Yoyo finish/color terms and names

General Yo-Yo
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Colorway discussion time!

@zslane posted a question about finish/colorway and I wanted to open a discussion in general instead of posting a lot in One Drop’s thread.

Colorway names (clearcoat, clear, etc) can be a little confusing since they don’t always describe everything that’s going on. They are also for the most part just names made up so that we have something to call them.

Here’s some examples from a recent run.

“Clear” “Glossy” “Raw”
Matte, anodized, no color Glossy, anodized, green color Raw polished (no ano)
Matte, anodized, no color Glossy, anodized, no color Raw polished (no ano)

Glossy vs. matte look different enough almost always that I’d expect their colorways to have different names (or at least, descriptive ones).

This topic also extends into names for different glossy/matte finishes, but that’s kind of outside of my realm since I have only ever tried a handful, and it’s probably hard to figure out what media something was blasted with after the fact.

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Technically “matte finish” and “mirror finish” are just two ends of a spectrum describing the smoothness (i.e., reflectivity) of the metal surface. Where you land on this spectrum is a function of how fine grain the polish grit is that is applied to the yoyo. A heavy grain (e.g., candy blast) produces a heavy matte finish, while an extremely fine grain produces a mirror-like finish.

So we really have three elements to specify when referring to a yoyo’s finish:

  • polish grit
  • ano/no ano
  • dye color(s), if any

“Glossy” is confusing because it usually refers to non-metalic (i.e., non-anisotropic) specularity properties, and when it comes to metal yoyos it is the aluminum’s anisotropic reflectivity that you typically see. However, I have some yoyos where the ano layer appears to be so thick that I can see both the yoyo’s anisotropic reflectivity and the ano’s top-surface “glossiness” (a phenomenon you can often see on cars with metallic paint jobs).

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I feel like the terms clear and glossy are confusing? If its glossy then the yoyo obviously has a “clear coat” on it. I’m guessing that’s what clear is short for. Anyone feel free to tell me I’m dumb

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I think glossy is much more well defined in the 3D rendering field - here, I just meant that it’s smooth instead of rough.

I’m currently squinting at the emerald contact to see if the shiny layer is on top of or part of the anisotropic grooves on the surface.

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Anistropic reflections tend to be directional, whereas general surface specularity (“glossiness”) conforms to the shape of the surface.

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Yup! Clear of course could also mean you can see through it, like the iceberg. :ice_cube:

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Get a profilometer and name your finishes based on RMS roughness :thinking: :thinking: :thinking:

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Ahhh I see

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Since anodization isn’t applied to plastic yoyos, I think the context alone helps clarify what “clear” refers to (i.e., absence of dye).