Hi, I'm still some way off even considering how to make a screen (ie my projector is some ways of being done) but I was wondering if anyone had tried the "computer colour match" service that some stores offer in relation to creating an optimal paint for a projector screen?

I realise that some things (like beads etc) are not liable to be truly reflected (no pun intended) in a colour sample, but couldn't at least a reasonably close proximation be gained by perhaps finding a reference picture online and printing in high quality and taking that in and having it scanned as a paint reference?

I am fully prepared to be shown I have no idea how this colour match system works

The first problem is to get a printed sample that is accurate. The best thing would be to get a sample of a screen and color match it at the store. Most companies like Da-Lite will send you samples.

A better method would be to get the Munsell Neutral Gray fan deck and color match that. Neutral gray will reflect all colors equally and is therefore the ideal thing to use for a projection screen.

I will be picking up the fan deck from UPS tomorrow. Then I will start getting color matches done for various paints.

Well I picked up my Munsell Neutral shades fan deck this morning. A first attempt at getting some color matches done at Benjamin Moore and Home Depot did not go very well. I will have to find someone who really knows how to use the color matching machine.

Well I found the guy at my local Home Depot this evening. He really knows the color matching machine well. He demonstrated that if he tested the Munsell gray more than once he could get more than one tint and with very different pigments. So I have abandoned that approach.

There is an interesting tool called easyrgb that allows you to search for paint tints based on the RGB provided. You select the paint company you are interested in and then enter the RGB you are looking for. I have done this for the Pratt & Lambert tints. I don't have time to sort things out right now but here are all my raw results.

Here is an example of a few Pratt and Lambert tints that are close to an N8 neutral gray.



Contenders:

197 200 200 - Hearthstone

192 193 190 - Gigs' Grey

198 199 195 - Armory

Here are some color cards worth having a look at:




The big cards are Glidden (CIL) neutral shades. Any Glidden color code with 00NN ??/000 is a neutral gray.

Glidden is one of the brand names that ICI Paints uses. ICI paints has brands world wide. The color code is universal to all their brands.