Costume dying technical details

ghastley · March 2018

We've all noticed that different materials take dyes differently. I initially suspected that the dyes affect the hue of the material only, and do not change the chroma, lightness, or gloss. Except that can't be the whole story, as we have black and white dyes that must be affecting lightness, and presumably chroma, so there's a more complex operation taking place. And now I'm thinking it may differ with tiers of dyes, too.

Is that documented anywhere? And if not, ...

Karius_Imalthar · March 2018

I don't think this is documented anywhere and just comes from experience of using different colors on different materials. It would be nice if someone could come up with some kind of category system for the colors and materials.

Maybe a table of colors with a interpretation of it like:
Hyacinth Pink, hue: Purple, appears as: pink, reflective/gloss: no

And material types like
Cloth: Smooth
Cloth: Coarse
Leather: Smooth
Leather: Coarse
etc

Then the items and colors could be referenced to find colors and armor pieces that have certain qualities.