its selection and development is affected by a multitude of factors, including popularity, colour pigmentation availability, the human eye's sensitivity to nuances and hues among others.
Why is the scanned NCS colour valuable to me?
While it is certainly comfortable to work within the selection of 2.050 standard colours due to their even distribution in the colour space as well as general availability on the market, it can often times be good to exactly identify the nuance and hue of a surface. This can for example be important in the process of documenting an environment, or when gathering inspiration for a project rather than determining exactly what the final colour should be. It can also be good in the case where you have a paint supplier that can produce non-standardized NCS colours.
How does the feature work?
When scanning with the Colourpin, you are presented with two colour swatches stacked on top of each other (side-by-side on desktop); the colour that you have scanned as perceived by the Colourpin at the top and the closest matching standard colour below it. You can swipe to the right and left to discover additional suggestions for standard colours that are also close to the scanned surface, and either of them can be explored further by tapping on it, or added directly to a mood board for later use from the Add to board icon.
How does the scanned NCS differ from the match suggestions?
The match suggestions are always at some distance from the scanned colour in the colour space, as indicated by the delta E, which is a measure of distance between two colours, and the NCS- and Lab differences panel on the Match Results screen. The match might be more or less blue, yellow, red, green, have more or less blackness and be more or less chromatic. When for example ordering paint from a supplier or making a material selection, you might accept that there is a slight difference in what you have captured with the Colourpin and what your end product will look like such as a wall or trim detail. In some cases, for example paint suppliers have recipes for non-standardised NCS colour codes that might be closer to your target than the standard NCS, and in this case it can be good to reference the scanned NCS.
I scanned a colour sample in an NCS product, but the Scanned NCS is not exactly the same as the standard?
There are a multitude of factors that affects the Scanned NCS colour code, for example:
- Device differences: While we go to great lengths to ensure that all Colourpin devices measures comparably to each other, there is always some level of difference between devices and between measurements (so called Inter-Instrument Agreement and Repeatability).
- Colour Mixing differences: We pride ourselves in providing one of the most stable production of physical colour samples in the world, one of the pillars of the Natural Colour System. But like with any physical product, it is impossible to entirely eliminate so called batch-to-batch differences. That is why we are completely.
Explore this feature in NCS+ on both mobile and desktop. You are always welcome to reach out to us at info@ncscolour.com with any questions.
