Miniature painters don’t just “pick a color.” We design a light story: basecoat establishes local color, shadows sculpt the form, highlights define edges and material, and glazes steer hue and mood.
ColorMinis is built around that exact idea—except instead of guessing how paint might look under light, you preview it on a 3D model that responds like a real surface.
1. Physically Based Rendering (PBR)
Most coloring tools treat color like a sticker: flat fill, flat result. ColorMinis uses PBR, meaning your color lives inside a real lighting model. It simulates what painters actually do:
- Base color: Your basecoat / local color.
- Roughness: Matte vs Satin vs Gloss varnish behavior.
- Metalness: True metallic response (reflecting the environment) vs NMM.
- Occlusion (AO): Where light naturally struggles to reach (deep recesses).
- Normal/Geometry: Micro surface detail that catches light (texture, edges).
Why this is key: In miniature painting, highlights and shadows aren’t arbitrary—they’re the result of light interacting with shape. PBR makes that interaction visible instantly.
2. Lighting is the Teacher
Painters often struggle because they paint "symbols" (a face, armor) rather than painting light on form. In ColorMinis, the model rotates and the light moves, showing you:
3. Hue Control = Style
Miniature style is largely "controlled hue." Cooler shadows for cinematic looks, warmer shadows for gritty looks. In flat tools, hue shifts are theory. In ColorMinis, hue shifts become obvious.
The lighting model reveals if your palette keeps the form readable or muddies the midtones. This makes ColorMinis a training tool for color + light.
4. Mobile Optimization
Rendering convincing materials (gold, glass, skin) in a mobile browser is brutal. Real-time PBR is expensive, so ColorMinis is engineered to stay responsive.
WebGL GPU Acceleration: Lighting happens on the graphics hardware.
Baked Ambient Occlusion (AO): Deep-form shading without the frame cost.
Optimized Topology: Reducing wasted triangles while keeping silhouette detail.
5. Custom Shaders
Some effects aren’t images—they are behaviors. Our custom shaders respond to viewing angle and light direction in real time.
- Gloss / Clearcoat: Highlights tighten and shift as the model turns.
- Glitter / Sparkle: Procedural reflection that sparkles with rotation (like real flake paint).
- Metal Response: Metals reflect the environment, not just a static yellow color.
6. The Painter's Workflow
When you build a scheme in ColorMinis, you are thinking in layers: Basecoat identity, Shading depth, Highlight form, and Material definition.
Preview these decisions on a model that behaves like a physical surface. Test palettes, plan highlights, and build schemes that photograph well.
From App → Real Paint
Your goal isn't just to color it digitally. It's to commit to a paint plan and execute it on the physical mini with confidence.
#ColorMinis @colorminis
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