| abstract |
A portable colorimeter for characterizing the optical properties of a colored surface and in particular a colored surface containing metallic or pearlescent particles, which employs three multiangular spectrophotometric measurements to derive color constants for the surface. The colorimeter is a compact integrated unit housing irradiation, detection, control, analysis and display means and employs three illumination angles, preferably -30°, 0°, and 65°, and one detection angle, preferably 45°, all measured from the sample normal. The method includes determining the tristimulus values of the color of the sample surface from low resolution spectral reflectance data preferably using twelve detector elements. |