AkzoNobel Powder Coatings has innovated a new web application 3D color visualization tool within its Interpon webshop to help customers better understand how a powder coating’s color, texture and finish that looks good in theory, will actually appear in reality.

The tool gives customers instant access to thousands of colors in the Interpon range. Through the clever use of a 360-degree dynamic camera and simulated lighting, the customer is given a true-to-life image of how the color performs to a degree of accuracy and realism not possible before in a virtual environment. 

Rather than the image being ‘flat’, the customer can orientate the ‘virtual’ panel to see how the light reflects and the color looks from different angles. It gives a true impression of how surfaces coated in special finishes and metal effects will appear in a way that it unprecedently realistic. They can also see multiple colors, multiple gloss levels and various surface finishes before deciding upon which is best. Customers can experience color as if they looked at panels in their hands without having to order a sample and waiting for it to arrive.

Remco Massen van den Brink, Marketing Director of AkzoNobel Powder Coatings, says the new tool is part of the company’s commitment to keeping its customers one step ahead: “Through ceaseless innovation, we are supporting our customers in the way they imagine and use powder coatings, developing practical, easy-to-use digital tools that they can access 24/7.”

“Through building meaningful partnerships with our customers and marketing insight studies, we understand the vital importance of choosing the right colors and textures to keep them out in front. That’s why we have so many colors to choose from and have developed this first-of-its-kind solution to inspire our customers into making the right decisions, any time.”

Pim Koeckhoven, Director of Color Technology at AkzoNobel, says that this is another step on the road to digitizing part of the customer interface: “High quality and accurate digital representations of our products allow our customers to experience colors to a new level. Years of collaboration with academics and technology partners have taken us and our customers to a place we have never been before, and there will be more innovations like this to come.”

The 3D visualization tool, which was developed in collaboration with Dutchworkz, can be found on the Interpon webstores in Europe and North America, and can be used on all major platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.