Smart Match is Datacolor’s proprietary color matching algorithm, which has been widely used in the textile printing and dyeing industry since around 2000 ( Datacolor Match Textile software).

Datacolor applied this algorithm to the pigment matching software Datacolor Match Pigment (DMP) in 2014. This not only strengthens its industry leading position, but also wins more customers’ favor and recognition.

What is a savvy color scheme?

The Savvy Color Matching function is the conversion of a historical recipe into a collection of Savvy Color Matching points. Each savvy color point is a representation of a set of color combinations, and the difference between the actual and theoretical performance of the pigment combinations provides direction for correcting the formulation.

Differences from traditional methods: from “search and color correction” to “intelligent learning”

The traditional method of utilizing historical formulas is “search and fix”, where a formula is searched for the closest match to the target color, and then the color fix function is used to improve the first formula. This function requires a large number of known formulas as a base for more target colors.

However, savvy color matching can utilize a “database of savvy color matching points” with formulas corresponding to a number of colors that have a greater range of color differences from the target color, thus optimizing the accuracy of formulas for a greater number of target colors with a relatively small number of formulas.

Therefore, we need to use the software to calculate an accurate formula; at the same time, we are able to utilize the historical formula as a correction of the formula. The Smartmatch function can meet this demand. We can see the effect of using the Smartmatch function in an actual color matching case:

Fig. 1 Comparison of actual color difference between using the smart color matching function and not using the smart color matching function (dark color)

Through the above cases we can see that after using the smart color matching, the actual color difference of the first formula have been greatly reduced.

Meanwhile, through Chart 1, we can see that in the results of dark color matching, which is relatively difficult to match, the actual color difference of the first recipe is reduced by 50% on average after enabling the smart color matching function.

Color matching has the “learning ability” to continuously improve efficiency.

The smart color matching function is an innovative application of the software to optimize the traditional color matching algorithm by using the formula big data. In the actual color matching process, the accuracy of the first formula is often limited by some uncertainties; and the smart color matching function makes the software have the ability to continuously “self-learning”.

In the process of daily use of the software, with the continuous accumulation of formulas, the rational use of the smart color matching function can better enhance the efficiency of color matching, and I hope that more and more customers can benefit from this function.