Product names have the reputation of being hard to pronounce in this industry. CymphoniK™ makes me think of a new orchestra or the latest synthesiser plug-in, yet it is a color-mixing ecosystem designed for pellet-extruding large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM).
Unveiled by material producer Polymaker, its guiding principle, “Finite Materials, Infinite Expressions”, sums up the idea: produce a virtually unlimited range of custom colors on site, from just six base pellet materials.
This solution comes from the fact that studios printing large parts often struggle to match corporate color across brand projects. For them, this often means ordering custom masterbatch, with high minimum order quantities, long lead times and little room for last-minute tweaks.
Six base materials, one software
The palette follows the CMYK structure (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black). White and Neutral complement it to widen the workable gamut, from pastel tones to deep shades. The first formulation is based on PETG-1213 R50. So far, Polymaker has validated over 100 colors and plans translucent colors.
The materials come with CymphoniK™ Palette, an online color-matching software. Users can pick from a laboratory-validated library to obtain exact mixing ratios. Alternatively, they can define a target color via CIE Lab values, RGB/CMYK sliders or a color picker.
Thereafter, an AI model predicts the mix ratio across the six base materials. Polymaker says it verifies formulations with the Delta E (ΔE) color difference method. The company also says it has validated the solution on several pellet printers and extruders, across different screw and extruder designs.
An ecosystem for design studios
This solution is the first Polymaker unveiled since its 2025 move into large-format AM with CEAD. CymphoniK™ is quite different from other products the company has launched in the industry:
- It is an ecosystem combining materials, software and validated mixing on the machine.
- It brings an AI-driven software tool into Polymaker’s offer, which we had not seen in its previous announcements
- It specifically targets design studios and service providers working on aesthetic, brand-driven projects
“With CymphoniK™, we wanted to eliminate the traditional trade-off between colour precision and operational agility in large-format 3D printing,” said Deborah Claxton, PolyCore Business Development EMEA at Polymaker. “Large-format studios no longer need to order thousands of kilograms of single-use masterbatch pellets or compromise on a brand’s exact Pantone.”
Visitors will be able to see case studies and live demonstrations of CymphoniK™ Palette at Formnext next month (Hall 12.1, booth C21).
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