Extension for material properties?

[N. W. Perry]

Yes to both. If RGB values are indeed different for each material version of a color, then you will have the flood of combinations either way, because the existing color definition spec would be retained. The new material definitions wouldn't change that, but they wouldn't be the cause of it, either. And at least, they would provide the option to reduce the flood, if a way can be found to programmatically relate the difference in RGB between a base color and its material variant. This could be part of the supplied parameters to a material definition.