The type of material being illuminated also plays a significant role in the visibility of the beam. Smooth spruce boards, white paper and matt smooth materials are best illuminated. Materials such as "hairy" boards, fabric, black sheet metal, rubber and materials with low reflectivity are more difficult to illuminate. You need to add about 25%-50% power. Shiny materials such as chrome surfaces and polished stainless steel are the hardest to light. Here you need to add even 100~200% power at the same distance as the materials in the first group. For such materials, I recommend a green laser for illumination distances above 1m. The human eye can distinguish the line on such material better than with a red laser.

3.1) Background color for red lasers.

When shining a laser beam, it is possible to enhance the visibility of the beam on the reflective plate by painting it with a suitable shade of paint. The visibility of the beam is usually best on colours that are closest to the wavelength of the laser itself.

So, for red lasers with wavelengths of 650nm (typically our 1mW; 3.5mW and high power models above 16mW of power), the beam is most visible on the colour marked RAL 4010 -Nacha, which is shown in the picture on the bottom right.

For lasers with a wavelength of 635nm (our 5mW and 10mW models) any of the other 3 colours in the picture are very suitable.
Thus, these colours:
RAL 3000 Fire Red
RAL 3003 Ruby
RAL 3004 Purple Red

On other colours, the laser will of course also be visible, but not as well.

3.2) Background color for green lasers.

The same principles apply for green 532nm lasers as for red lasers, in the case of background colours. We have tested that the 532nm green laser is best seen on RAL 6027 Light Green (bottom left). It is also very visible on colours:
RAL 6019 Pastel Green.
RAL 6021 Pale Green.
RAL 6034 Pastel Turquoise.

Again, on other colours (especially similar ones) the beam will also be visible, just not as well.