X-Rite Pantone Launches Total Appearance Capture Ecosystem

X-Rite Pantone, a provider in color science and technology, has launched the Total Appearance Capture ecosystem, which is an appearance measurement solution for more accurate presentation of virtual materials.

According to a company press release, by accurately scanning a material’s appearance, TAC minimizes the manual manipulation needed to accurately portray the optical complexities of physical materials. In the automotive space, it is projected that this will cut design time by up to 50%, accelerating speed-to-market and reducing waste throughout the design-to-production process.

The ecosystem is an assembly of the following products:

• The TAC7 scanner captures and stores color, texture, gloss and other surface appearance characteristics of physical material samples.
• Appearance Exchange Format (AxF) files communicate scanned information to the PANTORA Material Hub.
• PANTORA, a desktop application, is the controlling hub of the TAC ecosystem. It allows users to store, manage, view and edit digitally captured materials and to exchange these materials, via AxF, with other tools such as the TAC Virtual Light Booth, PLM (product lifecycle management) and CAD systems.
• The TAC Virtual Light Booth gives designers the ability to evaluate digitized materials rendered on virtual objects under multiple lighting conditions and in direct comparison to physical samples.

“Total appearance is much more than just color. It is the visual sensation through which an object is perceived. It encompasses not only color but size, texture, gloss, transparency and opacity," said Francis Lamy, executive vice president and CTO at X-Rite Pantone. "Traditionally, the capture and virtual rendering of material appearance has been a challenging and time-consuming manual process. TAC’s precise measurements of physical materials ensure that visual appearance can be presented digitally without manual tweaks, freeing designers to unleash their creativity. With TAC, each step of the product development process—from marketing to production—has access to truly physically correct digital materials, ensuring consistency of presentation.”

For more information, visit X-Rite Pantone.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.