The colour of textures in BI vs lego active palette

[Peter Grass]

What is the position in regard to matching the colours of the BI textures vs the colours that say Bricklink say the colours are?

For example making part 3069pb1341
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/cat...#T=C&C=152

A) is the part in studio which uses the texture from BI

B) My go to match those colours

C) The colours if you go by the parts description in the Bricklink store.

So do we just ignore the actual texture colours and go with the store decription?

[Chris Böhnke]

No sure I understand the question correctly, but from the photo, those colours look like:

15 White
19 Tan
84 Medium Nougat
322 Medium Azure
272 Dark Blue

In the end, it's always best to consider all sources:

• BI "should" be correct, but they tend to not match the official Lego hexes perfectly, which I interpret as a warning sign.
  
• Bricklink has a 60-70% hit ratio when it comes to colours, which should always be seen a critical
  
• Photos heavily depend on lighting and image quality, so it's best to check for multiple image sources and compare
  
• Having the real part is often very helpful, but requires a matching example of every ink on the part as a plastic counterpart. Also thin lines are still hard to identify.
  

Also try seeing the print in context:

• How does it match to other colours in the set (or theme) it first appeared in?
  
• Were the colours part of the palette in that year it first appeared?
  
• Is a small detail worth introducing another colour in that print? Note that the amount of colours influences the production cost.
  
• Does it make sense depicting the "object" in the print in that colour? Especially when facing licensed parts, checking the (non-Lego) source it's based on might help.
  

Hope that helps,

br
Chris

[Orion Pobursky]

The short answer is: make a judgement call. The worst that will happen is that we'll have to change it later.

[Travis Cobbs]

The short answer is: make a judgement call. The worst that will happen is that we'll have to change it later.

Doesn't LEGO use arbitrary colors in prints and stickers? In the real-world part, do the print's colors seem to be designed to match existing LEGO brick colors? If so, then I would think that using those colors makes sense. But if not, it seems like using RGB colors that match the print as closely as possible makes more sense.

[Orion Pobursky]

I have been told, by those in the know, that the ink palette is mostly the same as the plastic color palette.

[Peter Blomberg]

What is the position in regard to matching the colours of the BI textures vs the colours that say Bricklink say the colours are?

For example making part 3069pb1341
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/cat...#T=C&C=152

A) is the part in studio which uses the texture from BI

B) My go to match those colours

C) The colours if you go by the parts description in the Bricklink store.

So do we just ignore the actual texture colours and go with the store decription?

Looking at two of the three sets that contain that part, I claim the cat is darker than medium nougat. Most likely medium brown as the cat in 'Cat birthday party'. Therefore, I would not trust BL in this case. Your example also has a tan? tile when the tile should be light aqua. If you have the background color correct, it'd be easier to match the other colors.
The color behind the cat is most likely medium azure partly based on color usage over the years and based on similarity to other medium azure surfaces in that set. It is known that the computational rendering of medium azure is too light compared to the real color.

[Peter Grass]

Looking at two of the three sets that contain that part, I claim the cat is darker than medium nougat. Most likely medium brown as the cat in 'Cat birthday party'. Therefore, I would not trust BL in this case. Your example also has a tan? tile when the tile should be light aqua. If you have the background color correct, it'd be easier to match the other colors.
The color behind the cat is most likely medium azure partly based on color usage over the years and based on similarity to other medium azure surfaces in that set. It is known that the computational rendering of medium azure is too light compared to the real color.

The tile is tan due to it being in the part designer of studio, that is what colour 16 is like in there. Yeah I definitely think the cat should be medium brown rather than medium nougat so I will change it.

[Sylvain Sauvage]

You know, it’s neither forbidden nor difficult to discuss or propose a change of name on BrickLink when you believe it’s wrong.

[Chris Böhnke]

I would say it's Medium Nougat and Tan (for the muzzle and chest fur).

I am very sceptical towards Medium Brown being used as anything else than skin colours. It even got a special "protected" status as such, meaning it can't be phased out of the current palette in favor of a new colour.

Are there examples of Medium Brown being confirmed on anything else?

Doesn't LEGO use arbitrary colors in prints and stickers? 

 
No. Just no.

Why would they use arbitrary ones? There are many cases where the print needs to align with the matching plastic of a neighbouring part, using "arbitrary" inks would just look off. And if they match some, it's best to match all.
Also be aware that Lego is a mass produced product, so pre-mixed inks with a clearly defined value are prefered anyways.

It's arguable how well they match it at times, but they clearly are "intended" to match.

There are a few colours used for special "effects" like metallic and fluorescence, which often have no plastic counter part, but regular ones typically have a plastic counter part.

There's been a lot of discussion on this on Brick Colorstream:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/126975831@N07/

[Peter Blomberg]

Interesting. BL lists the cat as medium brown:
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/cat...#T=C&C=240
Rebrickable too:
https://rebrickable.com/parts/11602pr001...ars-print/
LEGO:
https://www.lego.com/en-au/pick-and-buil...ery=110335
Brickset:
https://brickset.com/parts/6520143/cat-w-1-5-hole-no-34

[Orion Pobursky]

You know, it’s neither forbidden nor difficult to discuss or propose a change of name on BrickLink when you believe it’s wrong.

In the past, BL was fairly hostile to any suggestion that their way was not the best way.  That was before the LEGO takeover but old habits of not communicating die hard.

[Chris Böhnke]

Interesting. BL lists the cat as medium brown:
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/cat...#T=C&C=240
Rebrickable too:
https://rebrickable.com/parts/11602pr001...ars-print/
LEGO:
https://www.lego.com/en-au/pick-and-buil...ery=110335
Brickset:
https://brickset.com/parts/6520143/cat-w-1-5-hole-no-34

Ok, it seems I've been wrong about that. Looks like there's also a hair piece alongside that cat.

However I still think the print on this tile is closer to Medium Nougat. Compare to Leo's skintone (Medium Nougat according to Lego and BL) on this photo:

https://images.brickset.com/news/124643_IMG_6927.JPG

[Sylvain Sauvage]

In the past, BL was fairly hostile to any suggestion that their way was not the best way.  That was before the LEGO takeover but old habits of not communicating die hard.

BrickLink/LEGO and the cat(alogue) people are different things.  There’s still things that “corporate” don’t want, and things that can’t be done due to how the catalogue is organized (and that won’t change soon despite promises), but names and colours aren’t in that category.

If someone comes on the forum with strong arguments (like comparison pics), they are listened to and the change is often made… unless there’s reasons against the change, but the cat people generally explain why in a friendly manner.
Actually, even if you come without arguments (but candidly), you’re just explained why you’re wrong (they have access to more LEGO data more or less directly now), without hostily but rather invinting you to contribute.


Now, for 3069pb1341, Chris’s pic convinces me it’s (intended to be) Medium Nougat.