Paint Or Seek Camouflage Guide

Eyedropper Sampling

The eyedropper pulls the exact RGB value from the surface under your crosshair or touch reticle. Always sample at the height seekers will see — standing eye level for wall hides, crouch height for low furniture on Mansion, and product-row colors on Library shelves rather than bare metal frames.

Sample a large flat region, not a shadow gradient edge. Shadows shift across the round on Warehouse lobby concrete; pick a mid-tone patch and adjust Value afterward. Avoid sampling your own painted avatar — that creates a feedback loop of wrong colors.

Common eyedropper mistakes

• Sampling tiny props instead of the wall seekers scan from doorways
• Using default palette swatches without eyedropper on expert maps
• Forgetting to re-sample after moving even one meter across a color boundary
• Standing on polished floors that reflect a different tone than your torso

HSV Fine-Tuning

Raw eyedropper colors rarely match under round lighting. Hue shifts warm indoor tones on Mansion; Saturation must increase on Pirate Cove torch; Value drops for Crate stack shadows on Warehouse. Think of HSV as correcting what the eyedropper cannot see — directional light and gloss.

Ranked by impact on our paint tier list, Eyedropper + HSV Fine-Tune sits at S-tier because lighting-aware tuning beats perfect hex on a static swatch. Use small slider increments: a 5–10% Value change often fixes shadow mismatch without washing out Saturation.

Map-specific HSV starting points

• Mansion: Foyer cream walls and concrete floor tones — see the mansion map guide for full zone list.
• Library: Bookshelf spine greens and end-cap displays — see the library map guide for full zone list.
• Warehouse: Concrete loading dock greys with crate stacks — see the warehouse map guide for full zone list.
• Pirate Cove: Torch-lit deck planks and rope coil browns — see the pirate cove map guide for full zone list.

Roughness pairs with HSV on glossy surfaces. Lower roughness mimics concrete shine; higher roughness matches matte carpet and wallpaper. This matters less on Mansion but separates good Warehouse hides from instant tags.

Outline Breaking

Perfect color still fails if your avatar silhouette reads as a human shape against a flat wall. Break outlines by tucking into geometry: sofa backs, bookshelf spines, bookshelf end-caps, and barrel stack edges. Consult the props tier list for S-tier furniture choices.

Crouch (C) lowers visible height near counters. Rotate (R) until flat edges parallel the wall — limbs sticking out at 90° angles catch seeker peripheral vision even with matched paint. Combine crouch with corner placement so only one surface faces the likely seeker path.

Shape detection cues seekers use

• Vertical columns where walls should be flat texture noise
• Head-height bumps on otherwise uniform shelf rows
• Feet protruding from under tables when color matches the tabletop only
• Reflection breaks on Warehouse floors and Pirate Cove glass panels

Freeze (F) only after outline and color align. Movement after freeze is the easiest tell. Study seeker behavior in the seeker route guide to predict which angles they check first.

Repainting and Zone Rotation

Static hides win on Mansion; advanced players rotate when seekers clear a room. Repainting means unfreezing, moving to a new color zone, eyedropper sampling again, HSV tuning, repositioning, and re-freezing — all before the seeker re-enters. Practice the sequence in custom lobbies before ranked play.

Cross from warm living room beige to cool hallway grey on Mansion and your old paint reads as a glowing blob. The maps and hiding spots guide lists safe rotation paths per map. On Library, moving from spine greens to aisle browns demands full repaints, not slider tweaks alone.

Repaint decision checklist

1. Has the seeker left this room and closed line of sight?
2. Is the new zone color more than one HSV slider away from current paint?
3. Is there geometry at the destination to break outline again?
4. Do you have at least 15 seconds before likely re-entry?

Unlock extra colors via Hider Paint Palettes so repaints stay fast. Redeem active codes for coin boosts before buying palettes.

Practice Progression

Start on Mansion mastering eyedropper plus freeze timing. Add HSV tweaks on Library, roughness on Warehouse, then full rotation drills on Pirate Cove. Use the paint match helper below for interactive map presets.