X-Rite Expands MA-T12 and Pantora Capabilities for Complex Materials

Sarah Jones
·4 min read

Color technology company X-Rite is helping designers and their production partners digitally visualize complex materials with the introduction of new capabilities for its MA-T12 multi-angle spectrophotometer and its Pantora desktop software.

Updates will enable the device and program to measure and digitize color, texture and shimmer on a broader range of surfaces, including leather, fabric, molded plastic and structured coatings. The attributes of these materials can then be turned into digital samples, eliminating or reducing the need for physical models for approvals.

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“The launch of MA-T12 with Pantora makes it possible to measure and characterize appearance on a wider variety of materials,” Matthew Adby, product management director at X-Rite, told Sourcing Journal. “For fashion brands, this means being able to measure directly on finished products such as leather handbags, shoes or furnishings.”

The MA-T12 is a handheld device with a camera that can capture 12 different angles of a material or finish effect, such as those used in plastics, fabrics and cosmetics, in six seconds. These measurements allow for reproducibility of color, texture and sparkle throughout the supply chain. Matching finish digitally is especially important for pieces that are produced in separate factories and then assembled into one unit.

A challenge for finishes such as metallics is that the color perception can change greatly depending on lighting or angle. Instead of the typical three dimensions of color—lightness, chroma and hue—complex materials have up to eight dimensions, such as translucency and gloss, per Adby. The multi-angle MA-T12 device keeps lighting and vantage points standardized, taking human error out of color specification and communication during the production process and quality checks.

“The human brain in combination with our eyes has learnt how to perceive differences in materials by comparing them in multiple dimensions,” said Adby. “When viewing samples, we move them to understand how light is interacting, giving us a perception of the impact of variation color, texture and gloss. By recreating this ability digitally…it first allows us as humans to recognize and assess if a product appearance is acceptable. It then allows thorough reporting of the different attributes to identify where variances come from.”

X-Rite’s Pantora software is also gaining capabilities for a wider range of complex materials with a new Spatially Varying Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (SVBRDF). The application takes material data gathered from devices such as the MA-T12 and enables designers to create renderings of materials that include depictions of texture, effects and color. These digital materials can then be exported for use in design programs such as CAD platforms.

Pantora was initially launched around five years ago alongside X-Rite’s Total Appearance Capture (TAC7) device, and it has since been updated to connect with other X-Rite devices, including the MA-T12 and other spectrophotometers like the Ci7000 Series and the MetaVue VS3200. In 2021, the MA-T12 Pantora connectivity launched for special effect paints and coatings such as auto vehicle finishes. This new hardware and software introduction brings the functions to materials like leather and fabrics.

For the fashion and home industries, these new capabilities between the MA-T12 and Pantora allow teams to visualize materials such as natural and embossed leathers and textured fabrics. The added features also support color and effects management in plastics and injection molded materials so that products match the standard. The broader material competencies also allow a single device to be used for multiple inputs, simplifying the scanning process and making it more cost efficient.

This latest launch is part of X-Rite’s broader portfolio of software and hardware solutions for color management, including its integrations with its subsidiary Pantone. At ITMA in Milan, X-Rite showcased its textile solutions for color development, formulation, including dyeing and printing, and quality. As part of its activation at the show, X-Rite demonstrated how MA-T12 can be used in conjunction with Pantora to measure a basketball shoe comprised of multiple materials and create a digital twin.

“Now, with the ability to quickly and cost effectively create digital material libraries, this not only helps the designers to accurately visualize and iterate on their designs, it also enables communication of the same digital material throughout their operations and supply chain, ensuring their original design intent and perceived quality is met,” noted Adby.

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