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I'm going to say upfront I'm not in graphic arts and know nothing about "color accuracy" in that domain. Having said that, given that the perceived color of an object varies depending on the spectrum of the light reflecting off that object, would the Apple pencil have to supply some kind of reference light?
That's my understanding. Plus, it seems to be where the tech is as of last year; @jclo reviewed Sphero Specdrums, which offer similar color sampling:

The optical sensor built into the Specdrums will light up when tapped against a surface, and the rectangular front of the sensor takes up most of the ring. It's comfortable to tap on things and was very responsive, easily recognizing different colors.
 
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Yeah this really is something that marketing loves as it sounds awesomely cool... but as an illustrator I literally can't think of any real-world usage that would justify the expense.

Consider that the apparent color of something changes dramatically under different lighting conditions. You could sample the same color in different rooms and get different results.

Or if it uses a built-in light source to illuminate the spot, LED lighting has all sorts of issues in changing apparent colors due to its narrow band illumination. And then you'd only be getting something approximating the color anyway.

I mean how often are you using your table to sketch a sill life of objects in front of you that you'd REALLY like to sample using your pencil?
 
Apple has always been a leader in color workflows. These ColorSync is the basis for prety much every color workflow standard now. So if they were going to do a real-world sampler, they likely wouldn’t do something just to be handy, it’d have to be exceedingly accurate.

and If it needs to be that, why do this kind of thing when there’s already iPhone?
 
Oh man, I want this tomorrow.

As a colourblind photographer and graphic designer (I know. Ha. Ha.) sometimes I see a colour out in the world that I’d love to apply to my work and I have a hard time matching it.

Something like this might even be able to pick up texture. Run it across wood, or a brick, or construction paper and it would duplicate not just the colour but the texture on screen.
 
This will only work accurately if the ambient light has perfect white point and considerable brightness. All colours we see are based on wavelengths of light that bounce off objects. If the ambient lighting is warm (towards yellow) you get warmer colour measurement and vice versa if the ambient lighting is cool (towards blue).

What could be done, that has never been done before not even by True Tone, is that the device measures ambient light and the colour of the object. Then it would perform an offset to fix the white point and levels.

Even if you do manage to sample colour with perfect white point and have a perfectly calibrated monitor, there will always be the big problem that your digital work will be viewed on thousands of different quality displays under many different lighting conditions. Nothing we can do about that until all displays compensate for ambient light by doing automatic white point calibration in real time (True Tone doesn’t do this correctly) and human vision also compensates (impossible - we will always see things slightly yellowish if yellowed sunlight is in our field of vision).
 
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I'm going to say upfront I'm not in graphic arts and know nothing about "color accuracy" in that domain. Having said that, given that the perceived color of an object varies depending on the spectrum of the light reflecting off that object, would the Apple pencil have to supply some kind of reference light?

Consider that the apparent color of something changes dramatically under different lighting conditions. You could sample the same color in different rooms and get different results.

Or if it uses a built-in light source to illuminate the spot, LED lighting has all sorts of issues in changing apparent colors due to its narrow band illumination. And then you'd only be getting something approximating the color anyway.

Neither of you read the story.



The stylus could also be equipped with a light to make it easier for the photodetectors to accurately determine a color
 
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Ah, the coolest thing to ever be invented is finally here.

It is pretty cool, but the tech has been out for ages and hobbyists have been playing with it for years, for example: Here's one device that measures color.
But I guess only Apple has the courage to shop in a flea market in Shenzhen, China and pretend they invented the tech.
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Phil Schiller may now repeat his famous “Can’t innovate anymore. My ass!”-line.

We can make it a once-a-decade celebratory event right before Apple leaves a product to whither on the vine for several years.
 
I guess when Apple says they are not ready for something they really mean it. And now they are ready to deliver on the stylus front... over and over and over.

As a Wacom user myself, the Apple Pencil i always found it marveling until I bit and got the iPadPro with a 2nd gen pencil, blown away... and these extra features? They won’t come in isolation either.
 
Nice, I’d like an eraser button or another button at the top Too. Although I know Apple is all about less buttons 😔
 
Looks interesting. But i just want Apple to update all their ipads to be able to use the Apple pencil 2. The design of the 1st gen pencil is horrible!
 
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This sounds like it would make the pencil more expensive.

Maybe they could build the sensor into the iPad instead. It could detect light, colour, shapes.... something like, I don’t know, a camera? 🤔
 
Sounds cool, but I'd still be far happier with something as simple as an eraser tip in the cap. Until then, it's going to be hard to pull me away from my Wacom.
 
Just thinking about the person whose job it is to take these patents and make the images nondescript by making them look like they were drawn in crayon by their non-dominant hand.
 
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