I haven't found it in previous discussions, could anyone explain to me why is this significant? I have clue about painting artistically but when you want to get a wall paint, or some plastic, you can basically get any color you want. So why is this important?
I'm guessing that maybe most colors I see are a mixture of CMYK or something alike, but if my eye can't tell the difference, does making something only reflect a single frequency instead, matter for somebody looking at an object?
I am neither a painter nor a chemist, but this is significant to me as a general science person in a meta(l) kind of way.
Most useful compounds, even alloys, of only metallic elements, tend to be composed of MAINLY two metals. (usually they are 2 main ones plus many lesser metals) This one is composed of THREE and isnt even a metal.
So in a very, very simplified way, you can imagine the color space like a triangle with Red, Green and Blue at the corners.
By mixing, you can reach any color within the triangle — but you can‘t leave it, as then you‘d have to start from an even "bluer" blue.
This is basically what the new pigment enables, and not just that: This shade seems to be way more color stable over time. All colors fade eventually (especially with UV irradiation), so if you want to preserve the original color in a painting for example, this matters.
OK, but we only have 3 types of cones, so unless you make a pigment hitting the exact frequency of our blue cones, there is not really any difference in perception, is that correct?
Essentially, while you might be able to get any colour you want, others (mainly artists, it seems) have not been able to get any colour they want. This one has better properties than previously available pigments. Read the article.
I'm guessing that maybe most colors I see are a mixture of CMYK or something alike, but if my eye can't tell the difference, does making something only reflect a single frequency instead, matter for somebody looking at an object?