How to make mechanics interesting by standing out with color?

[Carsten Svendsen]

Akiyuki has a ton of mechanism all of which are impressive. What partly makes this happen is that he uses a few yellow colors but in very select places while using DBG for the big levers and such.

I am in the process of making a machine that is very complex, but I don't know which parts should be yellow and DBG. The whole thing is mostly black at the moment.

So what I want to know is what warrants a part or function to be yellow and not overdoing it. 

[Jeroen Ottens]

I usually colorcode the functions in my creations. The rules I impose on myself are:

- axles, axleconnectors and bushes in the same colour whenever possible (typically red, grey, black or yellow) (I even pay a lot of attention to axlelengths in the design so that I can use only odd or only even lengths in one mechanism)
- moving levers also in the same colour whenever possible
- pivot points, supporting beams for the axles, etc. in the colour of the chassis

Sometimes I also make important fixed parts the same colour as the mechanism (for instance parts that block a rotation like in a 1->8 gearbox)

These rules still give a lot of uniformity in the overall appearance, because the amount of moving parts is typically limited, but it still is visually interesting I think.

[andythenorth]

I like to use yellow, sparingly, for parts that move.  The rest I mix LBG, DBG and black in whatever way seems right.

It's great to have a colour theme.  But it's also good to judge by eye what looks like, and not be slave to a rule  

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-does-this-mean-foolish-consistency-hobgoblin-109167

[Aleh]

I prefer using pure LBG in the chassis and suspencion. There is a sense using yellow for separate functions if you are going to make instructions or just explanation of how does it works I thinkj.

[1gor]

I'm trying to use same color for particular functions in first place to prevent dismembering wrong subsystem and of course it looks better when each function has different color like on my Unimog - yellow is front pto, red is rear pto...

[knotian]

I have found two schools of thought in my area. One thinks that all mechanisms should be hidden so the overall model is what is focused on. The other one, of which I am a minority, wants to show all the mechanisms so the viewer can see how things work. So I think making the mechanisms visible with highlighted color is a good thing. That is also a reason I do not like to use panels, except to hide 'kludges'.

[sirslayer]

im into Lego colors and im evening using a scale to measure the weight of axles and lift arms and to my surprise , certain colors varies in weight of the same lift arms or axles...   i have a thread about it if you're interested about colors and weight

 

[Carsten Svendsen]

1 hour ago, sirslayer said:

im into Lego colors and im evening using a scale to measure the weight of axles and lift arms and to my surprise , certain colors varies in weight of the same lift arms or axles...   i have a thread about it if you're interested about colors and weight

 

No that's not what I'm interested in and I have seen the thread you mention. I couldn't care less about weight/color ratio.

As for the topic at hand, I suppose that you are all correct, but it's more complicated than that. One function can't simply be all one color as that would be too extreme.

I'll give you one example: Take a look at Akiyukis Ball Factory.

The 5x3 bent liftarm is yellow while the levers operating it are all black including the counterweight. When designing something like this from scratch it's not obvious which parts should stand out.

Same with the pickup thing in the same picture, it's all black/LBG which seems fine, but the axles picking it up could have been yellow as well (probably didn't exist then), but you get my point.

 

Is it the ultimate function that needs to stand out, or is it the part that operates it. There's a perfect example of this somewhere else in the ball factory:

As you can see here, the ultimate function (teeth moving the baskets) is all black and there's only a few yellow pieces which operates the function.

This is opposite from the previous case where it was the function that was yellow and the levers were black.

However, as a whole whatever he's done seems to look extremely pleasing and I would just like some more in-depth reasoning to what needs to stand out.

[andythenorth]

When to use the highlight colour is a judgement call.  My further £0.02:

• foreground is background, only a few things can be highlighted
• balance and visual rhythm matter, there needs to be a cadence to the use of highlights
• the highlight colour can be applied to parts that move interestingly
• the highlight colour can be applied at transition zones, e.g changes of direction, splits of motion etc
• the highlight colour can be used to relieve a large block of background colour
• sometimes it's just dictated by available parts 

Edited June 17, 2018 by andythenorth

[Cumulonimbus]

@Carsten Svendsen Your topic is a bit confusing to me. You seek advice about a color scheme of a certain builder but suggestions of Eurobrickers are not satisfying you, so it seems like you already know the correct answer. I'm not that familiar with Akiyukis work but based on the images you have shown, it seems rather random to me. Some functional areas like the "ball filling station" are highlighted in yellow, but on other mechanisms the yellow is used very limited. Two speculations from me: it might be that the ends of moving parts are highlighted for "safety", like you see on propellers. Or a more pragmatic reason might be that some parts are only available or cheaper in yellow since this is a very common Technic color.

But the bottom line is this: If you really was to find out the reasoning behind the rules for color use in this work, I think you will need to contact the builder, only he knows for sure. But why copy an existing scheme, you could make your own. Your work might become recognizable and you can make up the rules. If it looks good, it is good.

[Carsten Svendsen]

1 hour ago, andythenorth said:

When to use the highlight colour is a judgement call.  My further £0.02:

• foreground is background, only a few things can be highlighted
• balance and visual rhythm matter, there needs to be a cadence to the use of highlights
• the highlight colour can be applied to parts that move interestingly
• the highlight colour can be applied at transition zones, e.g changes of direction, splits of motion etc
• the highlight colour can be used to relieve a large block of background colour
• sometimes it's just dictated by available parts 

Interesting, that's pretty much what I was looking for I guess.

Some of these things I hadn't thought of so it's really good to have a reference point when I'm planning what to swap out.

[andythenorth]

Glad that helped