Responding to the needs of automakers and their suppliers, manufacturers of instruments that measure color are introducing new technologies to help control the quality of metallic flake, pearlescent, and other special-effect paints that have confounded optical instruments throughout the past 60 years.

New measurement techniques address the thorny problem that has troubled manufacturers since effect paints were introduced during the 1940s: how to get reliable and repeatable measurements of effect coatings that sparkle. The need to accurately quantify the hue shift of effect paints has become more critical as automakers assemble body panels, bumper fascia, and other parts made by several suppliers, each part coated with effect paints that must match under different illumination and observation angles.

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