vaderdarth
Master Member
This is cool stuff Mike!!! 
Debunking the color of Vaders Lenses for his ANH Helmet
- Thread starter propcollector
- Start date
Hammer3246
Sr Member
I will give the DNA of George Lucas to anyone who can help me confirm the authentic source of Darth Vader Lenses.....
Seroiusly tho...nice research on this subject.
Seroiusly tho...nice research on this subject.
how can I go to the archives.......this is a dream....I am the biggest fan...I saw star wars at the big screen in 1977 25 times with in two weeks...It blew me away
Too Much Garlic
Master Member
Now this is going to be good.
Star Wars Helmets
Sr Member
Nice pics Jedifyfe.
Wow this is a really great thread and some impressive analysis Mike.
As Prophunters said, if you can analyse the Hero stormtrooper next it would be great to have another question answered. That ones bugged me for some time, in fact its my "fault" MR sent out both sets of lenses with their Hero as we just couldnt decide.
Great work!
Cheers
Jez
Wow this is a really great thread and some impressive analysis Mike.
As Prophunters said, if you can analyse the Hero stormtrooper next it would be great to have another question answered. That ones bugged me for some time, in fact its my "fault" MR sent out both sets of lenses with their Hero as we just couldnt decide.
Great work!
Cheers
Jez
It helps to have powerful friends.
More to come...
_Mike
Most impressive
I'm all ears ... er ... eyes 
Too Much Garlic
Master Member
Cool pictures. My guess is RotJ.
I am putting together videos for the next stages, but I'll give you guys this brief summation of my process:
My hope was to see original lenses at the Archives. Sadly, they're long gone. There is only one ANH-era helmet currently at the Archives, and its lenses are missing (some gel has been taped inside there temporarily). But, since I brought a color chart with me to establish absolute color tones, I knew if I could find something else that was present in the reference frame with Vader, I could color correct to that, instead.
In my reference frame, Vader is standing beside Tarkin and another officer. Well, as luck would have it, some ANH Imperial uniforms were there. So I photographed the uniforms with the color chart to establish an absolute baseline, and then color-corrected the reference frame to match the uniform colors, thus establishing the neutral color of everything else in the frame. I was pleasantly surprised to find that by matching the on-screen uniform colors to my photographed source, the rest of the color correction looked extremely natural - a good sign that everything was working together properly. Once I had the correct color established for the frame, I could begin plugging in values for the lenses to match the reference, thus deriving the lens color.
Stay tuned.
_Mike
My hope was to see original lenses at the Archives. Sadly, they're long gone. There is only one ANH-era helmet currently at the Archives, and its lenses are missing (some gel has been taped inside there temporarily). But, since I brought a color chart with me to establish absolute color tones, I knew if I could find something else that was present in the reference frame with Vader, I could color correct to that, instead.
In my reference frame, Vader is standing beside Tarkin and another officer. Well, as luck would have it, some ANH Imperial uniforms were there. So I photographed the uniforms with the color chart to establish an absolute baseline, and then color-corrected the reference frame to match the uniform colors, thus establishing the neutral color of everything else in the frame. I was pleasantly surprised to find that by matching the on-screen uniform colors to my photographed source, the rest of the color correction looked extremely natural - a good sign that everything was working together properly. Once I had the correct color established for the frame, I could begin plugging in values for the lenses to match the reference, thus deriving the lens color.
Stay tuned.
_Mike
ArtisanProps
Sr Member
I can't wait
Too Much Garlic
Master Member
Oh, where those uniforms matched to certain characters. The reason I ask is because we see so many differently colored uniforms in the Death Star Briefing Room scene.
But definitely interesting. :thumbsup
But definitely interesting. :thumbsup
The costumes were labeled. However, while there are certainly different distinct color families represented, amongst the obviously similar costumes a lot of the variation in material tone is actually an illusion caused by lighting and the material. I'll include that in my description; I had to take multiple photos of the costumes because they exhibited that exact behavior in real life, where the tonality shifted depending on angle to the light.
_Mike
_Mike
Too Much Garlic
Master Member
Cool. You seem to be on top of things! :thumbsup
OldKen
Master Member
No kidding! This is awesome! Way to be a team player Mike! Even with all the SW celebs I know on a first name basis, Ive never met GL or got to go anywhere near the archives! :cry
While Ive seen lots of random footage of the place, this is something specific and extra special! Deffinately something for the RPF archives.
thumbsupJust to illustrate the issue with the uniform color:
These two color swatches are located 1 foot apart on the same tunic, under the same lighting condition. This is actually from a single photograph; I just cropped two regions. The only difference is one (the right one) is slightly more off-angle to the light than the left one, which is being hit almost directly.
People who are familiar with the costumes will immediately recognize the source of debate about whether it's olive gray, blue gray, tan, etc. The answer is: all of the above. The difference between these sample swatches and previous ones, however, is that because they were photographed with a color chart, it is possible to derive absolute tones.
And watch THIS: When I color correct the officer's uniform on the right (who's under direct light) to match the tonality of the direct-light swatch, Tarkin's uniform (indirect light) matches the color of the indirect-light swatch automatically. Also, the rest of the tones in the frame (like flesh color) are very natural. This is essentially a double-blind confirmation of the validity of this approach.
Pretty cool, huh?
_Mike
These two color swatches are located 1 foot apart on the same tunic, under the same lighting condition. This is actually from a single photograph; I just cropped two regions. The only difference is one (the right one) is slightly more off-angle to the light than the left one, which is being hit almost directly.
People who are familiar with the costumes will immediately recognize the source of debate about whether it's olive gray, blue gray, tan, etc. The answer is: all of the above. The difference between these sample swatches and previous ones, however, is that because they were photographed with a color chart, it is possible to derive absolute tones.
And watch THIS: When I color correct the officer's uniform on the right (who's under direct light) to match the tonality of the direct-light swatch, Tarkin's uniform (indirect light) matches the color of the indirect-light swatch automatically. Also, the rest of the tones in the frame (like flesh color) are very natural. This is essentially a double-blind confirmation of the validity of this approach.
Pretty cool, huh?
_Mike
Last edited:
Reactor drone
Well-Known Member
I've always assumed the Imperial uniforms were Field Grey,the german army uniform colour in WW2,which is a grey green.
First video was cool,can't wait for the second one .....gotta love research
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