Using tester paint pots and painting swatches on your walls to see what you think of certain colours could soon become a thing of the past if Dulux has its way.

The paint company is embracing the technological possibilities of the 21st century by launching a new iPad, iPhone and Android app that will let you see what your rooms will look like in different paint colours and designed by virtually repainting the walls.

Using the camera on your mobile device, the Dulux Visualizer app uses environmental tracking to detect edges, surfaces and contour changes, allowing users to select the area of an image that should be virtually painted.

The app can detect the difference between wall space, furniture and fixtures and paints around contours in real time as long as you don't move too much.

All you have to do is chose a colour and then press on the wall you want to "virtually" paint, something we found really easy to do when we played with the new app at a Dulux demo day in central London.

Users are able to pick any of the 1,200 Dulux paint colours and for those looking for a two tone effect, they can choose multiple paint colours for multiple walls.

Where the app really excels is that it takes into account the light in the frame and adjusts the colour of the wall accordingly, so you can see what it will look like in genuine ambient settings rather than just present a blanket slab of colour.

On launch, once you've picked your colour scheme you can only order tester pots to make sure of the real-world outcome before you go all gung-ho. However, a spokesman for the company told Pocket-lint that Dulux is already looking into letting you order the right amount of paint for the job at hand.

With Google and others already working on methods to help you measure out spaces internally just by looking at the information in the picture, we suspect that it won't be too long before you'll be able to fire up the Dulux app, pick a colour and have the right amount of paint you need delivered to you the next day.

The Dulux Visualizer app is available on iPhone and iPad for free from the iTunes App Store and on Google Play.