May 16, 2022
AkzoNobel Powder Coatings has developed a new web application 3D colour visualization tool within its Interpon webshop to help customers better understand how a powder coating’s colour, texture and finish that look good in theory, will actually appear in reality.
The tool provides instant access to thousands of colours in the Interpon range. Using a 360-degree dynamic camera and simulated lighting, the customer is given a true-to-life image of how the colour performs to a degree of accuracy and realism not possible before in a virtual environment.
Rather than the image being ‘flat’, the customer can orientate the ‘virtual’ panel to see how the light reflects and the colour looks from different angles. It gives a true impression of how surfaces coated in special finishes and metal effects will appear in a way that is said to be unprecedently realistic. They can also see multiple colours, multiple gloss levels and various surface finishes before deciding upon which is best. Customers can experience colour as if they looked at the panels in their hands without having to order a sample and wait for it to arrive.
Pim Koeckhoven, director of colour technology at AkzoNobel, says that this is another step on the road to digitizing part of the customer interface: “High quality and accurate digital representations of our products allow our customers to experience colours to a new level. Years of collaboration with academics and technology partners have taken us and our customers to a place we have never been before, and there will be more innovations like this to come.”
The 3D visualization tool, which was developed in collaboration with Dutchworkz, can be found on the Interpon webstores in Europe and North America, and can be used on all major platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.