How does this work?
The goal of this site is to allow you to quickly find colors that work well
together. The Process:
- Distill filaments into their "dominant" color
- Use the dominant color to find color groups
- Reverse the above to find filaments that come as close as possible to the dominant colors
Getting started is easy; there are two primary ways to use the site.
- Search! Use the search bar at the top of the library to find filaments that you already have and want to match or just look for filaments that sound interesting!
- Browse! Scroll through the library and see if there's a filament that looks interesting; maybe there's a color that grabs your attention or a name that seems familiar. Start there!
Step 1: Pick a Type
Of course you don't have to pick a filament type, but most folks prefer
to handle one type of material over another. Most of the library is in
PLA, but there are lots of different filament types represented!
Sometimes a manufacturer may have a certain color filament in multiple
formats, like ABS, PETG, and / or PLA. In that case, all of the versions
that I have are added. There is very rarely any color variance between
the different plastics, but that's for you to decide.
Each filament type includes all of its most common sub-types; for
example, the PLA category includes PLA+, Pro PLA, HTPLA, and more! If you
want to search just a specific subtype, use the filter bar at the top of
the screen.
Step 2: Pick a Color
See something you like? Something you already have? Something that might
work for a project? Just click on the swatch card to take a look at the
filament detail page.
Each filament detail page has four major things on it:
- Example print settings (what works for me may not work for you, but it's probably a reasonable starting point)
- High-resolution images of the front and back of the printed swatch
- Purchase links from wherever a filament is available, either from
Amazon.com or direct from the manufacturer
- In order to keep this site ad-free, all Amazon.com links are affiliate links. Doesn't cost you anything and I receive a tiny percentage of the total purchase price to help keep the site running.
- Click Continue to see the fourth big thing!
Step 3: Color Matching
Most projects only need two colors, so we spin the
color wheel
180 degrees and find you the closest color in the library automatically!
Example:
Due to how computers see color and the limitations of the color wheel,
this will work better with bright colors. As you get closer to white
and black, the results will be more murky.
As more colors are added to the library, this will become more accurate.
If you're interested in some of the math behind how this works, there are
links on the About page. When you see the button above, click on it to see
different color configurations using your chosen base color! (Not here;
the above screenshot is just an example.)
Step 4: Collections
What happens when you find colors that you like? We believe that old
school is the best school here; rather than dealing with cookies or
user accounts, the URL that is generated in the address bar can be
bookmarked or otherwise saved. Whenever you navigate to it, the library
items that are in it will always be there as long as we're still online!
You can get to the above collection through this link:
filamentcolors.xyz/library/collection/327,328,1050,811/
Share collections you like anywhere; the same link will work for everyone!
Step 5: Creating Your Own Collections
You can create your own collections, too! Just click / tap and hold on a swatch for half a second, watch it shrink, and you'll be in collections mode! You can click on any swatch you want to; it will add or remove it from the collection you're actively building (and you can see the number of swatches you have selected on the left). Check out the video below for a quick demonstration of how it works!
You will also automatically enter this view if you are in a collection and click "Modify this collection".
Save your collections by bookmarking the page! Once created, your collections will never expire and will be accessible by the same link. Send it to someone else; they'll be able to see the wonderful colors you've picked out!
Step 6: Colors, Computers, and Beyond
Computers don't understand color the same way humans do. Color is a
distinctly visual phenomenon, and one we still struggle to communicate
to machines. The grand majority of this site is automatically generated,
and the site will make mistakes; there's a bunch of great resources
HERE.
The absolute best resource I've seen about working with colors through math
alone is by
Alan Zucconi,
who wrote this fantastic post
about different color sorting methods and the various issues they have.
There's a lot of math and educated guesswork that goes into this, so if
you see any bugs or other issues please let me know! The best way to reach me is
through email at [email protected],
but you can also find me on Mastodon
or Twitter.
I hope you find this resource useful; if you make a project using it, please
let me know! I'm always happy to showcase projects that were created with
the help of my app!
Cheers!