Laser finishing of apparel
Software and lasers are used in finishing apparel to produce a desired wear pattern or other design. A technique includes determining a fabric's response to a laser, capturing an initial image of a wear pattern on a garment, and processing the initial image to obtain a working image in grayscale. The working image is further processed to obtain a difference image by comparing each pixel relative to a dark reference. The difference image is converted to a laser values image by using the previously determined fabric response to the laser.
1. A method comprising:
providing a garment made from fabric panels of a woven first material comprising a warp comprising dyed yarn, wherein the fabric panels are sewn together using thread;
creating a laser input file that is representative of at least a portion of a finishing pattern from an existing garment made from a second material, wherein the first material comprises a different fabric characteristic from the second material, and the creating the laser input file comprises
capturing a target image of the at least a portion of the finishing pattern from the existing garment of the second material, and
determining values for the laser input file that will result in a finishing pattern on the first material to obtain an appearance similar to the target image of the at least a portion of the finishing pattern from the existing garment of the second material, wherein the determining values for the laser input file comprises
selecting a dark reference in the target image of the least a portion of the finishing pattern from the existing garment of the second material,
for a pixel in the target image, calculating a difference value between a pixel value and the dark reference, and
storing a difference value in the laser input file; and
using a laser to create a finishing pattern on an outer surface of the garment based on the laser input file, wherein the finishing pattern of the garment comprises a portion having an appearance resembling the at least a portion of the finishing pattern from the existing garment.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the warp is ring dyed using an indigo dye,
based on the laser input file, the laser removes selected amounts of material from the surface of the first material at different pixel locations of the garment, and
for lighter pixel locations of the finishing pattern, a greater amount of the dyed warp yarn is removed, while for darker pixel locations of the finishing pattern, a lesser amount of the dyed warp yarn is removed.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the finishing pattern created can extend across portions of the garment where two or more fabric panels are joined together by thread by exposing these portions to the laser.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first material comprises a weft comprising yarn that has not been dyed.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein for the portions of the garment exposed to the laser where the fabric panels are joined, the fabric panels are joined together using a thread comprising cotton.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the using a laser to create a finishing pattern on an outer surface of the garment comprises at least one of a single pass of the laser or multiple passes of the laser.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the capturing a target image of the finishing pattern from the existing garment of the second material comprises using contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization image processing.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein when using the laser to create a finishing pattern, different laser levels are obtained by varying an output of the laser beam by altering a characteristic of the laser comprising at least one of a frequency, period, pulse width, power, duty cycle, or burning speed.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the first material comprises a first surface texture characteristic which is different from a second surface texture characteristic of the second material.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the first material comprises a first dye characteristic which is different from a second dye characteristic of the second material.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein the first material comprises a first base fabric color characteristic which is different from a second base fabric color characteristic of the second material.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein the first material comprises a first yarn characteristic which is different from a second yarn characteristic of the second material.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein the first material comprises a first yarn weight characteristic which is different from a second yarn weight characteristic of the second material.
14. The method of claim 1 wherein the first material comprises a first yarn diameter characteristic which is different from a second yarn diameter characteristic of the second material.
15. The method of claim 1 wherein the first material comprises a first yarn twist characteristic which is different from a second yarn twist characteristic of the second material.
16. The method of claim 1 wherein the finishing pattern created by the laser on the garment includes a wear pattern comprising at least one of combs or honeycombs, whiskers, stacks, or train tracks, or a combination.
17. The method of claim 1 wherein the first material comprises a denim.
18. The method of claim 1 wherein the laser input file comprises a reverse image compared to the target image.
19. The method of claim 1 wherein the dyed yarn comprises cotton.
20. A method comprising:
providing a garment made from fabric panels of a woven first material comprising a warp comprising dyed yarn, wherein the fabric panels are sewn together using thread;
creating a laser input file that is representative of at least a portion of a finishing pattern from an existing garment made from a second material, wherein the first material comprises a different fabric characteristic from the second material, and the creating the laser input file comprises
obtaining a target image of the at least a portion of the finishing pattern from the existing garment of the second material, wherein the at least a portion of the finishing pattern on the existing garment was not created by a laser, and
determining values for the laser input file that will result in a finishing pattern on the first material to obtain an appearance similar to the target image of the at least a portion of the finishing pattern from the existing garment of the second material, wherein the determining values for the laser input file comprises
selecting a dark reference in the target image of the least a portion of the finishing pattern from the existing garment of the second material,
for a pixel in the target image, calculating a difference value between a pixel value and the dark reference, and
storing a difference value in the laser input file; and
using a laser to create a finishing pattern on an outer surface of the garment based on the laser input file, wherein the finishing pattern of the garment comprises a portion having an appearance resembling the at least a portion of the finishing pattern from the existing garment.