Virtual Paint Mixers
Welcome to the virtual paint mixers [MXR] and Golden Artist Colors! With these tools artists can explore and experiment with oil or acrylic color mixing, sample color from images, match colors from RGB and CMYK color systems, and save & share palettes and mixtures. While you can probably get the hang of the mixers just by playing with them, this primer may help you get there more quickly and get more out of its features and capabilities. You can also get started with our tutorial video.
TWO PRIMARY PARTS OF MXR
1. MIXING & MATCHING - first, top, or on the left in desktop view, is the four tab tool box, mobile view has five tabs with the mixer/result in the left tab:
MATCH COLOR allows you to select colors from the two pre-loaded images or images you upload. (NOTE: MXR cannot save uploaded images.) Tap or click on the image to move the picker icon to the area of color you want to match. When you have selected a color, click "MATCH >" and a mixture will be created from colors using the selected palette.
COLOR SYSTEM matches colors using either RGB or CMYK color systems using the paints (colors) in the palette selected.
PALETTE BUILDER allows you to create and edit palettes of colors you can use for matching and mixing. Pre-loaded palettes can be used as a starting point or you may build a palette from scratch.
? (HELP) is there to assist you while using the mixer.
2. MIXTURE/SWATCH is where the resulting mixture appears from any inputs you provide in the palette and matching tools.
TUBES for each color in your mixutre, can be manipulated by dragging the cap, clicking the white arrows, and changing or adding colors. Tube must be cleared (<font color = "#CB4335">X</font>)before a new color can be selected.
NOTE: For very light colors, especially with oils, very small quantites of paint are sometimes necessary. To decrease paint quantity values below 1 the mixer uses increments of 0.1 and when decreasing from 0.1 will reduce value by 0.01. These values are available when matching colors.
TARGET COLOR is the color the mixer attempted to match. The color in the swatch graphic is closest matching mixture possible using the paints available in the selected palette.
"C" COMPLEMENTARY COLOR can be created by tapping or clicking on the C in the dot near the bottom right side of the swatch.
TINTS to the right of the swatch graphic show your mixuture in ratios from 10 parts color to 1 part titanium white, to 1 part color with 10 parts titatniuim white.
UNDO (turnback arrow) provides a revert function for your last five actions. NOTE: if you use the complement action, the complement of the complement will not be the same mixture as the target color - to restore the original color from a complementary color, you must use the undo button.
PRINT will create a printable screen grab of your mix result and any open tab (on desktop mode) - tip: if you want the weight mixture or color system formulas click on the "i" before printing.
ADD TO PALETTE adds the colors from the mixture/swatch to a palette you have created or will start a new palette.
CLEAR ALL empties all the tubes and removes the color from the swatch graphic and target.
REDUCE COLORS will reformulate color mixture using one less color.
SIMPLIFY RATIO reduces the complexity of mixture values first by converting the numerical total to 100 for simple percentages, then to parts of 20, 10 and 5 for easier mixing by eye. Simplified formulas may affect a noticable change to color shown in the swatch - the target will not change.
CIE dist & ALERT indicates the distance between CIE (international color standard) value of the target color and that of the mixture, a yellow alert appears when the distance is greater than five, red when it is greater than 10. If the distance from target is unacceptable, additional colors should be added to the mixing palette.
"i" MIXTURE INFO includes the RGB and CMYK formula and ratio of weights (Wt ratio:) for the mixture from top to bottom. Mixing by weight is the most accurate way to recreate a mixture.
SAVE mixtures you create. (sharing mixtures via email and social media is coming) Clicking on a saved mixture loads it the tubes and swatch for tweaking, replacing your current mix. If you're not a registered user, you'll need to create a log-in before you can save a mixture or palette.