X-Rite Light Booths

The Ultimate Controlled Lighting System for Color Quality

Consistent quality control in color-critical product categories is finally possible thanks to the SpectraLight QC light booth and luminaire. This holistic visual color assessment system features state-of-the-art light sources, including natural filtered daylight, making it easy to meet practically any specification. A data-driven back-end ensures inter-instrument agreement across the supply chain, allowing unprecedented reporting and traceability on unit settings, lamp performance, operator certifications, and more.

The SpectraLight QC features seven light sources, more than any other light booth or luminaire on the market.This includes CIE Daylight, Cool White Fluorescent, Incandescent “A” & 2300K/Horizon, UVA, and two more fluorescent types (choice of U30, U35, TL83, and TL84). Profiles can be created to share preferences and settings across the supply chain.

• Filtered tungsten halogen daylight provides the most accurate daylight simulation available for optimum visual assessment.
• Built-in sensors automatically adjust fluorescent lamp voltage to achieve instant stability and compensate for changes in lamp performance after many hours of use.
• Every instrument starts with exacting UV calibration. Built-in sensors monitor and correct UV output to maintain inter-instrument agreement.
• Real-time digital lux output can be adjusted to comply with ASTM and AATCC standards based on the sample type or user needs.
• X-Rite replacement lamps are marked with unique serial numbers to ensure consistent performance and better traceability.

Lighting is one of the most critical influencers of accurate color evaluation. By using the SpectraLight QC light booth during the design, specification, pre-production, production and quality assurance stages, color can be accurately evaluated under all relevant lighting conditions. This acts to reduce human error and waste due to rejects and rework, shorten time to market and improve overall product quality. The system also includes value-added training programs through the X-Rite Visual QC Institute.

Lighting the Way to Accurate Color

In manufacturing and quality control across all industries, accurate color is important. When color does not meet specifications, the result is increased cost and time to market, with more rejects and rework. That’s why it is important to view color under controlled lighting conditions. Integrating the Judge QC light booth into a color-critical workflow improves quality control and delivers a rapid ROI.

The X-Rite Judge QC is the industry’s most cost effective light booth featuring a robust industrial design. Its metal construction with a powder-coated surface is built for longevity. Its five light sources deliver consistent fluorescent illumination that complies with major international standards, including ISO, ASTM, DIN, ANSI and BSI visual assessment requirements. It has a dedicated D50 light source for print & packaging; a dedicated D65 light source for industrial applications, and a Dual Daylight mode for easy switching between light sources in situations where operators may need to view samples under both lighting conditions. The X-Rite Judge QC light booth offers an economical and effective way to judge color, anywhere color quality needs to be evaluated.

• Achieve better color evaluation of incoming materials with consistent lighting.
• Benefit from robust, industrial construction that will serve you for years to come.
• Always know exactly how functional the Judge QC lamps are with its convenient lamp service indicator.
• Take advantage of multiple options for lamp replacement, designed to be as convenient as possible and ensure maximum up-time.
• Check for metamerism a phenomenon that occurs when objects match in one light source but not in another.

The Judge QC comes fully equipped with a UVA lamp for accurate evaluation when samples contain optical brightening agents (OBAs). OBAs are used to achieve a “whiter-than-white” effect on a range of materials, including plastics, paints and coatings and paper.

A Compact, Stylish Light Booth

In manufacturing and quality control across all industries, accurate color is important. When color does not meet specifications, the result is increased cost and time to market, and more rejects and rework. For optimum results, samples should be examined using a light booth that offers a variety of lighting conditions to enable you to determine how your color will look in the factory, as well as outside, in a fluorescent-lit store, in a home or office environment, or wherever else your products will be seen once they enter the world.

The Pantone 3 light booth is a high quality entry-level light booth with three light sources that is very easy to use. Its compact, stylish design fits equally well into office or manufacturing environments. Its metal construction with a powder-coated surface is built for longevity.

• Consistent fluorescent illumination that complies with major international standards such as ISO, ASTM, DIN, ANSI and BSI visual assessment requirements. Choose from CWF, TL84, U35 or U30 store lighting simulation bulbs.
• Dedicated D50 light source for print and packaging applications or dedicated D65 light source for industrial applications to ensure optimum visual assessment.
• Tungsten (A) light also included. Fast, easy switching between light sources in situations where operators may need to view samples under multiple lighting conditions, making color evaluation more effective.
• Easy installation of replacement lamps, on your own or by an X-Rite technician, delivering optimum uptime and convenience.
• Optional pre-certified lamp packs include a calibration certification. Install them yourself or contact an X-Rite technician for assistance.

First-time sample approval submissions can be rejected as much as 50% of the time due to inaccurate or inconsistent color. This is often due to sample evaluation under uncontrolled lighting or metameric effects where two samples match when viewed under one light source but not another. An affordable controlled lighting solution such as the Pantone 3 Light Booth can deliver almost instant ROI by minimizing or eliminating these issues.

Your Color. Always in Harmony.

Harmony Rooms, also referred to as fit-and-finish rooms, are customized, dedicated color evaluation rooms featuring X-Rite SpectraLight QC luminaries mounted throughout the ceilings and/or walls. These custom rooms are ideal for color evaluation of large assembled items, such as automobiles, furnishings and carpets. SpectraLight QC luminaries provide best-in-class daylight simulation for evaluation of products as the customer is most likely to see them.

Especially in the automotive industry, Harmony Rooms are used to detect color differences among various car surfaces where components are provided by a variety of suppliers around the globe. This exceptional controlled lighting environment is ideal for detecting the Orange Peel effect, a defect in paint layering that occurs when paint dries too quickly or has surface bond problems that result in abnormalities in the surface layer. It is also used to detect surface ripple effect that can only been seen at certain angles and using a light source that is not diffused.

• Avoid common visual errors in color and finish evaluation caused by inadequate lighting and differences in the way individuals view color.
• Implement as part of a precise and consistent color program that ensures high quality products in the marketplace.
• Simulate the consumer experience with best-in-class daylight simulation, resulting in broader market acceptance of products.
• Evaluate the final assembled product to detect differences in color/finish among components from a wide range of suppliers.
• Benefit from consultation with X-Rite Color Experts in configuring the best possible lighting conditions for color/finish evaluation of larger products or components.

Brand owners and manufacturers can also benefit from using the X-Rite SpectraLight QC light booth in conjunction with their Harmony Room in order to achieve consistent color evaluation across the entire manufacturing process. Placing the SpectraLight QC light booth in areas where smaller components are evaluated can prevent surprises once the final product is assembled.

Immersive 3D Visualization Environment for Evaluating Material Appearance

As companies transition to digital manufacturing processes, there is a growing need for physically precise virtual designs that represent the true appearance of the final product. To date, CAD and rendering software solutions have been limited in their ability to visualize physical appearance characteristics such as texture, gloss, transparency and opacity. The Total Appearance Capture Ecosystem and Virtual Light Booth (VLB) make it possible to capture and verify the true appearance of a material in a digital environment.

The Virtual Light Booth enables accurate, side-by-side visualization and comparison of 3D digital material renderings with physical material samples under the exact same perceptual conditions – from illumination to contextual to observational factors. With the VLB, design teams can easily vary these conditions to see changes in material performance. As a result, designers can make more informed material selections and reduce approval times and improve product quality.

• Compare digital material samples directly with physical materials. Integrated camera-based sensors, spectrophotometers and colorimeters, accurately visualize and evaluate materials, ensure material consistency for quality assurance.
• Assess samples under accurate lighting conditions. Ambient light measurement compensates for lighting around the VLB, generating accurate controlled lighting conditions in any environment. This frees the user to adjust, view and compare digital and physical samples under controlled spot and diffuse lighting conditions.
• View from multiple angles. Motion and facial tracking adjusts the virtual representation as a person’s viewing angle changes, ensuring accurate evaluation of materials that use special-effect pigments—whose color and appearance change based on the viewing angle.

With this unique, immersive 3D experience, designers can make more informed material selections, reduce approval cycles, improve product quality and accelerate time-to-market.

The TAC™ Ecosystem is an award-winning appearance solution that enables an unmatched level of realism and efficiency in digital material capture and 3D design. Accurately and consistently share material appearance information across every step of the product development process to reduce design approval cycles and accelerate time to market.