Seems like a strange question, but thought i'd ask to get the opinions of those with more experience. If you were prototype modelling what colour is best for printing in to show detail etc. I know that detail can be increased and decreased with the quality of the print, but what colour do people find shows up best shadow etc. my guess is grey or do most people print in what ever they have enough of regardless of colour?
ColorFabb seems to think their dark gray is particularly serious looking: "This intense and dark gray gives your print a style that is undeniable. This dark grey is the very popular RAL 7043, used for many applications" (RAL is a German color description standard similar to Pantone) Dark gray certainly makes any contrasting color bits pop. Their light gray is also nice. Maybe try both?
I use Colorfabb XT light grey for everything. Unless there's a specific reason to use something else. The colour is neutral, yet you can see features and photograph the form quite well (unlike black or white). I guess beige would be a nice universal colour too.
very dark blacks and pure whites show very little detail, I've found similar issues with very bright colours as well. Otherwise most filament shows shadows well. However, too much detail can be a bad thing! All the little faults in your printer show up so much more... Not all that bad, but if it's to show off a prototype maybe something you don't want
For first time printing do people recommend starting with PLA get to grips with that then move on to playing with ABS and then other materials?
PLA every time as it is cheap and generally produces good models for artistic or engineering projects. It's limitations are few other than a low glass temperature. I do not use ABS as it has too many issues such as warp and toxic emissions and there are better, if more expensive, filaments such as NGen and Edge and the specials such as XT-CF20, wood fill and metal fill. But, most of my general printing uses PLA.
I use mostly PLA/PHA mix as it seem to print smother and isn't as brittle as plain PLA. Silver seems to be the most robust mixture...
I use gray abs as its better with post processing, easy to sand. I've never had a problem with abs and warping ever because I use 3Dlac