How to locate Pantone colours in the chromaticity diagram?

December 7, 2010 6:24 AM

Is "Pantone 3135 cv" outside the RGB colour space? Or: How can I find a Pantone colour in the CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram?

I've been giving a logo in "Pantone 3135 cv" and I suspect this colour is not available in RGB and/or in CMYK. Can someone confirm this?

I found this image showing the Pantone Color in the CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram. Is there a bigger version available where I can identify which dot is the colour in question?

posted by arf to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

According to this website, "CV stands for 'computer video' and is an electronic simulation of the Pantone color." Therefore Pantone 3135 CV is the same ink combo as Pantone 3135 U or C or what have you. However I am not sure what you mean by "available." Why do you need to find the exact dot on that chart? What software are you using? Do you just need the RGB conversion?
posted by chelseagirl at 7:06 AM on December 7, 2010

Response by poster: "Not available" means out of scope or out of range. If you look at the linked diagram you can see that certain Pantone colours can't be displayed on a monitor, because they are outside the trianglish RGB range. I suspect the logo designers went for one of these colours and knowing the exact dot in the diagram could help me explaining the case.
posted by arf at 7:48 AM on December 7, 2010

Pantone 3135 CV is, as chelseagirl points out, a video simulation of a Pantone Spot ink on coated paper. Explanation of color code here.

If you want Pantone's own RGB values for this color, you need access to one of these. That will give you the Pantone official RGB approximation for this spot color.

This guy has 3135 as RGB #009baa (0/155/170).

This guy says #0094aa (0/148/170).

This random company's branding document contains what might be swatches from the Pantone Color Bridge product referenced above, which specify RGB #009fc2 (0/159/194).

All those values seem to be well within the regular RGB space.

But, of course, it's a Pantone Spot Color, and so by definition any conversion to RGB or CMYK is approximate.

I can't find any software that will plot RGB values onto the CIE chart like that sample image [I recall using such back at ColorSpan], but perhaps using PhotoShop's gamut alarms and an appropriate ICC profile will give you what you need.
posted by chazlarson at 8:43 AM on December 7, 2010

The Pantone Color Cross-Reference lists the following, using the Pantone Formula Spot Coated library as the source and the Coated Bridge as the lookup.

PANTONE® 3135 C
RGB 0 142 170
HTML 008EAA
CMYK n/a

maps to:

PANTONE® 3135 CP
RGB 0 155 187
HTML 009BBB
CMYK 100 0 20 0

Using the same source, and Process Coated as the target:

PANTONE® 3135 C
maps to:

PANTONE® P 118-16 C
RGB 0 141 180
HTML 008DB4
CMYK 100 0 15 14

Again, the RGB values are not near the edges of the gamut.
posted by chazlarson at 9:14 AM on December 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks. This last link helps a lot.
posted by arf at 9:50 AM on December 7, 2010