Paint Lab
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    • Features
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    • About
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  • Home
  • Features
  • Survey
  • Download
  • Updates
  • Help
  • About
  • Contact

PAINT LAB

Find the right paint. Understand the colour.

Paint Lab is a colour tool built specifically for miniature painters.


Search for paints by colour, compare products across manufacturers, build colour schemes, plan highlights and shadows, explore colour relationships and find the paints closest to the colours you are looking for. 


Paint Lab uses independently measured paint data rather than relying solely on manufacturer colour charts or approximate digital swatches.

Explore Paint Lab

Help Paint Lab develop.

Give your opinion and be entered into the prize draw.

[Survey and prize draw ends 27 September 2026, 23:59 pm (IST)]

Take the Survey

FIND PAINTS BY COLOUR

Search by colour, not just by name

Paint names can be evocative, but they do not provide a consistent way to compare colours. 


Paint Lab lets you start with a paint, a digital colour value or a selected colour and search for the closest measured paints in the database. 


Results are based on their position in perceptual colour space, allowing paints from different manufacturers and ranges to be compared using the same underlying system. 

COMPARE PAINTS

Compare colours across manufacturers

Paint Lab places measured paints from different manufacturers within the same perceptual colour space. 


That makes it possible to compare paints without relying on product names or manufacturer-specific colour charts. 


Whether you are looking for an alternative to a paint you already use or simply want to understand how two colours differ, Paint Lab can show the measured distance between them. 


Paint Lab uses independently measured paint data rather than relying solely on manufacturer colour charts or approximate digital swatches.

BUILD COLOUR SCHEMES

Turn colour theory into real paints

Choose a starting paint and Paint Lab can calculate colour relationships around it. 


Explore: 

  • complementary colours;  
  • split complements;  
  • analogous colours;  
  • triads;  
  • square and rectangular tetrads;  
  • tints and shades; and  
  • chromatic scales.  


Paint Lab then identifies measured paints closest to those calculated colours. 


The result is colour theory translated into paints you can actually put on a miniature. 

BUILD COLOUR TRANSITIONS

Plan highlights, shadows and colour progressions

Paint Lab can calculate a structured path between two colours and identify the closest measured paint at each stage. 


This can be used to explore transitions between colours, build highlight and shadow sequences or understand how paints relate along a continuous colour path. 

EXPLORE COLOUR SPACE

See where paints actually sit in colour space

Paint Lab uses OKLab and OKLCH to represent colour in a way designed around perceptual differences. 

Explore paints according to: 

  • lightness;  
  • chroma;  
  • hue;  
  • colour family; and  
  • measured distance from other paints.  

Instead of looking at a flat colour chart, you can explore the structure of the paint market itself. 

WORK WITH THE PAINTS YOU OWN

Build Paint Lab around your collection

You should not need to own every paint in the database to make Paint Lab useful. 


Create a collection containing the paints and manufacturers you use and Paint Lab can prioritise results from within your own collection. 


When the colour you need is not available, you can also explore alternatives from the wider database. 

FIND PAINTS FROM IMAGES AND DIGITAL COLOURS

From a colour to a paint

Sometimes the colour you want starts somewhere other than a paint range. It might come from concept art, photography, historical references, digital artwork or something in the world around you. 


Paint Lab can use selected digital colours as a starting point and identify measured paints that occupy similar positions in colour space. 


Because a displayed colour and a physical paint are not the same thing, Paint Lab treats this as a colour-matching tool rather than a claim of exact physical reproduction.

BUILT FROM MEASURED PAINT DATA

The data behind Paint Lab

Paint Lab is built around measurements taken from physical miniature paints. 


By representing paints within a common perceptual colour system, products from different manufacturers can be searched, compared and analysed on the same basis. 


The underlying measurement and validation work is carried out by The Chroma Institute.

Learn about the science

HELP SHAPE PAINT LAB

Paint Lab is being built for miniature painters

We want Paint Lab to solve real problems faced by painters rather than simply adding features because they are technically possible. 


Our current survey asks miniature painters about the paints they use, how they choose colours and which tools would be most useful to them. 


Participants can also choose to enter the Paint Lab prize draw. Paint Lab is built around measurements taken from physical miniature paints.

Take the Paint Lab Survey

GET PAINT LAB

One colour system. Wherever you paint.

Paint Lab is being developed for use across modern devices and platforms. 


When released, you will be able to access Paint Lab through supported platforms including web browsers and mobile devices. 


Browser
Coming soon 


iOS
Coming soon

 

Android
Coming soon

View Download Options

STAY UP TO DATE

Follow the development of Paint Lab

Paint Lab is actively being developed and the paint database will continue to grow. 


Sign up for occasional updates about: 

  • new Paint Lab features;  
  • new paint manufacturers and ranges;  
  • testing and database milestones;  
  • beta access; and  
  • release announcements.

We will use your email address only to send Paint Lab updates. You can unsubscribe at any time. See our Privacy Policy for more information.

Keep Me Updated

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